So, I bought a D. leptocheilos in the middle of a cold snap...

[chad2468emr]

Stopped by the in-laws’ in SFL for a weird, socially distanced, outdoor Christmas this year. Do you think the cold snap in Orlando would stop me from buying this teddy bear for just $100 and then hauling the sucker north, laid on its side, squeezed inside my truck bed for 3 hours, then only to stuff it in my foyer alongside some of my other palms hiding from the cold? NOPE! It didn’t. I’m far too insane for that. 

$100 for this guy was WAY too good to pass up; I never see these at this size for sale in Central FL, especially at that price. It’s massively outgrown it’s pot, and it’s oldest frond looks a bit sad from what I assume is such exposure of its roots, but there’s no way I could leave it behind. It has a solid foot of rings on its trunk, and from root ball to top of crownshaft it’s three whole feet! I have 12 foot ceilings in my foyer, and you can see that it barely even fits inside because the fronds are so large. 

So now for my question... how do I minimize the shock of it being transplanted into a 25g pot in this weather? Thankfully, lows for the next 7 days aren’t forecasted to fall below 50 degrees, so do you think I even have anything to worry about? I just want to make sure it’s as established as possible for the next inevitable cold snap with how this year is going. Once it’s potted up it’s going to be way too large and too heavy to bring inside. I’ve accepted that it’ll likely have foliage loss on bitter nights, but I’m hopeful I can minimize that and keep it alive for the spring with cold protection. I just want to make sure it’s as settled-in as possible to maximize my chances of success. 
 

 

[kinzyjr]

@chad2468emr You should be OK to transplant it into a 25G pot, but we'll see what January brings.  They are typically a little hardier than you would think.  We have a 30 footer by City Hall that has been here for a long time.  If you want to guarantee its safety, you can skip the bigger pot and transplant it into my yard LOL.

[chad2468emr]

34 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

@chad2468emr You should be OK to transplant it into a 25G pot, but we'll see what January brings.  They are typically a little hardier than you would think.  We have a 30 footer by City Hall that has been here for a long time.  If you want to guarantee its safety, you can skip the bigger pot and transplant it into my yard LOL.

Hahaha! Nope. All mine! 

Thanks for the tips; I’ve read these guys are good to 25 degrees, but then again supposedly so are a lot of the palms I’ve seen some rather frazzled looking pics of this winter. I’ll give it a whack though and have my fingers crossed that some frost protection from time to time should do the trick if need be for the rest of the winter. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by chad2468emr

[quaman58]

For what it’s worth, the Teddy bears in my neighborhood got hammered by a couple 30F nights this past February. They were all trunking, and it didn’t kill them, but looking at fried leaves for an entire growing season stinks. At some point of course, they get to a size where there’s not much you can do about it, but If you can wait until spring to plunk it in the ground, so much the better. Great score!

[palmfriend]

Wow, that one looks beautiful! Definitive a good decision to purchase it!

It is probably already a few years old, so I guess when planting out it will

explode...

best regards from Okinawa -

Lars

 

[chad2468emr]

Well, I transplanted it haha. It’s a good thing I wanted to leave some roots exposed after planting because it had been so used to root exposure prior... the thing was SO root bound and had been forced to grow upward for so long that even jumping from a 15 to 25 g pot didn’t provide enough depth. I had to mound the soil (which is about 20% perlite, 20% peat soil, and 60% pine bark.... not the most “form keeping” soil which is the trade off I pay for wanting airy soil) around the roots and it’s going to be a pain to keep it that way when I water it / it rains. 

Prior to planting, since my soil medium is so different than what the nursery was using, I hosed off the roots as much as I could so I can get a more accurate read on whether or not it needs water in the future. The water was a little chillier than I’d have liked since it was so cold last night, but once it was set up I gave it a good soaking in warm water from the kitchen sink.

It’s fronds reach upwards of 15+ feet into the air, so I’m going to need a ladder or something to protect it from frost if December is any indication of what January will be like. I might just protect the trunk / growth point on this and all my palms moving forward for that matter since hauling the larger ones in / out was a pretty ridiculous project this week. 

 

At any rate, it looks great! I love the colors on the trunk and I’m really excited to watch this sucker grow. I’ll likely pot it up in the spring so it has more root coverage, but for now that can wait. 

