Sabal Minor. How big do they get?

[siege2050]

I imagine that there is probably a lot of size variation, but can someone give me an idea of how big an average (original origin unknown) sabal minor can get? I moved to a new house and have some 3-gallon plants and want to get an idea of how wide and tall they get so they won't get crowded against anything. I live in zone 7a with 98F+ summers, 0F possible winters, and very high summer humidity.

[Allen]

Regular version gets 5' tall and 3-4ish wide.  They can be 18" dwarf up to 6-7ft giants.  Vary a lot.  Grow 2-3 fronds per year.   If your plant has mature fronds it might be a indication.  Dwarf are tiny fronds.  

Edited January 4, 2020 by Allen

[PalmTreeDude]

They can get big but are very slow to get to their full size, slow as in many many years. Can you post a picture of yours? They don't take up too much space. 

Edited January 4, 2020 by PalmTreeDude

[NC_Palms]

Average specimens usually have underground trunks but some local populations can develop 8 feet trunks, especially those in Eastern North Carolina. 

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

Sabal Minor is native to pretty much all of Hatteras island NC.  I Assume the biggest ones are hidden in marshes and forests but I did notice a few bigger ones around the island .   Some were on cleared yards and were kept as they were pretty big and looked more palmy then trunkless plants.     

.   

Another big one in Hatteras

Here is a Dinosaur sized one in a Frisco yard .  about 10 feet from bottom to frond tip.  this was a couple weeks after the 2019 Hurricane so most palms around looked a little scraggly.  

This one has been maintained quite nice.  It was on a motel property and was certainly not planted there.   looks like they trimmed off old boots . 

  

Close up on the trunk . about 5 ft of total trunk . 

 

[Chester B]

I have one big one thats around 6' in every dimension.  I planted a 1 gallon almost 4 years ago and its still pretty small - not much more than a 1' all around.  They grow slow pretty slow, I get about 2 fronds per year.  I think if you give them 4' each it will take over a decade for them to fill out the space.  

[Zifool]

Wow Chester ur is realy big ! It's just a minor ? It's look like lousinana no ?

[Manalto]

I concur with the 6-foot average size for Sabal minor. Another thing to consider is the possibility of seedlings. When I bought this house, there were already 20 or so full-size plants that had naturalized  in a neglected area. Seedlings continue to appear as I clear out weeds and other competition. A solo minor in the foundation planting two years ago is now half a dozen.

[Chester B]

9 hours ago, Zifool said:

Wow Chester ur is realy big ! It's just a minor ? It's look like lousinana no ?

I put it up on the forum here for ID and everyone felt it was just an old minor.  I bought it at this size, it would take decades to get that big out here.  It had 3 really long stretched out fronds when I first got it and I removed one because it looked kind of weird.  Now all of the new fronds are coming in around 4' in height and those two tall ones are getting old and browning from age.  I have a Sabal Louisiana growing out but it is much smaller so they don't look alike right now.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Chester B

[Dave_OK]

I'm in Central OK a couple hundred miles west of you and we have some very, very large minors in and around OKC. My largest minor is nearly 6 feet tall and spreads a good 4 or 5 feet. I've seen some at the OKC Zoo and OSU-OKC that are even larger. My largest plant has been in this location for four years, but is probably at least 10-12 years old.  I would think you could easily expect these results, and yours might do even better with higher rainfall in Eastern OK. Good luck!

[RaleighNC]

Here is another example of some big Sabal minors. Saw these this week at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. The tallest were over 12' (4m) tall and individual leaves are up to 6' wide.