I planted 2 Syagrus botryophora a little over 6 months ago and they have only grown a couple of centimetres in that time. They were bought because all the blurb said they are very fast growing, at least twice as fast as S. romanzoffianum. Well they aint !!!! Does anyone else here have them and what are their experiences with them. All information gratefully recieved.

Peachy

Hi Peachy,

I have 10 strap leaf seedlings which I bought a year ago from Hawaii, and they all went into shock. Only this summer have about 7 of them produced a second strap leaf. Not sure at what stage they pick up speed, but I bet it's after several years in the ground.

Well, I say they went into shock. Perhaps it was me, and that was normal growth speed.

My experience is that they aren't that quick until they start going pinnate. Then they are rocket ships.

Geewizz

I won't be trying this one in chilly Tassie then !

Peachy,

They're slow at first. When they develop a trunk and have been in the ground a cpl of years, yes, they shoot to the sky!

I have one that is easily 20ft tall. When i bought the palm it was 10ft tall and in a 25 gallon pot. Four years later it has put on 10 ft!! I have it in a low area where there is alot of black muck in the ditch close by. I suspect when the roots hit the muck, whammo!!

It was hit hard by our bad freeze last year but has come back strong. I would say that it is easily as fast as a Queen when established in the ground.

I bought seven of them as 2 strappers back in 05, and grew them up in pots for abt 18 months before putting them to ground....lost 2, but the others are now almost 20 ft tall and 10 inches at the base of the trunks.

I found them to be poorly rooted, tho, probably due to their speed, so i staked them for a couple of years, but they seem to be stronger now.

Beautiful palms!

Rusty

i

Peachy, I agree .I have two that have had pinnate leaves for two years now.They are far slower than my Syagrus sancona.I have some growing in sand at the beach and in good soil at the farm.They are growing at the same snails pace.

Hi Peachy,

I found the first four years of growth to be slow but after the fronds start going pinnate they do take off.

Here's a group in my front yard, The first photo was taken Oct 2005 and the second Oct 2008. Just after the first photo the trees were all flattened by Hurricane Wilma and had to be proped up and this slowed them down a bit but then they took off like a rocket.

Three years later

Hi Peachy,

I found the first four years of growth to be slow but after the fronds start going pinnate they do take off.

Here's a group in my front yard, The first photo was taken Oct 2005 and the second Oct 2008. Just after the first photo the trees were all flattened by Hurricane Wilma and had to be proped up and this slowed them down a bit but then they took off like a rocket.

Three years later

Nicely grown palms Mike. A great demonstration of the speed and beauty of these palms.

I'd agree with Mike H. and others here who mention them to be slow to start out, even super slow before they go pinnate. My first one I planted out as a 3-strap leaf 1-gallon seedling and it took close to 4 years for it to really grow decently fast and by the 5th year was then super fast.

The second one I planted was (as Rusty in Pine Island also mentioned) was poorly rooted at the beginning so I added a little more soil around the base and placed a few large rocks tightly around the base to prevent wobbling in the breeze. After one year it was well rooted so I removed the rocks.

IMO they are a beautiful palm holding a lot of nice arching leaves way down on the trunk as you can see on Mikes above post.

Peachy, just have a little patience with this palm and in a few years I think you'll be happy you have it. One of the nicer Syagrus and not slow after its initial establishing time. Here's a pic of one of mine.

This is one of mine at the beach.It looks very full because it is a double.This has been in the ground two years and is 4-5 yrs. from seed.

well I'll be, they don't look half bad.

One of the madding aspects of the Syagrus genus, in fact most Cocoid palms, is that they are very slow in the strap leaf stage. It takes 2, 3, 4 years until they grow divided fronds for them to speed up, and then they can grow very fast.

Dick

I bought a ten footer at a Big Box here in southern CA. It has taken off like a rocket. Almost doubling in size in 2 years.

It seems to be racing for the sun with my wodveitchia.

Its not the best photo. The Wodveitchia is behind the S. botryophora to the right. A Roystonea oleracea is on the left. This photo is several months old. Both palm are somewhat larger now.

Well what can I say but thank you so very much everyone for all the shared information and lovely photos of your superb palms. I think because I am used to growing fast pace Oz natives that the palms tend to test my patience when I buy an allegedly fast one that sits and laughs at me. Mine have 4 and 5 entire leaves each, so they must be past the strap stage hopefully.

