Fishtail Palm weirdness - Abnormal frond?

[Christopher Dillman]

Hello!

New to the board, and looking for any guidance on this oddity. 

It's a fishtail palm I planted circa May 2019. I had normal fronds shooting out and fanning into its fishtail majesty, up until Nov 2019.

Then it stopped.

The palm overall has stayed green, yet now I get this Alien-looking frond popping out, and has stayed that way for the past 3 months. It's whitish, seeding, fleshy, and well, Alien-looking...

 

 

Is this normal?

Do I leave it alone (it's sloooowly getting a bit taller each month) ?

My instincts tell me to chop it completely, to allow an opportunity for another frond to come up behind it ?

Again, the palm is green so far and other fronds/leafage appear fine.

Thank you in advance for any insights!

Christopher

aka: Fishtail fan and nerd

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Christopher Dillman

[Chris Chance]

Welcome to the forum! 

It looks to me you palm is flowering and usually what happens with Caryota is they die after they flower. From what I'm guessing it's premature but it happens. Honestly I don't have any growing here because they can be dangerous when they get tall, flower, then die. They're known for falling. 

[Christopher Dillman]

22 minutes ago, Chris Chance said:

Welcome to the forum! 

It looks to me you palm is flowering and usually what happens with Caryota is they die after they flower. From what I'm guessing it's premature but it happens. Honestly I don't have any growing here because they can be dangerous when they get tall, flower, then die. They're known for falling. 

Appreciate the quick reply! Not the answer I wanted to hear.  Although rare that it would flower so early after 1 year in the ground?!

Coincidentally, I have a sibling fishtail on the north side of my property, planted at the same time as this one, yet it's thriving.

Wondering if I should wait till the leaves turn brown/wilt, or just pull the plug on it now and start over. They're not cheap those fishtails here in San Diego.

[Stevetoad]

It’s not that uncommon when you plant a bigger one. They tend to go into flower when the roots get disturbed. Like Chris said. Once they flower that’s it for them. I had one blow over and I staked it up and a year later it flowered. Kind of glad it did it before it got to big. After that I cut down my maxima that was about 20 foot. Thing was getting to big. 

[Chris Chance]

You could always wait and see. Could possibly get some seeds out of it. I know they're not cheap at a large size but planting smaller is probably better. There's also many different Caryota species out there. I believe you have obtusa maybe? Those actually can get massive!

[Jim in Los Altos]

This has happened to so many of my Caryota palms that I won’t plant them anymore. 8-12 years is too short of a lifespan. Too bad because they are so cool to look at. This particular one has a Rhopalostylis baueri growing underneath it to eventually take its place when the C. urens dies in a couple of years. 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Jim in Los Altos

[Christopher Dillman]

14 hours ago, Stevetoad said:

It’s not that uncommon when you plant a bigger one. They tend to go into flower when the roots get disturbed. Like Chris said. Once they flower that’s it for them. I had one blow over and I staked it up and a year later it flowered. Kind of glad it did it before it got to big. After that I cut down my maxima that was about 20 foot. Thing was getting to big. 

This is interesting, because I do recall in a rough winter storm + wind, that the palm got crooked and wasn't planted straight anymore.

So... maybe not the best idea in hindsight, I put in a stake about 10 feet away, used rope around the trunk to tug it back so it would continue to grow straight. In doing so I did hear a 'pop' in the roots. Which might explain its shortened life span.

Fragile yet beautiful specimen. Lesson learned!

Now that I'm gun shy getting another fishtail, I'm happy to take requests with what I should plant in its place. Thinking a 7 foot Triple King...

Edited March 29, 2020 by Christopher Dillman

[Chris Chance]

I think kings would be a good bet. Low maintenance and can be found cheap. Also many other species of palms can be added. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

I agree with the triple King palms. With lots of water they grow super fast and triples usually start bending gracefully away from each other when young. 

[Tracy]

5 hours ago, Christopher Dillman said:

This is interesting, because I do recall in a rough winter storm + wind, that the palm got crooked and wasn't planted straight anymore.

