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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/26/2020 in all areas

  1. ... Hanging in - but not looking well after a warm, humid summer - J. chilensis. The opposite - using every day to grow, V. metiti, sprouted last fall. Doing very well but taking its time - D. robusta. (from seed) First try this year - P. borsignianum. In deep shade, too - two C. metallica. Very well growing. Sprouted in June, N. brunnea. Unbelievably fast. The only survivor from a seed order but doing well now - B. fenestralis. Growing very well, too and makes me prout - D. album var. aureum. (from seed) A bit dense but the palm itself does well - C. harlandii. This one has probably enjoyed the typhoon-free fall the most - B. nickobarica (from seed). Here my Indian coconut - grown from a nut from an Indian vegetable store in Tokyo. Already pretty tall, C. mitis. Moving around the corner, in front African oil palm, in the back an emerging monster, P. sylvestris. Moving the camera to the right, another Alexander palm and a V. joannis. Beneath in shade... L. chinensis. Reaching the backside of the house - planted out two months ago, B. nobilis. Behind the house my L. chinensis and washie grove, at the opposite corner... Another pair of P. rupicola. Ok, I hope you liked the little tour - thank you for your time and best regards from Okinawa Lars
    14 points
  2. Hi there, usually my garden is not really presentable in early winter right after the typhoon season but since we had NO typhoons at all this year (except there was a single very week one in late August) I thought I would show some images of my palms after an almost perfect year of growth. Here we go: Outside left, two washies (from seeds) and lately planted out... ...a young Copernicia (seed grown). It is definitely thriving. It gets a lot of sun and is protected from three sides. I will see how it goes with the washies side by side - if necessary I will make a decision later. Alexander palms - growing extremely well over here and looking beautiful! (seed grown) Our local hero - Adonidia merillii, fully loaded with seeds. Recently moved and showing great growth in its new spot - P. pacifica (from seed). The new leaves are already looking very healthy - it seemed it was about time to give a better place to grow. A bit hard to make out - a D. pembana (from seed). It has already two suckers and grows very well, too. Undamaged for the first time since planted out four years ago - C. samoense (from seed). In deep shade, L. naumanii. Almost same spot, a C. nucifera curves back after being hit hard by a typhoon a year ago. Crown looks very healthy, too. Another, almost blown over C. nucifera gets a nice curve, too. Hit by the same typhoon in last year's August. Hard to get in one pic, ... ...and we will get some nice coconuts next year. A P. rupicola, a bit close to the Coconut palm but it does well - an emerging beauty. (seed grown) Moving on - C. umbraculifera (seed grown).... I hope I can keep it... My largest Alfie (from seed), towered by my... ...super nice looking pair of V. joannis (seed grown). D. album (from seed) H. forsteriana - an absolute flawless grower. (purchased at out home depot six years ago) Behind it in shade, a young Saribus rotundifolius. (from seed) ...
    12 points
  3. Good topic! There are so many excellent forms of Chamaerops. I have a 16 year old plant which is a stiff leaf argentea type palm, that for the previous 6 years has produced pollen, so very clearly a male. Last year it produced a few viable seeds!!?? This year it has also produced both male and female flowers and again produced around a dozen seed.
    4 points
  4. Derrick, all of the open sets on my Coco Queens have not been viable/no embryos when Patric and I cut them open. The only hybrids we're getting are as a result of Patric's efforts, which have much lower seed sets but are producing viable plants. Patric is now selling these. I need to go outside and see what else he's got to set on my trees.
    3 points
  5. If you want some freebies pm me. I could give you a couple hundred king palm seedlings lol Couple of others types to you could zone push for free.
    3 points
  6. Green Bismarckia finally coming back after losing all its leafs and almost dying over the summer! Let’s hope it gets through the winter now......
    3 points
  7. We had a cracker of a storm through Darwin last night ! A pic out at Harrison Dam from a local storm chaser.. And a couple from outside my son's house in Palmerston earlier in the evening..
