Acanthophoenix rubra finally in ground

[erin]

Bret,

Thanks for your answer. Very cool idea. 

Nice looking palm too. I'm glad it made a recovery from  the ICU. ☺

[DoomsDave]

bret

How about an update?

[quaman58]

Still chugging along just fine Dave. About 8' overall & getting its first ring of trunk. I'm amazed, given all the trouble I had early on, how easy they are here. Here's a couple quick pics from this morning. Still one of the fastest palms in the garden.

[quaman58]

[Monòver]

Wow, looks perfect!!!!

[DoomsDave]

Bret

SCREAM

[SWFLchris]

Any update on this one? Have a 7 gallon that I’ve been itching to put in the ground.. I think Leu Gardens is successfully growing one in Orlando

[rprimbs]

Bret, you planted that in a garbage can set in the ground?  I've done that myself with fruit trees that I planned to move later thinking that the pots would help me move a larger root ball -- because I've never had success transplanting fruit trees.  Did you drill holes in it?

[quaman58]

Chris,

I'll get a picture as soon as I can get home before dark. It's doing very well; it's not as cold sensitive as I feared. Obviously you're in quite a different climate, but if it's doing good in the pot, and you mimick the moisture and exposure in ground, you should be fine..

Richard,

No holes in the can, but the bottom was pretty worn through; certainly enough for drainage.

[Phoenikakias]

2 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Chris,

I'll get a picture as soon as I can get home before dark. It's doing very well; it's not as cold sensitive as I feared. Obviously you're in quite a different climate, but if it's doing good in the pot, and you mimick the moisture and exposure in ground, you should be fine..

Richard,

No holes in the can, but the bottom was pretty worn through; certainly enough for drainage.

That's essentially pot planting with the only difference that buried pot is not the original one, where the plant used to grow in, but a larger one, in fact a considerably larger one. It is a method that intrigues me, since I also grow palms in a sloppy landscape.  I am not sure though that I had understood correctly the way this practice helps.  Surely it must be not root disturbance, since plant had been moved out of the original pot. So they remain two other alternatives, combined or alone. Either the rim of the buried pot lies higher than soil level, serving thus as a water retaining bowl, or/and buried pot walls prevent nearby other established plants to occupy fast new soil with their own roots, allowing thus the newly planted newbie the necessary time to establish itself without much competition. Now which is which?

Edited December 11, 2019 by Phoenikakias

[quaman58]

I think it's a bit of both. I cannot say for sure that I've had noticeably better luck with pot planting. I've assumed two things: that it minimizes (at least initially) other competitive rooting plants from sucking away water meant to get the palm at least established. Secondly, that the water, especially on a hillside, will go down deep, hopefully encouraging deep roots. I am amazed at how much water I can put on a palm on a hillside, but because it spreads out laterally & is pulled downhill, is pretty dry just a few inches down within a day or two. Much less of an issue on flat ground..

[branislav]

What about long term? Would it not restrict lateral root growth? I think trees get 80% of their nutrients from the top 2-3 feet even if they tap deeper eventually. What about stability? Just curious: I have hardly a flat spot in my yard and haven't used the trashcan technique. I do make rather deep swales and use drips in the hope of getting water penetration. Probably helps that most of the soil is loamy/sandy. 

[quaman58]

21 minutes ago, branislav said:

What about long term? Would it not restrict lateral root growth? I think trees get 80% of their nutrients from the top 2-3 feet even if they tap deeper eventually. What about stability? Just curious: I have hardly a flat spot in my yard and haven't used the trashcan technique. I do make rather deep swales and use drips in the hope of getting water penetration. Probably helps that most of the soil is loamy/sandy. 

Every time I've seen a big palm that's been potted planted (even those sitting on the ground at nurseries), the big roots have found the drain holes & are rooted in the ground like crazy. Sometimes people are hopeful that simply digging out the pot will result in an easy move at some later date. In reality, cutting the roots at the base of the pot often kills the plant. Seems like given enough time, the larger species will eventually just blow apart the pot anyway..

[Jan Jo]

Great pics @quaman58 and @Josh-O, would love to see updates. I really like this palm!

I bought a seedling here in southern Spain about 5 years ago and it's been painfully slow, but surprisingly this winter it suddenly started to pick up speed.. I'm tempted to plant it, but I don't have the right spot for it yet, and I hardly dare change its current spot/exposure since it's taken so long to get going...

Here's a couple of pics

Cheers,

J

[Jan Jo]

On 2/16/2020 at 5:46 PM, Jan Jo said:

Great pics @quaman58 and @Josh-O, would love to see updates. I really like this palm!

I bought a seedling here in southern Spain about 5 years ago and it's been painfully slow, but surprisingly this winter it suddenly started to pick up speed.. I'm tempted to plant it, but I don't have the right spot for it yet, and I hardly dare change its current spot/exposure since it's taken so long to get going...

