Jubaea chilensis vs Butia Capitata

[PalmTreeDude]

I heard that the Jubaea chilensis is the most cold hardy feather palm, but I though that was the Butia Capitata? Do you know which is true? Thank you for reading! 

[nitsua0895]

2 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

I heard that the Jubaea chilensis is the most cold hardy feather palm, but I though that was the Butia Capitata? Do you know which is true? Thank you for reading! 

I believe Jubaea Chilensis is the most cold hardy. I've heard from some people that it can survive temps as cold as 3F. The only problem is they can't handle the hot and humid summers of the southeast so that's why Butias are so much more common.

I sure wish I could have a huge Jubaea Chilensis in my yard. 

[Flow]

Generally, Jubaea is hardier than Butia In some places a Butia might be nearly as hardy as a Jubaea but not here. Jubaea handles our long, wet winters much better. 

[Jungle Jas.]

Jubaea is the most hardy in the UK but they are so sloooooooooooooow.  Butia Eros runs it a close second and is a fast grower. It also handles the wet. 

Edited September 12, 2016 by Jungle Jas.
Added sentence.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I know Jubaea won't spear pull when small like butia does, but jubaea are finicky and need really good airflow in areas that are more humid (dew points over 70 during summer) and wet. They are the most difficult palm that i grow from seed as I've lost over 1000 plants getting them from a three liner to a 5g pinnate leave plant. Once they get 15g size they are  a much easier plant to deal with, but will still get funky spear with lack of airflow. 

[SailorBold]

I need to try one.. it would most likely be the only one in my area.  I have way too many marginal plants but the slow growing nature might be good to add it in somewhere.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I have plenty of 15g that i can ship.

[SailorBold]

On ‎9‎/‎16‎/‎2016‎ ‎6‎:‎24‎:‎26‎, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

I have plenty of 15g that i can ship.

Hmm..I will keep that in mind...if I do it will be next spring.  We have had a couple mild winters and my Butia all got some levels of spear damage, if these are hardier it will be worth it to see. 

[finn6b]

anyone have any feedback, on the hybrid of both ? 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

The F1 Jubaea x Butia does not have any issues from seed with moisture in the crown and is superior to any butia or BXJ f1 cross in my opinion. Additionally they grow faster than pure butia and almost as fast as a mule palm in my experience. 

[Jungle Jas.]

Sailor, I know I said Jubaea were slow  but that's in the UK. My experience is they need temperatures above 20C to grow really well. We don't get that many days in the UK. I suspect you may have far more days like that in the USA but I don't know your area.

[iwan]

In my cold, foggy San Joaquin valley 9A winters, Jubaea, Butia x Jubaea and many Butia x hybrids smaller have spear issues when smaller than 15g to box size equivalent in the ground.  They all recover quickly with the next frond normal.  Butia odorata never has spear issues.  Even a juvenile Trithrinax acanthacoma had spear issues every winter except for the last.  Hopefully, it has outgrown that stage.

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

7 hours ago, iwan said:

In my cold, foggy San Joaquin valley 9A winters, Jubaea, Butia x Jubaea and many Butia x hybrids smaller have spear issues when smaller than 15g to box size equivalent in the ground.  They all recover quickly with the next frond normal.  Butia odorata never has spear issues.  Even a juvenile Trithrinax acanthacoma had spear issues every winter except for the last.  Hopefully, it has outgrown that stage.

 

I have the opposite issue. Odorata spear pull 7g and smaller. Jubaea never do-1g, 3g 15g and 25g pots. 

I have only had larger jxbf1 outside in the past so i cant comment on spear pull for them.

[smithgn]

On 9/16/2016, 8:24:26, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

I have plenty of 15g that i can ship.

