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Dypsis lanceolata growth rate


PlantDude

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Hi I'm new here. I've gotten into growing palms recently. I ordered 6 different species of palm seeds from rps: Cyrtostachys renda, Areca triandra, Dypsis lanceolata, and 3 different chamaedoreas: hooperiana, elegans, microspadix. Anyway, as far as germination goes, the easiest by far has been the dypsis. Every seed had already germinated in the bag of peat upon arrival. The only other germination I've seen has been for C. hooperiana. Anyway, since my dypsis are already growing, that's what I've been focused on mainly. The problem is that they seem to be growing extremely slowly. I planted them in pots a while ago. It's almost as if they aren't growing at all. They look green and healthy, but their size has remained unchanged for a month and a half. I'm not very experienced with growing palms from seeds. I'm wondering if anyone else has germinated this species and had similar experiences with very slow growth. Or maybe all palms from seed are this slow? They're in partial sun. And the soil is a mixture and palm/cactus mix, regular potting soil, spagnum peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite. Just want to hear people's thoughts on this or other species I'm trying to grow. Thanks!

-Socrates

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I am in Encinitas about 1.5 miles from the ocean and I have had close to zero luck growing palms from seeds or seedlings in pots. There is just not enough heat without a greenhouse to get them going. If you have a south facing wall that is the ideal place to get extra heat. I have had much better luck putting very small seedlings straight into the ground with shade cloth over them. I would continue to experiment with seedlings but a one gallon from floribundapalms.com is a much better way to go. Lanceolata once they get going are pretty fast and do great here on the coast.

Encinitas, CA

Zone 10b

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Welcome PlantDude! You're experiencing how slow most palms are from seed. Even a lot of fast palms can be slow when small. It's gonna be several years before that D. lanceolata is even a 1 gallon size plant. Palms from seed will teach you patience and to appreciate the nurseries who put the time in to offer these uncommon palms for sale. Pretty soon $75 for a nicely grown 5 gallon plant sounds pretty good.

  • Upvote 1

Matt Bradford

"Manambe Lavaka"

Spring Valley, CA (8.5 miles inland from San Diego Bay)

10B on the hill (635 ft. elevation)

9B in the canyon (520 ft. elevation)

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Do you have a greenhouse? You can get a nice 1 gallon in just over a year in a GH. A lot longer if growing in the elements. If you don't have a GH don't even bother with Cyrtostachys renda. Even in a GH they are a waste of time unless you keep it heated to 50 each winter.

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

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palms are just that slow from seed. i have a large Dypsis pembana which is a close cousin to your lanceolata and it's growing real quick but my seedlings i started about a year and a half ago are still these little wispy things. with 3 or 4 leaves

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Welcome PlantDude, you're certainly are in the right place. Plenty of help for any palm questions you might have.

Tim

Tim

Hilo, Hawaii

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In my experience it it takes a lot of palms a long time to produce that second leaf, if the first leaf is green and healthy then no need to worry. Roots will be forming etc and yes as already pointed out palms in general are very slow from seed!

Don't make the fatal mistake of giving them to much fertiliser to try and speed up the process!! I am finding the less fert in the young seedlings the better. Patience is definitely required!

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PlantDude - Welcome, you came to the right place.

You have advice from 6 very knowledgeable folks, 4 that are very familiar with growing palms in your area. They collectively have killed many palms to learn what to do and not to do. Before Palm Talk, it was not so easy to acquire this kind of information, especially so rapidly.

  • Upvote 1

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Do you have a greenhouse? You can get a nice 1 gallon in just over a year in a GH. A lot longer if growing in the elements. If you don't have a GH don't even bother with Cyrtostachys renda. Even in a GH they are a waste of time unless you keep it heated to 50 each winter.

Len, I seriously doubt, if you heated a green house to only 50F, a Cyrtostachys could make it. They will die in that cold of weather.

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I've been germinating palms for about 12 years and have germinated thousands of the things and from my experience palms are not in a hurry to get big quickly from seed. Fresh seed usually germinates quicker and more uniformly than old seed. The first thing a palm has to do is get a root happening, once that's underway it will put out it's first solar panel (leaf). It will do these first two steps rather quickly as the food in the seed that provides the energy to put the first leaf and root out is aging. Once it has done that it usually has used up most if not all the energy in the seed. Then it has to start generating it's own energy by photosynthesis, to one, keep itself alive and two, to get a bit of extra energy stored as starch that it can then use to put on growth.

A couple of things can produce slower than normal seedling growth. Old seed may not have 100% of the energy stored available to the seedling, so it gets to a certain point and then stalls. The other thing is if conditions are not viable for growth (ie too cold for tropical species). In those situations the little one leafer may sit there in a stalled state until good conditions return, or it may just die. Ideally if natural temps are not conducive to produce growth in a seedling past the one leaf stage a greenhouse can keep the momentum going until the plant has enough size to handle a less than ideal climate.

