What size do you plant things?

[Zeeth]

I thought this would be an interesting question to ask. In general, what size do you plant your palms into the ground? I've experimented a bit with this, and for me, it seems that if I plant my palms from a 7 gallon pot, they tend to do better than if planted smaller or larger. What have you guys found?

[redbeard917]

In my yard, where I am boss, I've had good luck planting Sabals that are still at strap leaf size. Just a few years later and they have adult leaves reaching head height. On the other hand, I put in a nice 3-gallon Butia on my parents' property, which they promptly ran over with the riding mower. Bigger is better if your palm needs to be idiot proof.

*edit: I planted 2 Sabal palmetto, 1 S. bermudana, 1 S. minor, all are 4-6 feet tall in about 6 years. Not sure if that is fast or not, but they didn't seem to suffer transplant shock.

[Walter John]

That's about the average. From memory 7 gal is similar to our 200 ml pot size.. Good question and it does come up in PT every now and then.

Late Edit: 7 gal is not what I thought, it seems our 200ml pot size equates to a 1-2 gallon. Is that right ? Anybody ?

Late Edit B: Just did s search in PT, found all the info back in 2006 etc.

That means 7 gal is way larger than anything we plant here. We're your 1 - 3 gal planters.

[realarch]

Usually a healthy 1 gallon size mainly because it's so hard to get a decent hole with all of the lava rock. Getting anything larger than a 5 gal. is almost impossible for me.

Things tend to grow so fast though, that's a real bonus.

Tim

[Kostas]

I plant them any size I can find them The usual planting sizes for me are 1g and 4" liners as they grow much better in the ground than in pots, plus it's much less work (not)caring for them in the ground than caring for and overwintering them potted. Anything 30cm tall and upwards is pretty safe in general and 3-5g size is pretty foolproof

[BS Man about Palms]

Several years ago I decided what works best is what I call "just in time" planting. The size of the pot is not as critical as if it is starting to get an excess of roots. You want "hungry roots" as it were. An overly rootbound palm will tend to stunt, yet I have found that when I start to see more than a few roots peeking out the drain holes that palm seems to take off and do great when it hits the soil.

My 2 cents.... and YES I've actually planted some palms.

[John Case]

My experience is that palms grow faster when in the ground rather than in the can. If there is a good growth of roots, I'll plant unless there is a compelling reason not to do so (cold, soil, etc.).

[Jim in Los Altos]

I rarely plant anything larger than one gallon and more likely small strap leafed 4" plants. The only palm I have in a pot is a Pseudophoenix sagentii but it's in a 30 gallon ceramic pot and is going to stay there.

[Josh-O]

I also think depends on the specie.

[GTClover]

And the climate

[Kailua_Krish]

I prefer plants that have partially filled a one gallon. They are passed the finicky seedling stage at that point but haven't had pot associated root stunting and establish deep natural root systems.

[Alicehunter2000]

Time of year is more critical for me.....like to get stuff from strap leaf seedlings to 5000 lb trees in the ground as early in spring as possible.

Of course bigger is better.

[DoomsDave]

I plant whatever size I can.

Hmm

Hardier stuff, smaller the better.

More tender, larger is better.

[bgl]

Keith,

Definitely an interesting question, and even though there are probably some generalities, I'm guessing it also depends on a number of local factors such as type of species, climate and soil. I have planted lots of palms from as small as 4 inch pots up to 35 gallon pots/containers and these days I definitely stay away from the smallest ones. Tiny rootballs can dry out quickly, especially if the plants are under canopy, which is often the case with the smallest palms. I will happily plant robust 1G and 2G palms but my preference is definitely a nice sized 5G palm, typically 3-5 ft tall. It's not going to get covered by weeds any time soon and we get enough rain at my location that it's not likely to dry out even if we do have a dry spell of a week or so, which happens often during the winter. As Tim mentioned, digging holes in the lava here on the Big Island can be an issue (and a serious challenge) but I have enough ups and downs on my property that I can almost aways find a minor depression and just do some token digging and then plant and fill in with soil!

Bo-Göran

[Really full garden]

It depends a lot on the species. I plant coccothrinax species while still very small.Usually when the first palmate leaves appear.I have two large dogs and have also found small palms being pulled out of the ground by dragging hoses over them.I have also had my gardener mow over small palms.

I think 2-5 gallon size plants are a good size to plant out.

[Pando]

Whatever size hole I'm willing to dig.

[Josh-O]

I plant whatever size I can.

Hmm

Hardier stuff, smaller the better.

More tender, larger is better.

I agree Dave

[Josh-O]

I try to get all my palms up to a 5 gal size root-ball. The bigger the better IMO

[Ben in Norcal]

For me, bigger is better, but only to a point. I feel like up to 15g size, bigger is better. Above that - I feel like box plants take longer to get their roots down than smaller plants. I feel like 5-15 gallons is the sweet spot for my climate (and my yard, given how hard it is to dig in my clay/rock/debris!)

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Fascinating question. Our largest installed palm took a 40 ton crane. The smallest took a hand trowel. So far, we've only lost 1 transplanted to the ground, so I don't know that size matters.

[Really full garden]

When I built my beach house money was tight and I was only able to afford a few coconut palms with 3m of trunk to place around the pool. All the other cocos were just sprouted nuts. After just 10 years the spouted nuts had out grown the large transplanted ones and look fuller and healthier.

[Al in Kona]

This question could be answered very differently depending on climate, soil types, palm species, etc. Most of us tend to want or prefer to plant larger size palms so as to have them visible in the landscape right away. However, often the smaller seedling size plants will in a number of years outgrow and look fuller and better than a large-size palm of the same species planted at the same time. Most of the palms I have planted in the garden have been anywhere from a small 4 inch pot seedling (example: Carpoxylon) or a small liner (example: Hemithrinax ekmaniana) to lots of 1-gallon and some 3, 4 or 5 gallon size containers. Only a few have been larger size containers.

[NApalm]

I often plant germinated seeds with one leaf showing. Its not my preferred way of doing things ut works when you're collecting on a budget and you're not planning on going anywhere soon.

[NorthFlpalmguy]

I normally plant only 7 gal. 3 is a little on the small side for me.

[sarasota alex]

7 gal is probably a good size, but I've planted all sizes. It also depends on the palm. I have a Brahea armata that grows vigorously for years that was originally planted right out of the germination bag. On the other hand, all B. armata that I have planted of bigger sizes have eventually died. When you plant out of the bag the palm never ever changes soil/potting mix in it's life, which is a good thing.

I also have had a lot of success with in situ germination, where I basically lightly burry or just throw seeds on the ground.