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Got a huge Phoenix Roebelenii for free! Do you think it will be okay?


PhilippineExpat

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We were talking with our neighbor today and she offered us this huge roebelenii today for free! I'm 6'2 and the growing tip is a bit higher than me. She told me it was more than 10 years old and she was just going to kill it because she's planning to put a small building in its place. Unfortunately we were working in a tight space and this tree is HEAVY, so we had to kind of butcher its roots to get it out. When we were done digging it out and getting what roots we could its root ball was maybe 1.5 ft high and 2 feet wide. Also, a lot of the bottom and side roots got severed.  Thankfully right after we planted it we got hit some torrential rain, probably around 3 inches. I still cannot believe our luck! We plan to deep water it every day for a month. Is that too long? Is there anything else we can do to be sure it survives? I had good luck with another roebelenii recovery before that I posted on here (long story short: it was totally neglected by the seller and dying, I bought it, and it created a new growing tip and is doing fine now), so I am pretty optimistic.

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That size root ball seems pretty decent for a Roebellini.  A neighbor gave me three Roebellini about that size, fortunately his father down the road had a tractor to do the digging.  We pulled about a 3' diameter root ball for them, maybe a little bit less.  I didn't have a watering system in that part of the yard yet, so most of the water they got was just our daily afternoon thunderstorms.  Here's what the two in the back yard look like now, a double-ish on the left and the single out in my agave bed on the right.  I think yours will do fine.  If you are getting a lot of rain right now they may have enough.  Just don't let them completely dry out while it's rooting in.  Mine lost a few older leaves fairly quickly, and it took about 3 months for them to return to a normal growth rate. 

1662832120_P1060331cropped.thumb.JPG.25e037af2502ecc7a5f8d1fe5dee8259.JPG

Edited by Merlyn2220
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11 minutes ago, Merlyn2220 said:

That size root ball seems pretty decent for a Roebellini.  A neighbor gave me three Roebellini about that size, fortunately his father down the road had a tractor to do the digging.  We pulled about a 3' diameter root ball for them, maybe a little bit less.  I didn't have a watering system in that part of the yard yet, so most of the water they got was just our daily afternoon thunderstorms.  Here's what the two in the back yard look like now, a double-ish on the left and the single out in my agave bed on the right.  I think yours will do fine.  If you are getting a lot of rain right now they may have enough.  Just don't let them completely dry out while it's rooting in.  Mine lost a few older leaves fairly quickly, and it took about 3 months for them to return to a normal growth rate. 

1662832120_P1060331cropped.thumb.JPG.25e037af2502ecc7a5f8d1fe5dee8259.JPG

Wow 3 months is fast! I hope ours does as well as yours :) We will definitely keep it moist until we see some new growth. Fortunately we still have 3 months of rainy season left (though this one has been pretty dry) so hopefully it will be established by dry season. I also hope it gets established before any typhoons hit us. I was actually worried it would fall down in the rain because one of our fruiting banana trees fell down last night because of soft soil from intense rain. 

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1 hour ago, PhilippineExpat said:

Wow 3 months is fast! I hope ours does as well as yours :) We will definitely keep it moist until we see some new growth. Fortunately we still have 3 months of rainy season left (though this one has been pretty dry) so hopefully it will be established by dry season. I also hope it gets established before any typhoons hit us. I was actually worried it would fall down in the rain because one of our fruiting banana trees fell down last night because of soft soil from intense rain. 

I transplanted mine in July, which is in the middle of our rainy season from May-October.  If the rootball was that heavy it'll probably keep it in place in storms, except maybe a strong hurricane.  Good luck!  :D

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I moved a couple roebeleniis last year. In my experience they transplant really well. One of the ones I moved had only been in the ground three month and it had already established. It was pretty tough to dig up because it had rooted so well. Both of the roebeleniis I moved settled into their new home without issue. Not even a brown frond. 

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I have not had a lot of success transplanting these but you sure can't beat the price! Keep it watered and you should have a good chance. Spray the leaves too and that will help with transpiration water loss.

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10 hours ago, Merlyn2220 said:

I transplanted mine in July, which is in the middle of our rainy season from May-October.  If the rootball was that heavy it'll probably keep it in place in storms, except maybe a strong hurricane.  Good luck!  :D

Yeah that's what I was thinking! I really hope the weight keeps it in place. 

3 hours ago, Jeff985 said:

I moved a couple roebeleniis last year. In my experience they transplant really well. One of the ones I moved had only been in the ground three month and it had already established. It was pretty tough to dig up because it had rooted so well. Both of the roebeleniis I moved settled into their new home without issue. Not even a brown frond. 

Nice 3 months would be perfect for ours! The typhoons don't come to our part of the country until late in the year so 3 months should be enough time for some good root growth. And that's impressive about the fronds! I hope we don't lose any because this shades our seating area. We actually pruned a few so it can focus more on its roots and to keep the spiky fronds a little further from our heads.

32 minutes ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

I have not had a lot of success transplanting these but you sure can't beat the price! Keep it watered and you should have a good chance. Spray the leaves too and that will help with transpiration water loss.

Fortunately we live in a super humid climate so I'm hoping transpiration won't be an issue. But it's a dry windy day then we definitely will.

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@PhilippineExpat do send a picture of the rootball.

I suspect that you'll be fine. The Philippines rock for palm culture.

Gonna shut up.

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7 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

I suspect that you'll be fine. The Philippines rock for palm culture.

Oh yes they do! Heck they were the ones who came out with the two papers (documents) recommending salt for coconut propagation.

:greenthumb:

 

 

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7 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Oh yes they do! Heck they were the ones who came out with the two papers (documents) recommending salt for coconut propagation.

:greenthumb:

 

 

Yeah there is a whole government agency here called the Philippine Coconut Authority! 

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8 hours ago, gibbo said:

Cut about half the lower leaves off to slow down moisture loss

 

I noticed some of the lower fronds are starting to yellow so I'm thinking of leaving them there so the palm can use the nutrients for root growth. Do you think it's better to just remove them?

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Here are a couple of updated pics of its new home! One is of of the roebelenii over the seating area and the other is the view we enjoy while sipping our coffee underneath it. 

image.png

image.png

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6 hours ago, PhilippineExpat said:

I noticed some of the lower fronds are starting to yellow so I'm thinking of leaving them there so the palm can use the nutrients for root growth. Do you think it's better to just remove them?

In my transplants they "ate" the lower fronds pretty fast, then stopped after a couple of weeks.  Cutting them now would rob the palm of nutrition for root growth.  Personally I'd leave them for nutrition, as long as you have enough rain/watering to keep them from drying out.  If the upper fronds still look nice then it's probably normal, and I'd cut them off when they dessicate and turn brown.  If the newer fronds are looking wilted or brown-tipped or otherwise unhappy then it may make sense to cut off some of the older fronds to save in water transpiration loss.

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