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Beccariophoenix alfredii in Texas


necturus

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Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share pictures of my Beccariophoenix here in Houston. I got this one from Beau a couple years ago. It hasn't been seriously tested the last two winters.

Feel free to share your pictures - lets see who's got the largest one.

Daniel

IMG-8519.JPG

IMG-8518.JPG

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Arent these the high plateau coconuts? Correct me if im wrong! :)

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Palms - 4 S. romanzoffiana, 1 W. bifurcata, 2 W. robusta, 1 R. rivularis, 1 B. odorata, 1 B. nobilis, 2 S. palmetto, 1 A. merillii, 1 P. canariensis, 1 BxJ, 1 BxJxBxS, 1 BxS, 3 P. roebelenii, 1 H. lagenicaulis, 1 H. verschaffeltii, 9 T. fortunei, 1 C. humilis, 2 C. macrocarpa, 1 L. chinensis, 1 R. excelsa

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7 hours ago, necturus said:

Thought I'd share pictures of my Beccariophoenix here in Houston. I got this one from Beau a couple years ago. It hasn't been seriously tested the last two winters.

Looking good Daniel how big was it when you planted it. I doubt anyone has one larger in the ground since the 2018 freeze happened. 

T J 

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I’m not in Texas nor are my B alfredi ‘s the largest. I grew them from seed and they are now 4 years old. They are now starting to become pinnate   Yay!  They are about 30cm  tall. They have been in the ground for 3 years and I leave them unprotected in winter. We go to around 0 to -1 deg C

BACB09B5-6650-4CD9-BBFA-C7B27C2E523A.jpeg

6BE3B419-5056-4DC4-BFB0-D2B24D88BF20.jpeg

84812E9F-C236-4A07-8E56-8B15C55E285A.jpeg

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2 hours ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

Looking good Daniel how big was it when you planted it. I doubt anyone has one larger in the ground since the 2018 freeze happened. 

It was in a 3 gallon pot. I got it from Beau (meteorologistpalmguy). Thanks again man!

I had two other B. alfredii in the ground during that freeze. A large one, probably 3 gallon size, that wasn't very healthy (planted late in the season, had been neglected) and a smaller one (planted from a 1 gallon earlier in the summer). I threw a frost cloth over them. The larger one died, but the smaller one kept it's spear and grew out of it. It's still smaller than this one because I planted it in a stupid spot where a lot of plants have grown up around it and are shading it out. I'm sure we saw similar temperatures (low of 20 degrees Fahrenheit).

I think these stand a chance here in the warmer areas. They are certainly worth growing with protection too! Closest thing to a coconut we can grow. This one  hasn't flinched the last two winters, whereas a coconut would be dead as a doornail. Wrap them up like Walt and they should sail through whatever winter brings. And who knows how cold tolerant they are once they trunk. 

9 hours ago, JLM said:

Arent these the high plateau coconuts? Correct me if im wrong! :)

Yessir. Unfortunately, they do not seem as hardy as their other "high plateau" counterpart, Bismarckia. 

2 hours ago, Marius said:

I’m not in Texas nor are my B alfredi ‘s the largest. I grew them from seed and they are now 4 years old. They are now starting to become pinnate   Yay!  They are about 30cm  tall. They have been in the ground for 3 years and I leave them unprotected in winter. We go to around 0 to -1 deg C

BACB09B5-6650-4CD9-BBFA-C7B27C2E523A.jpeg

6BE3B419-5056-4DC4-BFB0-D2B24D88BF20.jpeg

84812E9F-C236-4A07-8E56-8B15C55E285A.jpeg

Looking good, Marius! They should speed up a bit now. I am very jealous of your palms and cycads and where you live. We visited South Africa a few years ago and loved it.  

