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Planting Sabal MInor In Good Soil, For Texas


amh

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I planted 4, 3 gallon Sabal minor's today in an area that I am raising for erosion and flood control. When I began digging, I noticed that the dirt was made up of primarily earth worm castings and composted leaves. You can see an earth worm in the second shot, but not so clearly in the first. I used about 2 handfuls of garden soil for each planting, but it is looking like a good start. Now, to plant some Sabal uresana's next week.

BTW the cat is alive and is just taking his siesta.

4sm.thumb.jpg.89e316db6ffc32f774129e327a15e8f7.jpg4sm1.thumb.jpg.f6a6d282c133e7ec92769d98e8849135.jpg4sm2.thumb.jpg.244a1881f6bedb1d09086ebd92cc6331.jpg4sm2.thumb.jpg.244a1881f6bedb1d09086ebd92cc6331.jpg4sm3.thumb.jpg.5e4d28ae22bb4ce700d5be501d9c499c.jpg

 

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7 hours ago, amh said:

I planted 4, 3 gallon Sabal minor's today in an area that I am raising for erosion and flood control. When I began digging, I noticed that the dirt was made up of primarily earth worm castings and composted leaves. You can see an earth worm in the second shot, but not so clearly in the first. I used about 2 handfuls of garden soil for each planting, but it is looking like a good start. Now, to plant some Sabal uresana's next week.

BTW the cat is alive and is just taking his siesta.

That soil does look excellent! I did the same and planted a bunch of minors this year. Got things a little more palmy instantly

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Sabals look great! well situated, healthy and the cat comment made me laugh...Guess they’ll get plenty of water there?

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7 hours ago, GregVirginia7 said:

Sabals look great! well situated, healthy and the cat comment made me laugh...Guess they’ll get plenty of water there?

Thanks, he decided to take a nap in a weird spot, and only acknowledged my presence once throughout the planting. I guess it was too hot to be social.

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17 hours ago, teddytn said:
On 6/13/2021 at 10:06 PM, amh said:

I planted 4, 3 gallon Sabal minor's today in an area that I am raising for erosion and flood control. When I began digging, I noticed that the dirt was made up of primarily earth worm castings and composted leaves. You can see an earth worm in the second shot, but not so clearly in the first. I used about 2 handfuls of garden soil for each planting, but it is looking like a good start. Now, to plant some Sabal uresana's next week.

BTW the cat is alive and is just taking his siesta.

That soil does look excellent! I did the same and planted a bunch of minors this year. Got things a little more palmy instantly

I'm hoping looks wont deceive, but Sabal minor will grow in just about any type of dirt. I thought the area would be perfect and was going to plant these back in late January, early February, but things happened.

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  • 3 months later...

An update.

I planted 3 more S. minors on the row in early august, so now there are 7 in the area. All the palms have put out 2 to 3 new leaves since I planted them in the ground.

I'm thinking of adding 2 or 3 more overgrown 1 gallon sizes to the row this week; is it too late in the year to plant Sabal minor in southern 8A ?

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Just now, Keys6505 said:

Are you getting these at a nursery or did you grow them?  I never see minors for sale around here (HOU).

All from seed.

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1 minute ago, Swolte said:

Am I losing it or is there supposed to be a sleeping cat in the first round of pics?

It was his siesta time.

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Oh dang, I see it now. That dark blurry spot in the third pic I mistook for shade or a piece of landscape fabric!
:greenthumb: 
Hope you can train your cat-army to take on ox beetles!
 

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2 minutes ago, Swolte said:

Oh dang, I see it now. That dark blurry spot in the third pic I mistook for shade or a piece of landscape fabric!
:greenthumb: 
Hope you can train your cat-army to take on ox beetles!
 

So far I haven't had the ox beetle problem, but I have lots of other areas that are heavily mulched, hopefully that will distract them. Right now the armadillos are the biggest threat.

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Cool, I have rarely had armadillo's dig up palms (luck perhaps). I don't mind them, to be honest, as they get rid of lots of grubs. When they are digging up young plants, I throw a ring of egg-rock around the flare which seems to deter them. My dog does tend to chase them off when I encounter one during my night walks. I reckon cats won't be inclined to such 'labor'. 

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4 minutes ago, Swolte said:

Cool, I have rarely had armadillo's dig up palms (luck perhaps). I don't mind them, to be honest, as they get rid of lots of grubs. When they are digging up young plants, I throw a ring of egg-rock around the flare which seems to deter them. My dog does tend to chase them off when I encounter one during my night walks. I reckon cats won't be inclined to such 'labor'. 

They only cause trouble when the area is experiencing drought conditions, the problem should end next week. Hopefully.

