An Update on a Few of My Palms

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Due to a login issue, I haven't been on in a couple months but fortunately that issue is now resolved and I am glad to be back.

I am sending these three coconuts (two of which are my favorites) down to live at my parent's house on the water in Port Charlotte.  My mom wants leaning, full-crowned coconut palms and the two on the left are Jamaican tall apparently from seed brought from Jamaica in the 1930s.  The one on the right is, I am guessing, a Maypan hybrid and hopefully will have robust characteristics more like the tall varieties.  It grew quickly and kept tipping over so it has suffered a lot from dryness in the past few months.

These three should take off once in the ground.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

These two are a NOID species of palm I purchased at Green's Nursery.  Nobody has a clue what they are but they have been growing them since at least 2009 since I bought one then and of course it died in 2010.

Whatever it is, it is VERY cold sensitive, because the taller of the two had severe burn on exposed foliage from 39F and breezy conditions.  This occured before our ultimate low of 34F this past winter.  The smaller one I just took inside when it got below 45F.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

A happy Ravenea rivularis double.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

This unfortunate palm came from my collection back in the 2014-2016 timeframe when I lived in a house and had a yard locally.

After thinking about it much and its slowness and struggle here, I think it is Euterpe edulis orange crownshaft.  I had a slightly smaller one then that behaved similarly.

I plan to carefully repot it and put it in the shade and see if that helps. 

[JLM 764]

10 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

These two are a NOID species of palm I purchased at Green's Nursery.  Nobody has a clue what they are but they have been growing them since at least 2009 since I bought one then and of course it died in 2010.

Whatever it is, it is VERY cold sensitive, because the taller of the two had severe burn on exposed foliage from 39F and breezy conditions.  This occured before our ultimate low of 34F this past winter.  The smaller one I just took inside when it got below 45F.

 

I think i have an ID for the one on the left.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Me too JLM! 

[JLM 764]

[palmsOrl 1,694]

My Adonidia from seed collected at the Sanford International Airport (the one that just got sideswiped by a tornado), sprouted 11 months ago.

Sanford is very far north for large, fruiting Adonidia but they are quite protected.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Veitchia arecina, about 7 feet tall.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Chamaedorea cataractum.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

These three foxtail seedlings are also going with my mom.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Veitchia winin triple, promised by the seller to be pure.  This is my favorite Veitchia species.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Unknown variety of Cocos nucifera, from my former house.  Could be a Kopsick Jamaican tall, could be a green Malayan.  Only time will tell.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Chamaedorea that has had a rough life.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Sabal palmetto on right and maybe Washingtonia robusta on left.  Cute little Venus fly trap in there.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Palms generously donated from Palmtalker Kinzyjr.  Thank you again Jeremy!

I had some attrition over the winter, especially of small potted stuff because my job and my significant other took up almost all of my time.

I still have two out of the three. 

[palmsOrl 1,694]

I need to repot most of these and most of the tags wore off.  Is this one a Jub. chilensis Jeremy?

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Another Veitchia arecina.  I know, the Spanish moss needs to go.  My dad misunderstood me when I said I wanted a sample for my Tillandsia collection.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Pure Washingtonia robusta, from a local shopping center.

Wodyetia bifurcata, from seed collected last year downtown.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Four other coconuts of uncertain provenance.

[kinzyjr 4,223]

25 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

I need to repot most of these and most of the tags wore off.  Is this one a Jub. chilensis Jeremy?

The two leaf seedling does look like one of the Jubaea chilensis.  Is the seed still attached?

[kinzyjr 4,223]

34 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Sabal palmetto on right and maybe Washingtonia robusta on left.  Cute little Venus fly trap in there.

Washingtonia *might* be a filifera if it was one of the ones I gave you.  I lost 3 robusta before the trip to Leu and couldn't bring one if I remember right.

[GottmitAlex 3,019]

Welcome back Mike!

@palmsOrl

[RedRabbit 1,737]

Nice collection! Looks like a nice place you’ve got there on the lake. 

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Thank you Jeremy, Alex and RedRabbit!  That home is actually my step-grandfather's so it has nothing to do with me.  He is nice enough to let me keep my plants there though.

Jeremy the seed isn't attached but the cups kept getting tipped over and dug at by critters so if the plant looks like a Jub to you, I bet it is.   I'm glad to have one.  It looks different than the filifera you gave me, which I can tell is definitely a Washingtonia.  That shopping center has hundreds of robusta(the parent palms are very tall and skinny, do not look like filibusta at all), I can dig some for you if you want.  They are just weeds there anyways.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Florida royals from Kinzyjr.  They have been very robust, but the one on the right suffered a bit of cosmetic damage in the hot car.  I have been a careless palm parent the past 6 months, but I kept the Cyrtostachys "Apple" alive and growing in my terrarium all winter, so there is that.  Of course, if Cyrtostachys "Apple" proves to be as hardy as Cyrtostachys "hybrid", I can treat it like a Ptychosperma elegans or Veitchia arecina, cold protection-wise.

[kinzyjr 4,223]

1 hour ago, palmsOrl said:

Thank you Jeremy, Alex and RedRabbit!  That home is actually my step-grandfather's so it has nothing to do with me.  He is nice enough to let me keep my plants there though.

Jeremy the seed isn't attached but the cups kept getting tipped over and dug at by critters so if the plant looks like a Jub to you, I bet it is.   I'm glad to have one.  It looks different than the filifera you gave me, which I can tell is definitely a Washingtonia.  That shopping center has hundreds of robusta(the parent palms are very tall and skinny, do not look like filibusta at all), I can dig some for you if you want.  They are just weeds there anyways.

