Bismarck in Southern California Inland Empire

[socalmatt84]

Just a topic to see if anyone else has Bismarck palms in socal especially in the inland empire . I'm wanting to document my first Bismarck i just bought also !

[socalmatt84]

Now if i can just figure out how to put pictures in ....

[Stevetoad]

Welcome to palltalk. Bizzys grow great out here. Some monsters around.

[socalmatt84]

Thanks ! I'm a bit new to palms but love the different varieties . Bought the Bismarck 15gal small one for a good deal so it made it irresistible!

Do you know if they survive the cold around Menifee ?

[MattyB]

I believe they will do fine in Menifee. They like that inland heat you guys have too.

[Stevetoad]

I don't know what your low temps are but I have three that have all seen 26f with frost for 5 days below freezing in a row and never showed any damage. One thing I've noticed is that mine have grown best from a smaller size. I have one that was a fifteen and one that was a 5 gal. The five gal is now bigger and better looking than the fifteen. Although my fifteen was overgrown and has taken forever to lock in. Looks like it's finally happy after 3 years. And like Matt said they love the inland heat. Mine go crazy when I see 90-110 temps

[socalmatt84]

Young Bismarck palm in the front yard ! Excited to see how it does here ...its only a couple feet tall with two new spears in the middle ... planted just about a week ago in the summer heat.

[socalmatt84]

Thanks, yeah it gets down to low thirties and sometimes below that but not for long. I saw others that were in a 15gal pot that were over grown and decided to get the smaller ones from a different place.

[Stevetoad]

Looks good. Not sure if you need to stake it though. I would recommend waiting until the leaves are brown before you cut them for the fastest growth.

[socalmatt84]

I'm hoping for the best ! When should i fertilize it? And also, I've been watering it every two days besides the little bit of overspray it gets from the sprinklers . Is that too much for the summer?

[socalmatt84]

Yeah staked it because of the winds we were getting, i can take them off though

[Stevetoad]

I don't think you can really over water them when first planted and during the summer. I say go nuts. I would wait a while to feed it though. You could burn the roots of you feed a newly planted palm to soon. But me fert regiman is awful. I sometimes feed but often forget.

[socalmatt84]

Awesome . Well I'll probably wait until it gets fall time then to give it a little . Thanks for the advice ! What city are yours in ?

[Stevetoad]

East county San Diego. Santee aka sanfreeze

[Hilo Jason]

Welcome to palmtalk. That bizzie should do great for you in menifee. Make sure you head over to Lake Elsinore to Kevin Weavers nursery / house. He has a massive one in the ground. Plus he's a great guy to buy palms from and can really help you with what will do well in your area.

[avanza]

nice one

[trioderob]

mine went from that size to 20' foot and flowering in 5 years

[socalmatt84]

Welcome to palmtalk. That bizzie should do great for you in menifee. Make sure you head over to Lake Elsinore to Kevin Weavers nursery / house. He has a massive one in the ground. Plus he's a great guy to buy palms from and can really help you with what will do well in your area.

Ill definitely do that !

[socalmatt84]

mine went from that size to 20' foot and flowering in 5 years

Holy smokes ! I really hope that happens here, i planted it with plenty of room ...

[MattyB]

Give it a nice deep watering once every week or two in the summer and that'll be plenty. These things have deep and aggressive roots, so a little top spray from sprinklers or a hose just isn't ideal to get those roots saturated deep. But they're drought tolerant, so you don't have to constantly water them, just make sure when you do, it's with drip irrigation or a long long soak with the hose on a trickle. I'm talkin' 4-6 hours trickle homie.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Matty is right but I'd water a bit more often until the restricted rootball has a chance to mature and send roots deeper into the soil. Bismarck's are eventually deep rooted palms.

[ando.wsu]

They grow great in Phoenix. Heat is not a problem, nor is full sun or the cold. And it's sideways. Mine is approx 3 years in the ground from a five gallon. Pretty fast grower.

