Bangalow Palm

[ghar41]

He may be a temporary resident here in 9b but as fast as it grew (out of a 5 gallon pot 3 years ago)  who cares!

This one has over a foot of trunk in diameter.

"Dad, no more palm pictures, please!"

[ghar41]

Here's the trunk on this baby.

[spockvr6]

Looking great Glenn!

[Patrick]

yeesh!

how'd you do that???

I've got some here- about an hour west from you & hey're OS TINY!

Good job, anyways....

[ghar41]

Others probably have similar experiences.... with Queen and King palms I have some that grow much faster than others.  I have another A. Cunninghamiana (Illawara) that I received from G. Wood (South Coast Palms) that was planted from a one gallon size, and it appears to be growing faster than this one.

Anyway, this being a rainforest plant, it gets a soaking every single day.  I have my sprinkers set to give the minimum amount of water my plants need, and for those needing more, I soak them with the hose.  I read somewhere that with good drainage, it may be impossible to overwater Archontophoenix palms.  I can't substantiate this, but again, loads of water.

Along with loads of water comes quite a bit of fertilizer. I add soil amendments before planting (humus products) and make sure the fertilizer has micronutrients.

It's planted in a prime location, morning sun only.  It is close to the house for winter protection.  

My house is only 5 years old so it's nice to have some fast growing palms for a quick canopy.  Add to the fact that Kings are notoriously difficult to transplant; although I hear some experienced people are having greater success.

One last thing, I had some Kings that were heavily rootbound in their pots.  They have grown at a much, much slower rate than the ones that had nice loose root systems.

[DoomsDave]

Kings have their limits, but they continue to amaze me with how adaptable they are.

If your place is in an air-drained thermal belt (SGB Zone 9) it could well survive a nasty freeze that would kill it in the valley.

As for your kid, maybe get him to take a picture of you . . . . .

dave

[MattyB]

That morning sun spot is ideal for Kings.

[Bennz]

good drainage??? No way, you've been sold a dud story there. I have seen bangalows in habitat that are growing in streambeds, where they would NEVER had their roots at less than total immersion right from germination!

Also, these palms grow in areas that in extreme drought years can get annual rainfall as low as 300mm. I've also seen them survive a rainfall event of 750mm (30 inches) over two days, the bangalows ended up sitting on a mound of soil about 1m square, with everything else washed away around them (this at my in-laws farm Lismore NSW).

Also,... I've seen some of these palm that have gown through -8C with damage that was invisible 6 months later.

Your palms look beautiful, I expect them to be around for a long time to come in 9b.

[MattyB]

-8C (17F), Holy Cow that's colder than I've ever heard.  That's amazing.  Almost unbelieveable.

Bennz, I'm no expert here, but I think that total emersion in a fresh stream bed and poor drainage due to clay is totally different.  In the stream the water still carries Oxygen.  The clay just chokes the roots out.  I'm growing Kings in my moms pond with success so far, but they bog down (often rot and die in winter) if planted directly in clay.  This is from my limited experience here in Southern California.

[Bennz]

That does make sense, I didn't consider the "aeration" of water factor! This particular palm was in a rainforest gully where it was also pretty cold most of the time, even with 40C heatwave out in the open it felt cool and damp down there. Certainly made me consider that even the subtropical provenaces of bangalow palm are not so far removed climatically from our NZ conditions.

The -8C temp was certainly unusual, and it may have been only very short duration. I remember the occaison as all the locals were complaining so bitterly, and I had not seen frost so hard before, certainly not here . But being typical subtropical the daytime still got up to the 20'sC, and back to the more usual mid-winter 10-12C nights immediately after.

My observations suggest that bangalows are more resistant to frost if they have had a good cooling down period in advance, which seems to be why they appear more frost tender in Florida than California from what I hear. But conversely they seem to recover better from frost injury in a warm climate. The plams I saw that went through -8C in NSW were quite badly damaged, but had regrown by 6 months time.

This unfortunately low quality picture below is NZPAC Soc. president John Loks neighbours house. He recorded -8C there as well about 6-7 years ago. This seems to break all my ideas of cold tolerance in this palm,... maybe some are just more cold tolerant than others??

[SunnyFl]

Beauties!  But -8C?  that's just amazing!