Pritchardia Revisited

[Big Eye]

On 10/4/2022 at 8:49 AM, realarch said:

Finally getting around to posting some photos of P. glabrata. Big spread on this specie and they require a lot of space.

The wide leaves and drooping tips is a unique feature. Prolific seeder as well, I mean prolific. 

Tim

Yikes! Looks like I need to move mine. Think it's about 10 to 12' from the house... Do you find this species to be on the slower side of growing? Mine hasn't budged since putting it in the ground a couple of months ago. Then again, it's in the front yard where I rarely water and gets torched from full on sun from maybe 12 to sunset. Maybe that's the reason? Might need to throw a shade cloth on over this one until it gets bigger...

[Big Eye]

Here this one is a couple weeks ago getting blasted by the afternoon sun. Doesn't help that we haven't gotten much rain here recently either. Still my fault for rarely checking on it and leaving it to fend for itself. Going to most likely move it a little further away from the house so it can stretch those massive fronds. Thanks for the info, Tim!

[Ppppppppalm]

On 9/8/2017 at 4:00 PM, realarch said:

So, time to start another Pritchardia thread after seeing how nicely they are growing from recent posts. 

My first Pritchardia's I planted were rescues from a friends garden up in Volcano about 7 years ago and I just assumed they were P. beccariana. They later turned out to be P. pacifica after hoping they were something else, like P. lanigera. Oh well, they are still quite nice. 

I've got 3 P. martii, 2 P. glabrata, 5 P. beccariana, and a number of small P. maindeniana, and hillebrandii, and 2 P. pacifica's. 

The oldest P. beccariana has been a rocket and the P. martii are just killer palms. 

Anyway here are some photos from the garden. 

Tim

First, the P. pacifica's 

Why the pacifica’s leaves are so big?

[Darold Petty]

I know very little about Pritchardia, especially for growing in my always cool, humid microclimate.  I do have one that is supposed to be P. minor, and a P. hillebrandii.  They  grow here,  albeit slowly,  but at an acceptable rate.  I have room for one more Pritchardia in my garden.  I am currently growing both P. martii and P. napaliensis in my greenhouse.

  Which one would be the better choice for outdoors here ??   Thanks for your comments !  

[Tracy]

37 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

I have room for one more Pritchardia in my garden.  I am currently growing both P. martii and P. napaliensis in my greenhouse.

  Which one would be the better choice for outdoors here ?? 

Darold, while I don't have an answer for you on which will be the better choice, I do have a recommendation.  I would transition both outside your greenhouse in pots and see which performs best before planting.  I realize that my suggestion may not work if you don't have space for both, but I'm hoping that if they are still relatively small, the space in your garden will accommodate both for a little while before you must choose.  The P napaliensis you shared with me are still in a shaded spot in the garden in pots which I should start moving into more sun.  I'm still waiting for them to get bigger and more established before they go to their final homes to ensure a higher probability of survival.  The two largest are below, with the third smaller one showing in the second photo, a bit out of focus off behind the subject plant.  While performance in your garden outside will be different, I thought it worth providing an update since they are the same seed lot as the ones in your greenhouse.

[Darold Petty]

great idea, thanks !

[realarch]

6 hours ago, Ppppppppalm said:

Why the pacifica’s leaves are so big?

These indeed keyed out to be P. beccariana after flowering and seeding. There is a post in this thread addressing the positive P. beccariana ID. 

Tim

[Ppppppppalm]

What Pritchardia is it?

[bubba]

A greenie in Key Largo:

[bubba]

One more:

[realarch]

Some additional photos of P. martii, this thing has some seriously long petioles despite growing in full sun. The ramenta on the abaxial side finely covers the entire surface. Such a beautiful palm! 

A couple of close-ups first.

Tim

[realarch]

Hard to photograph the entire palm, so a few more shots with a loper for scale. 

Tim

[Zeeth]

P. schattaueri:

 

P. beccariana:

[Big Eye]

On 11/12/2022 at 9:12 AM, realarch said:

Some additional photos of P. martii, this thing has some seriously long petioles despite growing in full sun. The ramenta on the abaxial side finely covers the entire surface. Such a beautiful palm! 

A couple of close-ups first.

Tim

Simply gorgeous. This has got to be the nicest martii I've seen pictures of yet! Bravo, Tim. You must be one proud papa!

[Big Eye]

On 11/12/2022 at 9:14 AM, realarch said:

Hard to photograph the entire palm, so a few more shots with a loper for scale. 

Tim

About how tall would you say it is currently? And around 8 years in the ground? I need to get me some of these babies and showcase them in the front of the house for everyone to enjoy!

[realarch]

Keenan, it must be 15’ (4.5m) tall including the fronds. It’s a beautiful specie. 

Here’s are a couple of photos of P. glabrata from a second floor lanai. Another beautiful palm. 

Tim

[Big Eye]

6 hours ago, realarch said:

Keenan, it must be 15’ (4.5m) tall including the fronds. It’s a beautiful specie. 

Here’s are a couple of photos of P. glabrata from a second floor lanai. Another beautiful palm. 

Tim

A beautiful species is right! I may need to reconsider about planting them in front of the house as a focal point, if/when I get my hands on some. 15' is up there and I'm assuming it's not close to being finished yet!

Must be so nice to be looking down on those things every morning.

One of these days I need to see them up close! The only chance is on the way down to drop my kids off at school... Which is every day, but still.

[mike in kurtistown]

I'm with Big Eye in considering glabrata to be my favorite species. Here's the one in my front yard (full sun). Picture from a year ago. I'm in no hurry for it to trunk and gain height.