[Chris Chance]

Jason mentioned the right person to go to. I've lived in Murrieta for almost 7 years now and I know Bismarckia do great in this area. In fact they love the hot summer if provided water like Matt said. Kevin will have lots of other palms that will do great as well.

Welcome to the place for all palm fanatics.

[socalmatt84]

Thank you guys for all your responses ! So far I've been soaking it (filling up the water ring) every other day . Still have to figure out the drip to that location.

[Danilopez89]

Welcome to Palmtalk. I too would take these guy's advice. Instead of filling up the water ring once, leave the hose trickling to were it slowly fills it. 2 or 3 times a week should be good for summer. Once it cools down, one deep watering once a week is plenty. Once it has established it's long roots they become very drought tolerant, at this point you have the option to go crazy with water and fertilizers and watch it take of like a rocket, or give it little water and a little bit fertilizers and it will take it's time to grow big. Either way you go you'll have an awesome palm, bizzies are becoming more and more popular even with non palm lovers and it's because they are so dang COOL!

[Hammer]

They grow great in Phoenix. Heat is not a problem, nor is full sun or the cold. And it's sideways. Mine is approx 3 years in the ground from a five gallon. Pretty fast grower.

Wow! I've heard of the sideways form of Bizzie! Incredible! !! Thank you for sharing this rarity with the world.

[Hammer]

You have received some great advice here. I would add, come to the palm society meeting on July 18th. It is going to be epic. Plus you can meet many who are on this forum.

Also, you might try to search for an old thread by Jastin that is labeled something like Palm Torcher Chamber. Great example of the extremes that Bizzies will take.

[Chris Chance]

I forgot about the torcher chamber thread. That was a good example of what those palms are capable of.

Definitely come to the meeting. I'll be there that's for sure. No way anyone should miss that one.

Edited July 3, 2015 by Chris in Murrieta

[socalmatt84]

I just wanted to thank everyone for posting ,i am filling the ring up twice at a time about once a week and my young bismarck has grown a few inches and opened up a new frond!

[Mohsen]

I just wanted to thank everyone for posting ,i am filling the ring up twice at a time about once a week and my young bismarck has grown a few inches and opened up a new frond!

I want to plant a Bismarck in our front yard ( at the moment is grass) this weekend too...I might add a circular concrete edging to separate it from the grass...

..I hope it thrive in our weather ( Sydney) ...

I also assume they don't have invasive root system as it will be 2.5 meter away from our building ...

[DoomsDave]

Mohsen:

As a group, palms don't have root problems like dicot trees. They won't lift concrete, crack foundations, etc. The reason dicot roots are so destructive (especially Ficus, Fraxinus et al) is that tiny little hair roots work their way into cracks and as they grow, they crack the rock apart.

Palm roots, on the other hand, are "born full grown" or close and can't work their way into cracks the way dicot root hairs can.

Big palms planted in a too-small planter can crack that apart by the sheer volume of the roots, but it takes a "rooty" palm to do that.

[Mohsen]

Mohsen:

As a group, palms don't have root problems like dicot trees. They won't lift concrete, crack foundations, etc. The reason dicot roots are so destructive (especially Ficus, Fraxinus et al) is that tiny little hair roots work their way into cracks and as they grow, they crack the rock apart.

Palm roots, on the other hand, are "born full grown" or close and can't work their way into cracks the way dicot root hairs can.

Big palms planted in a too-small planter can crack that apart by the sheer volume of the roots, but it takes a "rooty" palm to do that.

thanks Dave for the nice info , that's a relief ...

[Pando]

Well, if you plant a big palm close to the sidewalk, it *can* move the concrete to some degree, especially thinner, non-reinforced slabs like a sidewalk. It's because the palm will send a mass of roots out into the soil under the concrete that will eventually start slowly lifting the slabs. I have several places where old queens and kings have moved the slabs an inch or two, often enough to affect water drainage off the slab, and it's clearly visible.