1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Did you even see any frost this past winter in that part of town? Didn't seem like it when i'd check temps. on the coldest mornings and glanced at some stuff through a fence during a quick stop at Tohono Chul while in town for one of the Gem & Mineral show events.

We had a very mild winter and seems to have been that way the last few years. I think maybe 2 or 3 mornings where temps got close to 30 and just briefly before the sun came up to warm things up. I think we’ve been spoiled for a while now. It’s just a matter of time our luck will change and bring us back to reality on what we really are not capable of growing in Tucson.

I still remember enjoying a group of Jacarandas at the La Encantada shopping center and then they got wiped out by a really cold freeze. Haven’t seen any Jacarandas in Tucson since LOL

25 minutes ago, CaryElTucson said:

We had a very mild winter and seems to have been that way the last few years. I think maybe 2 or 3 mornings where temps got close to 30 and just briefly before the sun came up to warm things up. I think we’ve been spoiled for a while now. It’s just a matter of time our luck will change and bring us back to reality on what we really are not capable of growing in Tucson.

I still remember enjoying a group of Jacarandas at the La Encantada shopping center and then they got wiped out by a really cold freeze. Haven’t seen any Jacarandas in Tucson since LOL

Check the UA Campus Arboretum, 25 are listed as being planted there.

Sounds odd, but, i myself consider Jacaranda more marginal than even Royal Poinciana. Both handle what cold i've seen well, but 2020 / 23 -type summers = brutalized Jacarandas, even my neighbors' big, well established specimens.. Royal Poinciana shrug at that kind of heat ..or have so far..

Potential for those occasional checks on the warmer winters aside, thinking winters like last year < ..overall mildness vs. future episodes of 100 / 100+ heat ..in Feb and / or March.. > are likely going to be the norm going forward.

I'm actually going to trial Coffee in tubs, outdoors this year, lol.

I’ve been looking for a younger Hercules that already has multi head/branched. Ideally I would love one that’s going to branch out around 5-7 ft but I’m not willing to pay the money for one that size. I found this guy for sale from an online shop and was wondering if those of you with more knowledge could tell me if this is a good plant or not? Will that main trunk stay small with the other branches growing at their own rate/direction? Will the main trunk grow as well or just beef up to hold the weight?

Thanks ahead of time for any insights.

1 hour ago, CaryElTucson said:

I’ve been looking for a younger Hercules that already has multi head/branched. Ideally I would love one that’s going to branch out around 5-7 ft but I’m not willing to pay the money for one that size. I found this guy for sale from an online shop and was wondering if those of you with more knowledge could tell me if this is a good plant or not? Will that main trunk stay small with the other branches growing at their own rate/direction? Will the main trunk grow as well or just beef up to hold the weight?

Thanks ahead of time for any insights.

Using your last image, if the specimen you were looking to acquire is that one specifically....



Red = most likely would be the dominant growth point / direction it heads in..

Orange, ..potential co -dominant, future trunk.

Other growths on that plant could fill out, or snuff themselves out eventually as a majority of energy for growth is directed to the dominant and / or co - dominant portions of the plant.



Don't ever think i've seen a Hurc. where the trunk stayed short n' fat.. These things like to go up, one way or another.



Trunk itself will fatten up as the plant itself heads sky ward, esp. if it gets plenty of water during the warmer months ...Though avoid applying any during portions of the summer when night time temps exceed 82F. Like all C.A.M. plants, watering them when night time temps exceed that threshold = plants suffocate and turn into piles of hot stinky goo.



Regardless, that one isn't a bad specimen to start off with at all, but my eye points me toward some of the others in the background in the shot, esp. if offered at the same / a similarly reasonable price point.

Assuming you've checked all the local specialty nurseries down there for reasonably priced specimens?

They sent me a picture of this one which I think they did for comparison. The only thing I worry about in getting a single head plant is that from the only examples of locally grown Hercules that I’ve seen in person are the ones in the shopping center by Cortaro rd and I-10. They were put in there as very small specimen and they all seem to have started branching out at around 9-12 ft. There’s about 7-8 of them an neither branched out sooner. I’m wondering if maybe it was that particular batch? Maybe how they were watered? Soil? Tucson weather?

I know getting a branched out young one might come with some problems as well like possibility of branch splitting or monsoon winds knocking it over.

10 minutes ago, CaryElTucson said:

They sent me a picture of this one which I think they did for comparison. The only thing I worry about in getting a single head plant is that from the only examples of locally grown Hercules that I’ve seen in person are the ones in the shopping center by Cortaro rd and I-10. They were put in there as very small specimen and they all seem to have started branching out at around 9-12 ft. There’s about 7-8 of them an neither branched out sooner. I’m wondering if maybe it was that particular batch? Maybe how they were watered? Soil? Tucson weather?

