Licuala Ramsayi soil & water preferences

[David_Sweden]

I think the Palmtalk forum has excellent functionality and quality but I don't understand why it allows 8MB of uploaded files then degrades the quality severely. Here you have the pics in full quality: Peltata Ramsayi

I'd find it hard to even believe it is possible to grow Ramsayis in big pots from my experiences if it wasn't for that I've seen pics of when it is done:

At the 1st pic it said 10 GAL (38 litres) where I found it, so it is more than 4 times bigger than mine (but with a much bigger palm too) and I note the pot is relatively wide for a palm. 2nd pic has a more normally shaped pot. Obviously it is no fluke, the growers manage to grow these big ones in pots successfully. And here's a Peltata that looks bigger than me:

Hope Palmbob doesn't mind since he is a member here. How cool wouldn't it be to have Licualas approaching those sizes..

[Pal Meir]

19 minutes ago, David_Sweden said:

 

At the 1st pic it said 10 GAL (38 litres) where I found it, so it is more than 4 times bigger than mine (but with a much bigger palm too) and I note the pot is relatively wide for a palm. 2nd pic has a more normally shaped pot. Obviously it is no fluke, the growers manage to grow these big ones in pots successfully. And here's a Peltata that looks bigger than me:

Hope Palmbob doesn't mind since he is a member here. How cool wouldn't it be to have Licualas approaching those sizes..

My potted Licuala grandis was bigger (in 2008) than those in your last 2 photos:

In 2008 I gave it away to a friend; it didn’t last even one year and the palm was doomed … 

[David_Sweden]

Makes you wanna cry.. the years one put into it and the vision of seeing it reaching the ceiling never coming true.

I was hoping for around 1½ years that the Ramsayi would grow out of whatever discomfort I caused it but I'm thinking now maybe they can't do that (like other plants can).. Maybe life in a pot has slim margins for Licualas so that if under additional stress it doesn't have the power to snap out of it?

Palmbob once called Kentias "very forgiving" or if it even was "the most forgiving" palm tree, maybe Licualas are the opposite: Treat me right and dont mess with my roots more than necessary or I will die on you? Just a theory.. On the other hand I bought it shipped without soil and it stood for a number of weeks before starting to grow, so it did snap out of that.

Edited September 1, 2018 by David_Sweden

[Neil C]

I've grown ramsayii to a fairly decent size in a 52L pot. Obviously this is much easier outside in subtropical Brisbane compared to indoors in Europe. I just stuck them in a pot with the cheapest potting mix I could find and watered them about once a week with rainwater. The potting mix I used did contain quite a bit of pine bark but was otherwise nothing special. I did notice roots that grew up out of the soil. The first photo is the plant I grew and the second is one I saw for sale on Gumtree here that appears very healthy and is in a small pot with what looks like bone dry media.

 

Regards Neil

 

[Missi]

Did you try a bit of normal H2O2 (straight from the bottle purchased at the drug store) in the crown for a week or so?

Very sorry for your losses! Sanitize everything and try again! All of my Licuala specimens (minus the Mapu of course) have been super forgiving! 

I'm surprised more people didn't chime in here to this post! Surely more people in cooler climates keep Licuala as house plants?

[David_Sweden]

Thanks Missi. I put a "freebie ad" here and several persons from Spain and the US were interested but when I checked shipping cost they thought it was too much, which I understand considering the uncertain state. Then I noticed the Peltata's emerging frond had actually grown for the first time in 14 months, about 1 cm. And I realized it's been 10 months since I repotted them so I decided to repot once again and check shape of the roots.

The Ramsayi had an abundance of roots, and the bottom 3 cm or so was a compact brick of roots, like 10 months ago, I thought it might grow out of that but no. No signs of root rot. I'm thinking now the "root brick" could be the major issue, and also I read Licualas like sour pH so then coir might be a bad choice (the whole coir idea was a bit of an experiment, it does give stellar drainage but I'm suspiscious about downsides). I decided to untangle all roots including the brick by shaking, hitting with fist and using shower with max jet, a lot of thinner roots fell off in the process but afterwards it was completely untangled and free from old soil (including many years old peat at spots).