    3 points
  8. I'm thinking about writting an article for the PSSC journal about this palm. I was just curious if you guys have any experiences you could share regarding this Chamaerops. It was called C. cerifera for a while. How come? Any and all pics and comments are welcome. I wanna learn as much as I can from you guys about this palm. Thanks, Matt Here's one of mine that I'm pruning to try and keep to a single trunk. It suckers a lot so I'm constantly pruning the suckers. I just noticed that it's starting to flower too.
    2 points
  9. 2 points
  10. I am well aware of this ability and I have observed it also on Trachycarpus.
    2 points
  11. Not self pollination but I have a 6 ft tall standard green that I grew from seed and have been using it's pollen to produce seeds on other female trees for several years.It is the only male med fan for a mile around me.Just this spring,instead of producing pollen,it put out all female flowers! I was shocked and amazed that a plant could change sex but I truly saw it happen right in front of me.It will definitely be interesting to see what it does next year. aztropic Mesa,Arizona
    2 points
  12. Hi Kyle, welcome to Palmtalk! Everyone has their own opinions regarding palms - if you like queen palms why not plant them? There are pluses and minuses for all palms. Pluses for queen palms include: inexpensive, grow fast, easy to find, edible sweet fruit. Minuses include: water and fertilizer hogs to maintain attractiveness, fruit can be messy (and lots of fruit!), susceptible to fusarium wilt disease. These can be managed as @JLM pointed out. And they can be killed or severely damaged at temps below 22° depending on duration of cold and humidity. There are plenty of alternatives to plant in 9a but mule palms are a great choice and pindos are a personal favorite of mine. Plenty of Phoenix palms you could plant also but most are quite spiny. Arenga engleri would do well for you also as well as several Chamaedoreas for shaded areas. And many fan palms you could plant as well such as Sabals, Livistonas, Trithrinax, Chamaerops and Rhapis excelsa. And if you have overhead canopy such as mature live oak that will help with winter protection for more sensitive palms.
    2 points
  13. Came across a really decorative light pole today
    2 points
  14. Temps today.... Noon - 32.5c 12.30 - 33.2c 1.00 - 33.0c 1.30 - 33.6c 2.00 - 32.1c 2.15 - 27.1c 2.30 - 23.0c 3.00 - 25.8c 3.30 - 25.9c 4.00 - 27.7c 4.30 - 28.3c 5.00 - 28.7c Nothing better than natures own air conditioning ! But it'll be the same tomorrow after an oppressive night. Forecast top tomorrow is 35c. ( 95f )
    2 points
  15. When argentea loses then waxy layer loses also much of its appeal. I prefer more the glauca form, which is besides slightly reminiscent of Copernicia alba.
    2 points
  16. @wase471111 here’s a picture of a adult green bizzy.
    2 points
  17. The Bismarckia Comes in two different colors or “forms”. Green and silver. The silver ones are a lot more hardy to heat and to cold than the green bismarckias. The silver bizzy is way more common due to their hardiness, so to have a green one is a bit more rare but it’s harder to take care of. So my bizzy lost all of its leafs in the summer this year do to the extreme heat.
    2 points
  18. Caribbean Palms Nursery in Loxahatchee maybe?
    2 points
  19. bis has been growing nicely for the last 2 months; 2 large new fronds since then..
    2 points
  20. I just received mine from Patric Schafer!
    2 points
  21. Jesse Durko! Or Sykes. Both off Griffin Rd. All kinds of tropicals.
    2 points
  22. Try contacting Jeff Searle at The Rainforest Collection in Broward. If they're open on Friday, your search for the holy grail of Florida palm nurseries is over!
    2 points
  23. This is my procedure, not sure if works yet. Can update soonish as at Step 1. Step 1: Soak for 24 hours (as per picture - red bucket) Step 2: Remove seeds from bucket and put them in tray with fungicide bath. Usually just 10mins. Step 3: Get flat storage box with lid (like photo) Step 4: Add mixture of Coir/Peat/perlite, just damp. (Like photo) Step 5: Put lid on keep in safe out of direct sun and check in couple weeks. Usually spray with some more fungicide. Step 6: Once Germinated (small root), I will pot up in a potting mix with perlite and peat.