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6 hours ago, teddytn said:

Respect :greenthumb:

Local availability is what drives this. I can occasionally I can find butia or sabal species at the local nurseries, but they are usually overpriced or I am skeptical of the species, quality or cold hardiness.  The growers and local experts in the San Antonio metro area mainly cater to the people inside I- 410 and somewhat inside loop 1604.  My yard is starting to look like a nursery with all of the various palms, cycads, fruit trees, and various experimental plants. 

Edited by amh
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6 hours ago, amh said:

Local availability is what drives this. I can occasionally I can find butia or sabal species at the local nurseries, but they are usually overpriced or I am skeptical of the species, quality or cold hardiness.  The growers and local experts in the San Antonio metro area mainly cater to the people inside I- 410 and somewhat inside loop 1604.  My yard is starting to look like a nursery with all of the various palms, cycads, fruit trees, and various experimental plants. 

Same here, nothing local for sale here. Couldn’t find a nursery within 300 miles of here that would have trachies, needle palm, or any Sabal species. I’ve got quite a few sabals from seed right now and leaning towards starting a bunch more from seed this winter. Going to start mass planting different Sabal species and see what sticks long term. 

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19 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

I'm jealous of places that have good soil naturally, nice sabal minors!

Thanks, i'm in a rare spot of deep top soil, while less than a mile away is all rock. The soil looks better than it is, but it is good for the hill country.

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1 hour ago, teddytn said:

Same here, nothing local for sale here. Couldn’t find a nursery within 300 miles of here that would have trachies, needle palm, or any Sabal species. I’ve got quite a few sabals from seed right now and leaning towards starting a bunch more from seed this winter. Going to start mass planting different Sabal species and see what sticks long term. 

My yard is going to be sabal heavy, right now only a few standard minors are ready to plant, but I have a bunch of Washingtonia filifera Sabal louisianaSabal brazoriensis, and Sabal uresana that will be planted starting in spring and some Sabal mexicana that I started this summer. I also started a lot of Chamaedorea radicalis and Chamaedorea microspadix this year for under the tree canopy.

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14 hours ago, amh said:

My yard is going to be sabal heavy, right now only a few standard minors are ready to plant, but I have a bunch of Washingtonia filifera Sabal louisianaSabal brazoriensis, and Sabal uresana that will be planted starting in spring and some Sabal mexicana that I started this summer. I also started a lot of Chamaedorea radicalis and Chamaedorea microspadix this year for under the tree canopy.

Sabal heavy here too, I’ve got about 40 Sabal palmetto at various stages all in pots from first year seedlings up to 5 gallon plants. Then a mexicana, etonia, 2 brazoria, 2 sabal minor Emerald Isle, and 2 standard sabal minor. Sabals in general have proven themselves to me to be the most cold hardy palms other than needle of course. Look at what happened in Texas last winter mexicanas survived where Trachycarpus didn’t in some cases just crazy, kinda changes the way I look at things

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1 hour ago, teddytn said:

Sabal heavy here too, I’ve got about 40 Sabal palmetto at various stages all in pots from first year seedlings up to 5 gallon plants. Then a mexicana, etonia, 2 brazoria, 2 sabal minor Emerald Isle, and 2 standard sabal minor. Sabals in general have proven themselves to me to be the most cold hardy palms other than needle of course. Look at what happened in Texas last winter mexicanas survived where Trachycarpus didn’t in some cases just crazy, kinda changes the way I look at things

I'm considering Sabal etonia , Sabal causiarum and some of the dwarf Sabal minors. The Sabal mexicana's were the only trunking palm that reliably survived in my area, and on my street a tachycarpus of about 20' survived, and only 2 old(about 30 years old), likely pure Washingtonia filifera survived where as every filibusta died. I tried to start some Trachycarpus fortunei seed this year, but they did not germinate.

The funny thing is that 90+ percent of the neighborhood sagos survived below 0.

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6 hours ago, amh said:

I'm considering Sabal etonia , Sabal causiarum and some of the dwarf Sabal minors. The Sabal mexicana's were the only trunking palm that reliably survived in my area, and on my street a tachycarpus of about 20' survived, and only 2 old(about 30 years old), likely pure Washingtonia filifera survived where as every filibusta died. I tried to start some Trachycarpus fortunei seed this year, but they did not germinate.

The funny thing is that 90+ percent of the neighborhood sagos survived below 0.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the dwarf Sabal minors. I plan to keep experimenting until my yard is full lol

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23 minutes ago, amh said:

Okay, someone talk me out of growing Sabal causiarum and a pindo. I'm 8A and reach around 8F every 5 years.

I think you're good :greenthumb: assuming that you're willing to provide protection for the first couple of winters if you start small.  I had 3 Butia survive 9° unprotected this past February - 2 were established 5-gal size that I trunk cut and the largest didn't completely defoliate or spear-pull.  Sabal causiarum is less cold hardy than mexicana but still pretty hardy.  Not sure if it can handle 8° every 5 years but worth a shot.