That's my experience anyway.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Do you have a greenhouse? You can get a nice 1 gallon in just over a year in a GH. A lot longer if growing in the elements. If you don't have a GH don't even bother with Cyrtostachys renda. Even in a GH they are a waste of time unless you keep it heated to 50 each winter.

Len, I seriously doubt, if you heated a green house to only 50F, a Cyrtostachys could make it. They will die in that cold of weather.

Probably, I never tried to know. I know Doc's pool house was around 50 at the lows and his large one lived but one day a panel fell out and it dipped just under 50 on night and the thing was toast. Of course all those numbers could be off.

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

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C renda is just not a palm for California period!! That big 15'er at RSN was in a heated greenhouse and croaked after 1 year.

anyone trying the hybrid C. Renda in California with any success out side of a greenhouse??

Carlsbad, California Zone 10 B on the hill (402 ft. elevation)

Sunset zone 24

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C renda is just not a palm for California period!! That big 15'er at RSN was in a heated greenhouse and croaked after 1 year.

anyone trying the hybrid C. Renda in California with any success out side of a greenhouse??

Depends on the set up. As stated Mardy Darian grew one for many years in his heated pool house. The Soledad palmetum is not heated above 50. Totally agree not a Cali palm and I wouldn't waste my time, but to someone it might be worth the effort.

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

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C renda is just not a palm for California period!! That big 15'er at RSN was in a heated greenhouse and croaked after 1 year.

anyone trying the hybrid C. Renda in California with any success out side of a greenhouse??

Depends on the set up. As stated Mardy Darian grew one for many years in his heated pool house. The Soledad palmetum is not heated above 50. Totally agree not a Cali palm and I wouldn't waste my time, but to someone it might be worth the effort.

An extremely difficult grow out of USDA Zone 11. Zone 11 with plenty of water & humidity, they grow like weeds.

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Not to get off topic here, but Cyrtostachys will NOT die at 50 degree weather. Not sure where you came up with that fact because I along with many have had them even lower and come through fine. I'm speaking from experience. But for the Cali collectors, try to get a hybrid, these will take low 30's and laugh!

Welcome to the forum though. :)

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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Not to get off topic here, but Cyrtostachys will NOT die at 50 degree weather. Not sure where you came up with that fact because I along with many have had them even lower and come through fine. I'm speaking from experience. But for the Cali collectors, try to get a hybrid, these will take low 30's and laugh!

Welcome to the forum though. :)

Speaking of Cyrtostachys hybrids, your herd must be thinning out. At each extravaganza a couple of big ones make it out the gate.

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Not to get off topic here, but Cyrtostachys will NOT die at 50 degree weather. Not sure where you came up with that fact because I along with many have had them even lower and come through fine. I'm speaking from experience. But for the Cali collectors, try to get a hybrid, these will take low 30's and laugh!

Welcome to the forum though. :)

Jeff, that nice size three gallon I got from you was planted in the ground this spring. Finger crossed. It dropped about 5 of the 10 suckers it had. They just rotted off. But the plant is still green.

Len

Vista, CA (Zone 10a)

Shadowridge Area

"Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."

-- Alfred Austin

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  • 2 months later...

Welcome PlantDude! You're experiencing how slow most palms are from seed. Even a lot of fast palms can be slow when small. It's gonna be several years before that D. lanceolata is even a 1 gallon size plant. Palms from seed will teach you patience and to appreciate the nurseries who put the time in to offer these uncommon palms for sale. Pretty soon $75 for a nicely grown 5 gallon plant sounds pretty good.

True, but there's a certain appeal to watching them go through the whole journey of life. Haha...

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Do you have a greenhouse? You can get a nice 1 gallon in just over a year in a GH. A lot longer if growing in the elements. If you don't have a GH don't even bother with Cyrtostachys renda. Even in a GH they are a waste of time unless you keep it heated to 50 each winter.

I never intended for the C. renda to be outside. I'm aware they have no cold tolerance. With that one it was my intention to have it as a nice houseplant. But unfortunately none of the seeds I ordered from rps have germinated even though they've been kept at a constant 80s in moist sphagnum. I've heard they need to be very fresh so maybe that's the issue. And I was also really looking forward to Areca triandra but none have germinated either. Supposedly it's the only Areca that will survive in socal. Is it normal for any palm seeds to take over 5 months to germinate? Or can I pretty much give up hope on them at this point?

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C renda is just not a palm for California period!! That big 15'er at RSN was in a heated greenhouse and croaked after 1 year.

anyone trying the hybrid C. Renda in California with any success out side of a greenhouse??

I always had that one in mind for indoors. But now I'm under the impression that they're extremely high maintenance indoors and aren't well suited as houseplants. From what I've heard, it seems like they're susceptible to death from a wide variety of different causes. It's too bad one of the nicest looking palms is one of the most difficult to keep happy.

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