Upside down, 5 headed Kentiopsis oliviformis

[Mike Evans]

I grow a lot of Kentiopsis oliviformis. I noticed one of the 3 gal was dieing a slow death over the last few weeks. Finally, I pulled the entire top off & was going to throw the container back into the potting soil pile. When I picked it up, I noticed that a leaf was pushing out the side of the container. I thought a seed was buried deep in the container & started growing out the side of the container. I emptied the container and found 5 leaves growing underground. Note the last leaf spear starting to emerge. The green leaf was the one poking out the side of the container. Now what do I do?? Note the heel of the palm & roots growing down. So, when in doubt, turn the palm over and replant. The last pics are roots, err,ahhh, leaves planted upside down, or they right side up? Maybe this guy knows something, we don't. Is the magnetic field of the earth ready to swap poles? Lets see how many leaves survive. Right now there are 5.

[peachy]

Well it is from the southern hemisphere, you just got the poor little thing all confused with your strange northern ways.

Peachy

[BS Man about Palms]

Well it is from the southern hemisphere, you just got the poor little thing all confused with your strange northern ways.

Peachy

[grant b.]

nature sure can be cornfusing sometimes. i'm gonna guess you are going to need some 95-99% shade cloth for this one...

[DALION]

I think I saw that same thing on episode of National Georaphics... it's a starfish!

[grant b.]

Mike-

Its been almost 2 weeks... how's this palm doing? Is it going to die a slow, agonizing death or was it quick and painless?

[Mike Evans]

I just went out & snapped a recent pic. The new leaf spear is turning a darker green, but some of the leaves are a little desiccated from growing underground. Looks like it is going to survive. There were enough of the regular roots for it to survive. I will post pics later on, when the leaves start to really form, instead of turning to roots.

[Jeff Searle]

I've seen better looking weeds at Bill Sanfords house before.

[BS Man about Palms]

I've seen better looking weeds at Bill Sanfords house before.

Why Thank You!

[grant b.]

amazing.

[Hilo Jason]

Bump 

Did the palm make it, if so, I’d love to see an updated picture. 

I have 2 palms that just recently did this, one is a Tahina and it seems to be on the path to recovery. 

[Mike Evans]

That palm slowly died.

[joe_OC]

I have a D ovobontsira that has a new growth point 180 degrees from the old one.  What is odd is that the old one has two good looking fronds.  Not going to cut anything, but replant it 90 degrees so both growth points will lay flat to the soil.   The new growth point should turn green while the old growth point will still provide energy.  Will post pics later.

[joe_OC]

Here is the pic of the palm.  I've had doinkers in the past, but this one never corrected itself.

[Hilo Jason]

18 hours ago, Mike Evans said:

That palm slowly died.

Sorry to hear that

[Hilo Jason]

On 9/21/2020 at 4:23 AM, joe_OC said:

I have a D ovobontsira that has a new growth point 180 degrees from the old one.  What is odd is that the old one has two good looking fronds.  Not going to cut anything, but replant it 90 degrees so both growth points will lay flat to the soil.   The new growth point should turn green while the old growth point will still provide energy.  Will post pics later.

Joe- here are pictures of 2 palms that did the same thing for me. Both showed no new growth and then I noticed the pots bulging out the side. The new growth was happening under the soil level for months I believe. 

I carefully took them out of their pots and re-potted into wider pots to allow the plant to have both growing points parallel with the soil line. The old growing point is slowly dying off as the new one pushes new growth. All of this new growth was pure white so I have them both acclimating under shade and they have greened up nicely. 

Tahina:

dypsis sp? (About 1-2 months behind the Tahina in terms of when I re-potted it)