Beccariophoenix Alfredii speed of growth after establishing roots

[sonoranfans]

I just went back and looked at the more recent speed of growth of my full sun(largest) Beccariophoenix alfredii.    These palms start out kind of slow but I was surprised at the last 2 years, I had to check the file dates to convince myself.  We do have a long growing season here and I have more recently been putting down a few more lbs of florikan  on this palm so that might be part of it.  But huge roots and never cutting off green may have combined with the florikan to increase the growth of this palm.  Here it is in dec 2017 and dec 2019 and it was hit with one advective freeze 30F for 5-6 hrs and of course hurricane IRMA winds at a "mild" 65-75 mph for 5-6 hrs.  BA was my least damaged pinnate palm in those events.  So patience with your BA, let it get the roots down and make sure its well fed and in full sun and you might be surprised.  My other BA started out in half shade which I removed the canopy and they are now growing very well.  This was was always in full sun, the overhead oak branch was to the south so that tree, which has since been removed, wasnt shading the BA at 20' away.  the second pic was taken from the opposite direction since I no longer have enough clear path to avoid the use of a distorting wide angle lens (from that direction) on this 25'+ overall monster. 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

Absolutely stunning palm what a specimen  Is it wrong that i prefer a B.Alfie over a coconut,  maybe cause it being more rare in cultivation. Either way I love em 

[sonoranfans]

FYI, this one was planted as a "just going pinnate" 3 gallon in summer 2010 and was burned to the ground with 28F plus heavy frost in dec 2010.  It came back pretty well!.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

2 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

FYI, this one was planted as a "just going pinnate" 3 gallon in summer 2010 and was burned to the ground with 28F plus heavy frost in dec 2010.  It came back pretty well!.

Do you think it would've been burned as bad if it had been more established? What has it seen since 2010 ? 

[sonoranfans]

2 hours ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

Do you think it would've been burned as bad if it had been more established? What has it seen since 2010 ? 

No, I dont think 28F would matter at this point.  This palm took 5-6 hrs of 30F without any sign of stress.  Big(35') royals and 20-25' kentiopsis were badly burned losing most or all of their crowns.  I just think small alfies are susceptible to frost, put the frost cloth on it while small.  BA have taken much lower temperature than 28F without frost out west.  But little ones are frost tender.  There are other threads on here about that.  I am finding the new search tool not as good as the old one.

[JohnAndSancho]

Bumping an old thread - how long do these take to go pinnate? Mine was a strap leaf last April, and it has 5 leaves now. There's an opening in the newest, still growing leaf, but I honestly don't know if it's trying to go pinnate or if it's damage from an animal. I'll take a pic tomorrow when the sun comes out. I had just gave it some Jobes palm food (chicken poo), and fish and kelp juice. I couldn't use the Jobes on indoor palms in my apartment because Sancho would eat it 🤢 and I'm guessing that cats and possums would find it equally delicious. 

My queen just exploded after it went pinnate, and I'm hoping for the same results with this one. 

[sonoranfans]

17 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Bumping an old thread - how long do these take to go pinnate? Mine was a strap leaf last April, and it has 5 leaves now. There's an opening in the newest, still growing leaf, but I honestly don't know if it's trying to go pinnate or if it's damage from an animal. I'll take a pic tomorrow when the sun comes out. I had just gave it some Jobes palm food (chicken poo), and fish and kelp juice. I couldn't use the Jobes on indoor palms in my apartment because Sancho would eat it 🤢 and I'm guessing that cats and possums would find it equally delicious. 

My queen just exploded after it went pinnate, and I'm hoping for the same results with this one. 

You will first see a new leaf with small "windows'  After that it should take oen grow season to go sully pinnate.  Mine were well int he process by the time they were a little less than 30 inches of height..  They do grow faster in the warm season with full sun exposure.

[Tyrone]

Yes, I also agree that they do better in full sun. In that respect they are just like a coconut and like a solar panel do better in full sun. 
 

Also I’ve found that smaller ones that have just gone pinnate can handle negative 2C with little to no damage. In my nursery my small ones are out in the open and get whatever the climate throws at them with no protection and they are fine. Not quite a Jubaea but I grow Jubaea right along side of them.