Darold Petty Cloud forest @ sea level palm collection

[Josh-O]

I've heard stories about Darolds Giant Geonoma Undata... now I Can stop thinking about that gorgeous monster after finding this thread. Nicely grown sir!

[Tassie_Troy1971]

I have never had any luck germinating the last lot of Geonoma undata either .

Great to here about the original stands of Undata are still intact .

Do you have any pictures Darold ?

[pigafetta]

Wasn't there some guy in New Zealand that also successfully grew Geonoma undata to maturity.

Amazing palms up there with the best.

[Peter G]

I bought 100 Geonama Undata seeds from RPS and 4 germinated, I regarded that as a good return for this species.

To give the germinated seeds a better chance of survival, I sent them to Troy in Tasmania where the climate is much cooler.

Unfortunately they all croaked.

[Darold Petty]

Pigafetta, and Peter G;

Dick Endt of Landsendt Nursery ( in the suburbs of Auckland) worked for the Ecuadoran government in the 1990s, providing advice about subtropical fruit production. He made several trips to Ecuador and made the first collection of the colorful form of G. undata. I visited Dick at his nursery in year 2000. He offered to sell plants to me, and I later purchased three 1-gallon sized palms. All three are still in my garden.

Before my trip to the southern Ecuador site last November I contacted Dick inquiring about seed production at his nursery. Despite having between 3 and 4 meters of trunk his palms have just begun to flower, and have not yet produced seed.

I have germinated Geonoma shottiana, G. undata 'green form', and G. weberbaueri. This genus has been extremely difficult to raise from germination. With all three lots of seed I suffered more than 90% mortality before the plants were somewhat stable at what I call a '1-gallon' size, approximately 30-35 cm tall in a pot 15 by 18 cm.

Tassie Troy, I have a lot of great pictures, I hope to start a thread in the travel section but I'm not sure I will have time for this before I go 'off-line' next Wednesday!

[Josh-O]

I bout 200 seeds from RPS last year with a germination rate of ZERO. Most of the seeds did not pass the float test and the seed that did pass all rotted out in the community bucket

[pigafetta]

Cheers Darold bring on the pics

[Alberto]

Fantastic garden. The Geonoma undata are

I can say I have a little piece of your garden in my garden, because I have ofspring of your deceased Parajubaea cocoides in the form of 9 Butia x Parajubaeas that grow fine for me!

[Dave-Vero]

Quite an amazing collection, and impressive to see that Lytocaryum weddellianum will grow in such a variety of climates. It's been years since I visited the cloud forest at Golden Gate Park.

[richnorm]

Thanks for the new information Darold. We feared they were lost forever. Dick's plants have been flowering for several years now but it appears they might need human intervention to set seed. I am going to his daughter's 50th next week so will be sure to check for seed.

[Jim in Los Altos]

I bout 200 seeds from RPS last year with a germination rate of ZERO. Most of the seeds did not pass the float test and the seed that did pass all rotted out in the community bucket

Same here, Josh. All my Geonoma undata seeds from RPS were duds.

[Josh-O]

Bummer Jim, I'm not happy with RPS at the moment. I ordered and paid for seeds over 3 months ago and still have not received them yet. My last order, most of them did not pass the float test. I hope things change over there real soon!!

[richnorm]

Sure are seeding but not sure if viable. I will do a cut test in due course and try to sprout a few.

Lepi starting to fruit too

[Albey]

Wasn't there some guy in New Zealand that also successfully grew Geonoma undata to maturity.

Yes here is a pic of the New Zealand grove of Geonoma undata, when i visited Landsendt garden in 2012.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Albey

[LJG]

Wasn't there some guy in New Zealand that also successfully grew Geonoma undata to maturity.

Yes here is a pic of the New Zealand grove of Geonoma undata, when i visited Landsendt garden in 2012.

Awesome. Thanks for posting. That is an impressive sight.

[Jim in Los Altos]

I can just imagine what San Francisco would look like if there were lots more Darolds living there. Darold's awesome garden is a testament to what can be done in such a cool but not cold environment. I NEED a G. undata too!

I've had no success germinating seed of what I presume is the lowland type of G undata Jim. Last time we spoke, Darold isnt having any luck either. Has anyone had success with it?

Glen, me neither. I gave up hope after the seeds had been in their trays for almost a year. Looks like no one had success with the RPS seed batch.

[Nico94]

Hi Darold,

Here the Chamaedorea radicalis trunking seeds you sent me.

They germinated well.

Nicolas.

[Josh-O]

Wasn't there some guy in New Zealand that also successfully grew Geonoma undata to maturity.

Yes here is a pic of the New Zealand grove of Geonoma undata, when i visited Landsendt garden in 2012.

that is an outstanding grove of G. Undata.

Thanks for sharing

[Josh-O]

Hi Darold,

Here the Chamaedorea radicalis trunking seeds you sent me.

They germinated well.

Nicolas.

sweeeeeeeet!!!

[Tyrone]

On 15/09/2013, 8:43:06, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

Even better at night time

 

 

This is what Darold said in a former post about his Ceroxylon parvifrons

 

" My plant of C. parvifrons was never in a
pot after germination. After the eophyll was fully expanded I ground
planted the seedling beneath a Chamaedorea microspadix in March of 1991.
The establishment phase was quite slow, with no above ground trunk for
the first 12 years. In the past 6 years it has grown 3.72 m (12' 2")
of true trunk with a diameter of 17 cm (6.75"). It holds 9-11 good
leaves, has flowered twice, and is a male plant.

Note that the trunk below the leafbases is more green. The
characteristic white wax is a response to sunlight and develops after
exposure. My plant is also more white on the sunny side relative to the
shady side!

I might have to try that technique with Ceroxylon and get them in the ground early. My two quindiense that went into the ground have actually grown whereas they struggle in pots.

[Tyrone]

On 15/09/2013, 8:55:02, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

Darold has 2 fully grown Geonoma undata in his yard and i took this picture from Darolds 2nd storey patio

 

The cheery red trunk is spectacular to say the least !

 

 

 

This is Darolds words on these 2 amazing palms

My plants of Geonoma undata are the high elevation form propagated by Dick Endt. I purchased three plants from Landsendt in January of 2001. G. undata
has a wide range of geographic location and altitude. My palms came
from a wild population in southern Ecuador, south of the city of Loja at
an approximate elevation of 2600 m (8500 ft). In 1996 I collected seed
from supposed G. undata at 1560 m (4800
ft) along the highway from Quito toward Tinalandia on the western
Andean slope. This lower elevation form failed to grow in my garden,
but I believe this might be the form Matty B is growing in San Diego.

I planted the first of my three palms on June 28th, 2001. It now has
61 cm (24") of clean trunk with diameter of 15 cm (4.8"). I have also
grown G. weberbaueri, but with poor results and have no surviving
plants.

My high elevation form of G. undata is
a true cloud forest plant. It wants very bright light, but not all-day
harsh sun: high humidity, constant moisture, and cool temperatures with
little day/night variation. If the potting medium of a potted plant
dries out, it is always fatal. The plants grow leaves quickly all 12
months of the year and actually slow down during warmer weather.

 

 

 

"

I can't believe I missed this thread a few years back. Me gotta have a heap of these.

[Monòver]

Amazing! Every few months i enjoy having a look in this treath. 

Nice palms;