Question - Plant small ones or large ones?

[_Keith]

With traditional landscape plants I know that many times, due to establishment issues, smaller plants will quickly outgrow larger plants hat were planted at the same time.

Does this hold true for palms as well?

[PalmGuyWC]

Keith,

My experience has been that in a very few years a 5 gal size palm will be just as big as a 10 or 15 gal size palm. I actually prefer to plant a 5 gal size as it will allow the roots to grow into the ground faster than a larger size that might be root bound. An added bonus is that you don't have to dig as big a hole as for a smaller one.

The one exception is with Sabals since they are so slow. A larger size Sabal might be better.

I planted 5 Trachycarpus Wagnerianus about 3 years ago of different sizes, the larger ones in the the back with the smaller ones in the front to give a staggered effect. Three years later and there is not much difference in their sizes. They all exploded with growth once their roots got into the ground.

Dick

[Kathryn]

Keith,

I've had similar experience as Dick. I prefer to plant 3 to 5 gallon size palms. And for you metric folks, that’s 13 to 22 liters. Sorry I don’t have time to measure the diameter.

[bgl]

Keith,

I've found that palms that are single trunked and will (one day) be fairly tall, it's a real good idea to get them in the ground JUST before they begin to form a trunk. That'll typically mean a 3G to 5G size plant. They will then eventually outgrow palms that were allowed to form a trunk in the pot and they will also have a more robust (thicker) trunk.

With smaller palms, and multi trunked palms, I'm not sure it makes much of a difference when you plant them.

Bo-Göran

[ghar41]

Ive had similar experiences, 5's are best.  But, Ive planted many smaller palms just to see how well they do in the long run.

So far, fast growing palms, like Archontophoenix cunninghamiana (Illawara) grew really fast as one gallon plants from the understory, moving to the canopy quickly.

[ruskinPalms]

I agree with the posts here. My favorite size is 3 gallon. I also love to get those 1 gallon blue light specials labeled as tropical foliage. I have scored cool things in 1 gallon size like Adonidia, P. roebellini, Hyophorbe's, D. decaryi, D. lutescens, Washnigtonia, L. chinensis, W. bifurcata and maybe a couple others I have forgotten - usually for around $3 to $6 each. All have grown beautifully! 5 gallon and up requires me to dig too big of a hole - I just don't have a good place to dump excess dirt left over.  Probably the best performer so far from 1 gallon size has been D. lutescens. The 1 gallon ones have embarrased the 3 gallon ones I have planted. I think it was because the 1 gallon pots were not planted like grass, they would only have about 5 to 6 little palms in them whereas the 3 gallon ones had around 15 to 20 little palms in them. Also, I planted a 7 gallon D. lutescens when I first moved here and it is a bit disappointing - always yellow and struggling it seems, but it has started to take off better now. Non palms like hibiscus that I have started from 1 gallon sizes grow incredible too. Last summer, I planted a variety that went from 1 gallon dwarfs to 15 feet tall giants in few months! This variety was the most tender to the freeze this year though it has re-foliated now and begun to grow again

[Dave-Vero]

Well, hibiscuses are plants that you need to prune severely at least once a year.  The stems aren't terribly permanent.

I've done well with little palms.  For those that live under a canopy when young, a "temporary" canopy of hibiscus, Callicarpa, heliconia, or some other short-lived shrub may be helpful.

[Really full garden]

I have to plant small palms that I have grown from seed because there is not much available in larger sizes.I often plant really small plants of slow growing groups like Coccothrinax,they grow much faster in the ground with nothing limiting their roots.I do build barrriers etc. to protect them from being stepped on.

[DoomsDave]

Generally, I prefer smaller plants.

By that I mean 15-gallon and smaller.

Easier to plant, cheaper (and easier to get more of them, more is always better . . . . ) and they often grow faster.  Especially the really hardy "rooty" types that have large root systems.

However, there are exceptions.  Super slow species and/or marginals are better planted in larger sizes.  Hyophorbes seem to be a good example.  Jubes, and Jube-opsis, ditto.

This seems to hold true for both single-and multi-trunkers.

dave

[sonoranfans]

I think it depends on the palm, and on the climate in which you plan to grow it.  A fast growing palm like a queen, a 5 gallon will get large in just a few years.  Slower growers, like some fan palms(sabals, bizzies, brahea armata) are slow before forming a trunk.  The 15 gallon size has done very nicely for me, they grow fast, look healthy and tend to put down better root systems than the larger ones.  It also depends on whether you need the palm for screening, bigger will get there sooner.  they generally say here in AZ that 5-15 gallons is best to start.  too small a palm here will struggle in the dry/hot climate.  I planted some 3-5 gallon chamaerops in "hot spots" that really struggled in the heat.  They are fine now, but any 3-5 gallon size palm I plant in the future wont be in a spot that gets alot of late day sun.

Very large palms tend not to do so well here.  I can drive around town and compare washies or phoenix dactyliferas that were planted as small palms to the bigger ones, planted as more mature "poles", and the difference is dramatic.  The "poles" never get the nice dense crowns of the smaller plantings.  When I looked this up at the U of A  horticultural website, they said that young palms/trees produce more hormones for root development, so mature plantings never will get the extensive root systems of the juvenile plantings in our clay soils.