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Baby B. Alfredii goes in.


Looking Glass

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So I got four 1-gallon Beccariophoenix Alfredii from Floribunda on April 29th this year.  

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I potted them up to 3 gallonish pots right away, and let them cook for the summer.  
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They grew fast, and at this point the pots were full of roots coming out the bottom a few inches.   
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I didn’t pick the biggest one, but I picked the one most solidly cemented into the pot (2nd biggest), and released it into the wilds of the front yard.   It’s got a pretty big chunk of land to itself, and of course it looks silly…..  but grow baby, grow…..  

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It gets pretty much all day sun to direct setting sun there, and the spot is rich dirt a couple feet down over Florida sand.  The center island there is well irrigated.   If it can handle the sun it should be happy.   

I’m not sure if I should proactively stake it…  it doesn’t seem wobbly right now.   Though I think these can get wobbly early on.  

Also, recently added some common crotons for color in a few spots, so enjoy some pics of those.  The iguanas are murdering them lately, so I am repaying the favor to them.  I can see how crotons can get addicting with their unique, endless variety.   

Mammy…
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Magnificent…

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King of Siam….

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Edited by Looking Glass
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Nice. B. alfredii are not fast growers but they get HUGE. Don't plant them close together or too close to your house.

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Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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1 hour ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Nice. B. alfredii are not fast growers but they get HUGE. Don't plant them close together or too close to your house.

I seem to have a bunch of ultra slow stuff (C. Hookerii/macrocarpa, Pseudophoenix, Coccothrinax, Satakentia, Cyphophoenix elegans, Thrinax radiata, even my Dypsis are slow), so these don’t seem too bad yet.   

It’s way out front, with plenty of space.  I’m going to give two as gifts and keep one in reserve for a while, until I’m sure things are working out with the one in the ground.  I’ve got no space for more than one adult.   Can’t wait to see it grow though.  

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On 11/3/2021 at 5:06 PM, Looking Glass said:

So I got four 1-gallon Beccariophoenix Alfredii from Floribunda on April 29th this year.   I potted them up to 3 gallonish pots right away, and let them cook for the summer.  They grew fast, and at this point the pots were full of roots coming out the bottom a few inches.   I didn’t pick the biggest one, but I picked the one most solidly cemented into the pot (2nd biggest), and released it into the wilds of the front yard.   It’s got a pretty big chunk of land to itself, and of course it looks silly…..  but grow baby, grow…..  

Fantastic!

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Andrei W. Konradi, Burlingame, California.  Vicarious appreciator of palms in other people's gardens and in habitat

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19 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Nice. B. alfredii are not fast growers but they get HUGE. Don't plant them close together or too close to your house.

Hmmm....maybe this Becarriophoenix Alfredii Triple of DOOM (TM) was a bad idea?  :)  I got these as large 1g seedlings from @FishEyeAquaculture in the spring, and recently made this monstrosity!  I'm going to plant it up front to replace the last big water oak.  I have 5 other solo B. Alfredii that are doing great here, so this'll be truly unique.  Maybe not "good unique" but unique nonetheless.  :D

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21 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Nice. B. alfredii are not fast growers but they get HUGE. Don't plant them close together or too close to your house.

May not be fast in Fla, but I think my 1 gal from FB has done pretty good in a year here on O`ahu.

 

 

Beccariophoenix alfredii 20201018_110254.jpg

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Steve

Born in the Bronx

Raised in Brooklyn

Matured In Wai`anae

I can't be held responsible for anything I say or do....LOL

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10 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Hmmm....maybe this Becarriophoenix Alfredii Triple of DOOM (TM) was a bad idea?  :)  I got these as large 1g seedlings from @FishEyeAquaculture in the spring, and recently made this monstrosity!  I'm going to plant it up front to replace the last big water oak.  I have 5 other solo B. Alfredii that are doing great here, so this'll be truly unique.  Maybe not "good unique" but unique nonetheless.  :D

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That thing is going to murder and pillage anything that stands it it’s way!  (Make sure to plant it right between the foundation of the house and your main sewer line)  

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3 minutes ago, Looking Glass said:

(Make sure to plant it right between the foundation of the house and your main sewer line)  

:floor:

If only this were just comedy...  Now that they are more of a mainstream palm around here, I'm sure this will happen at some point.

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Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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9 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

May not be fast in Fla, but I think my 1 gal from FB has done pretty good in a year here on O`ahu.

Beccariophoenix alfredii 20201018_110254.jpg

Beccariophoenix alfredii 20210816_091503.jpg

Nice rate there…. Still, a Florida man can dream….   I brought my iPad out front to show the little Alfredii these pictures to shame it into speedier growth.  Then I started swinging the weed whacker around wildly, close by, and said, “gosh, I didn’t see you down there”.   I think he got the message.  

Edited by Looking Glass
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5 minutes ago, Looking Glass said:

Nice rate there…. Still, a Florida man can dream….   I brought my iPad out front to show the little Alfredii these pictures to shame it into speedier growth.  Then I started swinging the weed wicker around wildly, close by, and said, “gosh, I didn’t see you down there”.   I think he got the message.  

LOL

Steve

Born in the Bronx

Raised in Brooklyn

Matured In Wai`anae

I can't be held responsible for anything I say or do....LOL

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10 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

That thing is going to murder and pillage anything that stands it it’s way!  (Make sure to plant it right between the foundation of the house and your main sewer line)  

Hah, no kidding!  I was thinking of planting it right on top of the utilities in the front yard, that's probably close enough!  On a completely and totally unrelated note, I did plant one about 4 feet from my well's water filtration setup.  :D  Then I looked up mature photos and realized my error...

