Rhopalostylis Sapida (Oceana) Chatham Island Nikau Palm

[pogobob 78]

Oh by the way where is Clark these days - maybe he is sheep farming in the Chatham islands

Those were the good old bad days, Clark is hawking Tahitian pearls in Libiya and Somalia last I heard! By the way the Bohemian Chatham has added about 2 ft of trunk and the crownshaft has bulged more,as has my belly in the last 2 years!

[BS Man about Palms 2,350]

[Tassie_Troy1971 1,076]

I have a gut feeling that Ken was a tribal warrior from the chatham Islands ! We miss you Ken ! you had a huge presence on the forum !

[Got Palms 453]

2 years old from a five gallon doing very well!

[DoomsDave 8,754]

2 years old from a five gallon doing very well!

Hola, vecino . . . .

Come and visit. I'll show you my Rhopies . . . .

[Palmzilla 85]

Mmmmmm palm hearts....

[dalmatiansoap 387]

Any ideas where to buy Chatham Rophies seeds?

[Josh-O 2,730]

Not sure but I have lots of fresh rhopalostylis cheesemanii seeds for sale

check out the for sale forum

[Tassie_Troy1971 1,076]

I have grown and Sold hundreds of these over the last few yrs !
I will have to Rattle my seed Monkeys Pogobob and Darold Petty !

[Matt in OC 1,042]

Any Oceana picture updates?

[Darold Petty 2,643]

Here is mine, an old photo from 2013.  This palm has about 80 cm more trunk now.  The crownshaft diameter, or 'bulge', is variable, depending on the number and vigor of the immature spadices within the leafbases.

 

[Matt in OC 1,042]

Wow!

[sipalms 855]

I would say that the link posted above (the DOC Summary painting a dire picture of Chatham/Pitt Island Nikau) is possibly exaggerated slightly. 

I stumbled across this thread this morning, and decided to call an old family friend who lives on Pitt Island, which is where the pure original Chatham variety is from. They said that they have a lot of young and old Nikau in the Native bush on their property, it would seem in abundance and they very kindly offered to post some young plants across to me. 

Will be awesome to see how these look and grow.  Especially given that nurseries here seem to charge like a wounded bull for Pitt Island Nikau and half the time the purity of the variety could be questioned given the cross pollination that could occur on the mainland.

[sipalms 855]

Well, a nice surprise arrived on the courier yesterday!

I received a beautiful bunch of Pitt Island Nikau seedlings and small palms directly from a friend who dug them up off their property on Pitt Island.

I counted 13 in total of various sizes. And yes, they already look distinctly different from their mainland cousins. Hard to describe but an amateur could easily identify the difference - Much thicker leaflets, a different shade of green, longer petioles.

Some even had their as seeds still attached and the seeds were noticeably larger than mainland ones. They were a bit squished and thirsty for a drink so I quickly potted them up and sat them under a nice shady canopy. It'll be great to watch these grow and especially satisfying to know that these are the real, pure deal, straight from the source!

I gave them a rich compost mixture, mixed in with some sheep pellets, a bit of nitrophoska and pumice. Probably over the top in terms of nutrients but I'm sure they'll appreciate it if I give them plenty of water.

[Tyrone 2,096]

Very nice acquisition there. Yes Chathams look so much different to normal mainland sapida right from the start. The Chathams Ive grown have come up exactly like those shown. But, dont you reckon at that stage they look just the same as bauerii? What's the bet that the Chatham Island Nikau is more closely related to bauerii than sapida???????? The growth rate is similar too.

[sipalms 855]

33 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

Very nice acquisition there. Yes Chathams look so much different to normal mainland sapida right from the start. The Chathams Ive grown have come up exactly like those shown. But, dont you reckon at that stage they look just the same as bauerii? What's the bet that the Chatham Island Nikau is more closely related to bauerii than sapida???????? The growth rate is similar too.

I'm not that familiar with Bauerii as they definitely aren't suited to my climate in terms of cold hardiness. But you could well be right. These have a more tropical appearance for sure, they have a softer look and a deeper green and wider leaflets...

