Rhopalostylis sapida

[gyuseppe]

some info on Rhopalostylis sapida Oceana (Chatham Island Nikau Palm)?

[epicure3]

What would you like to know? I imagine that it should do well in Napoli as long as you don't get severe frosts or freezes in winter or very high, continuous temperatures (30+C) in the summer. Napoli and the Amalfi coast seem like a great place for palms.

[Dan OKeeffe]

They like cool temps and can take some light frost. They grow great in San Francisco Ca where the temperature rarely is hot.

Here are a couple links:

http://www.palmsnc.org/pages/palm_detail.php?id=59

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57536/

some info on Rhopalostylis sapida Oceana (Chatham Island Nikau Palm)?

[gyuseppe]

in my city and light frost, but in summer and warm Mediterranean are concerned about the heat in summer.

[AJQ]

Mine is getting scorched by the sun now it is planted out, even though it was under dappled shade to acclimatise it for the last 12 months................Cry!

Not going to move it, as it will have to get used to this spot eventually.............

Regards Andy.

[Tyrone]

They will take summer heat up to 45C provided they are in full shade and kept moist with the odd bit of cooling water splashed onto them. Amazing considering where they come from.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Peter]

Mine do fine in Inland California heat, in full shade with plenty of water.

[Palm Guy]

Gyuseppe- I haven't forgotten about your Syagrus sp seeds !

I have about 6 of the R. sapida 'oceanas' that survive just fine in our summer. Its actually one of my more successful species. They love our winter and seem to slow down in summer but they look fine! It can get quite warm here also so I think it will do fine where your located!

[gyuseppe]

Rhopalostylis sapida 'oceanas' living well in bermuda! you never stop learning!.

my friend has many Rhopalostylis sapida baueri , grow very well, in summer the leaves will burn .

[DoomsDave]

They will take summer heat up to 45C provided they are in full shade and kept moist with the odd bit of cooling water splashed onto them. Amazing considering where they come from.

Best regards

Tyrone

g-seppe!

I agree with Tyrone and Scott.

Though if Napoli never gets too hot, not so bad.

If you have room, plant an R. baueri, too. MUCH more heat tolerant . . . . .

Show us pictures of Napoli!

I wanna see!

Please!

[JasonD]

Gyuseppe- I haven't forgotten about your Syagrus sp seeds !

I have about 6 of the R. sapida 'oceanas' that survive just fine in our summer. Its actually one of my more successful species. They love our winter and seem to slow down in summer but they look fine! It can get quite warm here also so I think it will do fine where your located!

What a delightful surprise!

This palm is really kind of weird. It is among the fastest-growing in Darold Petty's very chilly garden in San Francisco, yet showed significant frost damage in the San Francisco Botanical Garden in a moderate frost in 1998 while regular NZ sapidas went unscathed. Now I learn it loves Bermuda. Somehow that makes sense for Howea forsteriana (similar latitude and soils), but for a palm native to the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of the latitude of Portland, Maine, and Toronto, Canada? Weird.

It looks much more like R. baueri as a juvenile, and photos from habitat show that adults also resemble baueri. Snails like it but often ignore mainland NZ sapidas.

Chatham Islands were the home of a different Polynesian cultural group from the Maori, named the Moriori. (The British helped wipe them out by relocating Maori groups from New Zealand to the Chatham Islands.) I have a fantasy that the first Moriori transported the R. baueri from Norfolk or Raoul Island to Chatham Island. Just my personal fictional idea. Probably it's just a variation on R. sapida.

Edited May 15, 2009 by JasonD

[peachy]

some info on Rhopalostylis sapida Oceana (Chatham Island Nikau Palm)?

I dont know if this will be of much use to you but I have rhopalystylis baueri that simply thrives. Its in light dappled shade and has survived 45 degrees in summer and a minus 5 frost in winter without any damage at all. I keep it well mulched all year and give it plenty of water on hot days and they are much faster growing than the sapida which take years to do anything.

Peachy

[Jonathan]

I dont know if this will be of much use to you but I have rhopalystylis baueri that simply thrives. Its in light dappled shade and has survived 45 degrees in summer and a minus 5 frost in winter without any damage at all. I keep it well mulched all year and give it plenty of water on hot days and they are much faster growing than the sapida which take years to do anything.

Peachy

It's interesting how they behave in different climates - I have R. baueri and regular R. sapida seedlings identical in age (about 1 year old) in my greenhouse. The baueri's outgrew the sapidas over summer, but now that its cooling off the sapidas are looking to be much faster....which makes sense given their respective climates - but I wouldn't have thought it would be so pronounced.

Jason - I love your theory of inter-Pacific transportation - if it's not true, it should be!

Apparently 'Nikau' is a Maori term meaning 'no coconuts', used to express their disgust with the frugal products of New Zealands native palms ....

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tyrone]

The seeds of Chatham Island Nikaus and Kermadec Island Raoul Island R bauerii's are completely different. In fact R bauerii and R sapida have different seed. R sapida has an oblong seed like an olive pip and R bauerii is larger and round. The Chatham Island Nikau's couldn't have come from the Kermadecs as the seed has this difference. Chatham Island Nikau's are definitely a form of R sapida.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Jonathan]

The seeds of Chatham Island Nikaus and Kermadec Island Raoul Island R bauerii's are completely different. In fact R bauerii and R sapida have different seed. R sapida has an oblong seed like an olive pip and R bauerii is larger and round. The Chatham Island Nikau's couldn't have come from the Kermadecs as the seed has this difference. Chatham Island Nikau's are definitely a form of R sapida.

Best regards

Tyrone

Killjoy!

...it was a lovely theory - why let reality get in the way of a good story!!

Bring back the Hampster....