I definitely enjoyed visiting them last year before the world got turned upside down.

Easy way to tell if it is a Jubaea vs. the other palms I gave you in that box is to compare the leaf and stem to the photo below.  If it has a stem coming up out of the soil a few inches with the same leaf structure, it's a Jubaea.  I still have my "twins" (two embryos in the same seed) and a deformed one in pots.  I put one in the ground.  It started to get sunburn so I surrounded it with potted bananas.  It won't likely last a summer here, but best foot forward.

I actually just got a small lot of robusta seeds from a neighbor, but they may just end up getting sent out to some of the folks who want them in cooler climates.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Yes Jeremy mine is a Jubaea alright.  I am so glad I have a surviving one!  Now the question is should I keep it in a sunny wondow from June-September, since they resent high heat and humidity.

[JLM 764]

What was your method to germinating the sabal palmetto @palmsOrl

[kinzyjr 4,223]

1 minute ago, palmsOrl said:

Yes Jeremy mine is a Jubaea alright.  I am so glad I have a surviving one!  Now the question is should I keep it in a sunny wondow from June-September, since they resent high heat and humidity.

When they are young, they prefer dappled light.  The big mistake I made was trimming too many dead leaves off my Ice Cream bananas and branches off of my avocado trees.  They dappled the light enough to keep the Jubaea happy.  The ones I have indoors are in a window behind a coconut palm.  They get dappled light when the fronds blow around in the breeze. 

When I did the trimming, even some of my filifera were not happy with me.  One got sunburn on the top 3" of a leaflet.  I put a brick in front of it... back to active growth.

@JLM I usually harvest them in November and have some seedlings by December.  Moist soil in a community pot, 90F bottom heat and patience.  Some will pop in weeks, some in months, some in years.  Variable in every sense of the word.

[JLM 764]

Thanks! I have them in a bag up against the freezer!

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Here in Orlando, I picked it up off some stairs at a local hotel, got a small pot, grabbed a hand full of dirt from wherever, filled the pot with it and stuffed the seed in with my thumb about 1/2" deep.  Took about 2 months.  In other words, they are extremely easy to germinate, warm, moist, sandy soil and a couple months.

You should be able to do basically the same there in NW FL.  

Edited April 25, 2020 by palmsOrl

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Here is a pair of Phoenix robellenii that languished in full shade with almost no water all winter.  I re-initiated care just in time to save the left one.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

I almost forgot this palm, which is just now growing out of being severely stunted from being in the sandy soil here with no irrigation or fertilizer for almost 3 years.

I am guessing Archontophoenix but I have hopes it might be something more unusual.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

I just planted this little Cocos by the water here today.  It is right across the lake from Rollins College.

I have high hopes that this site on the south side of the lake will give it 10-20 years to grow and that my planting it far to the right will mean that the next property owners will not feel that it obstructs the view of the lake.

[GottmitAlex 3,019]

4 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

I just planted this little Cocos by the water here today.  It is right across the lake from Rollins College.

I have high hopes that this site on the south side of the lake will give it 10-20 years to grow and that my planting it far to the right will mean that the next property owners will not feel that it obstructs the view of the lake.

And a nice golden one at that! 

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Just now, GottmitAlex said:

And a nice golden one at that! 

Yes!  I am hoping it's a nice fat Maypan.

[Fusca 2,305]

On 4/24/2020 at 8:59 PM, palmsOrl said:

Veitchia arecina, about 7 feet tall.

Did you grow this V. arecina from seed?  If so how long did it take to get to that size?  Looks good!

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Fusca, I am not 100% certain actually as to the palm's origins.  It is from my yard from the 2014-2016 timeframe, and I did have a few Veitchia arecina from South FL collected seed (or possibly from Kopsick, which I consider Central FL), so it is likely that this individual (as is the larger one I posted) is from seed germinated around 2014.  It is now around 7' to the top of the emerging spear but has repeatedly been uprooted and replanted and has been in nutrient poor, dry conditions during stretches throughout its life.  Thus (in my estimation), a Veitchia arecina grown in consistently favorable conditions can reach this size in significantly fewer than 6 years.  I would say 4 in very favorable Southeast FL conditions and maybe 3 in perfect rainforest conditions.

There is also a remote possibility it is another Veitchia, such as V. spiralis, or yet another species, as I love the genus and had at least 5 species at one point.  Mostly arecina though since the seed are commonly found in S. FL. 

My triple Veitchia winin was 3 little seedlings I paid $40 for on eBay because I really wanted pure winin and the seller said he was certain they were pure because that was the only Veitchia species he had ever grown on his S. FL property.  This, along with the very small, still attached, seed size at the time made me assured enough to order 3 little Veitchia seedlings to PA during the fall for $40. 

In the late 90s, when I was a kid, my parents took me to the now long defunct Szabo's Nursery in Naples during a summer vacation and I bought the most lovely Veitchia winin double, about 5 feet tall and its tropical beauty even at that size stuck with me for all that time.  Of course, I planted them in the side garden at home the day we got home and the winter of 2000 brought a low of 25F to the yard.  The palms were dead and gray from top to bottom (not a trace of green) by afternoon.  Cold-tolerant they are not.

[palmsOrl 1,694]

Veitchia arecina, on the other hand, is a solid 10a palm and can easily survive upper 20s with substantial foliage damage and has good cool tolerance.  The odd specimen may even survive a tad lower, ask Kinzyjr.

To be fair though, a 5' recently planted Veitchia arecina specimen would probably be dead as a doornail after a 25F night too.