Washingtonia filibusta

[jfrye01@live.com]

Been doing some research on Washingtonia, stumbled across the "filibusta" hybrid...can anyone give me more information about this palm? Anybody here grown this palm? I'm not planning to grow it here in 6B/7A, as no Washy would stand a chance, just wanting to learn more about this interesting hybrid from some primary sources;) Thanks!

[spockvr6]

Its a hybrid of the common filifera and robusta.

[Xerarch]

It's supposed to be the best of both worlds. Hardier than robusta, more tolerant of humidity and salt than filifera, intermediate in appearance between the two. I personally like the beefy appearance of filifera, so a robusta with a little filifera in it looks good in my opinion. Sometimes nursery grown, over-pruned robustas are too scrawny looking for my taste. I hear the increased cold tolerance of the hybrid (though definitely present) isn't all that pronounced, so, if someone is in a very marginal area that will support filifera, I'd say probably best to stick with filifera.

Also, the Washingtonia genus hybridizes very readily, and it's likely that much of what is sold as either is really a hybrid somewhere along the line anyway, any washy you see is just a spot along a wide spectrum of variability and hybridity (if that's not a word, I just made it up). It's hard to get a pure strain.

[jfrye01@live.com]

I found two 2' filibusta for $30 and am thinking about buying them. $15 per plant isn't bad, and while I'd try to protect them, even if I couldn't, I could always dig them up and pot them next winter...is there any possibility of keeping these alive in a zone 6b? I just think it would be very difficult to protect them after several years...

[_Keith]

They are fast growers, so yes your time with them would limited, but nothing last forever.

I have many of these. Trunk thickness is between filifera and robusta. Cold hardiness seems pretty even with robusta. Sensitivty to humidity slightly more than robusta, but much less sensitive to humidity than filifera. Main difference I have seen is in speed of growth. For me filibusta are rocket ships, even compared to robusta which is pretty fast in my climate.

[stevethegator]

Id say a majority of commercially grown washies are "filibusta". They vary in size, shape, hardiness, and growth rate depending on the ratio of traits inherited from either robusta or filifera

[_Keith]

Id say a majority of commercially grown washies are "filibusta". They vary in size, shape, hardiness, and growth rate depending on the ratio of traits inherited from either robusta or filifera

Steve, I have seen that stated before as well. I tend to judge them with the petiole color method, and other characteristics like trunk size. I think it was debated on PT in the past as well.

[Alicehunter2000]

I find it a little difficult to find an almost perfect 50/50 mix between the two. Usually they lean more to one side of the mix....however, occasionally you do find a tree that looks to be the perfect combination. I have been growing seeds from two such trees in Panama City, Fl. ....it will be interesting to see if they exhibit the same attributes of the parent trees....will look to see if I can find a picture.

[Matthew92]

I am pretty much sure this is a filibusta at Shades of Green Resort at Disney World.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Opal92

[NorthFlpalmguy]

I find it a little difficult to find an almost perfect 50/50 mix between the two. Usually they lean more to one side of the mix....however, occasionally you do find a tree that looks to be the perfect combination. I have been growing seeds from two such trees in Panama City, Fl. ....it will be interesting to see if they exhibit the same attributes of the parent trees....will look to see if I can find a picture.

x2 on the leaning. The filibusta seedlings I have now seem a little too sensitive to the humidity and/or constant watering as bad as the pure filiferas I have. Robustas would be triple the size with all the irrigation and loving it.