xButyagrus Growth Photos (Mule Palm)

[TimHopper]

I planted this xButyagrus in my front lawn the end of April 2004 from a three gallon container. It was 14 months old from germination in the first photo.  Here are a few photos documenting the growth over the last two and a half years...

[TimHopper]

[TimHopper]

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

Wowee...

[MattyB]

Whoa!  Those leaf bases are cool!

[K_Palm]

Why did you put in those four sticks when you first planted?  Btw...great palm, I have never seen this x before!

[TimHopper]

Matt, I like the leaf bases too. My hybrids are Queen-like in form. I trim the leaf bases off when I remove a frond. The trunk is still fattening up pretty fast. Karel, The wood stakes in the first photo was to protect the tree from my wild driving  four year old son (at the time). He terrorizes the area with hot wheels, four wheelers, dirt bike..... nothing is safe until it gets some size. Tim

[Gtlevine]

Tim, show a pic of the whole tree with the trunk.

Gary

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

(Gtlevine @ Sep. 19 2006,23:11)

QUOTE

Tim, show a pic of the whole tree with the trunk.

Gary

Gary..he did...check back in the morning...your dial up may have finished by then  

[merrill]

Hi, Tim:

You are an expert at trimming leaf bases!  I wish they would stay green.

merrill

[Kris]

Dear Tim  

Beautiful illustration of that palm grouth.

very clear still_simply lovely.

that house is really very cuite looking & those

CRV & mini trucks parked around did impress

me much.

like your son even in my childhood days i really

did not care for plants in our garden.but as i grew-

up i started taking a liking for plants that are very

peculiear looking. so when you are doing gardening

work make it a point to have him as your assistant.

he will soon learn to respect your plants & how much

time & pains it takes to grow a healthy plant !

tim thanks for sharing with us !  

love,

Kris(India).

[Exotic Life]

Beautifull palm, very nice grow rate... That's gonna be a huge palm tree over 10 years

[Neofolis]

Very impressive.  What method do you use to remove the leaf bases?

[Jeff Wilson]

I've posted these photos before. This is one of John and Faith's Mule palms (xButyagrus nabbonadi) in Old Miakka. Shows the growth rate over 3 years. It has upright, dark green fronds with an almost fountain look....somewhat atypical appearance compared to their other Mule palms. It was surmised that this palm may have been a Jubaea x Butia x Syagrus cross. Still have to count stamens....etc.

3 photos show growth rate over 36 months timeframe from small 5 gallon palm to a very large palm. These palms are not slow.

Xmas 2002

[Jeff Wilson]

Middle spring 04

Spring_2004_Mule

[Jeff Wilson]

Xmas 2005

Xmas_2005_Mule

[MattyB]

Tim, with the comparison shot I now can see your handy work in removing the old leaf bases and the fibers so you can see the existing ones better.  It's a nice manicured look.

[Frank in Florida]

Tim, you do nice work, that's a great looking palm.

[TimHopper]

Thanks everyone, and thanks Jeff for posting John and Faith's  tree. Theirs has a very full crown and I'll bet it is going to make an impressive adult tree. I have one similar to theirs in my back yard that I need to get a new photo of. Tim

[Sandy Loam]

On 9/19/2006, 5:49:50, TimHopper said:

 

Could one of you PalmTalkers possibly PM me Tim Hopper's address? (I.e.. his former address where this photo was taken)  I am occasionally over there in St. Augustine and would love to take an updated photo of the Mule Palm pictures above.  I promise to post the photo on PalmTalk!  The photo above is from 2006, so it would be great to know what a Mule Palm looks like twelve years later.

Thanks.

 

[gilles06]

Tim is not active since july 2013...

[Sandy Loam]

I would simply take a photo from the street --- almost a drive-by.  He wouldn't need to be active.

[Mike Evans]

11 minutes ago, Sandy Loam said:

I would simply take a photo from the street --- almost a drive-by.  He wouldn't need to be active.

He is MIA, good luck.

[palmfriend]

23 minutes ago, Mike Evans said:

He is MIA, good luck.

