Maybe I won't kill this green chamaerops

[Joe NC]

I have a poor track record with blue pot green med fans.  I killed 3 early on I'm my palm planting days.  I saw this 7 gal blue pot special on the clearance rack for 30 bucks (New Center Lowe's Wilmington nc, they had a bunch more and some needles if anybody local is game) and had to try one more time.   I put it on a se facing brick wall, right against the house so it is hopefully dry under the eave in the winter and can get the few degrees bump from the radiant heat.  It's only planted 1/2 of the root ball depth into the existing grade, and I mounded the rest with some wood chip based garden soil in a bag.  Hopefully that keeps the crown dry and and roots drained.  If it survives long enough to grow and totally block the window, I'll consider that a success and deal with it then... 

[Dartolution]

Beautiful specimen. I have 3 planted in my backyard as of this year (zone 8a). I've had one for 2 years in a roughly 10 gallon pot, and it did grow well in that time, putting out about a dozen new leaves. I picked up 2 more "BPS" at lowes this year to plant around the yard as well early in the year. Hopefully they will be established by winter. 

Our winters tend to be fairly mild for the most part, being in the 50's during the day, and low 40's or upper 30's at night. 

During the first part of the year, in late january/early february we might have a quick cold snap that might get in the 20's at night but it typically doesn't last long. 

Its also usually an overcast, wet winter. 

 

I plan on letting them do their thing until we have a cold snap, then wrap in frost cloth or burlap and possibly heat coils just as a precaution. 

 

I planted mine using native soil mixed with a good quality general potting mix, plenty of sand, added in topsoil and compost for organics,  along with using Dr. Earth Exotic blend dry amendment in the hole dug with powdered mycorrhizae. 

Hopefully this mix will drain well this winter. 

I "peaked" under the topsoil around the largest palm a few weeks ago and there are lots of new white roots that have shot out, so that's a good sign. 

 

 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

@Joe NC at that price its always worth a try , im sure youll give it the best chance it has =) 

[Allen]

Looks good to me.  Good luck.   

[Brad Mondel]

With these blue pot palms I think it's best to grow them in pots for a few winters in a cool unheated greenhouse to gain some size and hardiness. 

[mdsonofthesouth]

I wish we got more blue pots here. I would buy the hell out of their needles.

[NC_Palms]

I love Chamaerops humilis! If I had the room, I would probably grow an entire Chamaerops forest it I could lol. Otherwise Good luck with your new palm! 

[Joe NC]

On 7/20/2019 at 10:41 AM, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

@Joe NC at that price its always worth a try , im sure youll give it the best chance it has =) 

Thanks! Usually if I kill three of something trying various methods I will finally give up... Some things are just not worth the effort in my yard (oakleaf hydrangea, Daphne, maybe green form med fans?...).

On 7/21/2019 at 10:17 AM, mdsonofthesouth said:

I wish we got more blue pots here. I would buy the hell out of their needles.

The blue pots would usually be a reliable source of clearance rack palms at the local big boxes (usually 8-10 bucks, for 3 gal) up until a couple of years ago.  I started an annual tradition of getting at least one discount trachy per year.  I don't think I even saw any local blue pot windmills this year?

On 7/21/2019 at 3:47 AM, Brad Mondel said:

With these blue pot palms I think it's best to grow them in pots for a few winters in a cool unheated greenhouse to gain some size and hardiness. 

Yes, I finally had learned my lesson about growing the blue pot Butia out to bigger sizes before planting out. Well until Jan 2018 came around an challenged my idea of how big a Butia needs to be to survive the winter in ground... 

[mdsonofthesouth]

We get blue pots, but they are rarer each year and were pretty rare to begin with. 

[Chester B]

No blue pots here.  Pretty sure they're from Florida, whereas all our big box palms come from Cali.