The first pic near the swimming pool would be my choice. Swimming pools and golden canes go together like peas and carrots. The resort look. Then fill in the gaps with other interesting tropical plants.

41 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

The first pic near the swimming pool would be my choice. Swimming pools and golden canes go together like peas and carrots. The resort look. Then fill in the gaps with other interesting tropical plants.

Decision made, thanks for your guidance Tyrone. I'll have to get busy with the weed spray before the next lot of heavy rain.

3 hours ago, gtsteve said:

Are you sure that it isn't an issue with the 'Victa'? 

Correct it only has three wheels and it is impossible to get the ride on in there. I blame my university commitments for my slack groundskeeping. I think my nextdoor neighbour would have major issues with it. His house looks like this.

 

1 hour ago, JT in Japan said:

 

Did no one else see this? I'm really interested in what type of cats your friend has that they need an outdoor exercise area. Are they lions, and in need of a ring of fire? My three cats would be pleased as punch to just lay in the palm clump itself.

pics of the Big Cats please.

:-)

Ha! The cats really aren't that exciting  just ordinary domestic house cats. My friends wife is involved in cat rescues so has a continuous run of short stay companions. She is concerned that she wouldn't be able to get the kittens out of the palm but it is also just to tall to put a roof over the top. 

Sorry I can't provide any pics of big cats I'd have to visit other friends at the Adelaide Zoo  for that. I could watch the Sumatran Tigers for hours.

I'm getting closer to being ready for the big dig. I'm so glad I don't have this car any more!

I think you can do it . Will need a couple of guys to help or you may not be able to lift it into the trailer . I moved one of similar size and it took 3 guys and the misses to lift it. Good luck.

1 hour ago, Palms4Steve said:

I think you can do it . Will need a couple of guys to help or you may not be able to lift it into the trailer . I moved one of similar size and it took 3 guys and the misses to lift it. Good luck.

Thanks. The palm owner is going to organise a working bee to lift the palm. I'll definitely appreciate the help offered by Martin too.

On 5/19/2016, 9:02:04, Pip said:

The final location under consideration is near my eastern boundery. It is probably the sunniest location of the three but I have concerns over the powerline above. Contractors prune any plant plant that looks to be growing towards the line.

 

DON'T put it under the powerlines!

Or even too close!

I have many palms to show why this is a bad idea. Dypsis will get tall enough to grow into the lines, though not overnight.

On the other hand, if that's the ONLY place, at least Lutes will take the odd beheading. Much better than Walter Raleigh, Mary Queen of Scots, or a Washie . . . .

2 hours ago, Pip said:

Thanks. The palm owner is going to organise a working bee to lift the palm. I'll definitely appreciate the help offered by Martin too.

Get yourself a big, thick board, about 2 - 3 M long and 25 - 30 CM wide, maybe 4 cm thick, and slide it up into the truck. That helps a LOT. 

As the Chiropractor of Doom says: "An inclined plane can prevent back pain."

The Big Board is easier than a crane. MUCH easier, just trust me, unless one of your blokes is an experienced crane person. (Or crane lady?) Swinging singles are fun, but not single half tonne rootballs with palms. (I didn't find this one out the hard way. Watched a few dudes who did.)

On 5/20/2016, 4:18:56, Pip said:

Ha! The cats really aren't that exciting  just ordinary domestic house cats. My friends wife is involved in cat rescues so has a continuous run of short stay companions. She is concerned that she wouldn't be able to get the kittens out of the palm but it is also just to tall to put a roof over the top. 

Sorry I can't provide any pics of big cats I'd have to visit other friends at the Adelaide Zoo  for that. I could watch the Sumatran Tigers for hours.

Hmm. Outdoor exercise for house cats?

Not likely, in my experience. They're happy as pigs in poop inside all day. Unless they get used to being outside. Here, they get bitten; by fleas, on the one hand, coyotes on the other. (Yella' Dog Dingoes out where you are?)

Maybe the friend's wife needs an asylum of her own? (Sorry, couldn't stop myself.)

10 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

Hmm. Outdoor exercise for house cats?

Not likely, in my experience. They're happy as pigs in poop inside all day. Unless they get used to being outside. Here, they get bitten; by fleas, on the one hand, coyotes on the other. (Yella' Dog Dingoes out where you are?)

Maybe the friend's wife needs an asylum of her own? (Sorry, couldn't stop myself.)

My friends do cat rescue so at times have a few more than the house has space, at the moment they use a smaller struture squished between the house and boundery, that the cats access through a window. Because the rescue cats are unfamiliar with their new environment they require confinement. Dingos don't exist  in the city only in fauna parks or the zoo, besides that there is a massive fence keeping from reaching this far south.

I'll be planting the golden cane near the pool. I have sprayed the kikuyu out and it has died now thanks to a few sunnny days after a massive amount of rain (not as massive as Sydney's recent falls). 

Yes a ramp will be used to get the palm into a trailer.

Pip's neighbor makes DoomsDave's Prussian neighbor look modest by comparison.  

I was at the local botanical garden this morning; someone was considerately removing old leaves from Dypsis lutescens that had been planted as a sort of big hedge, to hide an open field.  They've gotten taller than the 22 foot (6.7 m) pole saw and of course the clumps are massive.  Apparently their Madagascar climate matches ours pretty well, except that we get nasty cold snaps once in a while.  