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3 minutes ago, necturus said:

Yessir. Unfortunately, they do not seem as hardy as their other "high plateau" counterpart, Bismarckia

Yeah the waxyness of the Bizzies make them way more leaf hardy for sure. I cant wait to get my Alfies in the ground one day, they have easily become top 5 palm for me now. That's awesome you were able to protect them and made it thru that freeze , so encouraging to me =) 

T J 

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10 minutes ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

Yeah the waxyness of the Bizzies make them way more leaf hardy for sure. I cant wait to get my Alfies in the ground one day, they have easily become top 5 palm for me now. That's awesome you were able to protect them and made it thru that freeze , so encouraging to me =) 

Is it the wax? I wonder because if it were, couldn’t you just spray some wax on alfie fronds for the winter? I will protect mine like Walt but I worry that they will get HUGE and then be too big to handle. That’s a six foot brick wall.

image.jpg

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14 minutes ago, necturus said:

I'm sure someone from Corpus Christi or farther south has some nice specimens... keep them coming!

I just planted a 3-gal B. alfredii at my property east of Harlingen in October but don't have any pics.  It's at the mercy of the tenant so hopefully he'll take care of the palms per the rental agreement.  RGV is still in moderate to severe drought conditions.

Jon Sunder

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6 minutes ago, Tropicdoc said:

Is it the wax? I wonder because if it were, couldn’t you just spray some wax on alfie fronds for the winter? I will protect mine like Walt but I worry that they will get HUGE and then be too big to handle. That’s a six foot brick wall.

image.jpg

Nice! I should've included Louisiana in my call out. 

I think there's more to the cold hardiness of Bismarckia than just wax. The really large ones here survive defoliation. Smaller ones (trunking or not) do not always survive the same freezes. I'm sure if you put B. alfredii and Bismarckia side by side the latter would fair better in terms of foliage damage, but I think the massive trunks on Bismarckia play a role in their durability.

5 minutes ago, Fusca said:

I just planted a 3-gal B. alfredii at my property east of Harlingen in October but don't have any pics.  It's at the mercy of the tenant so hopefully he'll take care of the palms per the rental agreement.  RGV is still in moderate to severe drought conditions.

Cool, hope to see it flourishing in the future. I'm surprised with all the stuff you're growing you don't have one in the ground in SA. I'm also surprised there's not one at the Oblate School of Theology. I always enjoy Oscar's pictures on the South Texas facebook group and am amazed at what's growing there.

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7 minutes ago, necturus said:

Cool, hope to see it flourishing in the future. I'm surprised with all the stuff you're growing you don't have one in the ground in SA. I'm also surprised there's not one at the Oblate School of Theology. I always enjoy Oscar's pictures on the South Texas facebook group and am amazed at what's growing there.

Not enough room for it here although I wouldn't mind trying.  Got an acre in Cameron county so plenty of space and so many more options in 10a!  I'll be planting more and more of my seedlings down there once they get more size.

Jon Sunder

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Just an FYI we had a mild winter freeze maybe to 29 F? I couldn’t get to the bigger of the 2 palms cause the dang ginger is getting so thick. So I bundled the smaller one without wrapping and left the bigger one open. Just the bundling allowed the smaller one to have NO freeze damage whereas the bigger one had a little burn maybe 15-20%

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1 hour ago, necturus said:

Looking good, Marius! They should speed up a bit now. I am very jealous of your palms and cycads and where you live. We visited South Africa a few years ago and loved it.  

Thanks Necturus.  I’ll love it if they’d speed up now. 

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9 hours ago, Tropicdoc said:

Is it the wax? I wonder because if it were, couldn’t you just spray some wax on alfie fronds for the winter?

I do believe it is the wax ,where as the Alfies fronds arent even very frost hardy. Many on here said you need to plant under the protection of large oak like canopy but still plant in a way to give plenty of sun. Gonna try one in the ground eventually and hope for warm winters for awhile to get established =) 

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T J 

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If I still lived in Galveston I'd have like five of these. I had a spot under an oak but the way things panned out with the landscaping it would have been way too big. You will probably need a little heat source.... Keith over here in me Iberia lost the ones I gave him even under canopy.

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21 hours ago, necturus said:

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share pictures of my Beccariophoenix here in Houston. I got this one from Beau a couple years ago. It hasn't been seriously tested the last two winters.

Feel free to share your pictures - lets see who's got the largest one.

Daniel

IMG-8519.JPG

IMG-8518.JPG

I think that is too close to the house, no? They have 20 foot fronds and an 18 inch diameter trunk.