So... maybe not the best idea in hindsight, I put in a stake about 10 feet away, used rope around the trunk to tug it back so it would continue to grow straight. In doing so I did hear a 'pop' in the roots. Which might explain its shortened life span.

Fragile yet beautiful specimen. Lesson learned!

Now that I'm gun shy getting another fishtail, I'm happy to take requests with what I should plant in its place. Thinking a 7 foot Triple King...

Welcome to the forum Christopher.  While Encinitas has a bit of climate diversity depending on whether you are in Olivenhain, Cardiff, Village Park, old Encinitas, or Leucadia, there are a lot more interesting things you could try than a triple king palm planting in any or all of the sub-climates.  Rather than planting 3 of a solitary species, you could plant a clumping species instead.  Some suggestions would be any of the clumping Dypsis species.  Dypsis baronii, Dypsis lanceolata, Dypsis lutescens, Dypsis heteromorpha, Dypsis pembana, Dypsis onilahensis are all examples.  You can look up any of them in the search on this forum.  You can also check on this forum under Palm exchange and find some members who are local here in North County as a resource to acquire and get advice.  While my wife's favorite palm is a Caryota gigas we have, the work of removing them after they flower and the risk that they will topple as the roots weaken after they flower is too great for me to plant any new ones.  Feel free to pm me since I'm local here in Leucadia and know what will do well here if you want any other suggestions.  Plus I don't have a nursery so won't try to sell you anything

[Christopher Dillman]

47 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Welcome to the forum Christopher.  While Encinitas has a bit of climate diversity depending on whether you are in Olivenhain, Cardiff, Village Park, old Encinitas, or Leucadia, there are a lot more interesting things you could try than a triple king palm planting in any or all of the sub-climates.  Rather than planting 3 of a solitary species, you could plant a clumping species instead.  Some suggestions would be any of the clumping Dypsis species.  Dypsis baronii, Dypsis lanceolata, Dypsis lutescens, Dypsis heteromorpha, Dypsis pembana, Dypsis onilahensis are all examples.  You can look up any of them in the search on this forum.  You can also check on this forum under Palm exchange and find some members who are local here in North County as a resource to acquire and get advice.  While my wife's favorite palm is a Caryota gigas we have, the work of removing them after they flower and the risk that they will topple as the roots weaken after they flower is too great for me to plant any new ones.  Feel free to pm me since I'm local here in Leucadia and know what will do well here if you want any other suggestions.  Plus I don't have a nursery so won't try to sell you anything

That's awesome, appreciate the support!

I do find the dypsis strategy appealing, yet I only have one spot with the drip all set up for a halo-type of tree. I thought that was going to be my fishtail.

My struggle with planting palms and spending the $$$ has been the warranty. No nursery will guarantee a one-year planting (that I have found here in north county... do correct me if I'm off...) except Moon Valley Nursery in Escondido. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Christopher Dillman

[Chris Chance]

Adding to a drip line is actually pretty easy.  Most nurseries that have a warranty don't have the real cool stuff and to be honest things die but that's a part of gardening. Also Moon Valley is way overpriced and the people selling there in my experience are like used car salesmen. Could be different at other locations but I visited some and couldn't believe how uninformed the salesmen were. If you got to a place like Jungle Music which is close to you they will tell you what will be successful and the requirements. 

[Christopher Dillman]

27 minutes ago, Chris Chance said:

Adding to a drip line is actually pretty easy.  Most nurseries that have a warranty don't have the real cool stuff and to be honest things die but that's a part of gardening. Also Moon Valley is way overpriced and the people selling there in my experience are like used car salesmen. Could be different at other locations but I visited some and couldn't believe how uninformed the salesmen were. If you got to a place like Jungle Music which is close to you they will tell you what will be successful and the requirements. 

Good suggestion, I'll drop by there. I was there once a few years ago to get some consult on a Kentia.

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Christopher Dillman

[KentiaPalm]

Fasciating! *clears throat* I mean fascinating!