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Jon Sunder

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9 minutes ago, Fusca said:

I think you're good :greenthumb: assuming that you're willing to provide protection for the first couple of winters if you start small.  I had 3 Butia survive 9° unprotected this past February - 2 were established 5-gal size that I trunk cut and the largest didn't completely defoliate or spear-pull.  Sabal causiarum is less cold hardy than mexicana but still pretty hardy.  Not sure if it can handle 8° every 5 years but worth a shot.

This agrees with what i'm reading, I've been considering a pindo for years, and have recently been wanting the causiarum. BTW, 26 of the mexicana seeds have germinated.

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18 hours ago, amh said:

This agrees with what i'm reading, I've been considering a pindo for years, and have recently been wanting the causiarum. BTW, 26 of the mexicana seeds have germinated.

Good to hear that you got some good germination!  Just to update on my smallest Butia - from May 2:

rsz_butia_may02.thumb.jpg.94384aeb420348fd3f52ba0232da48f5.jpg

And today:

 

IMG_20210929_091723.jpg

Edited by Fusca
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Jon Sunder

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  • 1 month later...

I added 2 more Sabal minor to the border today, so now I'm up to 10 along the dry creek.

It's a good start I suppose.

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I put numbers 11 and 12 in the ground today, and will plant some Sabal louisiana, Sabal brazoriensis, Sabal uresana and Washingtonia filifera in the spring along with chamaedorea to follow later.

Historic Arroyo Palma is taking shape with its rich flora of Sabal minor, Quercus fusiformis, Asimina triloba, Diospyros texana, Rubus trivialis and some sort of marbleseed.

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On 11/1/2021 at 4:46 PM, amh said:

I put numbers 11 and 12 in the ground today, and will plant some Sabal louisiana, Sabal brazoriensis, Sabal uresana and Washingtonia filifera in the spring along with chamaedorea to follow later.

Historic Arroyo Palma is taking shape with its rich flora of Sabal minor, Quercus fusiformis, Asimina triloba, Diospyros texana, Rubus trivialis and some sort of marbleseed.

Awesome - sounds like something I am embarking on.  We just finished a pretty large retaining wall project, and at the end of it I will be placing 15 S. Minors as a natural screen from the front of the property (added privacy) and a few S. Birmingham and S. Louisiana.  I am going for a wall of palms.

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8 hours ago, tlow said:

Awesome - sounds like something I am embarking on.  We just finished a pretty large retaining wall project, and at the end of it I will be placing 15 S. Minors as a natural screen from the front of the property (added privacy) and a few S. Birmingham and S. Louisiana.  I am going for a wall of palms.

Thank you. The minors growth habits should help keep your retaining wall in place. The hardy palms have really great appearance in the Texas landscape, and along with being drought hardy, make for superior privacy over fences. A wall of green(palms) is far more healthy than a big obstructive fence.

This batch of minors are more for soil stability and aesthetics, but I'm beginning a major project for privacy and noise abatement on my south side that will be using 100+ palms (sabals, chamaedora, tracycarpus, and to be determined Serenoa repens), various asimina species, and whatever shade growers I can think of.

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  • 9 months later...
On 9/24/2021 at 8:30 PM, Swolte said:

Hope you can train your cat-army to take on ox beetles!

Interestingly, the cats have killed and eaten at least 3 ox beetles this month.

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Very nice S.minors!

I wish they were sold in my area. I've started potting up my own seedlings to have in 5 more years.

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40 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Very nice S.minors!

I wish they were sold in my area. I've started potting up my own seedlings to have in 5 more years.

Check out nearly native nursery in Fayetteville, GA. Right down the road from you, they usually have a good selection of sabals for sale. Minors, palmetto, mexicana, Louisiana, etonia, needle palms too. I’ve been there once and had them ship to my house. Good peeps

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25 minutes ago, teddytn said:

Check out nearly native nursery in Fayetteville, GA. Right down the road from you, they usually have a good selection of sabals for sale. Minors, palmetto, mexicana, Louisiana, etonia, needle palms too. I’ve been there once and had them ship to my house. Good peeps

I'll have to go over. They have seedlings and 1-gal of Sabal minor. No palmetto or mexicana

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1 minute ago, SeanK said:

I'll have to go over. They have seedlings and 1-gal of Sabal minor. No palmetto or mexicana

Definitely worth a visit. They’ve got all kinds of other cool stuff too. A bunch of old palms growing on their property to check out

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5 hours ago, SeanK said:

Very nice S.minors!

I wish they were sold in my area. I've started potting up my own seedlings to have in 5 more years.

About year 3 is when they start putting out mature leaves and begin a growth spurt. Mine haven't grown this year, but that is because of lack of water.

Unfortunately an armadillo killed 3 of my smaller plants.

 

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