My lone Foxtail was doing great until it experienced 26F last January. I've been threatening to try again, knowing what I know now.

Some will say to get a California grown one. It's hard to justify spending what the palm nurseries want for a 6 ft one ($150-200) when you can get a 7-8 ft one at Lowes for $60-70.

I have a big 5 gallon one in a pot, 3-4 ft tall, that I would plant if it were fast like a King. But I want it big sooner. This can be a heartbreak palm here, I know come Winter I'll wonder "what was I thinking?".

Any advice? If planted in the most ideal circumstances can I expect moderate-fast growth?

Terry, if you keep buying weak, stretched FL grown palms and planting them late season, you will keep losing them come winter. Pay the extra few bucks for a SoCal gorwn one. Also, I know you have had bad luck but these palms really are not as tough as you make them out to be. MattyB told me he just thinks you are a really bad grower.

I hope Paul responds because he's had great luck with his. They're really fat and tall. I think that you need to break your back and dig a monster hole (w/ drainage channels if needed) and plant it in a super light substrate to get it growing faster. I've bogged one down before by putting it in heavy soil. Paul's soil is relatively soft silt and drains well.

Len - Based on my track record with Foxtails (0-6) you make complete sense.

Matty - I'm digging up (in all this humidity!) a huge butterfly bush planted several years ago. I should have a hole 3-4 ft wide and almost 3 ft deep. I'm thinking of making a diversion channel AND semi-mound planting, with a 50-50 blend of course sand and cactus soil. Belts and suspenders drainage.

Terry, I'm a new member to the forum, but whenever I see the "W" word, it truly perks my interest. A few questions. 1) How often do you water your foxtail? 2) How often do you fertilize it? 3) And is the soil it's planted in more out of clay or is it sandy and well draining?

I would totally agree with LJG that the Foxtails at Lowe's and Home Depot have Florida written all over them. I know for sure because I know Chris over at Jaswind Tropicals in San Marcos who does most of the distribution for Palms and Tropicals at all local Home Depot's, Lowe's, Costcos, etc.. He told me a couple of weeks ago that their foxtails are driven from Florida in trucks.

STILL, having said that, I purchased one of those Lowe's 4 footers, planted it in the ground in my front yard in Murrieta (Zone 9b with about 12 nights of frost this past winter). Well, it survived with little protection and still growing strong, past 6' now.

So I think it's the TLC factor, but again I would still purchase a SoCal foxtail grown from seed. If you're interested in a larger specimen, I can probably hook you up with a local grown one up to 14'. Let me know, thanks.

Ben

Foxtails are weak when young, so protect them for a few years and you'll be surprised w/ their cold-tolerance!

I have 3 large ones here in Orlando. Google Mark and Marianna Heath, and you'll see pics of some Foxtails. They are much larger now seeing the pic was taken a few years ago.

I've noticed that here in Oz, we have the same issue with tropical grown ones. You can buy a stretched spindly version grown in Darwin or Kununnura, and it will grow, burn a bit for the first couple of winters until it acclimatizes, but will never get the dimensions of a West Oz grown one.

A friend of mine, who tends to plant things way too early in the ground, showed me some really stumpy, FAT, Wodyetia's he'd planted out at one leaf stage in almost full sun. They'd have been 4 ft tall with a 6 inch base. I couldn't believe it. They looked so healthy and green and tough with leathery leaves. Quite different to the yellowy 10ft tall 3 inch base foxtails that you get down from Darwin.

I've tried the same thing in my garden, planting one leafers into quite strong light, and they get all the hail and junk that winter throws at them and they don't even mark. These will be tough little suckers, Fat and stumpy things, just the way I like a foxtail. I've done the same thing with Normanbya's but in a bit more shade. They are slower, but happy. I've also tried the same sort of thing with a Carpoxylon, and so far so good.

