Syagrus Kellyana

[palm tree man]

Does anyone have any definitive experience with Syagrus Kellyana? All I know is what I have learned from the taxonomical description and what is listed on RPS. Has anyone tested the cold tolerance or the limits of this palm. Are there any good pictures of this palm that are not on Palmpedia or RPS or on the PDF for that matter? It is said to be similar to picophylla and it has large seeds like a parajubaea. Can it also withstand frost like a parajubaea. I have a seedling in a clay pot that has withstood 26 or 27 degrees without a scratch but how hardy is it really? Is it as tough as Coronata or other commonly grown Syagrus among collectors? I have the descriptive links and have spoken with Toby about this palm; is there any new news about it; anything else known?

[palm tree man]

http://www.montgomerybotanical.org/media/Newsletters/fall2010.pdf

[palm tree man]

Another Googled pic.

[palm tree man]

I am counting on my buddy Axel to add some information at some point; he is the man when it comes to Syagrus.

[quaman58]

A couple years back I got a seedling from Floribunda. Like almost all Syagrus it is slow getting started & is still pretty small with strap leaves. But it looks perfect, with no spotting at all even during last winters cold.

[palm tree man]

That is all I can say about mine as well, I really didn't expect it to be that tough. I actually sat by my fire pit and watched it until the early morning hours while I worked on my lap top and it looked none the worse. I am almost tempted to plant it out and see what it can handle, but I am also hesitant to do that because it is a pretty palm and so newly described.

[palm tree man]

I wish that I had more information at this point but I do not; I might have to just plant it out tomorrow and push its growth over the next nine or ten months until we see freezing or below temps and find out what this syagrus can tolerate.

Edited March 13, 2014 by palm tree man

[palm tree man]

Here is a chart of the family tree for Kellyana, if we look at its close relatives we see several reasonably hardy syagrus. This might possibly be a great collector palm for hot areas with the occasional freeze. We shall see in do time.

[palm tree man]

Chart, sorry did not load on last post.

[Cikas]

It looks great. It is great to hear that it is reasonable cold hardy.

[palm tree man]

I am pretty excited about that as well!

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

My two 1 gal Syagrus Kellyana, froze dead this year in a protected area with lows around 26f.

My experiiance is that they are not so hardy in my z9b climate.

Sorry...

Jeff

[palm tree man]

This is very sad, I will definitely plant it in an area that is easy to protect or keep it in a planter that I can move to the greenhouse during extreme cold spells.

[PÚA]

I get an small seedling two leaves and two years old... growing under canopy in pot and winstand -2C for some hours, two three days per year and 44C for several days in summer, without any damage. Very slow growth but the root had some accidentaly damage while it was sprouting. I hope its growth rate will increase this year as its second leave is much bigger than the first one.

[foxtail]

Update?? Can't find any information about this specimen.

[Matthew92]

Yes- has anyone been able to better pin down S. kellyana's actual cold hardiness?

[PalmatierMeg]

9 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

Yes- has anyone been able to better pin down S. kellyana's actual cold hardiness?

They are totally hardy here in zone 10. I suspect they should do well in zone 9b/a. Maybe someone will be able to trial them soon. My two adult kellyanas are putting out inflorescenses right now. One of them attempted to flower last year but the inflorescense aborted.

[quaman58]

They are moderately cold hardy, but do suffer spotting and some yellowing as it gets close to freezing. This was a pretty miserable winter in San Diego, where the temps did not reach 70F for pretty much the entire month of February. It shows on this palm (as well as a lot of others). I often mistakenly assume that many Syagrus must be similar in cold hardiness to Queens, but am finding out that is not the case..

[Josue Diaz]

I have a batch of 6 seedlings still in strap-leaf stage. Once they get a little bigger I'll test them out in Fresno (interior, z9b in CA). 

[Matthew92]

I am hoping they would be similar in hardiness as a queen (maybe some are more hardy than others in the gene pool of that species). If I move back to Northwest FL, I have a dream of planting a queen in ground and dutifully protecting it on hard freezing nights. Of course a regular S. romanzoffiana would get too big to protect over the years, so I was thinking that S. kellyana (a close look alike to S. romanzoffiana) would be a little easier to manage being smaller stature. 

[Ben in Norcal]

2 hours ago, Matthew92 said:

I am hoping they would be similar in hardiness as a queen (maybe some are more hardy than others in the gene pool of that species). If I move back to Northwest FL, I have a dream of planting a queen in ground and dutifully protecting it on hard freezing nights. Of course a regular S. romanzoffiana would get too big to protect over the years, so I was thinking that S. kellyana (a close look alike to S. romanzoffiana) would be a little easier to manage being smaller stature. 

They are nowhere near as cold hardy as a queen.  I have several and they all spot up above freezing.  They stay alive, but look haggard.  Mine have only seen down to 30.

[Matthew92]

4 hours ago, Ben in Norcal said:

They are nowhere near as cold hardy as a queen.  I have several and they all spot up above freezing.  They stay alive, but look haggard.  Mine have only seen down to 30.

Maybe that's more due to longer periods of cool/chilly temps?

[Josue Diaz]

I have 6 of this size in a greenhouse. I got these from an Ebay source from Florida last summer. The greenhouse is unheated and they show a tiny bit of cold damage.

 

This is a seedling growing outside from RPS seed. This is in Fresno.

Edited April 20, 2019 by Josue Diaz

[edbrown_III]

mine really got hurt by the freeze in 2018 ------  hurt the Syagrus lorenzii as well they werent cold hardy here in North FLorida 

[Ben in Norcal]

17 hours ago, Matthew92 said:

Maybe that's more due to longer periods of cool/chilly temps?

That's certainly possible - we are cool for a lot longer here.

[Loxahatchee Adam]

Here’s a pic of my little Syagrus kellyana here.  It’s possible that it’s a Syagrus kellyana x.  Planted about 3 years ago.   I had to play around with the exposure from the lighting. 

Loxahatchee, Florida, US   About 20 miles inland   It’s gone down to near freezing several times, but quickly warms up the next day