    2 points
  24. I've posted this area before but here's an update from today. Love this courtyard layout
    2 points
  25. Pics from today- it really took off this year.
    2 points
  26. Hey everyone. Most of you know I’m up north. Southern Ontario. Love the hobby and am an avid coco- nut! I have been doing all kinds of germinating experiments. And just growing experiments. Up to date my palm room has been very dry due to. Obviously furnace is on. Second basement is cool so i have heat running 24/7. (Oil radiator ) room always kept in mid to upper 70s. So my very first coconut. Which was a store bought germinated is now over a year old. It has had its ups and downs. It was easy the first 6 months when it was small to keep it humid and warm. During the summer it did well here. Daytime temps of 31c and humid and we get 15 hours of daylight in summer months. Leads to this winter. When a new frond opens it brown tips and degraded fast and the next spear will do same. So my next experiment was I put it on a set of horses. Metal ones which radiant heat and put my oil heater underneath to warm it from soil up. This had ups and downs as dry heat made the brown tipping worse. (Obviously) so then I put a clear plastic bag over it. This was so/so. The radiant heat coming up the pot kept the soil warm but wasn’t hot enough to heat the air up in the bag and get the humidity high enough. So this leads too today’s experiments. Same horse. Coconut high up. My warm mist humidifier which is pretty good on hydro literally right into the bag. I have a weather station inside and currently am checking on it every 30 mins to see what humidifier setting is the best so that I don’t cook my palm. There is also an led grow light shining bright on it as well. I have so much attachment to this palm as it was my first coco to germinate and it took me 3 months to do so. I will update everyone on this setup and see ihow it works. Also in pic it’s hard to see but there are two rods in the dirt to keep the bag up and around the palm
    1 point
  27. Hey Folks, Long time PT lurker first time poster. Thought I would share my experience with Sabal minor “Cherokee” germination. I bought ~1,000 of these seeds form RPS recently, and I am seeing ~99% germination within a month of sowing. And I though Washingtonias were easy to germinate! Now I have to find home for all these babies in my greenhouse... I was hoping for a little more of a staggered germination! Looking forward to sharing with some friends in some colder Canadian locales (Okanagan, Niagara region) where they may be able to survive once they size up a little.
    1 point
  28. Thanks everyone! Yes I like Mules and plan to get another couple, just need to decide on size and location in the yard. Can’t wait for next Friday when they are installed as then I can further plan out my plantings. @Fusca now I have more homework to understand all these palm varieties! Good lord I am such a newbie to all the Latin names. Eventually I will get there.
    1 point
  29. Dave I have some nice large variegated yucca you can have if your back down this way. WICKED ass spines though.
    1 point
  30. All preparations done now. Will keep you updated on germination. Hopefully will take about 3-4 weeks.
    1 point
  31. I will most likely be open. I have a good selection of palms and cycads. I am located West of Lantana. If you decide to stop by, please call first.561 965 6792 Dale
    1 point
  32. Think CUNNINGHAMIANA
    1 point
  33. You are correct on the first cone being male on the Cycas. Cycas is the one genus of cycads that does not form real female cones, forming "megasporophyll" instead (see picture below). So if you ever get a Cycas with a cone, you will know it's male, and when you see structures like the ones below, they are female. I'm not good at id'ing the Macrozamia cones, as I just have a couple of them growing. Final question about pollinating across genus, unless one believes in miracles, centaurs and mermaids then I wouldn't take the time to try.
    1 point
  34. Joseph, you might check with someone connected with Boyce Thompson. If i remember correct, there were 1 -or a couple specimens of this sp. in the Wallace Garden ( formally in Scottsdale. Now part of Boyce's collection ) There's also a place that sells seeds of plants from Chile/ near by parts of S. America which may offer seed worth looking over/contacting. Looking for a source for the red- flowering Prosopis sp. -from S. America- myself. I might have mentioned it before but think there might be a specimen of this sp. in U of A' s collection... Was listed on the Arboretum's page last time i checked.
