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Elaeis guineensis (African Oil Palm)


Walt

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In January of 2009 I had three back-to-back nights with low temperatures that read: 27, 23.5, and 27F. My small African oil palm was totally defoliated.

This palm, without a doubt, is the best palm I'm currently growing that comes back so well and fast from a total defoliation. Further, this palm doesn't exhibit the typical stunting of fronds as so many other species do (first 1-3 fronds, until they finally return to normal size).

2276015950042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

2587994550042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

2128440370042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Nice looking palm, Walt. I have several tiny seedlings I dug from a Ft. Myers park. I look forward to them getting that size.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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Nice looking palm, Walt. I have several tiny seedlings I dug from a Ft. Myers park. I look forward to them getting that size.

Meg, I think you will find these palms are very attractive even when young, and will just get better with age.

Mad about palms

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear Walt & Dear Meg :)

Some visuals of that beauty ! :drool: As seen in our lal bagh govt nursery,Banglore_south india.

IMG_2122.jpg

IMG_2123.jpg

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...

love conquers all..

43278.gif

.

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Thanks for those outstanding photos of the African Oil Palm. That African tulip tree was also very nice!

Walt

Mad about palms

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I have often thought about getting one of these palms but read somewhere that they are extremely slow growers. Walt, may I ask how old your palm is please. Recently I decided not to waste too much space on slow stuff when there are plenty of 'quick and pretties' around, so while it is a pretty palm, it also has to be a reasonably paced grower too.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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I have often thought about getting one of these palms but read somewhere that they are extremely slow growers. Walt, may I ask how old your palm is please. Recently I decided not to waste too much space on slow stuff when there are plenty of 'quick and pretties' around, so while it is a pretty palm, it also has to be a reasonably paced grower too.

Peachy

Peachy: I guess the African oil palm is considered slow growing. I bought mine in February of 2004 (the late Bob Riffle and I went palm shopping together -- we went, we saw -- we purchased!) There were even more palms than what is in the photo. I think I bought about 10 different species that day.

I planted my palm that March. Below are two photos of my African oil palm in 2004 and 2005.

My African oil palm on far left:

2517417700042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

My African oil palm 19 months after planting it:

2597653820042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

BTW, with regard to your signature (take off on Veni Vedi Veci). I told my wife about your signature and she got a big laugh. Your signature fits her to a tee (she likes to purchase -- and I must keep her under control, lest we wind up in the poor house! LOL!)

Mad about palms

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They have been addressing my mail to "care of the poorhouse" for the last decade !!! Thanks for the photos.

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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I like this palm a lot. Meg sent me 2 that she collected. One died, but one is sending out a new leaf and is doing fine. I thought that this was supposed to be pretty fast growing :hmm: I've seen pics of the one at Kopsick taken once per year, and what it looks like now, and I thought the growth seemed pretty good. Seeing it at Kopsick convinced me that I needed one (same thing with a Beccariophoenix) as it's HUGE! :drool:

Keith

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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Some more visuals...& Info's !

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/31843/

In the link given you can read some useful comments & suggestion from U.S growers

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/60812/

Video links..

.

Kris: I was reading the posts at Dave's Garden and one poster (Jungleboy) said the following:

"Keep in mind, however, that this is a tropical palm. It may survive for a few years in climates outside of the subtropics, but one hard freeze, and it's a goner. "

No way, at least at the size mine is (maybe the growth bud is still beneath the soil, where its warmer).

Like I said, I had three nights in a row this past January with low temperatures of 27F, 23.5F, and 27F (-2.75, -4.68, and -.2.75). As you can see from my photos, my African oil palm not only survived, but is flourishing!

Thanks for all those links.

Walt

Mad about palms

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Dear Walt :)

thanks for the clarification,since it will certainly benefit members living in cooler regions of the world..

Lots of love,

kris :)

love conquers all..

43278.gif

.

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Dear Walt :)

thanks for the clarification,since it will certainly benefit members living in cooler regions of the world..

Lots of love,

kris :)

Kris, I just want to clarify that a good hard freeze with frost will probably totally fry (brown and kill) the palm fronds, but the bud won't die and new fronds will grow back rather fast.

Mad about palms

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very beautiful palm.......suprised at the cold-hardiness. Thanks for the photo's.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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Started by Walt:

Peachy: I guess the African oil palm is considered slow growing....

Not at all, to me the African palm is one of the fastest!( We have lots of them here planted commercially)

But they need all the sun they can get. Cut the shade trees that are over your palms, and you will see the change.

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Jose Maria is right, here in Costa Rica they grow fast when planted in full sun, but here they also receive ideal year-round growing conditions. In Central Florida they will sometimes get damaged in the winter either by frost or just by throwing stunted fronds due to colder temperatures. I think this slows down their growth in marginal areas. The great thing about this palm is its ability to regrow a new crown rather quickly and it is usually totally recovered by the end of the summer (as seen in Walt's photos). I think it's a great choice for parts of Central Florida and all of South Florida.

A couple photos I took this summer. Forests of these surround the town I live in.

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Formerly Jeff in Costa Rica
 

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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 month later...

In January of 2009 I had three back-to-back nights with low temperatures that read: 27, 23.5, and 27F. My small African oil palm was totally defoliated.

This palm, without a doubt, is the best palm I'm currently growing that comes back so well and fast from a total defoliation. Further, this palm doesn't exhibit the typical stunting of fronds as so many other species do (first 1-3 fronds, until they finally return to normal size).

I did not have the same luck this year. My coldest night was 33degF with a stretch of eight nights out of nine in the 30s. I have three trees with about 15ft or trunk. None showed any damage until recently with the heart falling out. It seems maybe one will survive. Many seedlings from these (some already seeding themselves) did survive. Many others did not.

