One man's trash....

[Keys6505]

Someone in my neighborhood had 2 smallish (about 4' ct) but very nice L. Chinensis that I admired every night when I had the dog out for a walk.  Well the freeze did those in and they are 100% dead, but I had never realized the smaller siblings growing out as faux-suckers from underneath. I guess these were buried enough to be protected from the cold so I've been keeping tabs on them as they began to come back.  Well tonight as I walk by I find all of the trees, dead and otherwise, piled up at the curb.  So obviously I went back with my truck and got them despite the constant loop of my wife's eyeballs as they were rolling in her head over and over and...     

I know for a fact that these were still in ground 48 hours ago and it poured today, so I don't think that they're too dried out.  It looks like there's a good amount of roots but I've never actually seen a tree this size with no dirt so I'm not sure if there's a significant amount that were chopped.   I brought them home and stuck each in a bucket of water overnight.  If I get these in the ground tomorrow what do you think are the odds that they make it?

 

[Fusca]

They're pretty tough, but since they are in recovery-mode it's a bit more iffy.  I would keep them in mostly shade for awhile and, at some point, plant where they'll get some protection from late afternoon sun.  Nice save!  Hope they make it.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Fusca

[D Palm]

That’s about $400 worth of palms at a big box store!! Nice find! If the same opportunity arose…I would’ve did exactly what you did! 

[Swolte]

I'll stick out my neck here and say that they will make it. I base this on you having to avoid looking like a failure in the eyes of your wife if none of these 'trash' palms make it.

I would expect the shiny foliage to begin to look poor before it gets better! keep an eye on any spear growth! Keep us posted!

[JLM]

Hopefully it grows more roots. Long story short, when i did the first Pygmy Date seperation, the roots had dried out, and thats exactly what the roots looked like. All of them eventually spear pulled and died. Hopefully this is different! Goodluck!

[Chester B]

I'm rooting for you (no pun intended).  I separated a pot of very overgrown chinensis, and all the bigger ones made it with less roots than what yours show.  They did take quite a while to recover for me though.  I too would suggest keeping them in the shade.

[newtopalmsMD]

I've grown a couple of these in zone 7a as diebacks for the last 3 winters. I cover with leaves and in the winter they fry down to crown.  Each spring they send up new spears (kinda like hastas)..  Had one this spring with lots of spear pull and fungus.  I dug it up with the intention of tossing it but found a sucker that had a green spear. I broke of the part that was green with fewer roots than you have and stuck it in the ground with no special care beyond one week of watering every other day.  It's still alive and working on a second frond.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

I personally think they will make it. Put thenm in pots if you want to give them a better chance to recover. Or since they are free palm trash haha give them a go you literally have nothing to lose. Keep us posted on there come back. 

T J 

[D Palm]

I always sprinkle root powder in the hole I dig and use fertilome root stimulator when planting.  May increase survival odds.

[Keys6505]

So it may have taken me a few days longer than expected, but finally got these planted today.  The water in the buckets was starting to stink so not sure if that's a bad sign.  I tried to take everyone's advice and pot them, but I didn't have any nursery pots laying around that were large enough for the big one and I'm running low on turface so he went straight into the ground.  I separated one more small lil bro from the roots of the big one so I have 3 potted and 1 in ground.  The big one is going to get a few hours of midday sun but should be in full shade by 1pm.  Running low on available spaces here so hes gonna have to deal with it!  Thanks for the help all.

[WSimpson]

I think the odds are good but I would've potted them up and put them in shade and covered them with clear plastic to keep the humidity at such a high level that they wouldn't be able to dry out . Then in a month I'd check for root growth and also allow in  more fresh air in the " greenhouse " of plastic  if roots are growing . 

That's  what I do with citrus cuttings  and others and within a couple of months roots start growing . Your plants look like they have a pretty good root system so maybe they don't need to be in a greenhouse type environment . 

Good luck and nice find .

[Keys6505]

3 week-ish update..

Lil Bro spear pulled and is likely a goner.

#2 has no movement, no new spear to speak of.  Most recent leaves are still tight though.

#3 and the big guy are showing slight movement on the spear.  Leaves have browned at the tips but otherwise no signs of them giving up.  Spears tight and green.

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by Keys6505

[Keys6505]

[teddytn]

Happy you’ve got some growth, I’m a sucker for an underdog!

[Keys6505]

So we are 9 months in and these trees are clearly zombies.  Leaves look crappy, no spear movement, but the spear is still green and tight.  2 of the 3 potted ones (the smallest) are long gone, but the largest in-ground and the 2nd largest potted are still un-dead.  I don't have much experience with palms doing nothing for this long without pull or collapse.  And tips as to what's going on?

[Allen]

1 minute ago, Keys6505 said:

So we are 9 months in and these trees are clearly zombies.  Leaves look crappy, no spear movement, but the spear is still green and tight.  2 of the 3 potted ones (the smallest) are long gone, but the largest in-ground and the 2nd largest potted are still un-dead.  I don't have much experience with palms doing nothing for this long without pull or collapse.  And tips as to what's going on?

Palms can take a long time to regrow roots - 1-2 years.  But spear should move a little and I would expect a little growth.  ???Growing roots???

[ZPalms]

I think they are probably doing something under the soil, I have a trachy wxp that I transplanted into new soil and it didn't move for over a year. It didn't move any leaves, didn't grow anything new or absorb old leaves, and then one day it decided it was time to move again, so I guess just keep taking care of them and by chance they hopefully will come out of stasis.

Edited May 8, 2022 by ZPalms

[JohnAndSancho]

They're tough. My scenario is a little different - I bought a community pot of seedlings at Kroger with 12-15 or so tiny plants in it. I cut all but 4 off at the soil level, and everything I culled is pushing new green growth. I'm gonna cut them down again because I don't wanna split up a bunch of seedlings. 

 

These things are tough. But mine were inside during Snowmageddon. 

[JLM]

It may be time to pull it out of the pot for a little bit to see if there is anything going on below soil level. That will tell you whether its alive or just a zombie.