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5 minutes ago, Tropicdoc said:

If I still lived in Galveston I'd have like five of these. I had a spot under an oak but the way things panned out with the landscaping it would have been way too big. You will probably need a little heat source.... Keith over here in me Iberia lost the ones I gave him even under canopy.

Alfies are not humid 9A palms.

Humid 9b and dry/cali 9a palms, they are.

5 year high 42.2C/108F (07/06/2018)--5 year low 4.6C/40.3F (1/19/2023)--Lowest recent/current winter: 4.6C/40.3F (1/19/2023)

 

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1 hour ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

I do believe it is the wax ,where as the Alfies fronds arent even very frost hardy. Many on here said you need to plant under the protection of large oak like canopy but still plant in a way to give plenty of sun. Gonna try one in the ground eventually and hope for warm winters for awhile to get established =) 

I fantasized about finding some sort of spray wax and putting it on beccariophoenix but never did. I had found a lanolin spray online.

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  • 11 months later...
On 4/25/2020 at 11:42 PM, necturus said:

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd share pictures of my Beccariophoenix here in Houston. I got this one from Beau a couple years ago. It hasn't been seriously tested the last two winters.

Feel free to share your pictures - lets see who's got the largest one.

Daniel

IMG-8519.JPG

IMG-8518.JPG

Soooo......dead?

Also, what kind of ferns are those?

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On 4/26/2020 at 10:35 PM, Tropicdoc said:

I think that is too close to the house, no? They have 20 foot fronds and an 18 inch diameter trunk.


More like 36 inch+ diameter trunks at the base I think....   I saw the Beccariophoenix alfredii and fenesteralis in person at the Searl brothers sale this year, and I’ll be giving mine a very generous space when it goes into the ground.  That thing will crush anything in its path I’m guessing...  

***ugh...  I just noticed this is a zombie thread from 2020....  my bad.  

Edited by Looking Glass
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2 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

ugh...  I just noticed this is a zombie thread from 2020....  my bad.  

No worries @Keys6505 resurrected it to find out if Daniels @necturus Alfie made it thru the freeze =/ 

T J 

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T J 

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On 4/26/2020 at 2:37 PM, Marius said:

I’m not in Texas nor are my B alfredi ‘s the largest. I grew them from seed and they are now 4 years old. They are now starting to become pinnate   Yay!  They are about 30cm  tall. They have been in the ground for 3 years and I leave them unprotected in winter. We go to around 0 to -1 deg C

BACB09B5-6650-4CD9-BBFA-C7B27C2E523A.jpeg

6BE3B419-5056-4DC4-BFB0-D2B24D88BF20.jpeg

84812E9F-C236-4A07-8E56-8B15C55E285A.jpeg

Update:  last year’s winter was much harsher than usual. My three B alfredi‘s looked terrible after winter. This summer which is now drawing to a close two of them started to recover. One faster the other only showing signs of life for the last month. The third died. I’m going to cover them this winter even though I believe that this coming winter will be mild as usual. 
Here are pics of what they look like now. 

D25202E2-1EC1-4745-9938-DC90CE5E3E65.jpeg

8D1EF8A7-DB55-46BF-8954-68563B653DDC.jpeg

DD4039CA-722A-42FC-8CCF-5C43126FAFCF.jpeg

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7 minutes ago, Marius said:

Update:  last year’s winter was much harsher than usual. My three B alfredi‘s looked terrible after winter. This summer which is now drawing to a close two of them started to recover. One faster the other only showing signs of life for the last month. The third died. I’m going to cover them this winter even though I believe that this coming winter will be mild as usual. 
Here are pics of what they look like now. 

D25202E2-1EC1-4745-9938-DC90CE5E3E65.jpeg

8D1EF8A7-DB55-46BF-8954-68563B653DDC.jpeg

DD4039CA-722A-42FC-8CCF-5C43126FAFCF.jpeg

So your avg low is about 0, -1C midwinter? And minimums about -6, -7C? Ours is about the same. And our avg low is 5C. And you're in 8b? Sorry it's been rough, but I'm in 8b, and, well, I might as well try if you are... Do you protect your Strelitzias? And I see ficus too, and I am amazed.

