Wettinia kalbreyeri

[richnorm]

I've been wanting one of these for years and finally managed to bag one. Anyone got any cultivational advice to share? Plant is maybe four feet tall and already producing stilt roots. Photo later.

cheers

Richard

[realarch]

Would love to see a photo Richard. I've got a W. hirsuta and it's getting so beautiful. So similar yet so different from Iriartea and Socratea.

[richnorm]

Here you go Tim. I'm not expecting much information to be honest as I think they are rather obscure. I will just have to go with gut instinct which is cool roots and mostly shade to start but allowing growth into full sun. These are said to be more cool tolerant than Dictyocaryum which can survive here and I have Wettinia praemorsa which do well most winters so here's hoping for a reliable cool growing stilt root palm.

cheers

Richard

[kylecawazafla]

I hope more people experiment with this palm! It seems like a very curious species!

[Pedro 65]

Richard, I imagine you are still pretty excited about this Fantastic Score, what a neat palm, gotta love all these stilt root palms, i wish more were available especially the real high elevation Wettinias. I only have Wettinia Mayanensis the size of your WK and its only just starting to form some stilts. Richard, i would be planting this in a very special spot in your garden, definatly in a raised bed with a LOT of great broken down organic matter, including peat moss and plenty of coarse river sand or the likes with continual moisture.Since this has come from a shadehouse and looking so good, dont take that light away, pick a well lit area and rig up up shade cloth, the same as its used to. Good luck, and it sure is worth taking the extra time to choose a prime location and buiding a well nourished, well draining raised bed.All the best with it. Pete

[realarch]

Thanks Rich, what a well grown specimen. I've got two W. hirsuta planted. One was planted two years and the other about ten months ago. The one is really starting to become a stunning palm with very pendant

leaflets. Looks like a different habit than W. kalbreyeri. Mine have not developed stilt roots yet, but I imagine it won't too much longer. It's got beautiful color in the leaf and the crownshaft.

Growing in full sun, good draining soil, and mulched to the nines. Here's a pic, not to hijack your thread.

Pete, good luck with your W.praemorsa. From what I read, this is a clustering palm, going to be beautiful.

[Pedro 65]

Thanks Rich, what a well grown specimen. I've got two W. hirsuta planted. One was planted two years and the other about ten months ago. The one is really starting to become a stunning palm with very pendant

leaflets. Looks like a different habit than W. kalbreyeri. Mine have not developed stilt roots yet, but I imagine it won't too much longer. It's got beautiful color in the leaf and the crownshaft.

Growing in full sun, good draining soil, and mulched to the nines. Here's a pic, not to hijack your thread.

Pete, good luck with your W.praemorsa. From what I read, this is a clustering palm, going to be beautiful.

Thats a Stunner Tim, mine is Mayanensis, the fronds so far look exactly like yours but much smaller of course. Im sure Richard will love to see your added pic. Back to you Richard. Pete

ps Richard, do you have the Fantastic" Field guide to the Palms of the Sth Americas" by Andrew Henderson? if you havnt its a MUST have..

[richnorm]

Pete, it's in already! I did make up some of my planting recipe - volcanic grit, potting mix, soil from the hole and gypsum - and planted it somewhat high but not in a raised bed. It's on a damp clay bank that's not particularly well draining but the Ceroxylons around it are growing well (I've not lost one in five years)so I figured it would be OK. I have a Wettinia praemorsa in a similar spot doing OK so fingers crossed I don't rot the roots! Maybe as a precaution I will dig some trenches before next winter and fill with scoria. The position is actually rather hidden at the moment by camelias which I,m using as a nursery crop for the ceroxylons but one day, hopefully, I will be able to gaze at it from my hammock on the back verandah.

Tim, those are truly awesome. thanks for sharing. Here's a somewhat tatty picture of one of my praemorsas. Yes, they clump but do have the stilt roots.

cheers

Richard

[Phil]

Richard,

Congratulations on getting your Wettinia this big so far. I am very impressed. At our nursery, I've found Wettinia to be very difficult. I have a question: what type of conditions has it seen so far? Has it been grown outdoors? How cold did it see?

Phil

[Darold Petty]

Rich, I am green with envy ! Surely some species in this genus would grow here in SF. According to the Henderson book, two species occur abouve 2000M elevation. Best wishes for yours.

[richnorm]

Richard,

Congratulations on getting your Wettinia this big so far. I am very impressed. At our nursery, I've found Wettinia to be very difficult. I have a question: what type of conditions has it seen so far? Has it been grown outdoors? How cold did it see?

Phil

Hi Phil,

It was grown (not by me!) in a shade house that would see about 0c briefly each winter with occasional dips below freezing. It has never shown any adverse reaction to cold unlike Dictyocaryum which seems to have a tipping point at around 1c where damage occurs. To give you an idea Roystonea borinquena don't make it through the winter in a bad year. Daytime highs would be around 15c in winter and mid 20c in summer with warm nights. It would have got regular overhead irrigation as well as about 1200mm of rainfall and high humidity. Hope that helps.

cheers

Richard

[Pedro 65]

Pete, it's in already! I did make up some of my planting recipe - volcanic grit, potting mix, soil from the hole and gypsum - and planted it somewhat high but not in a raised bed. It's on a damp clay bank that's not particularly well draining but the Ceroxylons around it are growing well (I've not lost one in five years)so I figured it would be OK. I have a Wettinia praemorsa in a similar spot doing OK so fingers crossed I don't rot the roots! Maybe as a precaution I will dig some trenches before next winter and fill with scoria. The position is actually rather hidden at the moment by camelias which I,m using as a nursery crop for the ceroxylons but one day, hopefully, I will be able to gaze at it from my hammock on the back verandah.

