Growth rates Washingtonia palms

[singingquail 0]

Washingtonia seedlings. I have several hundred washingtonia seedlings from

seeds in peat pots. Good soil with fertilizer. It took several months to get the second leaf. They seem to be growing very slowly.  Slower than 4 week old seedlings advertised elsewhere. They did not seem to like full sun so I moved them to more shade and they seem to prefer it. Anyone with experience know what growth rate I can expect? Any suggestions?  San Antonio, Texas

[AuntieGeek 0]

Hello, I also have a question.  I have many hundreds (!) of seedlings, ranging from 2" to a foot and a half high in my backyard.  I'd like to put them in pots, but what kind of potting soil should I be using, and what should I be looking out for in the long term.

Is there a good book about growing these palms (Mexican fan palms) that someone could recommend?  (for beginners!)

I will be growing these to eventually give as gifts, and then probably selling the rest of them.  

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!   Thank you!

V.

:laugh:

[gcolbert28303 0]

What size peat pots are you talking about? I have seedlings that are 7 months old that are in 2 gallon pots and a couple are pushing there first true leaf.

[singingquail 0]

I would like to know the soil and fertilizer you are using. Mine are about 7 inches high in 3-4 inch peat pots. Most have two leaves. Plants from seeds seem to do better than transplanting that seems to shock them requiring some time for new vertical growth.

JCE

San Antonio, TX

[gcolbert28303 0]

I do think one problem you have with using peat pots is they are not very deep and that is going to slow you down some, I have found experimenting with different size pots the deeper the pot the faster growth I have gotten, the best I have found have been 3.75"x3.75"x9.5"and also use 3.5"x3.5"x5". I do not germinate in these, I germinate in 1.5" deep 8" clear plastic pot saucers in side a 1 gallon zip loc bag. Holds at least 100 of most seeds, large seeds I germinate in 24 oz styrofoam cups, for both I use a 50/50 mix of perilite and vermiculite.

I mix my own media, 5 parts peat, 2 parts perilite, 1 part sand or vermiculite, 1 tbs per gallon of soil of 10-10-10 fertilizer, 1 tbs per gallon of soil pellitized limestone, 1 tsp per gallon of soil magnesium sulfate. Ater 2 months in a pot I use Nutri-Pak Palm fertilizer 1 year pak 1 for every 2 gallons of pot.

[Walter John 202]

(singingquail @ Jul. 28 2006,13:29)

QUOTE

Washingtonia seedlings. I have several hundred washingtonia seedlings from

seeds in peat pots. Good soil with fertilizer. It took several months to get the second leaf. They seem to be growing very slowly.  Slower than 4 week old seedlings advertised elsewhere. They did not seem to like full sun so I moved them to more shade and they seem to prefer it. Anyone with experience know what growth rate I can expect? Any suggestions?  San Antonio, Texas

There are two species of Washingtonia, which one are you talking about ? W.robusta or W.filifera ?

[singingquail 0]

Greg

Thanks for the GREAT suggestions. Rason I like peat pots is that it is easy to move them to the next size pot...just remove the bottom and plant the whole remaining peat pot in the next size pot. I will pot another hundred and do some experiments with soil and fertilizer.

Wal

Are not growth rates, and soil/fertilizer requirments for both Washingtonia (robusta and filifera) the same?

Jack

San Antonio,TX

[Kris 1,279]

Dear Singing Quail  

i tried to germinate 12 seeds of washingtonia

filifera,but onely one seeds did germinate into

a young sapling.now this is around 7 months old.

and it is placed in a terracota pots 3:2:1 ratio of

washed river sand: dried leaves mulch(Humas) :

dried cow-dung manure.

It is growing pretty fast compared to any other indian palm

grouth rate.

Iam enclosing this picture for your reference_

[BigFrond 35]

These guys grow like weeds out here in SoCal and we have to pull them up every month.  They are slow at first but will grow rapidly after the first 6 months.  These guys love the sun.  The robusta has better frond but the filifera has the better trunk.  The trunk of the filifera can be 4 times that of the robusta.  I'm not impress with the Washies, however, if you get a chance to go to the Buffalo Bills Casino on the Cali-Nevada border, the trunks on the filifera are quite impressive.  In my opinion, the filifera is the better palm and might worth the try if I have about 10 acres of land(hehe.. I might plant a few after I have almost all of the palms in the world).