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In January of 2009 I had three back-to-back nights with low temperatures that read: 27, 23.5, and 27F. My small African oil palm was totally defoliated.

This palm, without a doubt, is the best palm I'm currently growing that comes back so well and fast from a total defoliation. Further, this palm doesn't exhibit the typical stunting of fronds as so many other species do (first 1-3 fronds, until they finally return to normal size).

I did not have the same luck this year. My coldest night was 33degF with a stretch of eight nights out of nine in the 30s. I have three trees with about 15ft or trunk. None showed any damage until recently with the heart falling out. It seems maybe one will survive. Many seedlings from these (some already seeding themselves) did survive. Many others did not.

Well, this past January 2010 I had about 11 days of abnormally low nighttime lows and daytime high temperatures. I had two back to back nights of 27.9 degrees F. My E. guineensis was totally defoliated except for one frond that was untouched (how that happened is beyond me). In any event, the four unopened spears (all of different lengths) pulled out. I flushed the meristem cavity with copper sulfate and hoped for the best.

After several months I saw no growth and figured my small, untrunked oil palm was a goner. Then, about mid May I started to see some emerging growth (photo below taken a week later).

Now my oil palm is starting to get back into the normal growth mode. The new fronds are severely stunted but they should keep getting larger and back to normal size as new ones develop.

So for this past winter, it wasn't absolute low temperature that hurt my oil palm as it was just so many days of cold. In any case, my oil palm is one tough palm. Had I made a bet that my palm was a goner, I would have lost money!

2863451280042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

2642563930042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Amazing! Glad to see it making a comeback Walt!

Formerly Jeff in Costa Rica
 

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Amazing! Glad to see it making a comeback Walt!

Thanks, Jeff. I've never protected my oil palm as it's remote from my house/yard in an unimproved area of my property. It may have even gotten colder in that spot as I took my winter temperatures about 15 feet out from the east side of my house, using digital thermometers.

But this coming winter I may try to at least wrap the stem, possibly placing a few gallon jugs of water around the stem, kept exposed to the sun all day, then covering over them with an insulative blanket/wrap during the night. While this won't help the fronds it should help mitigate cold trama to the stem and meristem.

Mad about palms

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  • 2 months later...

In January of 2009 I had three back-to-back nights with low temperatures that read: 27, 23.5, and 27F. My small African oil palm was totally defoliated.

This palm, without a doubt, is the best palm I'm currently growing that comes back so well and fast from a total defoliation. Further, this palm doesn't exhibit the typical stunting of fronds as so many other species do (first 1-3 fronds, until they finally return to normal size).

I did not have the same luck this year. My coldest night was 33degF with a stretch of eight nights out of nine in the 30s. I have three trees with about 15ft or trunk. None showed any damage until recently with the heart falling out. It seems maybe one will survive. Many seedlings from these (some already seeding themselves) did survive. Many others did not.

Well, this past January 2010 I had about 11 days of abnormally low nighttime lows and daytime high temperatures. I had two back to back nights of 27.9 degrees F. My E. guineensis was totally defoliated except for one frond that was untouched (how that happened is beyond me). In any event, the four unopened spears (all of different lengths) pulled out. I flushed the meristem cavity with copper sulfate and hoped for the best.

After several months I saw no growth and figured my small, untrunked oil palm was a goner. Then, about mid May I started to see some emerging growth (photo below taken a week later).

Now my oil palm is starting to get back into the normal growth mode. The new fronds are severely stunted but they should keep getting larger and back to normal size as new ones develop.

So for this past winter, it wasn't absolute low temperature that hurt my oil palm as it was just so many days of cold. In any case, my oil palm is one tough palm. Had I made a bet that my palm was a goner, I would have lost money!

2863451280042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

2642563930042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

My small African oil palm continues to make a great comeback. I vow to get at least one more of these fine palms that can recover nicely from freezes:

2929218870042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Walt - this was one of the first species I planted at my current home 16 years ago. My meristem is about 15 ft. above ground. After this winter the youngest leaves began collasping while the older remained. I only noticed a necrotic spear emerge this July. It is now sending out multiple "healthy" leaves albeit much smaller than before our winter event.

If we have a simular winter pattern this year, I suspect my palm may not have the stamina to survive. :unsure:

Moose :)

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Walt - this was one of the first species I planted at my current home 16 years ago. My meristem is about 15 ft. above ground. After this winter the youngest leaves began collasping while the older remained. I only noticed a necrotic spear emerge this July. It is now sending out multiple "healthy" leaves albeit much smaller than before our winter event.

If we have a simular winter pattern this year, I suspect my palm may not have the stamina to survive. :unsure:

Moose :)

Moose: I hope we don't have a similar winter again this year. I checked official temperature records all through the state of Florida. The past four Januarys have been colder than the one before it. This past January was actually almost 10 degrees colder (average monthly temperature) than January of 2006.

The above can be checked in the historical database at this link: http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/

As far as African oil palms go, I have only seen one other one (besides mine) here in Highlands County.

The last time I took a photo of this particular palm was almost two years ago. I will check it out soon to see how it fared this past winter:

2134644440042496162S600x600Q85.jpg

Mad about palms

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Just visuals...

.

Kris: Very interesting video. I watched it in its entirety. BTW, I still have two (that survived) Corypha that you gave me (seeds). They are growing as slow as a snail, but they are looking very healthy!

Walt

Mad about palms

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Mine is now officially dead after 10+ happy years here.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Mine made it through the winter just fine and is doing well. I planted it from a 3 gallon size about 4 years ago. I will try and get a visual.

Palmmermaid

Kitty Philips

West Palm Beach, FL

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  • 7 years later...

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