    1 point
  35. Temperatures are still getting in the high 80s to low 90s here in Maricopa AZ. Everything in my yard is putting out new fronds as well from royals to bismarckias to copernicias. I plan on cutting back the water this week. Temperatures are declining this week. It’ll definitely get down to low temperatures come post thanksgiving. I would continue to water as normal until we hit thanksgiving.
    1 point
  36. Myrtle Beach on paper is 8b but most winters are warmer than that. I wouldn't be surprised if we get bumped up half a zone when the new designations are released. Below is a screen shot of the averages
    1 point
  37. Last night I was entertaining myself flipping through Loran Whitelock's book "The Cycads" and reread the section on sex expression, so this was fresh on my mind when I saw your post. Since the cost of a true Encephalartos woodii pup that has grown to size to have coned "several" times is quite high, it would be a high stakes game of roulette. It would seem that it would make more sense to get an established pup which has not coned yet and do it. The investment in time would be shorter, risk of losing a mature plant lower and we all know that the pup would be male anyway. Waiting for an Encephalartos woodii to cone doesn't establish anything new about it's sex that one didn't already know. I would be very disappointed if I paid for some E woodii pups got them through a few flushes and then in the process of adjusting auxins and growth regulators killed some... especially if I didn't have success producing the holy grail of a female. In summary, it is a very wealthy individual's experiment.
    1 point
  38. And the update. So when I took the station out the humidity read x meaning it was at 100 percent humidity and the the temps looks perfect we will see how this works over next few weeks
    1 point
  39. Yeah, map #5 doesn't do a good job on the west coast. It basically says 95% of Sarasota County is warmer than Pinellas which clearly is not the case. @Jimbean, this is the best map I've seen for the immediate Tampa Bay area: http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/6179-make-your-own-zone-map/#comment-104327
    1 point
  40. I thought about it for a bit, and I think I know the answer to whether peat moss, bark or coconut substrate (coir) is suitable for soil mixes regarding breaking down: It seems all of these, if good quality, don't break down for several years, at least a couple of years.[1][2][3][4][5] And since palms in general need repotting at least every 2 years, it is ok to choose either one of peat moss, bark or coir. What Walston was aiming at (above) is that for bonsais it is convenient if you can wait 4 years instead of 2 with repotting. I can't imagine a palm that doesn't need repotting every 1-2 years in an apartment except maybe when it is getting really big and you try to slow it down a bit. One major question remains in my mind though: No matter what soil mix you choose, the organic part will break down within a few years. So should one just add soil around the root ball when repotting or try to remove all old soil? I believe very much in Palmbob and so I guess I'll have as baseline not to mess with the roots. Howevere I will probably check each palm individually in this forum since I know some are known to accept even root pruning. And when I look at my Lipstick Palm and Miniature Coconut Palm, who have both been in the same soil in the same kind of pot for the same time but the Lipstick having really filled the pot with roots up&down (without peeking out the holes much and still requiring watering "just" every 3 days) and the Coconut filled maybe half the soil with roots, I think (based on Walstons words) that for the Lipstick I can probably safely add soil around the rootball, while for the Coconut I will probably peel off whatever soil that is easy to remove. And if I started out with 50% vermiculite (or even 30% sand), much of the organic part is probably gone, and the roots add to the texture just like the mineral does, so the crowded Lipstick soil maybe has 80% draining material, so maybe even good to add a bit of potting mix on top (so-called "top dressing") and leach a bit, to get some humus or clay or such in there. When I asked a retired associate professor focused on soil about these thoughts, he said (A) that one obvious way to check if drainage is good enough is to see how fast water level goes down after watering - I'm not sure what is normal but it sounded like a few secs is ideal but even a minute is fine. (B) If peat moss (and other organic material) breaks down, he said probably not all becomes "humus" that is leached out but that some threads (that can be part of soggyness) also might remain, and that also roots naturally die all