I know getting a branched out young one might come with some problems as well like possibility of branch splitting or monsoon winds knocking it over

Tall ones, like the specimen pictured, would tend to keep moving up before branching, unless the top somehow got knocked off.

Shorter one in your first post might form a few initial branches at an earlier age, but would still move up before adding a majority of the rest, like the specimen at Tohono Chul, or these i'd found at a local nursery this past spring.



Is the typical habit of the plant, vs. any outside variable having a major influence on that factor < ..Location, watering, etc, etc.. >

I have read that if you cut the top off then it will tend to branch out. Are some growers actually doing this successfully?

As for pricing this grower is being very fair especially offering free shipping. The local nurseries here are in short supply or no supply at all. I think fall/spring is when some end up at the HD and maybe other nurseries pick some up as well.

I could also take a field trip up to your area and shop around up there’s. Seems like if you can’t find it in Tucson you’ll find it in the Valley

25 minutes ago, CaryElTucson said:

I have read that if you cut the top off then it will tend to branch out. Are some growers actually doing this successfully?

As for pricing this grower is being very fair especially offering free shipping. The local nurseries here are in short supply or no supply at all. I think fall/spring is when some end up at the HD and maybe other nurseries pick some up as well.

I could also take a field trip up to your area and shop around up there’s. Seems like if you can’t find it in Tucson you’ll find it in the Valley

Can definitely cut them / will add new growth afterwards. Gamble is ..how much you can cut, repeatedly, to try and keep the overall form shorter, w/out harming the plant.

One i'd bought years ago was cut quite short ..might have had a foot of base on it before the grower it came from had trimmed it... Added 4 or 5 branches after cutting but, each branch grew straight and unbranched again afterwards. When i picked it up, each new branch was ~approx another foot tall so, ..they would've continued that trend until reaching ...whatever.. height at which they'd decide to branch again on their own..

Unfortunately, it started rotting the summer after putting it in the ground up here and i had to rescue the plant by lopping off / re-rooting what i could.

Before headed up here ..into the furnace, lol, you might make a trip over to Aridlands Greenhouses and talk with Bob or Toni about pruning -related thoughts / see if they have any in stock atm.

I don’t believe Aridlands carries any Hercules. I still have to make a trip out there and check out what he has. I think they usually want you to make an appointment before crashing in. It is on my list to do though.

You said your Hercules rotted- what would you say was the main factor? I’ve got one in the ground already and very paranoid about how much or not to do with the thing LOL.

3 hours ago, CaryElTucson said:

They sent me a picture of this one which I think they did for comparison. The only thing I worry about in getting a single head plant is that from the only examples of locally grown Hercules that I’ve seen in person are the ones in the shopping center by Cortaro rd and I-10. They were put in there as very small specimen and they all seem to have started branching out at around 9-12 ft. There’s about 7-8 of them an neither branched out sooner. I’m wondering if maybe it was that particular batch? Maybe how they were watered? Soil? Tucson weather?

I know getting a branched out young one might come with some problems as well like possibility of branch splitting or monsoon winds knocking it over.

Having grown Aloidendron Hercules from a small one gallon, it is apparent to me that the specimens you are considering in your post are from cuttings. I would go with the single stem, unbranched rather than the forked one you were initially considering. If you are worried about any marginal conditions where you live then don't introduce complications of a forked one that may abandon or abort one of the growth points.

If you want an Aloidendron that branches low, then grow Aloidendron ramosissimum. Let the Hercules grow as they want to, which is vertical to about 6 feet before the initial branch.

All these Aloidendron are fast in my book. All my Aloidendron were acquired as 1 gallon or smaller (Aloidendron pillansii being the exception which is slow).

Watering schedule appears a bit different in your climate than here, so I will defer to Nathan's advice above on when to water and when not to. For Hercules here, it is more about not over watering to keep it from growing too fast. Aloidendron Hercules and a dichotomum starting to branch below.

24 minutes ago, CaryElTucson said:

I don’t believe Aridlands carries any Hercules

Smaller size but yea, they've got some atm ..per their current inventory listing.



For anyone interested / looking for it, they also have " Goliath " in stock as well.






Was either '19 or 2020 when i planted it ..both summers being the first two of several recent " Agave and Cactus Killers " locally..

That yard has no shade / gets blasted ..all day.. and i'm pretty sure that was the biggest factor ..I lost a few Agave i'd planted out there / others in pots the same summer as well.

Bad timing ..planting that spring, instead of the previous fall as i should have, ...and making the mistake of watering once or twice, at the wrong time that summer are two other things did it in.