Cheers,

Jonathan

[doubravsky]

I have both R Sapida and R Baueri in inland southern california, where the summer temps get up to the 105-110f range. The Baueri is definitely more heat-happy. I have one in full morning sun until about noon, then afternoon shade, and it has been really robust.

By contrast, the Sapida is in pretty full shade all day, and once it gets hot in the summer, it stops growing. The Baueri is probably growing at twice the speed of the Sapida.

[fdrc65]

Ciao Giuseppe

My small Rhopalostylis sapida var. Oceana seems quite happy here in N. Italy, in its pot in mid shade has no problems between -3°C and +40°C (26 -104 F) in a pretty wet climate

bye

Federico

[peachy]

I dont know if this will be of much use to you but I have rhopalystylis baueri that simply thrives. Its in light dappled shade and has survived 45 degrees in summer and a minus 5 frost in winter without any damage at all. I keep it well mulched all year and give it plenty of water on hot days and they are much faster growing than the sapida which take years to do anything.

Peachy

It's interesting how they behave in different climates - I have R. baueri and regular R. sapida seedlings identical in age (about 1 year old) in my greenhouse. The baueri's outgrew the sapidas over summer, but now that its cooling off the sapidas are looking to be much faster....which makes sense given their respective climates - but I wouldn't have thought it would be so pronounced.

Jason - I love your theory of inter-Pacific transportation - if it's not true, it should be!

Apparently 'Nikau' is a Maori term meaning 'no coconuts', used to express their disgust with the frugal products of New Zealands native palms ....

Cheers,

Jonathan

I was always told that sapida takes 20 years before it forms a trunk. My little baueri got the beginings of a trunk after 3 years. And also I think the baueri is much more attractive tree too. They dont get as tatty looking as the sapidas seem to get and they have a nicer line to them.

Peachy

[Jonathan]

I was always told that sapida takes 20 years before it forms a trunk. My little baueri got the beginings of a trunk after 3 years. And also I think the baueri is much more attractive tree too. They dont get as tatty looking as the sapidas seem to get and they have a nicer line to them.

Peachy

Shh...there are Kiwis listening....

[JasonD]

The seeds of Chatham Island Nikaus and Kermadec Island Raoul Island R bauerii's are completely different. In fact R bauerii and R sapida have different seed. R sapida has an oblong seed like an olive pip and R bauerii is larger and round. The Chatham Island Nikau's couldn't have come from the Kermadecs as the seed has this difference. Chatham Island Nikau's are definitely a form of R sapida.

Best regards

Tyrone

Killjoy!

...it was a lovely theory - why let reality get in the way of a good story!!

Bring back the Hampster....

Cheers,

Jonathan

Oh well, fantasy dashed. It's not the first time...

Maybe the next hypothesis can be about small-island vs. continental-island morphology.

[niftinfiftin]

I was always told that sapida takes 20 years before it forms a trunk. My little baueri got the beginings of a trunk after 3 years. And also I think the baueri is much more attractive tree too. They dont get as tatty looking as the sapidas seem to get and they have a nicer line to them.

Peachy

Shh...there are Kiwis listening....

...where?

[Gary]

I would not put to much faith in the shape of these seed to ID the species or form.A bunch of seed from either baueri or sapida will have both shape seed among them and in general baueri var cheesemannii seed willbe larger size seed but not always the case.Baueri var baueri I am unsure on.

Chatham island sapida has larger seed than mainland sapida.Seedlings of chatham island sapida are more similiar to baueri in appearance but deeper green.In adult from ie flowering many chathams look like a top heavy sapida and in my opinion not as attractive as baueri var cheesemannii.I have many 1000s of seeds of the above forms if pix are required for proof of comparison

Gary

The seeds of Chatham Island Nikaus and Kermadec Island Raoul Island R bauerii's are completely different. In fact R bauerii and R sapida have different seed. R sapida has an oblong seed like an olive pip and R bauerii is larger and round. The Chatham Island Nikau's couldn't have come from the Kermadecs as the seed has this difference. Chatham Island Nikau's are definitely a form of R sapida.

Best regards

Tyrone

Killjoy!

...it was a lovely theory - why let reality get in the way of a good story!!

Bring back the Hampster....

Cheers,

Jonathan

Oh well, fantasy dashed. It's not the first time...

Maybe the next hypothesis can be about small-island vs. continental-island morphology.

[Jonathan]

I was always told that sapida takes 20 years before it forms a trunk. My little baueri got the beginings of a trunk after 3 years. And also I think the baueri is much more attractive tree too. They dont get as tatty looking as the sapidas seem to get and they have a nicer line to them.

Peachy

Shh...there are Kiwis listening....

...where?

......somewhere east of Tasmania I think....

Havn't seen you round here for a while Kiwi Boy!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[BS Man about Palms]

I have both R Sapida and R Baueri in inland southern california, where the summer temps get up to the 105-110f range. The Baueri is definitely more heat-happy. I have one in full morning sun until about noon, then afternoon shade, and it has been really robust.

By contrast, the Sapida is in pretty full shade all day, and once it gets hot in the summer, it stops growing. The Baueri is probably growing at twice the speed of the Sapida.

Dave thats what I see here too. I have one of each planted next to each other and the sapida slows down in summer, but speeds up in winter as the baueri slows down.

[fdrc65]

I post some pictures of my little one:

bye

[tjwalters]

some info on Rhopalostylis sapida Oceana (Chatham Island Nikau Palm)?

I'm not sure what type of soil/drainage they prefer, but it appears as if that one is planted in muck. It may do better if it were planted in a more freely-draining potting medium. Is that a commercial potting soil?

[gyuseppe]

mine is a commercial soil at 50% + 50% soil of my garden.