Phoenix reclinata

[phatmiata]

I wanted to plant one of these at my In-laws house,(they have 5 acres, so no problem with room) I showed my wifes folks and the love it. So my next question would be, where can i get one at a decent size, maybe 15 or 25 gallon. And how many years in your experience will it take to get the same size as the one in the photo? I want them have it long enough to be able to enjoy it (they are in their early 60's), I want a huge one, but im quite sure i could not afford a full size palm like this one pictured? I looked in my "Betrock's" Landscape Palm book and it just states the growth rate is "Moderate."

This photo was taken by me at the new Wiregrass Mall in Pasco.

[phatmiata]

Here is another one, this one has to be 25 ~ 30 years old though, as its in the McDonalds parking lot near my old house growing up, i can remember it being much smaller as a child. Was in the area and stopped for some fries and was in awe of just how massive this one was has become over the years!!

[Kris]

Yes,your fisrt still looks terrefic,and i love it.

while your second stills seems to be my favouriate too..but its is not a P.Reclinata.It looks like a hybrid of CIDP,And if its clumping then it should have some traits of even date palm in it ?

And i think that both the stills are phoenix palms but different palms species.

Lets see what our phoenix experts have to add..

Thanks for those lovely stills,

Lots of love,

Kris

[phatmiata]

  Kris said:

...................... your second stills seems to be my favouriate too..but its is not a P.Reclinata. It looks like a hybrid of CIDP,And if its clumping then it should have some traits of even date palm in it ?

And i think that both the stills are phoenix palms but different palms species.

Lets see what our phoenix experts have to add..

Yeah i thought the same thing but was not aware of any Hybrid CIDP that is of clumping habit, and for one to be as old as this one!

Here are some more shots of the second one..................

[phatmiata]

................... and one more close up of the clump.

[Mark Heath]

Randy,

I'll ask a friend of mine about his P.Reclinatas that he bought at a nursery off of Kirby-Smith rd near Orlando. The nursery has a bunch of them and if i know my friend, he got a bargain!!! I think it's called Lakeside Nursery. Call 411 and you should get the number. They're big palms!!!! BTW, bring a BIG trailer!!!!

[Joe palma]

  ContractorChat said:

Here is another one, this one has to be 25 ~ 30 years old though, as its in the McDonalds parking lot near my old house growing up, i can remember it being much smaller as a child. Was in the area and stopped for some fries and was in awe of just how massive this one was has become over the years!!

Yes this is definitely a hybrid with most likely a CIDP (like Chris suggested). The fat trunk gives it away. Phoenix genus palms hybridize very freely.

Probably sped up the growth rate though!

P. reclinatas are very slow, so to get a 15 or 20 gallon plant to the size of the first photo would be a bunch of time. I can only guess but about 20 years.

Joe

[gsn]

My less than expert opinion after looking at the pics,would be the first pic a reclinata/robellinii cross, due to the thin trunks, and wispy thin leaflets on the fronds .

The second pic a reclinata/CIDP cross as mentioned due to the thicker trunks.

I planted a reclinata hybrid at my moms house ,and I beleive it to be the later cross as it is going to have massive trunks.

And Joe you are correct if in fact the one planted at my moms is reclinata/CIPD cross,as this thing is a rocket as far as growth is concerned,but suckers like a pig.

I can't keep up with the suckers,and it is hard to completely kill them!

Edited December 22, 2008 by gsn

[Joe palma]

  gsn said:

My less than expert opinion after looking at the pics,would be the first pic a reclinata/robellinii cross, due to the thin trunks, and wispy thin leaflets on the fronds .

The second pic a reclinata/CIDP cross as mentioned due to the thicker trunks.

I planted a reclinata hybrid at my moms house ,and I beleive it to be the later cross as it is going to have massive trunks.

And Joe you are correct if in fact the one planted at my moms is reclinata/CIPD cross,as this thing is a rocket as far as growth is concerned,but suckers like a pig.

I can't keep up with the suckers,and it is hard to completely kill them!

Scott,

After I posted I took another look at the first pic and I agree that it looks like it has a bit of roebilinii in there, as you mentioned, due to the thinner trunks.

Fronds look reclinata-like but maybe a bit smaller.

Joe

[phatmiata]

  Mark Heath said:

Randy,

I'll ask a friend of mine about his P.Reclinatas that he bought at a nursery off of Kirby-Smith rd near Orlando. The nursery has a bunch of them and if i know my friend, he got a bargain!!! I think it's called Lakeside Nursery. Call 411 and you should get the number. They're big palms!!!! BTW, bring a BIG trailer!!!!

Thanks Mark!! I will look it up, please ask your buddy what size he got and what kinda price he paid, and if he has their phone number/address. I can get my brother in-laws 18 wheeler, is that big enough?

[Walt]

I planted two 7.5 gallon sized P. reclinata about 7-8 years ago, with no trunks. Today, the tallest trunk is about 6.5 feet. I don't recall when clear trunks started but I would estimate, based on the tallest trunk, they might grow a foot a year; that would fall into line with Betrock's stated growth rate of medium (1-3' per year). Possibly, P. reclinata might speed up after so many years.

One day, if I'm still around, I would like to see my two clumps of P. reclinata look like the ones below:

[phatmiata]

Where are the pics of yours Walt?

[gsn]

My thinking on this,is that TRUE/PURE blood Phoenix reclinatas in Florida are very RARE. True reclinatas have very flat planned leaflets.

Most everything I see around here seems to be some type of hybrid , with another Phoenix species mixed in.

just my 2 cents!

