When does a Queen Palm start trunking?

[JLM]

Ive wondered for a while, at what age and/or height does a queen palm begin to trunk. My queen is in the 10 ft range, not really sure how old it is because the growth rates may vary. If it is growing at 2 ft per year then it is about 5 yrs old at the least.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Do you have a photo? That would help. Trunking would occur when the palm’s base reaches almost mature adult width. 

[Merlyn]

I have several queens that are just starting to trunk, their overall height is around 15-18'.

[JLM]

17 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Do you have a photo? That would help. Trunking would occur when the palm’s base reaches almost mature adult width. 

I edited the photo so you could see everything better. Just a change in tone thats it. I removed the mulch all the way down to the ground against the "trunk".

[Jim in Los Altos]

6 hours ago, JLM said:

I edited the photo so you could see everything better. Just a change in tone thats it. I removed the mulch all the way down to the ground against the "trunk".

A photo of the whole palm would be better. It's hard to put perspective on the closeup you provided. 

[The Germinator]

i am not sure when they start but in 10 plus years you will have a telephone pole. I just took down 2 that were about 15 at best and they had 15 to 20 foot of trunk.

[JLM]

 

12 hours ago, The Germinator said:

i am not sure when they start but in 10 plus years you will have a telephone pole. I just took down 2 that were about 15 at best and they had 15 to 20 foot of trunk.

I dont think my queens will reach mature height or width, i am in the florida panhandle where you dont find queens anywhere, mainly sabal, cabbage, sago, maybe some dates around the beach. Although there are total of 5 queens in my neighborhood, someone down the street has 3, and i have 2.

[JLM]

14 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

A photo of the whole palm would be better. It's hard to put perspective on the closeup you provided. 

I have the trunk and bud areas wrapped in lights and a sheet, the light extend into the crown of the tree.

[Jim in Los Altos]

11 hours ago, JLM said:

I have the trunk and bud areas wrapped in lights and a sheet, the light extend into the crown of the tree.

No need to wrap a queen palm unless you’re expecting lows in the 23 to 25° range especially if you’re expecting a pretty quick warm up after this one cold night. 

[JLM]

3 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

No need to wrap a queen palm unless you’re expecting lows in the 23 to 25° range especially if you’re expecting a pretty quick warm up after this one cold night. 

This cold started on monday night and into the morning, lows were supposed to be in the upper 20s with feels like temps in a range of 20 to 25. (NWSMobile) Although frost is really bad the AM though. Both of my queens will be unwrapped today! I can also get some good height measurements today, maybe the wind wont be blowing lol

[JLM]

@Jim in Los Altos i got a height measurement the other day, it is right at 10 feet tall! I expect good growth from both of my queens this summer, which my other queen is starting to throw fronds aswell. The one in the picture above has the one spear which looked like 6 at first, but i have determined that it will be one big frond. My smallest is actually in poor condition at the moment. I made the mistake of putting plastic over it during a multi-day cold snap back in November. I was very inexperienced at that time so i figured that a plastic bag would help it. I was so wrong on that conclusion. 

[JLM]

Backyard Queen now for sure the biggest palm, especially width wise. Height may be about the same between both large Queens in the front and backyard.

"Trunk" width as the base of the backyard Queen is about 10-11", while the one out front is about 9-10". Height is about 12 ft on both. For the backyard queen, this is a MAJOR difference from what it was just 2 years ago (3 ft tall with a base width of only a few inches).

Isnt mature width for a Queen generally about 15" across? Im sure this is the initial width, as it gets bigger it will probably grow wider, correct me if im wrong on this. If this survives future freezes, this thing is gonna be a monster.

[Scott W]

Here's mine from seed purchased from RPS five years ago...."Litoralis"...easily 12 feet to the tip of the fronds and 8" at the base.  No trunk yet....I've read trunk width is variable and I've seen it around town.

[JLM]

8 hours ago, Scott W said:

Here's mine from seed purchased from RPS five years ago...."Litoralis"...easily 12 feet to the tip of the fronds and 8" at the base.  No trunk yet....I've read trunk width is variable and I've seen it around town.

Cant wait to see how that thing looks by this time next year!