Livistona Nitida vs. L. Decora vs. L. Rigida vs. L. Chinensis

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Thanks Keith.  I have a few 20g chilensis and 10g nitida that I plan on planting in favorable spots next year to test their ability to survive long term up here. The dry cold doesn't seem to bother the robusta here, it is the wicked ice storms and rapid fluctuations in temperature that seem to hurt them the most. Almost all robusta that made it through 2010 were on the south side of a building with virtally all of the 15'+ trees dying outright. My hope is that strategically located livistona would survive as well 

[Sandy Loam]

A knowledgeable landscaper told me that, based on his experience in Tallahassee, livistona chinensis is more bud-hardy than washingtonia robusta, even though its leaves might be more delicate and therefore more easily damaged by a winter freeze. He said that livistona chinensis always bounces back better because of its bud-hardiness.

[redbeard917]

21 hours ago, Opal92 said:

Yes, the ad naseum mass plantings of some of those species gives a huge playground for these pests/diseases...

Sago palm is already on it's way to being killed off. 7 years ago, as far as I was concerned, asian cycad scale was something only for South Florida. Never saw it anywhere up here. Now it is all over the place even into Pensacola. There's already 2 on the college campus I'm at that are in the final stages of infestation and literally dying.

I saw what appeared to be a bad case of Asian cycad scale on a sago in New Orleans a few years back. Sagos here in Tallahassee don't seem to be affected much, yet.

[_Keith]

Just uploaded some of my Livistona pics in this thread.   Don't want to duel post, but take a look here if interested.  

 

[Matthew92]

Here's what the 3 clump of Livistona I described earlier in this thread looks like now. Amazing recovery after the 2 back to back winters of upper teens. I had a dim view of L. chinensis growing in this zone before, but to now see how bud hardy they are makes me willing to try some in the future.

Before

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.524843,-86.45195,3a,51.6y,20.99h,82.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRqjTefKOMtTCjoYfDppGtw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Today (this past weekend)

[Sanips]

7 hours ago, Opal92 said:

Here's what the 3 clump of Livistona I described earlier in this thread looks like now. Amazing recovery after the 2 back to back winters of upper teens. I had a dim view of L. chinensis growing in this zone before, but to now see how bud hardy they are makes me willing to try some in the future.

Before

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.524843,-86.45195,3a,51.6y,20.99h,82.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRqjTefKOMtTCjoYfDppGtw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Today (this past weekend)

Wow, impressive recovery. I would like to try it but it's said that is a very slow growing species.

[Matthew92]

3 hours ago, Sanips said:

Wow, impressive recovery. I would like to try it but it's said that is a very slow growing species.

From what I've heard they speed up when they start trunking. I had a small, knee-high one for several years that went at turtle's pace.