Bismarckia Nobilis HELP!!!

[PÚA]

This Bismarckia Nobilisis growing in clay soil... apparently has a correct development but has no an swollen root boss.

Nowdays the roots seem insufficient to anchor the palm... so it can topple over. I strap the stem on, and dug around the

stem. Roots start around 5 cms below the soil level... where the stem is as thin as you can see on the pics... I have no

idea about how to stimulate or encourage the palm to form adventitiouse roots... Perhaps palm will naturally produce them

sooner or later as i have seen in other palms like washingtonia ... other bismarckias i have seen get wider cone of

roots... so this inverted cone is potentially lethal with the passing of the years.

Does anybody have some experience about that or any idea or procedure for this purpouse?

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks.

[Ben in Norcal]

Not an expert here, but I would give it a nice thick mulch.

[trioderob]

[floridascape]

Bismarkia is one of the few speiceis of palm with a "tap-root". This palm looks fine take that strap off and shake it test its strength ill bet it will suprise you.

[PÚA]

The palm was leaning over with the wind reason being that strap

[Kostas]

How much rain does it get? Lack of root boss/inverted cone trunk shape at the base is usually the result of insufficient moisture at the root initiation zone,in other words,trunk base has been staying too dry for too long all those years and it could not initiate new roots or new roots did not survive the dry soil conditions. My advise would be to use an organic mulch layer on top of its original soil level and to wet its base thoroughly and well once to twice a week when its hot. It should thicken up in no time at the stage of growth it currently is!

[Alicehunter2000]

Looks like all the rocky soil is raked away from it. I would put a few inches of the native rocky soil around the base prior to the heavy mulch like others have suggested.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Bismarkia is one of the few speiceis of palm with a "tap-root". This palm looks fine take that strap off and shake it test its strength ill bet it will suprise you.

No such thing as a tap root on any palms. Bismarckia is no different even though it has a sinker root when it germinates. There was another thread about this long time ago, see http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/17739-palms-with-taproots/.

Matty had some good advice for my brahea that was slightly loose at the base. I would offer the same advice here, some mulch and lighter soil to stimulate root growth down there. But it should also suck itself down if you provide adequate support around it. Some rocks might be good in addition to the mulch.

[Pando]

As others have suggested, add mulch or just fill and compact soil to the point where it needs to go.

A palm that's not anchored to the ground properly is a large safety hazard. It can hurt or kill someone, and do property damage. If it doesn't anchor itself and gets bigger, you should remove it.

I had a large queen palm in my back yard that was like that when it was small. I planted it too high, and I could move it side to side when I pushed it. I kind of ignored it, and it seemed to anchor itself later as it grew bigger (it was actually just getting heavier). A month ago the thing came down flat with a strong gust of wind, barely missing a car and my house.

Edited May 25, 2014 by Pando

[SoulofthePlace]

On 5/23/2014 at 3:58 PM, Ben in Norcal said:

Not an expert here, but I would give it a nice thick mulch.

I had mulch around mine and it did not develop any roots beyond center even under it, so I thought the mulch was preventing roots from developing under it. Mine is just a ~1 m tall, but is easily moving when it is being moved by hand and the soil is soft around it and when I move the palm the roots seem to move the soil up as well. Perhaps should add UP more soil around and under the trunk (not burying it in any way of course). Do BN topple easily? My still small Pritchardia m. (about 2 ft. tall) was toppled down by a small hurricane because it has got so soft flesh and roots are weak and few in between.

Edited December 25, 2019 by SoulofthePlace