Tim, those are truly awesome. thanks for sharing. Here's a somewhat tatty picture of one of my praemorsas. Yes, they clump but do have the stilt roots.

cheers

Richard

Sounds good Richard, all the best with your new rarely cultivated palm, heres a pis of our small Wettinia Mayensis.

Darold, since Ceroxylons do so well in San Fransisco, Wettinias should also do well, problem is they are rarely available, there are around 6 sp of Wettinia which are from 2000mtrs elevation and above.

A dream one day is to photograph and collect seed of Wettinia Lanata from 2500mtrs in Colombia. A very mysterious palm described with its thick Brown Black wooly leaflets and leaves arranged in one plane, ( from Andrew Hendersons " Palms of the Sth Americas) Never seen a pic but it sounds amazing.

[tim_brissy_13]

Great thread Richard, you've got yourself an amazing palm there. I've always liked Wettinias, but I doubt they would like our occasional 40C+ temperatures, that is if I could find one in the first place.

Tim, that W. hirsuta is a ripper!

[richnorm]

At the weekend I saw a copy of the Field guide to the palms of Colombia. Henderson is great but this volume is a few steps up, especially the photos. The copy I saw was in Spanish but presumably there is a translation into English.

[DiegoGM]

Hi Richard

Any update?

[richnorm]

4 hours ago, DiegoGM said:

Hi Richard

Any update?

Hi Diego, it's about six metres now and about to break through the canopy.  I have noticed the crownshaft is swelling so maybe it might flower soon?  Here's some photos, but next to impossible to get a clear shot. 

[realarch]

Good grief Richard, I wasn’t expecting it to be so robust. It’s loving your environment.

Mine has been flowering for awhile now, but has never set fruit. It’s also a bit of a bug magnet and thus requires more attention than the norm. Still an elegant palm. 

Tim

[DiegoGM]

WOW!

thats amazing. I thougth i was going to see a small and barely surviving palm. That is a monster. 6 metres in 9 years is a very good grow rate. 
 

i think you should do a complete report about your garden. You are growing inusual palms for tha latitude so i could be inspiring for people like me, who lives in a very similar climate, or for people from North portugal, north california, melbourne, etc.

thanks for sharing!

[kylecawazafla]

This is absolutely stunning! Thank you for the 9 year update! I wish these palms were more common! I saw quite a bit when I was in Colombia, however they were ALWAYS in areas that were difficult to photograph.  Here's an exception.

 

 

[realarch]

3 hours ago, kylecawazafla said:

This is absolutely stunning! Thank you for the 9 year update! I wish these palms were more common! I saw quite a bit when I was in Colombia, however they were ALWAYS in areas that were difficult to photograph.  Here's an exception.

 

 

I’ll second that WOW!

Tim

[realarch]

Thought I’d throw in a couple shots of the unusual inflorescence of Wettinia hirsuta. Quite the agglomeration of pistils and stamens. 

Tim

[richnorm]

Thanks, love it! If only the male and female flowers reached anthesis at the same time.  Might be worth saving some pollen....

[realarch]

An update to the above inflorescence photos. Looks like one of the W. hirsuta is finally setting seed. Interesting fuzzy little orbs....time will tell.

Tim

 

[richnorm]

That surely has to be seed!

[John hovancsek]

Omg Tim that looks like good seed. If you squeeze it and a seed pops out you are golden 

[realarch]

An update of the W. hirsuita. Seed is still firm and tight, it will be awhile before they are ripe. 

The palms in the center, one shorter than the other are the Wettinia in the photo.

Tim

[realarch]

Well, well, I’m finally a daddy. Harvested these seeds a few days ago. I posted the same photo on another thread as they so closely resemble the Dictyocaryum seed photos posted by John H.

Beautiful seed.

Tim

[realarch]

Thought I’d add an update. Here is a photo of the remaining seedlings. Some died and I’ve given some away, but I have a few left for the local society palm auction.

Tim

[Cindy Adair]

Lovely Wettinia photos! I guess I need to add this genus to my Stilted Palm list. 
 

I am lucky enough to have two W. hirsuta’s but way smaller than Tim’s.
 

No hint of stilts on mine, but when the rain stops I’ll take a before photo. 
 

Interesting that the seeds remind me of those from Socratea. 

[JohnStraz]

those seeds and seedlings also look just like Iriartea deltoidia 

[peachy]

What a nice looking species. They sound like they would do well here and I love the coloured crownshafts of course.  The chances of finding one though are Buckley's and otherwise !

Peachy

[Cindy Adair]

Wettinia hirsuta duo