Do you have any photos of your chatham seeds, compared to others?

Also on that note, what is your recommendation for germinating fresh Nikau seeds? I know you have plenty of experience! My Pitt Is. friend is going to send me some fresh seeds once they have ripened as well. I don't have any experience with germinating Nikau (part of the problem is my lack of patience)...

[Tyrone 2,096]

I will see if I can get some pictures but my Chathams have kind of gone past that stage and I need to plant them. 

Germinating nikaus is dead easy. I use large plastic tubs that I drill holes in the bottom for drainage. I then place 12-15cms of germination mix (perlite coir sand) sprinkle the seeds on top, cover with spaghnum moss, water in then put in a shady place where they can get all the winter rain and make sure they stay moist. In 6 months they’ll be pushing up spears everywhere. After about another year I separate them into individual pots. They will germinate when outside temps during the day are just 15C. They don’t care about cool temps. Definitely keep them out of frost though. Under canopy even in deep shade is really good I find. 

Yes mainland sapida have a fine leaf from the beginning. Baueri and the Chatham sapida have a much wider chunkier leaf than sapida. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chathams are a form of baueri. At the end of the day that’s just academic. I love the whole genus. I still need to find some South Island sapida. All mine are north island. 

[sipalms 855]

Thanks @Tyrone. Very helpful. How do you go about cleaning the fresh seeds?

[Tyrone 2,096]

I think I soaked them for a couple of days then removed what I could by hand. It may not be necessary though.

[cbmnz 401]

I've found Baueri to be relative rockets.

[cbmnz 401]

Same palms Oct and November 2019

[PalmCode 164]

It's bloody awesome to watch the Chatham islands Rhopalistylis grow compared to the Auckland mainland Sapida. They adapt very well and are vigorous growers, just keep them well watered.

Love those chunky dark green leaves with that white petiole.

[Tassie_Troy1971 1,076]

On 4/9/2021 at 7:11 AM, sipalms said:

Well, a nice surprise arrived on the courier yesterday!

I received a beautiful bunch of Pitt Island Nikau seedlings and small palms directly from a friend who dug them up off their property on Pitt Island.

I counted 13 in total of various sizes. And yes, they already look distinctly different from their mainland cousins. Hard to describe but an amateur could easily identify the difference - Much thicker leaflets, a different shade of green, longer petioles.

Some even had their as seeds still attached and the seeds were noticeably larger than mainland ones. They were a bit squished and thirsty for a drink so I quickly potted them up and sat them under a nice shady canopy. It'll be great to watch these grow and especially satisfying to know that these are the real, pure deal, straight from the source!

I gave them a rich compost mixture, mixed in with some sheep pellets, a bit of nitrophoska and pumice. Probably over the top in terms of nutrients but I'm sure they'll appreciate it if I give them plenty of water.

I got the Chatham Island seeds  Pogobob at the start of the thread  (Robert De jong ) was kind enough to send me some in 2009. Also have seen the Mother tree 2 x on visits to California.

Here are my two grown from seed in 2009. They are faster growing than my other Nikau and have beautiful silver petioles.

[tim_brissy_13 482]

Here’s mine. Got it as a seedling around 2017, then transplanted from my old place in 2019 which probably set it back slightly. In the last 12 months it has fully established and is now rocketing along. 

[richnorm 535]

I agree, they better match baueri.  Surprisingly they don't like my Auckland climate and often spear pull.  I gave up growing them but do have Chatham x Hedyscepe which sure look like nikau but have been exceptionally slow.

[PalmCode 164]

3 hours ago, richnorm said:

I agree, they better match baueri.  Surprisingly they don't like my Auckland climate and often spear pull.  I gave up growing them but do have Chatham x Hedyscepe which sure look like nikau but have been exceptionally slow.

Dang. That is a pity you've had trouble with growing Chatham islands Nikau in Auckland. They go nuts where I live. After growing the typical Auckland Sapida for so long it's like a frigging miracle the Chatham island ones exist.

But it sounds like they don't do as well for everyone.