the time and then break down. (C) He said he as a rule exchanges soil every few years, mainly because he sees a lot of chemical residue on it. However he is not into palms (but pretty much everything else). But regarding chemical residue and leaching I have some input myself: One is that I used to know nothing at all about plants & soil until 3 years ago when I made a major effort to learn stuff (even wrote a book about potting soil, which anyone is welcome to have as PDF if you know Swedish, it is 49 pages based on 159 references, of which 95% are academic or professional growers, my text above mainly stems from that). I had a Kentia since several years which I was very proud I managed to keep alive and thought I had a major green thumb, only afterwards did I realize Kentia is the most forgiving palm and the reason it never gained height in those years was because of my poor treatment, mainly a combination of over- and underwatering and no leaching. Since then I've really been spoiling this and my other plants and of all actions I believe the leaching is the number one thing that made a major difference. Two weeks ago I had to give it away to a local public science center (Universeum) since it has outgrown my apartment: I have been trying out different things since 2014 and the autumn of 2016 I thought I was just about finished trying and that I could kick back and relax, but then I decided to try the two things I've been contemplating that are on the verge of "too much effort", out of curiosity to see if the leaves would be perfectly green with no brown tips at all etc, and that was watering with reverse osmosis filtered water and regulating the humidity to between 45 and 55% plus a boost around 60-65% from morning to afternoon. And I'm thinking right now that the RO water maybe had very little effect, since my plants start to show signs I should have leached them already. So I suggest leaching is very important, and RO water not having much impact. I used to leach 2-3 times per year and use water volume 2-3 times the soil volume depending on how sensitive the plant is, maybe I should even increase to 3-4 times per year. Anyway, those are my thoughts. It would be nice to hear about your experiences.
    1 point
  41. We've had our Butia for 15 years now this past September. Was put in with original landscaping in 2000, and has grown vigorously, thriving on poor, sandy soil with sprinkler irrigation and fertilizer occasionally. Always has bloomed/fruited profusely, even when very young. Sometimes it sends up inflorescence even during winter where they sometimes are damaged by a hard freeze. With how large it is now, if we don't cut the flowering stalks soon enough, there are pounds and pounds of rotting fruit on the ground that can be smelled from the street. Also makes for constant "volunteers" that need to be weeded. I'm guessing it's a capitata. Unlike other Butias I've seen with inflorescence that has red coloring in it or fruit that is a more yellow color, this one has perfectly yellow/gold inflorescence with large, purely orange fruit. 2003 2004 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2014 2015 2015
    1 point
  42. Today: cold front just passed through, air was clear and crisp and I couldn't help capturing the blue/silver tones in the Butia.
    1 point
  43. I have recently planted a couple oddball but hard to find syagrus species in the garden. These have been on my wish list for a long time so it's nice to have finally have them in the ground. syagrus comosa syagrus cardenasii
    1 point
  44. Just planted a very nice 24" box "Cali coconut" beccariophoenix alfredii... There is no doubt this a super grower for us in Southern California. I cant wait to see this get big and coconut like soon. Thanks for looking..
    1 point
  45. Planted a little 10 gal copernicia hospita blue. Is anyone else growing this amazing looking palm????
    1 point
  46. Livistona muellerii. Nice 360* fronds. This is supposed to be a dwarf species but its this big after two years from a 3gal
    1 point
  47. I noticed lots of tropicals 9banyans, royal poincianas, etc. as you got closer to the base but just none on it. I figured since the base is on the tip of that peninsula that it has a very nice microclimate, just didn't see it being taken advantage of. I guess the Air Force has better things to do than plant coconuts! That drive along Bayshore is really nice.
    1 point
  48. Version 1.2 Changes: 1. Citrus Park leaves zone 10A - not sure how to keep it in 10A unless 10A is way underestimated in Pasco county. 2. Central and north Tampa leave 10A 3. Less 10A near Palm River area Surprised no one has challenged the 10A areas in Lakeland - any thoughts?
    1 point
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