Traveler's Palm & rotation

[MattyB]

Will these guys rotate after planting?

[junglegalfla]

Yes! My neighbors planted one north/south and I have watched it rotate east west over the last 5 yrs.

[MattyB]

So, I guess the question now is: will it continue to rotate or does it seek an E/W exposure and then stop?

[osideterry]

It stops, I think it's self preservation. The winds tend east-west, so there is less resistance. I have to think the photosynthesis is better if it has a flat side aimed south too. Smart plant, just be careful where you plant it. And not in my yard... that would be a joke.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

They turn to orient themselves to the light source.  If you have a single trunked one out in the open, it will orient itself so that the leaves point north and south, with the flat side on the east and west.  This is because it gets sunlight on both sides of the leaf as the sun traverses the sky.

If it is not in direct light, or if it is a clumping specimen, all bets are off as to which way it points.  In a clump, each stem points in a different direction.

Geraldo

[Jeff in St Pete]

The one I had in Tampa was planted east/west in indirect light and as it grew, the leaves turned to a NE/SW direction.

[MattyB]

Ok, just to clarify, I'm interpreting Bren and Jerry's observations to be opposite.  Bren can you clarify what east west means?  Sorry for being anal on this one, I'm usually not, but this matters due to a wall at the particualar location I'm thinking of planting one.

[tropicalb]

I gotta tell you Matty....i never even THOUGHT about that plant rotating at ALL once you get it in the ground.

GOOD TOPIC!

[MattyB]

I've been observing some Triangle Palms trying to figure out the same thing.  It seems like some do (seeking an optimum sun exposure?) and some don't.  I don't know for sure though.

[junglegalfla]

the leaves are aligning (pointing) east/westerly on the one I have been observing

[MattyB]

OK, that's what I thought you meant.  So yours and Jerry's observations are contradictory.

Hmmmmmmmm, where do we go from here?

[osideterry]

Jeff's SW/NE orientation has me still thinking it's based on wind... like it was a big/slow weather vane.

Matt - are you finding any info from other online resources? I know John Mendoza plants alot of these, and Rancho Soledad as well.

[Fouquieria]

Years ago I read that's why it's called a Traveller's tree.  The fan spreads in an east/west direction.

-Ron-

[LJG]

(Fouquieria @ Apr. 03 2008,09:45)

QUOTE

Years ago I read that's why it's called a Traveller's tree.  The fan spreads in an east/west direction.

-Ron-

Ron, I also heard it was because they store/trap a lot of rain water at the leaf bases so travelers could drink fresh water.

I never knew they rotated. Good thing this thread was here because mine would have rotated into the house where I had it planted.

D. Decaryi rotates too. But it just keeps spiraling.

[MattyB]

Terry,  I didn't really take Jeff's experience into account because he said it was indirect light.  No offense Jeff.  I wanted to find out what it does in a natural full sun position.

[gsn]

(LJG @ Apr. 03 2008,12:50)

QUOTE

D. Decaryi rotates too. But it just keeps spiraling.

Len,

I asked this question here about a year and half ago, if Dypsis decaryi ,stayed in plane ,and everyone at that time told me they did. That they didn't rotate around but in general stayed in plane. One might come off with a little twist ,but the fronds didn't rotate.

I find this interesting as mine seems to stay on plane, it has about a foot of trunk. What makes this fascinating is that Syrgus coronata seems to stay in plane as a smaller palm,(even with about 3 feet of leaf bases)but I have seen pics of mature specimens where the leaf bases spiral around the trunk.So at some point the coronata does begin to rotate. Does this also happen on more mature Dypsis decaryi?  

What say you now palm people?

thanks

[LJG]

Scoot, both do large. I have two DD that have 5 feet of clear trunk and they rotate for sure.  I also know mature SC do because I have watched one do this over the years. But I agree they seem to not rotate until mature. Maybe when they seed it forces them to rotate.

If I took a picture of the leaf crown of mine, it shows clear as day rotating for sure.

[MattyB]

Yeah, I've observed some mature D. decaryi w/ 5 feet of trunk up at Mira Costa College that are clearly rotating.  The way you can tell is that they are some of the healthiest triangles I've ever seen and they're holding so many leaf bases that you have several years of leaves to view.  These plants are in a full sun position and receive no irrigation at all!!!!!!  The ground is hard and dry with no mulch, no weeds, just dirt!  This is why I think Triangles do best with no water once established here in SoCal.  I'm testing that theory now by using very minimal irrigation on my triangles and next year even less.  After a few years I'm gonna stop watering all together.