Now that I’m home, not visually over-stimulated at a nursery, and it’s daylight, I took a look at the oldest frond which I’d mentioned was a little ratty-looking. I’m thinking it was due to either K or manganese deficiency, but I suck at recognizing those. I’m hoping it’s not some fungal issue that I am now exposing my other palms to. I cut the frond off to play it safe, but I’m seeing that the petiole on the second oldest frond is showing black marks which could be from physical damage or is this related? Once it’s roots settle in, would it be a good idea to work a half-strength dose of palm gain into the soil to help? Should I get an anti fungal? 

Pics of the planting process, the end result, the frond I removed, and the blackening petiole below. 

 

[chad2468emr]

11 hours ago, quaman58 said:

For what it’s worth, the Teddy bears in my neighborhood got hammered by a couple 30F nights this past February. They were all trunking, and it didn’t kill them, but looking at fried leaves for an entire growing season stinks. At some point of course, they get to a size where there’s not much you can do about it, but If you can wait until spring to plunk it in the ground, so much the better. Great score!

I’m hoping I’m not already at that point because those suckers are TALL already haha. I feel like I’m burnt out a bit now from hauling several dozen palms inside for a few days this week but I know myself.... I’ll be up on a ladder covering the things next time most likely. Now that it’s in a 25 g pot, it’s too large to take inside. It’s spear was bending on my ceiling last night, and I don’t think it’ll be possible given the extra few inches it just gained, plus, the sucker is HEAVY. 

Surprised to hear it takes an entire growing season to replace those damaged fronds. I’ve always heard these are fast growing at this stage. I feel like I’d rather cut off all that are damaged and leave maybe just 1 or 2 that had some green left and cut them off as replacements emerged. 

Edit: Just saw you’re from San Diego. Your dry 30 degrees might mean better success than my wet 30 degrees here in FL. I’m really hoping for a miracle and that the absurd amount of sub-40 degree nights we’ve had in Dec means they’re all used up for January. 

Edited December 27, 2020 by chad2468emr

[chad2468emr]

8 hours ago, palmfriend said:

Wow, that one looks beautiful! Definitive a good decision to purchase it!

It is probably already a few years old, so I guess when planting out it will

explode...

best regards from Okinawa -

Lars

 

Here’s hoping for that explosion! The taller it can get, the less I have to worry about frost haha. 

[Tracy]

18 hours ago, chad2468emr said:

It’s spear was bending on my ceiling last night, and I don’t think it’ll be possible given the extra few inches it just gained, plus, the sucker is HEAVY. 

I noticed that and was thinking its not something a palm appreciates.  I try to avoid putting any pressure on the new spear when moving or transporting newly purchased palms.  Maybe I'm wrong, but my concern is for the downward pressure on the meristem, which I always want to avoid messing with.  So it's good to hear that it won't be butting up against your ceiling like an oversize Christmas tree .

 

On 12/27/2020 at 12:06 AM, quaman58 said:

For what it’s worth, the Teddy bears in my neighborhood got hammered by a couple 30F nights this past February.

Bret, do you think it was the cold or the combination of cold and the drying conditions that the event came with.  I have two growing in my yard, and the more wind exposed one showed more spotting of the leaflets, whereas the one that was a little more protected from the Easterly wind (Santa Ana), showed essentially no spotting.  I have to agree with Chad that our 30 degree temps, duration and associated weather here in Southern California seem to be combined with different conditions than occur in Florida when they hit 30 and below. 

[Bazza]

Yo Chad - my routine to keep all my palms happy, healthy, and with robust growth is to liquid feed using my Miracle-Grow feeder with LiquaFeed 12-4-8 fertilizer. I do this at least once a week. Even through winter. Get yourself one of those flex hoses that expand when the water comes on - a 25 footer is best if you can use one that short. Put a shut-off valve on the end too. I even have quick connects on all of mine to make it easier to swap back to my water wands. Keep chargin'!

Edited December 28, 2020 by Bazza

[chad2468emr]

4 hours ago, Tracy said:

I noticed that and was thinking its not something a palm appreciates.  I try to avoid putting any pressure on the new spear when moving or transporting newly purchased palms.  Maybe I'm wrong, but my concern is for the downward pressure on the meristem, which I always want to avoid messing with.  So it's good to hear that it won't be butting up against your ceiling like an oversize Christmas tree .