During warm epoch, a Alfie might thrive here for about 5 years, then perish due to a darn blue norther.

Must be those record lows being pretty tame to ours. And the low precip during winter. I guess it's like a dry 8b/9a, with highs in the 16-19C range for winter, I guess I could see how it would work. You must have an amazing microclimate too.

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I dug it out of the ground, so it didn't die from the freeze. It may die from the transplant. We'll see.

I had another one on the south side of the house I left in the ground. It survived our last bad freeze to 19-20 with complete defoliation. This time it's probably dead.

The ferns are Cyathea cooperi. I also dug them up. They survived but still don't look too good.

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40 minutes ago, necturus said:

It survived our last bad freeze to 19-20 with complete defoliation. This time it's probably dead.

Did you provide any protection either time or full exposure?

And did you get the Cooperi locally?  I just got one online but it's tiny and I hear they're slow.  Maas had some, albeit under a different name, but they were like $75 for a 3gal.

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First time a sheet, second time nothing. Ran out of time. Probably could've saved it just by covering the base with dirt/leaves. Oh well.

Yes, I've only bought them locally over the years. I'd recommend buying the cheapest one gallons you can find. When happy they grow pretty fast. They like part sun, rich soil and plenty of water. The summer is hard on them. They are more "drought tolerant" than Dicksonia (which I've never got through a winter, even large plants), but they can go from wilted to dead very quickly.

Despite being ferns, in my experience they do poorly in full shade. Slow growth, less tolerance to drying out. 

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4 hours ago, Keys6505 said:

Did you provide any protection either time or full exposure?

And did you get the Cooperi locally?  I just got one online but it's tiny and I hear they're slow.  Maas had some, albeit under a different name, but they were like $75 for a 3gal.

 Cyathea cooperi was very fast in my wet climate but it died this winter low of 22 F. I though it would be more hardy. I might consider heat tolerant ostrich fern as a substitute 

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13 hours ago, Teegurr said:

So your avg low is about 0, -1C midwinter? And minimums about -6, -7C? Ours is about the same. And our avg low is 5C. And you're in 8b? Sorry it's been rough, but I'm in 8b, and, well, I might as well try if you are... Do you protect your Strelitzias? And I see ficus too, and I am amazed.

During warm epoch, a Alfie might thrive here for about 5 years, then perish due to a darn blue norther.

Must be those record lows being pretty tame to ours. And the low precip during winter. I guess it's like a dry 8b/9a, with highs in the 16-19C range for winter, I guess I could see how it would work. You must have an amazing microclimate too.

Hi Teegurr. 
Yes, you have summed up my 8b climate correctly. I do however have a great microclimate as I’m situated higher up on an East facing hillside. 
I don’t protect any of my plants in winter. I’m just going to do it for my B alfredii‘s to get them bigger faster. 
The plant that looks like a ficus is an Erythrina lattisima. It dies to the ground in winter then regrows the next summer. I’ve planted a Ficus benjamina under another deciduous tree. It was completely unfazed even by last winter.  Good luck with your garden. 
I try plants if I like them and if they don’t work without protection I try something else. 
I currently have 85 palm species in my garden that are planted in the ground and stay out year round. 

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6 hours ago, necturus said:

I dug it out of the ground, so it didn't die from the freeze. It may die from the transplant. We'll see.

I transplanted a ~6 foot tall one from the side yard to the front yard, and it didn't seem to mind at all.  I had to cut a LOT of 1/2" diameter roots to get it out.  The transplant probably slowed it down a little bit compared to the other 4 I had in the ground, but not by much.  Hopefully yours survives too!

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9 hours ago, necturus said:

They are more "drought tolerant" than Dicksonia (which I've never got through a winter, even large plants

Don't give up on Dicksonias yet!  Here's mine today just waking back up after 15 deg.  Was only loosely covered in 6mil plastic, 150w reptile light was only on for MAYBE 30-45 minutes total over 3 days so it had no effect in my opinion.  Weeds for scale.

20210414_151442.jpg

Edited by Keys6505
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I don't know why I wrote winter re: Dicksonia. I meant summer :lol:. They always get through winter fine and croak in the heat.

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