[gsn]

Len,

Thanks for the info, here is the original post where I asked the question.

http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin....le+palm

I was aware that the syrgus coronata did evently rotate, as I have seen real life,and pics of mature specimens. When I saw my first juvenile coronata however, with about 3 or 4 feet of dead leaf bases,I said that couldn't be a coronata as the leaf base are in plane and don't spiral around. I was corrected,that is the way they are as smaller palms. I wasn't aware that triangles did this also,as I have seen some pretty mature ,big specimens here,and never noticed the spiralling. Mine is about 12 feet overall,holding 18 green fronds as we speak all in plane!

matt,

Sorry for getting OFF topic!

[Jeff in St Pete]

(MattyB @ Apr. 03 2008,14:33)

QUOTE

Terry,  I didn't really take Jeff's experience into account because he said it was indirect light.  No offense Jeff.  I wanted to find out what it does in a natural full sun position.

No offense taken Matt    Now that I think about it though, the great big one I posted pictures of a while ago growing in Puerto Viejo was in full sun and it was growing East/West.  

Terry, the one I had in Tampa was surrounded by large trees and was somewhat protected from wind so I can't say for sure how much that influenced it.  I always figured they aligned themselves where the leaves would receive the most light through the opening in the canopy.

[ariscott]

(MattyB @ Apr. 03 2008,17:42)

QUOTE

Yeah, I've observed some mature D. decaryi w/ 5 feet of trunk up at Mira Costa College that are clearly rotating.  The way you can tell is that they are some of the healthiest triangles I've ever seen and they're holding so many leaf bases that you have several years of leaves to view.  These plants are in a full sun position and receive no irrigation at all!!!!!!  The ground is hard and dry with no mulch, no weeds, just dirt!  This is why I think Triangles do best with no water once established here in SoCal.  I'm testing that theory now by using very minimal irrigation on my triangles and next year even less.  After a few years I'm gonna stop watering all together.

I have 2 - young ones... and they have been through a lot in the past 18 months. They are among the first plants to be planted and suffered the most neglect while we were building the house before the irrigation was put in. They will be lucky to get watered once a week in the dry season... (by hand). And they are covered with with weeds, and hardly any mulch... poor things.

Although, they were growing and surviving without water - I find that water does speed things up a little bit. After this wet, they have gone huge with minimal care - at least double the size and 3 times as thick. If you want... I can show you how they were when planted and how they are now. And they are in FULL BLARING Darwin sun.

BTW, back to the topics... if sun has anything to do with Traveller's palm rotating, I will be in trouble!! As the sun moves with the season here  

Regards, Ari

[LJG]

(gsn @ Apr. 03 2008,15:09)

QUOTE

Thanks for the info, here is the original post where I asked the question.

It was funny reading that thread from 2006. Even in some of those pics you can see some of the plants are rotating. It was also funny to see Tomlinson's Nursery pics. Those plants are still there by the way.

[Eric in Orlando]

Wallichia disticha tends to do the same thing.

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

I have one in the ground 4 yrs that's north/south. It hasn't budged from it's original plane. Although, Santa Ana winds and two cold winters may have it off balance...it probably wants to 'rotate' itself to Costa Rica.

[Kris]

here is mine...

[MattyB]

That's beautiful Kris, thanks for the photo!

[Kim]

I can tell you I observed many mature plants growing in Tanzania, and not all were oriented the same direction.  Perhaps being so much closer to the equator, they don't need to rotate toward the sun?

[ariscott]

The same here Kim... probably because the sun moves with the season.

Regards, Ari

[BS Man about Palms]

Heres the one across the street from Ralph Velez's place (I think he planted it)  Go to Google earth and see which way its oriented!

[Al in Kona]

My Travelers tree was planted in a mostly north/south direction as a small plant and it remained just like that to maturity when I decided to cut it down as it was in conflict with my blue Bismarkia.  Ravenal madagascariensis is a beautiful plant especially so when not too wind tattered.  Think I better plant another but it requires a proper location to show it off.

[Kim K]

My traveler palm has roasted where the leaves are pointing east to west.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HpYw49b8adEZu8V89