The Peltata didn't have much roots still, about as little as 10 months ago, but there were 5 new roots coming, 3 of them big ones at the top. Three  roots were dark but not slimy (rather crispy), ~1dm long, other than that roots look healthy even at bottom of pot.

Will be interesting to see what happens now. I read at more than one place how Ramsayi prefers small pot and thus being root bound but with that strategy one will end up with a brick of roots I'd say. If one wants as small a pot as possible for a Ramsayi I think one must be very perceptive to when it's getting crowded and then pot up one small step. And maybe not use a tall pot which is so often recommended (due to the naturally tallish shape of palm roots) but rather same width as height from when 15-20cm.

And at repottings in 2017 I aimed a lot on being quick to minimize stress but lately when repotting I take my time, I just have a bucket of water and dip at least every 2 minutes or leave it in there, I'm thinking it can sit in a bucket for at least an hour or two without suffering from lack of oxygen. I still don't really like messing with roots, it feels about as unnatural as when a surgeon operates on a human, but I'm learning.

[Missi]

On 9/29/2018, 3:36:42, David_Sweden said:

Thanks Missi. I put a "freebie ad" here and several persons from Spain and the US were interested but when I checked shipping cost they thought it was too much, which I understand considering the uncertain state. Then I noticed the Peltata's emerging frond had actually grown for the first time in 14 months, about 1 cm. And I realized it's been 10 months since I repotted them so I decided to repot once again and check shape of the roots.

The Ramsayi had an abundance of roots, and the bottom 3 cm or so was a compact brick of roots, like 10 months ago, I thought it might grow out of that but no. No signs of root rot. I'm thinking now the "root brick" could be the major issue, and also I read Licualas like sour pH so then coir might be a bad choice (the whole coir idea was a bit of an experiment, it does give stellar drainage but I'm suspiscious about downsides). I decided to untangle all roots including the brick by shaking, hitting with fist and using shower with max jet, a lot of thinner roots fell off in the process but afterwards it was completely untangled and free from old soil (including many years old peat at spots).

The Peltata didn't have much roots still, about as little as 10 months ago, but there were 5 new roots coming, 3 of them big ones at the top. Three  roots were dark but not slimy (rather crispy), ~1dm long, other than that roots look healthy even at bottom of pot.

Will be interesting to see what happens now. I read at more than one place how Ramsayi prefers small pot and thus being root bound but with that strategy one will end up with a brick of roots I'd say. If one wants as small a pot as possible for a Ramsayi I think one must be very perceptive to when it's getting crowded and then pot up one small step. And maybe not use a tall pot which is so often recommended (due to the naturally tallish shape of palm roots) but rather same width as height from when 15-20cm.

And at repottings in 2017 I aimed a lot on being quick to minimize stress but lately when repotting I take my time, I just have a bucket of water and dip at least every 2 minutes or leave it in there, I'm thinking it can sit in a bucket for at least an hour or two without suffering from lack of oxygen. I still don't really like messing with roots, it feels about as unnatural as when a surgeon operates on a human, but I'm learning.

WOW! Those roots really were bound! Maybe that was why the palms chose to fail to thrive. There's preferring snug roots, then there's unhealthy root bound. I let my clumping Areca vestiaria become unhealthily root bound and the leaves started dying off, beginning at the tips. I repotted it and it is happy as can be now.

[Onum]

Hi Dave. Roots look healthy indeed. Did you use the same 70%coir + 30%seramis mix for repotting but bigger pots? Not an expert here, but maybe add some pine bark or similar for better aeration, the slow yellowing might be a sign for not getting enough oxygen for proper growth, even though the roots look ok. Both coir and seramis provide aeration to the roots but they also retain a lot of water. You also mentioned new fronds are not looking their best after a while due maybe to the same reason?