Queen vs Royal growth rate?

[Palmfarmer]

Most likely i will replant a Royal in place where my Majesty palms was. I also have 2 queens as well and they have more or less doubled in 1 year in height, I will be planting in slightly clayish soil with a depression for easy watering. Can i Expect that aggrsive growth with the Royal as well?

[chinandega81]

Only if you live in a place where there are warm to hot nights. They grow fast in low elevation tropics with lots of moisture.

[Palmfarmer]

23 minutes ago, chinandega81 said:

Only if you live in a place where there are warm to hot nights. They grow fast in low elevation tropics with lots of moisture.

might be a crappy climate for it then, like 15 celcius at night.

[chinandega81]

That's about 60 degrees. I'm not sure if that is your winter or summer lows. If that is winter low, that's fine. If that's summer's lows....it will probably be too cold. Check your neighbors and see how there's are doing.  I know Mexico has a lot of low latitude but high elevation cities and those aren't ideal for lowland tropicals but you know your microclimate the best.

[sonoranfans]

Seems like a climate for parajubea they like cool nights and lower humidity.  Royals do prefer heat and water, the more of each the faster they grow it seems.

[Palmfarmer]

1 hour ago, chinandega81 said:

That's about 60 degrees. I'm not sure if that is your winter or summer lows. If that is winter low, that's fine. If that's summer's lows....it will probably be too cold. Check your neighbors and see how there's are doing.  I know Mexico has a lot of low latitude but high elevation cities and those aren't ideal for lowland tropicals but you know your microclimate the best.

thats the nights in summer. while daytime is a constant 30c+. They other ones seem ok only thing is they seem to be living on neglect so it might not be a good measure of growth, however they are not recent transplants.

[Palmfarmer]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

Seems like a climate for parajubea they like cool nights and lower humidity.  Royals do prefer heat and water, the more of each the faster they grow it seems.

Good suggestion, if i only could source one. Curently growing a ton of things from seed so with time i will have a good collection

Found a 1 meter triangle palm, sounds good for my climate? some Acrocomia aculeata seedlings also.

[sonoranfans]

triangle should do well there, they grow well in low humidity due to the waxy leaves.  They prefer direct sun.  I have never tried acrocomia, I have low interest in big needles jabbing at me during a trim.

[Fusca]

3 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

Found a 1 meter triangle palm, sounds good for my climate? some Acrocomia aculeata seedlings also.

Acrocomia aculeata should do well as far as cold hardiness, not sure how much heat they need.  They're almost as cold hardy as A. totai and they grow fast and relatively fast as seedlings.  They do have small thorns on the leaflets, petioles and trunk but they aren't very stiff in young palms so not a huge issue if you take care.  Just be aware...

[Palmfarmer]

4 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

triangle should do well there, they grow well in low humidity due to the waxy leaves.  They prefer direct sun.  I have never tried acrocomia, I have low interest in big needles jabbing at me during a trim.

I go for the triangle then, only slightly worried about cold hardiness.

[sonoranfans]

 

49 minutes ago, Palmfarmer said:

I go for the triangle then, only slightly worried about cold hardiness.

they are good to 26F here in florida, might be even more hardy out west with those shorter low humidity radiative cold events.

[Palmfarmer]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

 

they are good to 26F here in florida, might be even more hardy out west with those shorter low humidity radiative cold events.

ok, yeah i notice in the freeze damage threads people on the west coast can sometimes take 4 degrees lower than in humid FL,

[Palmfarmer]

How much can Royals take in your area?

[chinandega81]

I would love to see some pics of the Royals in Durango if you have any. What are your winter lows? They can take a night or two in the 30s but they need consistency in warmth overall to look decent in winter.

[sonoranfans]

4 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

How much can Royals take in your area?

They took two consecutive nights 28, 29F in my area with 1/3 burn on the lower leaves 2010 and just 4-5 freezes since.  Once they get that bud up to 4-5' they should take 28F just fine in radiative cold.  The key with royals and radiative cold is to get the bud up off the ground(take a few years of growth).  Once that happens they can take 28F.  There are plenty of examples of nice royals here that survived 28F in 2010.  If your cold events are below freezing for only 4-5 hrs at most, they should do fine. @ 28 once established.  Mine are 35-45' overall today, thick clear trunks at 18'-22'.  But you have to get some size on them to get them cold hardy.  I wold plan on protecting them for a few years with heat/wraps if you cant buy a palm with 3-4' clear trunk.

[James B]

Your elevation is 6,000 feet? I would say that is the real factor vs the temp. But for reference my Royals grow 3 feet per year in the climate below. Although I will say the stated average lows between July-September are not that accurate. I would say my average low in summer is mid 60s not 59 degrees. Other than that this is fairly accurate.

 

[sonoranfans]

TJ your daytime highs look fine, the night time lows might be a bit low for royals.  Soil temps are probably more important than air temps at night.  In that kind of fast changing climate the ground temp will lag the air temp.  If I were you I'd put some good sized rocks around that royal, not too close 3-4', these will mute the drop in soil temps overnight.  You could also heat the rocks with a propane heater in an emergency cold event.  

[Jim in Los Altos]

On 2/9/2021 at 8:03 PM, James B said:

Your elevation is 6,000 feet? I would say that is the real factor vs the temp. But for reference my Royals grow 3 feet per year in the climate below. Although I will say the stated average lows between July-September are not that accurate. I would say my average low in summer is mid 60s not 59 degrees. Other than that this is fairly accurate.

 

Our averages are similar despite my being a few hundred miles north. I have a Roystonea borinquena doing well for a few years now. I believe they tolerate cool temperatures better than the other Royal species. 

[James B]

10 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Our averages are similar despite my being a few hundred miles north. I have a Roystonea borinquena doing well for a few years now. I believe they tolerate cool temperatures better than the other Royal species. 

This guy was only 8 feet tall 20 months ago. Now it’s pushing 15 feet. A little beat up from brutal Santa Anna’s last month but it puts out 7-8 fronds a year and will completely replace them all by September.