Yeah, it pained me to do that. As soon as I'd looked up and saw it, I grimaced. If it hadn't been for the prerequisite stress of moving it 200+ miles that day in 45 degree weather combined with how exposed its' roots are on top of the 32 degree low we were expecting that night, it would have been sat outside.... I know my back would have preferred that option as well! lol

4 hours ago, Bazza said:

Yo Chad - my routine to keep all my palms happy, healthy, and with robust growth is to liquid feed using my Miracle-Grow feeder with LiquaFeed 12-4-8 fertilizer. I do this at least once a week. Even through winter. Get yourself one of those flex hoses that expand when the water comes on - a 25 footer is best if you can use one that short. Put a shut-off valve on the end too. I even have quick connects on all of mine to make it easier to swap back to my water wands. Keep chargin'!

You might be the first person I've ever heard of on here that recommends an MG product, haha. Aside from their palm soil that actually works really well for me once amended with perlite + pine bark, and / or lava rock, I generally try to steer away from their products. I had attempted to use their palm fertilizer (shake and feed) and noticed little to not effect in palms that were demonstrating clear need for good ferts. Palm gain fixed them right up a few months later, however. I also like that palm gain has micronutrients like sulfer, iron, and zinc, since I've gotten a few palms with deficiencies there and had to turn them around. That being said, all of your palms look amazing so maybe I've had it all wrong!  

I have considered finding some other liquid fert and switching to that during the winter months... I'd need to do a lot of research on that though! But from the look of your palms, MG might be the one. 

[quaman58]

5 hours ago, Tracy said:

I noticed that and was thinking its not something a palm appreciates.  I try to avoid putting any pressure on the new spear when moving or transporting newly purchased palms.  Maybe I'm wrong, but my concern is for the downward pressure on the meristem, which I always want to avoid messing with.  So it's good to hear that it won't be butting up against your ceiling like an oversize Christmas tree .

 

Bret, do you think it was the cold or the combination of cold and the drying conditions that the event came with.  I have two growing in my yard, and the more wind exposed one showed more spotting of the leaflets, whereas the one that was a little more protected from the Easterly wind (Santa Ana), showed essentially no spotting.  I have to agree with Chad that our 30 degree temps, duration and associated weather here in Southern California seem to be combined with different conditions than occur in Florida when they hit 30 and below. 

Tracy,

It was just friggin cold. I remember talking to Phil at Jungle Music  a couple months later & was telling him about it. He says "Oh yeah, late February, right? Out of the blue, I come in one morning & see the green house got down to 33F during the night". I still have a couple completely fried leaves on the Teddy, a large Royal and a B. fenestralis. And a large pembana cross  may be dead on the main stem, still not much new growth coming out. Definitely the worst cold snap in a dozen years. Fortunately is was just a couple of days..

Bret

[Eric in Orlando]

If possible, plant it under tree canopy in the Orlando area. They can tolerate some cold but are frost sensitive, at least when young. We have 2 mature, seed producing specimens at Leu Gardens. They were planted back in the mid 90s and have survived 26-27F. They lost their overhead canopy about 10 years ago so now are in the open.

 

 

[chad2468emr]

11 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

If possible, plant it under tree canopy in the Orlando area. They can tolerate some cold but are frost sensitive, at least when young. We have 2 mature, seed producing specimens at Leu Gardens. They were planted back in the mid 90s and have survived 26-27F. They lost their overhead canopy about 10 years ago so now are in the open.

 

 

Thanks, Eric! That’s the plan once I get out of this rental townhome and can actually get it into the ground. For now, I have to settle on a SW facing wall which is about as good as it’s gonna get for now haha. 

[Merlyn]

FWIW, my two very small Leptocheilos seedlings have been planted in the front yard for ~1.5 years and are around 1' tall.  They had 28F with frost and only showed some minor spotting.  They had fronds of an Encephalartos Turneri hanging sorta over them, so that might have prevented frost from forming on them.  But either way, hopefully that means they are relatively cold hardy.  My reading of kinzyjr's spreadsheet shows generally minor damage in the upper 20s, unless there is frost.