Here's a couple of pics

Cheers,

J

Hi, seeing how well yours seem to be doing in the ground, I finally plucked up the courage to plant mine too... in a sheltered spot, wedged between two monsters (Bismarckia and a Livistona Chinensis) and a Kentia palm... I hope they are enough to shelter it from our dry winds...

(in the centre, at the back)..

Hope it does even half as well as yours

[joe_OC]

Bret,

Can you give us an update of your palm?

 

 

[quaman58]

Jan Jo, yours looks really good and healthy! Mine is still chugging along; here's an update for you and Joe..the off color old leaves are from a single, terrible cold night in February.  Other than that, it's cruising… 

[quaman58]

Also losing its spines..

[Jan Jo]

24 minutes ago, quaman58 said:

Jan Jo, yours looks really good and healthy! Mine is still chugging along; here's an update for you and Joe..the off color old leaves are from a single, terrible cold night in February.  Other than that, it's cruising… 

Nice! Looks fast, too... losing spines, eh? I'm sure you won't miss them too much...

How cold was that terrible night in February, do you know? I'm not quite clear how cold hardy these are... they seem to be fairly cool hardy...

J

[GottmitAlex]

32 minutes ago, quaman58 said:

Also losing its spines..

Do these lose their spines wholesale? Or just temporarily? 

Edited May 31, 2020 by GottmitAlex

[akamu]

Looking good Brett yours has grown quite alot. Here's mine it's been planted in the ground for 2 years. The first one  i planted in too much sun it struggled so I decided to put this one in filtered light and let it emerge. It was wobbly in the wind at first so I staked it until the roots get more established 

[quaman58]

1 hour ago, Jan Jo said:

Nice! Looks fast, too... losing spines, eh? I'm sure you won't miss them too much...

How cold was that terrible night in February, do you know? I'm not quite clear how cold hardy these are... they seem to be fairly cool hardy...

J

It got down to about 29F.  Much of my yard still looks like it was hit with round up. Nothing fail, but there's a whole Lotta stuff it just looks battered. Fortunately everything is finally coming out of it, it'll just look like crap until next winter. 

[quaman58]

Just now, quaman58 said:

It got down to about 29F.  Much of my yard still looks like it was hit with Roundup. Nothing fatal, but there's a whole Lotta stuff it just looks battered. Fortunately everything is finally coming out of it, it'll just look like crap until next winter. 

 

[quaman58]

2 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Do these lose their spines wholesale? Or just temporarily? 

The bigger ones I've seen seem to lose nearly all their spines, retaining just a few.

[quaman58]

2 hours ago, akamu said:

Looking good Brett yours has grown quite alot. Here's mine it's been planted in the ground for 2 years. The first one  i planted in too much sun it struggled so I decided to put this one in filtered light and let it emerge. It was wobbly in the wind at first so I staked it until the roots get more established 

Good call on the filtered light Adam. Looks perfect. Full exposure is such a crapshoot on new palms..

[akamu]

1 hour ago, quaman58 said:

It got down to about 29F.  Much of my yard still looks like it was hit with round up. Nothing fail, but there's a whole Lotta stuff it just looks battered. Fortunately everything is finally coming out of it, it'll just look like crap until next winter. 

Thanks Bret parts of my yard got hit pretty hard to it was a long wet winter. beautiful weather now though. Has the base of your A rubra shown any signs of mushrooming out like Dennis Willoughbys  A rubra?

[quaman58]

Adam, not much yet. My next door neighbor has an A. Rouselii that's about twice the size of my rubra and has developed that "elephant foot" feature..

[Palmaceae]

I have one that has done well. I had it in Cape Coral and when we moved to St. Pete I took it with. It is finally taking off and growing at a good speed.

 

[akamu]

2 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Adam, not much yet. My next door neighbor has an A. Rouselii that's about twice the size of my rubra and has developed that "elephant foot" feature..

That's great any pics? 

[quaman58]

I'll grab a couple tomorrow..

[quaman58]

Here's a couple from this afternoon. A bit harder to photograph as he's got an A. crinita and an A. rubra growing at its base. Not nearly as flared at the base as is Dennis's, but getting there. It's probably 16-17' tall now. Hates winter, but keeps growing...

[quaman58]

A great shape to this genus for sure.

[GottmitAlex]

13 minutes ago, quaman58 said:

A great shape to this genus for sure.

How satisfying.  Darn! How rewarding!

[Tyrone]

On 6/3/2020 at 10:30 AM, quaman58 said:

A great shape to this genus for sure.

Any pics of yours now.

I'm planting my only double planted one tomorrow in my rainforest garden area. If it fails I have no replacements and probably will never be able to replace it. I think I germinated it back in 2009. Long overdue to be planted out. I hope it takes to the ground well. 

[quaman58]

Tyrone, I’ll grab a picture when I get some light. Wow, I remember when you mentioned you got seed of this. Nice job… 

[Than]

How is this one doing?