Peachy

Hang in there Peachy, I'd hate to see another add to your compost heap. I saw this palm growing for the first time a few weeks ago in a grouping of 3 and now

it's on my wish list. They were only a few years old and the owner said they were fast growers.

Tim

This is one of mine at the beach.It looks very full because it is a double.This has been in the ground two years and is 4-5 yrs. from seed.

Are you sure that is a S. botryophora? It doesn't look like mine, yet doesn't look bad at all... If it's not, can someone id it?

This post has me wanting to grow a syagrus.

Peachy, remember me if you are thinking of the compost heap

Laura

Yip, they do seem to wobble a bit in the wind. I just staked one of mine up because it was at 45 deg in the wind...doesnt seem to have affected its growth though....great palms.

I am with Frank, Scott. That looks more like S.pseudococos???

Dennis

Yip, they do seem to wobble a bit in the wind. I just staked one of mine up because it was at 45 deg in the wind...doesnt seem to have affected its growth though....great palms.

I am with Frank, Scott. That looks more like S.pseudococos???

Dennis

Now you have me doubting it too? That one does look full because there are two planted together.I also have Syagrus amara,sancona ,schizophylla and cearensis.

Hey Scott

The bots dont get a plumose leaf like the palms pictured. See Mikes great pics of when his were young...

Cheers

Dennis

Scott's is not S. botryophora. Maybe it's S. coronata.

My experience w/ S. botryophora is that it's slow for several years and then "BAM!!!" to da moon Alice! Mine is well overhead now and it was only 3 feet tall at the beginning of summer. Also, it seems like you get more vertical frond hold (VFH ) when you plant them young as opposed to buying them big from the box stores

Peach:

In hot, hmuid climates, like Florida, S. bots can, indeed be very fast.

In Mediterranean climes like the Cote d'La La, they're slower than Congress in a dither mired in molasses in January in the northern hemisphere.

I bought a big one from Florida at Home Depot, and, while it survived, it's clearly not has happy here as it was back in the Big F.

I'm tellin you Dave, you've gotta plant it young. All the large ones that were imported from Florida via the big box stores are tall, but the fronds are all held in a normal crown and the growth rate is less than stellar.

This is one of mine at the beach.It looks very full because it is a double.This has been in the ground two years and is 4-5 yrs. from seed.

Are you sure that is a S. botryophora? It doesn't look like mine, yet doesn't look bad at all... If it's not, can someone id it?

I'm quite sure it's not a bot, but, instead, a sancona.

I'm tellin you Dave, you've gotta plant it young. All the large ones that were imported from Florida via the big box stores are tall, but the fronds are all held in a normal crown and the growth rate is less than stellar.

I've got some young ones in the ground, too.

So far, Congress dithers in a molasses mudbath.

Lovely!

I must get some seed of those.

Jim

This is one of mine at the beach.It looks very full because it is a double.This has been in the ground two years and is 4-5 yrs. from seed.

Sorry to say but my guess is that this is NOT a Syagrus botryophora. The leaves are just too plumose.

This has been a very fast palm for me. It was planted last spring with one small ring of trunk. After not growing at all for the first four months or so it took off. Now 1.5 years later it has about six feet of trunk.

2008

2009

This is one of mine at the beach.It looks very full because it is a double.This has been in the ground two years and is 4-5 yrs. from seed.

It looks like sancona. I'll have to post a pic of mine for comparison.

My botryophora, from the Box store, hasn't take off yet but it has shown promise of late, with opening up 2 fronds.

Bags's is looking really good! Some girth on the lower trunk there!

I got to see Mike Harris's botryophoras in person a month back. They did look great!!!

That seems so stiff for S. sancona. Mine in full all day sun still have huge petioles and long arching fronds. Looks just like a Queen Palm but w/ a little wider leaflets as a youngster.

These things are growing like weeds in Cali. As you can see by the picture it has passed everyone up.

Initially this palm grew slow but once it became pinnate this palm grew very fast holding lots of leaves.  However, for me there is a negative aspect of this beautiful palm and that is that  it holds its spent dry leaves for a long time and when the thin fast growing trunk gets too tall it becomes difficult to trim off the dead hanging leaves, which detracts from its otherwise beautiful crown of leaves.  Also, read that this palm often topples in hurricane force winds.  Two negatives to know about S. botryophora.

I agree Al, the taller it gets the lesser I like it. It's also getting lost among nearby plantings and I've made the decision to literally, give it the ax.

Tim