Areca catechu 'alba' lost and found

[Cindy Adair]

How could I miss the yellow color and a palm taller than I am? But I did and was even thinking evil thoughts about innocent (in this case) cattle.

I even marked it down as missing based on less than explicit location notations in my inventory.

Happily the next day I practically ran into it. Unless it spent some time in an alternate universe I'm just so used to looking for little ones that I ignored one that has a tiny bit of trunk.

It started life in Florida several years ago until I bought it as a small plant and brought it on the plane to Virginia and ultimately PR.

I'll try not to lose it again.

[bobchamnan]

Beautiful specimen, unfortunately I lost mine in the flood. Hope yours will grow well.

[Cindy Adair]

Beautiful specimen, unfortunately I lost mine in the flood. Hope yours will grow well.

So sorry about your loss. Hope you can get another to try.

I found a couple of more photos while sorting this morning so I'll add them too.

Anybody want to add theirs?

[NApalm]

Great palm. Looks nice and healthy

[cobra2326]

Love this palm. The specimens in the Marcus garden are really awesome examples of this palm. Maybe we'll have other post theirs? C'mon guys...

[realarch]

That's gonna be a looker Cindy!

These two are in full sun and have gotten a bit more robust than ones I've seen in shade. Leaf yellowing seems to be the norm though

and is an ongoing struggle. I've seen them yellow in both sun and shade, but with that yellow crown shaft, it's worth it.

[realarch]

Hey, check this out. I just remembered I had it after my last post. This is an old A. catechu 'alba' up at the north end of the island. I't been in the ground

for a long time. If ours live long enough, this is what they will look like. The seeds are beautiful too.

[cobra2326]

That's gonna be a looker Cindy!

These two are in full sun and have gotten a bit more robust than ones I've seen in shade. Leaf yellowing seems to be the norm though

and is an ongoing struggle. I've seen them yellow in both sun and shade, but with that yellow crown shaft, it's worth it.

IMG_2955.jpg

Jeff talks about that a little bit in his audio tour over on Palmpedia. Basically he says he just has to fertilize these things heavily, which pretty much lines up with what you're saying. I think yours look great, btw, leaves are nice and green.

[realarch]

Jon, I try not to over fertilize these guys and rotate applications. I use nutricote, a quick release 17-5-12, and chicken manure. It's

also time to mulch again as well.

[NApalm]

Hey, check this out. I just remembered I had it after my last post. This is an old A. catechu 'alba' up at the north end of the island. I't been in the ground

for a long time. If ours live long enough, this is what they will look like. The seeds are beautiful too.

IMG_0818.jpg

Great photo

[Cindy Adair]

Great photos Tim! I don't need to worry about over fertilization since I haven't fertilized mine at all...

[brodklop]

Good luck both of you. I tried one of these and it promtly died first winter. Normal betel nuts grow without problem here.

[ariscott]

Mine will die in shame.... maybe I will post photos in the next few years. I just planted them recently

Edited April 12, 2013 by ariscott

[Small palm]

I like those palms. The yellow crownshaft looks nice

[bobchamnan]

I found the same problem after the flood, my 2 nornal betels were thriving underneath 2 meters of water but the alba was dead standing.