 

[Big Eye]

On 1/6/2023 at 9:59 AM, mike in kurtistown said:

I'm with Big Eye in considering glabrata to be my favorite species. Here's the one in my front yard (full sun). Picture from a year ago. I'm in no hurry for it to trunk and gain height.

 

Very nice, @mike in kurtistown. I can now see what you guys mean to give glabrata some breathing room. From your picture, you can really see the width to height ratio. Thanks for adding!

[Billeb]

I’ve been over this thread multiple times and I’m still puzzled by my largest Pritchardia. Bought 2nd hand as a Martii from a reputable source originating from Floribunda. The more it grows and the more I look at it, it’s saying P. Beccariana but I don’t know? It has all the tell tale signs of a Martii except the most coveted unfortunately. Light speckling on the underside of the leaves at best.  Definitely not white or copper. 
 

That being said…..it’s grown great in a couple years and extremely happy so I can’t complain. Open to hearing thoughts. Thanks. 
 

-dale 

 

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, Billeb said:

I’ve been over this thread multiple times and I’m still puzzled by my largest Pritchardia. Bought 2nd hand as a Martii from a reputable source originating from Floribunda. The more it grows and the more I look at it, it’s saying P. Beccariana but I don’t know? It has all the tell tale signs of a Martii except the most coveted unfortunately. Light speckling on the underside of the leaves at best.  Definitely not white or copper. 
 

That being said…..it’s grown great in a couple years and extremely happy so I can’t complain. Open to hearing thoughts. Thanks. 
 

-dale 

 

I am seeing some flecking so there may be hope yet as it matures. The pleating resembles P. beccariana in some photos but a couple of others doesn't appear as tight.  It is a tough Genus with a lot of hybrids albeit unintentionally in many cases. 

[Billeb]

27 minutes ago, Tracy said:

I am seeing some flecking so there may be hope yet as it matures. The pleating resembles P. beccariana in some photos but a couple of others doesn't appear as tight.  It is a tough Genus with a lot of hybrids albeit unintentionally in many cases. 

I’m hoping you are right. The white coloring is prevalent on the petioles and just as the leaf mates but doesn’t continue on. Leaves are pretty flat, yellow back stripes etc. I’ll try to take a better picture of the leafbacks and post it.  Guess it shouldn’t matter much if the tree looks good and is healthy but would love the copper and undersides. 
 

-dale 

[Billeb]

On 6/18/2023 at 12:32 PM, Tracy said:

I am seeing some flecking so there may be hope yet as it matures. The pleating resembles P. beccariana in some photos but a couple of others doesn't appear as tight.  It is a tough Genus with a lot of hybrids albeit unintentionally in many cases. 

@Tracy here’s a close up of the backside. Guess there’s still hope!! 
 

-dale 

[John hovancsek]

P. Viscosa grown from seed. I think this is the most beautiful pritchardia 

[The Palm Nut]

I have several of these, but this one I have no idea of its pedigree. Many years ago I traded in seed and this one was germinated; I am guessing the age around 20 years or more. Maybe one day it will flower and give me some clues.  

[quaman58]

Pritchardia beccariana seem to be one of the quickest growers, despite being somewhat less needy in their water requirements. This one has been in the ground for 6-1/2 years from a 1 gallon. It started and aborted flowering last year, but has gone crazy this year. The big circular fan leaves over the spa is a real bonus…

[Zeeth]

Most of the P. beccariana that I've started from seed seem to languish in our hot summers, but this one has definitely been an exception. It's trunking now so hopefully it starts producing seed soon

[realarch]

Keith, that’s a beast!

Tim

[Matt in OC]

Any guesses as to what this beast is? I planted it as a small 5 gal. in 2015. I'm leaning toward Schattaueri.

 

[quaman58]

Matt, the leaves on my Schattauri look very flat, almost exactly like beccariana. Your 2nd picture is very similar..

[Matt in OC]

Thanks, Bret. How old/tall it’s yours? Any pictures to share?

[Dr. George]

Our 3 P. schattaueri, planted out from 15 gal size in 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr. George]

This is the tallest of the 12 P. schattaueri in the only known natural stand of P. schattaueri. This stand was discovered by George Schattauer while clearing ranch land, but the cattle ranch was actually owned at the time by the late actor Jimmy Stewart.

The native stand is about 12 miles south of us. This picture was extracted from Wikipedia but was originally taken by me and posted on Palmtalk and Palmpedia. The man standing in the bottom center of the pic is just under 7 ft tall, which gives you an idea of the height of this specimen.

gmp

 

[realarch]

Good grief Dr. George, now that is TALL! I participated in a workday for the Nature Conervancy awhile back and one of the leaders took me to a lone specimen in the middle of a macadamia grove. Tall as well and separated from the main population. I‘m glad they saved it. 

Tim

[Tracy]

I am sitting on my lower patio looking up at one of my no id Pritchardia so thought I would post it again.  I don't recall this one flowering.  It is beefy, like my P maideniana and hillebrandii.  

[rizla023]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:59 AM, quaman58 said:

Pritchardia beccariana seem to be one of the quickest growers, despite being somewhat less needy in their water requirements. This one has been in the ground for 6-1/2 years from a 1 gallon. It started and aborted flowering last year, but has gone crazy this year. The big circular fan leaves over the spa is a real bonus…

Looks amazing @quaman58 Mine is one of the slowest palms I have 🤣 not sure what I am doing wrong but this gives me hope. 

[quaman58]

I thought I would post an updated picture here. The preceding picture was from more than a year and a half ago, when it was just beginning to get serious about flowering. There are currently three generations of seeds now, the oldest ones just beginning to ripen and fall off. It’s becoming a seed factory and  has developed an enormous canopy. The rate of growth with Pritchardia in my garden is all over the place; I have two or three plants that are 12+ years old and are not even waist high yet. No idea why.