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  • 1 year later...
On 11/3/2021 at 8:06 PM, Looking Glass said:

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Well, it’s been about 20 months in the ground from 1g and the little Alfredii is now about 7 feet tall.   I picked the most solidly rooted of the four, and planted slightly deep in a blazing sun spot.  

I left the house the other day, and we were hit by the regular evening thunderstorms while I was out.   When I got home, Alfredii was leaning 15 degrees to the left and now suddenly very wobbly.   I guess I should have planted 6+ inches deeper.  It might be best to plant these abnormally deep.   

That doesn’t bode well for its wind tolerance in that open area.   It was just a regular wet season storm.   I had high hopes for the future, but I’m not sure this guy will be sticking around.   That would be a nice spot for a Cuban Copernicia.  
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Storms continue to roll in from the west almost daily in the late afternoon and early evening.    I’ve only irrigated maybe twice in 2 months.   
 

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Edited by Looking Glass
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@Looking Glass I asked MB Palms about that during their open house, because they have about 15 trunking Alfredii in the ground...none with a sign of leaning.  He said "plant them deep."  On their not-quite-trunking Alfredii it was obvious that they were at least a couple of inches below "normal" for most palms.  I am going to try this with a couple of 2-4 footers that I will plant in a few weeks.  They are also going in an area where I can easily scrape back the mulch and add a couple of inches of dirt if needed.  I think as long as they aren't susceptible to rot, then being a little "too deep" may be totally fine.

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A single alfredii could have a crown 35' wide but multiples will likely compete with each other (for sun, space, and nutrients) and be smaller palms.   One in three of mine(all over 20' tall) tilted a little from hurricane IRMA, and it was in heavy sand and in shade.  The other two havent budged in IRMA or IAN.  While these palms do very well in mostly sandy soil, I expect they hold better in heavy wind when planted in sand with a good part clay.  I also would not plant a large one in an exposed position as it will see more wind forces and those may stunt root development.  When planted as a small palm(than 7 gallon) in an exposed position, root development will be less an issue.

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Formerly in Gilbert AZ, zone 9a/9b. Now in Palmetto, Florida Zone 9b/10a??

 

Tom Blank

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1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

A single alfredii could have a crown 35' wide but multiples will likely compete with each other (for sun, space, and nutrients) and be smaller palms.   One in three of mine(all over 20' tall) tilted a little from hurricane IRMA, and it was in heavy sand and in shade.  The other two havent budged in IRMA or IAN.  While these palms do very well in mostly sandy soil, I expect they hold better in heavy wind when planted in sand with a good part clay.  I also would not plant a large one in an exposed position as it will see more wind forces and those may stunt root development.  When planted as a small palm(than 7 gallon) in an exposed position, root development will be less an issue.

I’m surprised.   That thing was rock solid all this time.  It’s been through a lot of high winds and storms.  I think the height increase finally created enough leverage in an open area.   It’s at the age where it’s taller, but without the fat base yet.   Kind of in the “at risk for tipping age” for these.  This guy was doing well and seemed solid.   I guess I got a little cocky.  

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1 hour ago, Looking Glass said:

I’m surprised.   That thing was rock solid all this time.  It’s been through a lot of high winds and storms.  I think the height increase finally created enough leverage in an open area.   It’s at the age where it’s taller, but without the fat base yet.   Kind of in the “at risk for tipping age” for these.  This guy was doing well and seemed solid.   I guess I got a little cocky.  

Good point, the height seemed to be a big factor in bismarckia damage in my neighborhood from IAN.   There are probably 15-20 bizzies in my area, many were almost undamaged but ehy were all palms 15' or less.  Bigger ones 20-30' took substantial damage, they were not wind protected by single story houses.  But almost any palm that reared its crown up over the houses was savaged on the windward side, like my 30' bizzie.   Today that bizzie is just cranking out spears, it may only take one more summer to recover all IAN damage. 

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Formerly in Gilbert AZ, zone 9a/9b. Now in Palmetto, Florida Zone 9b/10a??

 

Tom Blank

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@sonoranfans exposure is definitely a factor on bizzies.  I have two nearly identical ones, both about 20' tall overall.  The front yard one has fronds that are close to touching the house, with a roof peak that was just about even with the height of the palm.  It had a few fans that were somewhat damaged by Ian, some of the damage wasn't obvious until the Christmas frost.  The one in the backyard is out in the open and the tallest thing for 50 yards in all directions, and basically all the fans were moderately to heavily damaged.  I think it'll have a fully replaced crown by the end of the summer.

I did look at my Alfredii, ranging from 15-25' tall overall and none of them quite trunking yet.  They all appear to be "air girdled."  So either I planted them too high (definitely possible), they lifted themselves up while growing (like some Queens did on the West side), or the soil has compacted/washed away around them (also definitely possible).  I noted that they were really loose up to a couple of weeks after the hurricanes, but today they feel absolutely rigid in ground.  I think you are right about the clay.  Wet sand is subject to liquefaction, especially when completely saturated like during a hurricane.  I bet it's not dramatically different than wet sand in an earthquake...  I'll have to go push on a couple of Alfredii shortly after a torrential rainstorm, I bet they are slightly mobile.

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