Oh Lord! I just got excited about this documentation and than this final entry just a few minutes ago -

I really hope he - and his family, especially his son - is doing fine!

Still can`t find the right words, I will pray for him -

Lars

 

[Mike Evans]

4 hours ago, palmfriend said:

Oh Lord! I just got excited about this documentation and than this final entry just a few minutes ago -

I really hope he - and his family, especially his son - is doing fine!

Still can`t find the right words, I will pray for him -

Lars

 

No need to pray.  He is AWOL and MIA among a lot of other things.  You would have to read the past history on PT for the story.

[Fusca]

Maybe you could try this email address below that he used in an ad for seeds he was selling back in 2012.

18 hours ago, Sandy Loam said:

Could one of you PalmTalkers possibly PM me Tim Hopper's address? (I.e.. his former address where this photo was taken)  I am occasionally over there in St. Augustine and would love to take an updated photo of the Mule Palm pictures above.  I promise to post the photo on PalmTalk!  The photo above is from 2006, so it would be great to know what a Mule Palm looks like twelve years later.

My Paypal address is timhoppers@aol.com

[Sandy Loam]

I will try emailing him, but I thought someone on PalmTalk would simply have his old street address because they had purchased palms from him in the past.  Tim Hopper used to sell certain palms, apparently. 

I will email Tim and if it doesn't bounce back and he is willing to provide his old address, I will post a updated photo at the Mule Palm pictured above.

Thanks all.

[Joannis]

This butyagrus on the pic is no longer there because of the power lines since 2010 i believe.

This palm was tranplanted in the tank's garden ??? I believe...

See an old post " butyagrus transplant"

However, i would be curious to see how is bigger the first Hopper jubutyagrus planted in this back yard

[Tampa Scott]

Here is one of mine, planted in ground 2011 (first photo) and todays photo.

[Sandy Loam]

Wow, TampaScott!  It's hard to tell how big that tree is from the photo, but does it now have about eight feet of trunk?  How many feet? 

It's amazing how much your mule palm grew over a 6 1/2 years.  I was discouraged by Keith's (Louisiana) comments about the growth rate of his mule palm, but am very encouraged by the trunk size you've got there.  

[Tampa Scott]

14 hours ago, Sandy Loam said:

Wow, TampaScott!  It's hard to tell how big that tree is from the photo, but does it now have about eight feet of trunk?  How many feet? 

It's amazing how much your mule palm grew over a 6 1/2 years.  I was discouraged by Keith's (Louisiana) comments about the growth rate of his mule palm, but am very encouraged by the trunk size you've got there.  

Took a measure and you are looking at 7.6' to white line in this photo. 

[Sandy Loam]

That's amazing.   Other people on PalmTalk seem to have mixed experiences with the trunk growth rate of their Mule Palms.  Yours is a winner, TampaScott.  Not everyone is getting that kind of height so quickly.

What is your secret?  Do you water and fertilize it all the time? ...or maybe it's just the genetics of your particular palm?

[Kailua_Krish]

I think its highly dependent on genetics. I have two mule palms planted within 15 foot of each other. Both were planted as liner seedlings in I think 2009 from Moultrie Palms in St Augustine. One has almost double the amount of trunk as the other. The fronds on the bigger one are almost as high as the 2 story house. 

Sorry no photos as they are in an awkward spot that doesnt lend itself to photographing and are covering in red passionflower vine.

[iwan]

2 hours ago, Sandy Loam said:

That's amazing.   Other people on PalmTalk seem to have mixed experiences with the trunk growth rate of their Mule Palms.  Yours is a winner, TampaScott.  Not everyone is getting that kind of height so quickly.

What is your secret?  Do you water and fertilize it all the time? ...or maybe it's just the genetics of your particular palm?

Genetics are part of it, but the palms in this thread all have the advantage of growing in Florida!  I only have one FL sourced hybrid.  It will be interesting to see how it performs compared the west coast hybrids.

[Chatta]

wow this is a gorgeous palm! yet another one to add to my list ;)