After day one of the dig. My muscles haven't had such a workout in a while but this is what I achieved on my own.

Doing well. That soil looks heavy. If you can dig down a bit more and get underneath it, you may be able to to grab the plant up high and pull it over breaking it from the soil. But that's going to take a fair bit of lifting to get it out of the hole.

Lucky you that soil is loamy...

Good work, you'll sleep well tonight. You must have been cursing that water pipe all day! Hope the palm rewards you with not missing a beat.

 

Regards Neil

Thanks for the encouragement. Tomorrow is certainly going to be interesting.  

That water pipe may not be live, I still just carefully dug around it, no big deal really. 

The soil is nice, loamy, moist, and easy to dig, but heavy. 

Well done. That's a big part of the job done. That root ball is looking pretty heavy. It brings back memories. Good luck tomorrow 

3 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Doing well. That soil looks heavy. If you can dig down a bit more and get underneath it, you may be able to to grab the plant up high and pull it over breaking it from the soil. But that's going to take a fair bit of lifting to get it out of the hole.

That's where a big board will come in handy. Get someone to stand by the hole, and get someone else to stand on the board (maybe two people) and lift it out of there; the person at the hole can put a box, rock, etc., under the rootball so it will stay at ground level. Then, HUMPH and roll it out.

That one is big, so I'd get at least a couple guys to help. But, you could do with two.

2 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

That's where a big board will come in handy. Get someone to stand by the hole, and get someone else to stand on the board (maybe two people) and lift it out of there; the person at the hole can put a box, rock, etc., under the rootball so it will stay at ground level. Then, HUMPH and roll it out.

That one is big, so I'd get at least a couple guys to help. But, you could do with two.

You could even do it all by yourself if you have a big enough rock, or a hook to hold the long-end (away from the rootball) down.

Beginning of day 2 of the dig. The palm was fairly willing to befree of the soil.

All wrapped up now waiting for the burley helpers.

Eneded up using the car to pull the palm out. The helpers turned up eventually to help get the palm into the trailer.

Next step the drive home.

The hole left behind 

I am so glad that you have finally made  it. The plant is stellar, I am sure all the effort is worth for it.

Well done!!!!! I hope you didn't take the freeway home at 100kmh with it standing up like that though.

With that soil being so good and loamy your palm will not set back at all. It would keep it's form and not disturb much of the remaining roots. Golden Canes transplant well even from sandy soil which breaks up the moment you lift it out of the hole. Your loam is an advantage for sure. 

A great acquisition. :D

 

2 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Well done!!!!! I hope you didn't take the freeway home at 100kmh with it standing up like that though.

With that soil being so good and loamy your palm will not set back at all. It would keep it's form and not disturb much of the remaining roots. Golden Canes transplant well even from sandy soil which breaks up the moment you lift it out of the hole. Your loam is an advantage for sure. 

A great acquisition. :D

 

The only reason why the palm was standing up during transport to my house was because of the small trailer size. I would have prefered to have it laying down. If it was laying down the top would have been ground off. It was hysterical driving through Adelaide particularly the inner city suburbs people either broke into hystrics or had a look of shear horror when they spotted the monster Dypsis. There was no way I was going to take the southern expressway home. I took South Road, endured the massive roads works at Darlington, then took the scenic hills route through Clarendon. The top speed wouldn't have reached more than 70km for a very short span of the trip. I was in the way of a few but no one honked or showed us any road rage. It was dark by the time we got home so we tucked the trailer into the back yard and returned my Dad's car. I'm excited about planting the palm tomorrow. It won't take long to prepare to site.

On 16/5/2016 19:05:41, Monòver said:

Yes, last year in March a i was transplanting one. It was in other garden and the last owner don't water it. It was poor and brown.

The rootball was small, because it was too big for me and nobody was with me for move it.

The recovery was fast and six months after it was totally recovered.

My opinion is, DO IT!!! You will be happy with your big palm.

March 2015

And in May 2016 ( My dogs want to be the star in the picture)

Monòver you should do a thread with all of your palms. You are a reference to southern Spain! 

I am a reference only in my street.

I only have a few small palms.

The reference to southern Spain is Gunter Brütt. This man has in his garden in Málaga 250 species of palms!!!!

I will post more pictures, but this thead is for the Pip's monster.

Vere is Gunter? Ve need him in PT!

Edited June 18, 201610 yr by Phoenikakias

Wow looks bigger on the trailer. Will look good when planted. It's great to plant something with some size. Waiting for next stage pics.

So close yet so far.  At this stage I'm feeling a little defeated the palm is about 1.5m from its final position.

I really hope we have only caused superficial damage to the palm.

So close. Time for a cup of tea!

Finally the monster Golden Cane is in its final position. I've been told that we are never doing that again........lol.

Looks good. Goes well with the pool. 

Just a few more pics. This addition has definitely given this part of the garden a jungle boost.  I might begin a small bromeliad collection now to under plant the Dypsis.

This picture was taken yesterday just after I broke the palm from the ground. 

Bravo! That's great job done 

Well done!!!

Great Job and great final spot! the soil there looks amazing. do you know how often the previous owner watered the palm?