[Vic]

Interesting thread. I thought i'd post a couple of pics from my 2004 trip to Cameroon in West Africa, these pics were taken in their natural habitat on the road to a remote village in the north west province, so i guess you could say they are fairly pure

I collected seed from these and they are by far the fastest growing phoenix i have grown.

[Walt]

  ContractorChat said:

Where are the pics of yours Walt?

I bought both of my Phoenix reclinata palms one year apart. The one in the first two photos I bought first. It obviously isn't pure reclinata, but was sold to me as such. The leaves seem to me to have some P. rupicola in them.

Overall view:

Peering into the fronds, the tallest trunk is about 6-1/2 feet tall:

This is my second clump, the one I got a year later than the first clump. To me, this also isn't pure reclinata, but more so than the first clump:

Peering into the fronds, the tallest trunk is about 4 feet tall. This coming spring I'm going to thin (remove the bottomost fronds) this clump out so as to expose the trunks. Same with my first clump:

[phatmiata]

Please update this thread once you go to clipping the palms, i would love to see a before and after version!! Its hard to see much with all the fronds hiding the trunks.

[sonoranfans]

  ContractorChat said:

................... and one more close up of the clump.

This one looks like my "reclinata", with the nearly bi planar leaflet angles. Reclinatas are said to be planar and softer in the leaflet appearance. The deeper green color, the more rigid leaves, and the more stout trunks could be from from CIDP genes. My "reclinata/CIDP?" is growing fast, putting out fronds quickly on 5(18" or less) trunks. The spines on the tree are about the nastiest Ive seen, 3" long and still growing. From what I've read, pure reclinatas dont get bigger than 25" or so, but a CIDP cross can be 40', kind of scary big as a multi trunk. On the plus side, the CIDP genes appear to bring cold tolerance, 2-4 degrees better perhaps.

Edited December 26, 2008 by sonoranfans

[phatmiata]

As good looking as these are I could not help but to try to find one for myself, so I started looking at some of the local plant shops in town. This is a 15 gallon Phoenix reclinata I picked up for only $39, the plant was actually busting out of the pot, and i had to cut the pot just to get the palm out!! My 1st palm for 2009!! hahhaa

[iamjv]

Randy,

That is a great find and buy.... wish I could run across such deals here.

Walt,

The last photo in post #11 has to be one of the finest looking reclinata's I've ever seen. Good looking plant itself and perfectly manicured! Would agree with you that your's are not pure... then again, pure specimen's of any phoenix are hard to come by. Personally, I like the fact that phoenix cross so easily, each plant has it's own characteristics and some of the crosses look fabulous!

Jv

[Mark Heath]

  ContractorChat said:

As good looking as these are I could not help but to try to find one for myself, so I started looking at some of the local plant shops in town. This is a 15 gallon Phoenix reclinata I picked up for only $39, the plant was actually busting out of the pot, and i had to cut the pot just to get the palm out!! My 1st palm for 2009!! hahhaa

Nice one Randy! I have many 3gallons if you're interested for $10 a piece. Did you ever call Lakeside nursery on Kirby-smith rd?

They have the size that you're looking for to buy for your in-laws. I passed by there the other day, jotted down the number for you but now i can't find the little piece of paper,, sorry! But like i said, 411 will have it!

[iamjv]

Wow Mark... 3 gal size phoenix for $10 is a deal in any state or country for that matter.... sadly no such deals to be had around here. Jv

[phatmiata]

  Mark Heath said:

  ContractorChat said:

As good looking as these are I could not help but to try to find one for myself, so I started looking at some of the local plant shops in town. This is a 15 gallon Phoenix reclinata I picked up for only $39, the plant was actually busting out of the pot, and i had to cut the pot just to get the palm out!! My 1st palm for 2009!! hahhaa

Nice one Randy! I have many 3gallons if you're interested for $10 a piece. Did you ever call Lakeside nursery on Kirby-smith rd?

They have the size that you're looking for to buy for your in-laws. I passed by there the other day, jotted down the number for you but now i can't find the little piece of paper,, sorry! But like i said, 411 will have it!

Yeah $10 is a steal for sure , especially if they are as fast growing as everyone is telling me!! I might have to take you up on that offer!!!

BTW I bought two more reclinatas this year, one is very yellow in color, and not a sick yellow either, just its natural color, like a cocos yellow, so im very curious to see how it looks once grown up! It was at the same nursery here in town that i bought the first one at, the yelllow one was in a 15-gallon pot for only $49 USD, also busting WAY outta the pot!!! Ill get some pictures posted of that one real soon too.

....... on a side note, I wandered all the way to the back of that nursey and saw a huge reclinata hiding behind some large weeds (like 6 foot weeds, or saw grass) I asked the owner about it, and he said that he forgot he had that one, and that seeing that i bought his other two he would make me a deal! So i came back the next week and they had cleared out that whole area, and the tree was trimmed up really nice too! But i realized it wouldnt fit in my truck bed, hahahaha. (the trunk alone was a goot 4 feet high ore more)

So anyhow, he told me he would trim it for handling, and dig it up, and load it on a trailer for me, and i could borrow the trailer for FREE if i bought the plant. He sold it to me for $299 USD which seemed more than reasonable as i had looked at some others of this size and they wanted double and triple the price!! So here it is (sorry for the cell phone pics) I got this one for my father-in-laws house, and it had to be 800 lbs because in order to move it off the trailer, and to move it up right into position, required pulling it with my truck back and forth. But wow, what a difference it makes on the property!!! I feel like im on vacation in the caribbean whenever i look at !! hehehhe Bring on the piña coladas !!

[Kris]

Dear Randy

That's a nice find and they are a beauty.. And keep us updated as how fast they are growing...And all the best !

Love,

Kris