Medemia argun

[Morabeza]

I am curious to know how this species is growing for everyone in different parts of the world.  Success stories? Failures?  Pictures?  (I am thinking about starting some from seed.)

[bgl]

Jacob,

I tried two of them. Bought them in 1G pots from Floribunda in Aug 1997, planted them in Jan 1998. By late 1999/early 2000 they were both positively dead. Probably didn't appreciate our wonderful environment!  Certainly have no intention of trying again!

Bo-Göran

[mike453]

Hello Jacob,

since you are not getting a lot of feedback on this, I will share my limited experience. I have germinated these palms 3 different times and my first two attempts failed.

The seeds are very easy to germinate, but on my first attempt I made the mistake of leaving them in the germination container too long. The roots grow extremely long in a short period of time, and they became badly tangled and did not survive my attempt at seperating them.

 On my second attempt, I took them out after they had around 3 inches of root and planted them in deep half gallon  pots. In the short time of 4 or 5 weeks the main roots had grown through the drainage holes in the bottom of the pots. The roots enlarged and became stuck in the holes, or cracked the pots. I lost most of them trying to extract and re-pot them in larger containers. These roots can grow 18 to 20 inches long and as big around as a pencil in just a few weeks after germination. My experiences tell me that they don't do well with having the roots disturbed.

 I started a new batch about 3 months ago, and planted them in 2-1/2 gallon pots as soon as they had a couple inches of root. They seem to be doing well so far, are starting the second leaf and are 18" tall.

I know this is not much info, but it might help you with the germination process. Give them a try.

                  Regards, Mike

[Morabeza]

Bo-Göran, thank you for sharing your experiences with this palm.  Sorry it didn't do well for you, but considering it's native environment it's not too surprising.

Mike thank you as well for your experiences germinating this species.  I had hoped to sprout some and keep them in large containers for a few years until I have to proper place to plant them.  Now I am wary to keep them in pots for long if they are so insistent on growing through the drainage holes.  I suspect that if I really wished to grow one it would need to be planted (very carefully) very soon after germination.

I do hope that others will share their experiences with this palm.

[Rob Pittman]

Squirrels like them.

Like Mike said, they are easy to germinate.  I had them in citrus pots (around 80 of them) only to find them all ripped up out of the ground and barely even nibbled on.

I have around ten left in my greenhouse.  Hopefully they are safe there.

[mike453]

Hello Jacob,

I believe you could grow these in pots, as long as they are deep enough. the problem I had was because the drain holes were only 3/8 of an inch in diameter, and the roots became stuck in the hole. I think large drain holes would make removal easier and safer when the time came.

                            Mike

[Geoff]

My photo of a nice plant from about 4 years ago in Thailand... growing in clay soils in a lawn in a very high rainfall climate!

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/47284/

[Morabeza]

Rob, sorry about those squirrels!

Mike thanks for explaining the advantage of the larger drainage holes.  Perhaps I will give it a go!

Geoff, WHOA that is a beauty!! Thanks for sharing!

This board is awesome

[bgl]

Geoff,

Makes me want to try it again!

Bo-Göran

[Phil]

Medemia argun is a very interesting species.  My best recollection of it goes back to the two people who really put this "forgotten species" back to the forefront: Martin Gibbons and Tobias Spanner.  At an IPS meeting about ten years ago, they presented slides of their search for this species.  When found, you wouldn't believe how desolate, barren, hot, sunny and remote this palm's natural habitat is.  At the time, I thought that this was a species for Death Valley.  That proved not to be the case.  I've seen Kampon's plants in Thailand and few here and there.  But, I have failed to see a thriving specimen here in California.  If it exists, I am unaware of it.  But, I loved the story behind it and the lengths that Martin and Tobias went to in order to bring this palm into our horticultural awareness.

Phil

[chris.oz]

Spanner and Gibbons described the habitat of Medemia as subject to infrequent inundation,  but possibly only growing in areas with deep aquifers.   One of Medemias closest relatives is of course Bismarckia.   The habitat of this palm is seasonally dry savannah.    However Bismarckia absolutely thrives in subtropical, tropical and equatorial climates.    It is therefore not so surprising that Medemia can grow in Thailand.  What is surprising is that it reputedly wont grow in California

[Eric in Orlando]

I have tried unsucessfully several times to grow Medemia. I have even sowed the seed directly into the ground but the seedlings die after growing 2-3 leaves.

I have seen nice young specimens at Montgomery Botanic Center in Miami and at Kopsick Arboretum in St. Petersburg. Maybe they prefer a more alkaline soil.

Here is one at Kopsick;

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/leu242....20

[Morabeza]

Yes Phil, that is an amazing story.  In your experience are these more touchy too the cool wet winters than spp. of Hyphanae?  

Chris, yes it does seem surprising.

Eric that's too bad.  That specimen at the Kopsick looks nice though!

[Carlo Morici]

Now we have medemias!

Last month we have sown some 20 medemia seeds in ground, in the African section at the Palmetum in Santa Cruz. This week some of them started to sprout.

I chose a very exposed and draining ridge on the top of the hill, on the Southeastern corner of the Palmetum. They will hopefully grow well in this hot, sunny and windy spot. We have a few more seeds to plant. The African section is too small and we still need to save some space for Raphia palms and some climbing palms, so they will probably go to the slope.

Carlo

[Chris]

Regarding growing them in SoCal, Bill Dickenson has a small one in Fullerton, CA. Its under shade so is not thriving, but maybe that helped it stay alive. I also know of some doing very well in Borego Springs, our north San Diego Co. desert. Mine died, and most other attempts that I heard of failed, including in Fallbrook and in the green house. But these were all seedlings. Maybe they will get easier when larger???

Here's Bill's palm:

[Kris]

Dear Jacob

Here are 2 stills of the ones left with me,most of the others were distributed amoung palm friends here..And they are growing okay in our roof top garden.But no idea what will happen if put in ground in a hot wet tropical climate having loads of clay soil. And their containers in which they are growing at moment have only washed river sand ! And very rarely i give then fertz.

Love,

kris

[Kris]

http://www.palmtalk....=1&#entry189023

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