My area may be a little warmer than a lot of So Cal climates, but if your climate can handle it, try planting a foxtail at one leaf stage in an area where it will get some direct sun, and a bit of shade, but will grow into fullsun. Once they get used to it, they can get quite strong. That's my thoughts anyway.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone, do you know what your average daytime humidity level would be?

Thanks=

Bill

I think you kind of answered your own question - 26f will fry a Wodyetia completely here in Fl. Its not because they are weak, its just because they are not cold tolerant. If it was going great until then, now you know it needs protection, provenance is irrelevant. You can purchase a horrible Fla grown specimen, put it side by side with a mighty one from Cal. of the same size (after paying 5 to 10 times as much) and more than likely they would both be damaged in 26f lows. Crownshaft palms often exhibit latent cold damage, months after a freeze event. I've seen many different sps collapse just below the crownshaft due to fungal rot. Often the palms looked perfectly healthy until then. I have a "skinny" Wodyetia up over the roof now here in Orlando. Its skinny because it was grown as a small palm in a climate it wasn't particularly suited for. But its alive & healthy, so far ...

added - soil is an issue as well, they do poorly in alkaline limey portions of so. Fl., and just fine in sandy loam of inland Fl. Well draining is key, esp. in colder months.

Edited August 6, 200817 yr by Tala

Bill, I just grabbed these average figures from the Bureau of Met for Perth metro. Perth is slowly becoming more humid every summer.

Annual average 9am 63% 10.4C dewpoint, 3pm 47% 10.1C dewpoint.

In winter ie July 9am 80% 8.4C dewpoint, 3pm 57% 8.1C dewpoint

In summer ie Feb 9am 52% 12.8C dewpoint, 3pm 38% 12.6C dewpoint

So if you want to narrow it down to one annual figure, the average annual humidity is 55%.

Best regards

Tyrone

My foxtail (which I bought just before the freeze) is still alive and kicking, but no action in nearly two years.

I'm not sure if it's worth planting or not.

The Florida grown ones are definitely wimps compared to CA grown ones. I took the risk way up here in Northern CA and was able to get seven years and a few feet of trunk out of a CA grown foxtail. Every cheap FL foxtail I bought would rot or freeze in one winter while the CA ones survived. The Jan. '07 freeze killed a ten footer I had purchased from Lowe's and planted in a very protected spot. It was totally brown the very morning following that 26F night time low. The completely exposed CA one had lots of spotting and looked ratty that following summer but was alive and growing. Unfortunately I had to move it and severed most of its roots in the process and although it was alive I decided it was not pretty enough since I use my garden as a display for prospective clients. RIP foxtails. I'm not putting any more of them through that kind of torture. They're much better off in much warmer climates.

Keep trying, This has been in the ground about 6 years about 8 miles from the coast in San Diego. I bought this in a five gallon size at Home Base (a now out of business home improvement store) at about 6.5'. This is my first post here so I hope this works. Good luck.

Keep trying, This has been in the ground about 6 years about 8 miles from the coast in San Diego. I bought this in a five gallon size at Home Base (a now out of business home improvement store) at about 6.5'. This is my first post here so I hope this works. Good luck.

Great looking Palm and and you posted just fine... DOUBLE SCORE POINTS!!!!!

Welcome, Randall.

Keep trying, This has been in the ground about 6 years about 8 miles from the coast in San Diego. I bought this in a five gallon size at Home Base (a now out of business home improvement store) at about 6.5'. This is my first post here so I hope this works. Good luck.

Way to go Randall. Your Foxtail looks great. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks all for the advice. I'm leaning toward getting 2 California grown (a 15 and a 5 gallon) and planting them as a triple with my current Lowes 5 gallon.

I would lean towards your locally grown tree's. Mine are from Florida and they are just coming around after several years. They still show some frost damage which I have chosen not to trim away, and they've all pushed out 4 fronds this season so far - which are all green. It seems like the longer they hang in there, the more stress they can handle.