I'll have to look into that... As soon as I find my other 30 palms a home in ground somewhere 

[Matt N- Dallas]

In my experience (in Dallas & Austin, Tx) jubaea can take the summer heat.  They have survived weeks & months of 100* highs and lows in the upper 70's to 80's.  They have been very slow growing.  Leaf cold hardiness seems to be better than butia in this part of Texas- Dallas.  Smaller size jubaea are prone to spear damage and spear pull during temps in the teens.  I had four - 15 gal size plants in ground during the cold blast of Feb 2011- all were damaged w/ major spear pull, but recovered.  A much larger one (in ground since 2003) had approx 50% leaf burn to the older leaves, but the spear was fine.  15 gal sized BxJ and JxB had spear pull, but fared better than Butia in Dallas.  All recovered.  The Feb, 2011 cold blast in Dallas produced rain that turned to ice, +35 mph winds with an ultimate low of 14*.  The duration of cold was most damaging as temps stayed below freezing for 96 hours.  Many butia and green chamaerops were defoliated.  The problem in N & Central Tx is rain to ice in the crowns of palms and the duration of low temps.  I think Jubaea x Butia is the superior pinnate palm for this area.  

[iwan]

Jubaea has no problem with dry summer heat in the Fresno area and is surprisingly drought tolerant.  I have several 15g size planted in my back acre that out of necessity (and lack of time) might get hand watered every 1-2 weeks during the summer.  I am sure I am stunting their growth with this mistreatment, but they do not look particularly stressed nor die with this neglect.  Hopefully I can get drip out there for spring.

 

[JLeVert]

Butia x Jubaea in Augusta, GA

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Here is a butia x jubaea in Arlington, TX. (On the left)

[Aceraceae]

Enter Texas Canary island date palms which handled near 0 temps and 5 days below freezing and came back. 

One analogy between butia and jubaea is that they are the closest feathered equivalent to needle and windmill palms, butia needing heat and humidity, but possibly being slightly more hardy than jubaea, which is like Trachycarpus that doesn't do well in Florida but is cool hardy year round and almost as cold hardy. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Aceraceae

[Love them palms]

Jubaea x Butia yatay in Mukilteo Washington Z8B. survived the artic blast of 11F unscathed just with frost cloth. from Patrick Schafer 

[MarkbVet]

On 9/12/2016 at 8:36 AM, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

I know Jubaea won't spear pull when small like butia does, but jubaea are finicky and need really good airflow in areas that are more humid (dew points over 70 during summer) and wet. They are the most difficult palm that i grow from seed as I've lost over 1000 plants getting them from a three liner to a 5g pinnate leave plant. Once they get 15g size they are  a much easier plant to deal with, but will still get funky spear with lack of airflow. 

In areas with less summer humidity, Jubaeas are probably more hardy in terms of cold (and wet cold) tolerance in winter.  If you have warm dry Mediterranean summers as in much of the western U.S.,  Jubaea will win out.  But Butia odorata and B. eriospatha can handle a fair amount of wet cold in the Pacific NW also.  They also seem to be able to handle some humid heat (better than Jubaea).  Butia/Jubaea hybrids have attempted to produce Jubaea-like palms with increased humidity tolerance. 

[knikfar]

But will any of these options survive in Raleigh NC or a similar climate? 

[RJ]

37 minutes ago, knikfar said:

But will any of these options survive in Raleigh NC or a similar climate? 

They’re butia in Raleigh, isn’t there? They make it in the charlotte area as well as Winston Salem area I would think they would in Raleigh . 

[Meangreen94z]

If Butia can survive Canary date palms can. They came back at an extremely high rate from temperatures near zero and a week below freezing in Central and North Texas. 

[knikfar]

3 hours ago, RJ said:

They’re butia in Raleigh, isn’t there? They make it in the charlotte area as well as Winston Salem area I would think they would in Raleigh . 

There is only one mature one that I know of. It's south of Raleigh in Fuquay Varina. That's probably a tad bit cooler than Raleigh because its still fairly rural out there. But any large butias that were here in Raleigh were killed during the historic cold in 2018. It got down to 4f here in Raleigh and zero degrees closer to the coast. It was crazy. During the same year, Charlotte had a low of 11f, still cold but warm enough that a larger butia could survive. People tell me that any butia planted in Raleigh are living on borrowed time. They might do really well for a good number of years. But at some point, a polar vortex will get them. 

[knikfar]

1 hour ago, Meangreen94z said:

If Butia can survive Canary date palms can. They came back at an extremely high rate from temperatures near zero and a week below freezing in Central and North Texas. 

That's kep me hopeful.