I'm preparing my Perth house for sale and have a trunking Dypsis decipiens in the middle of the front yard that I want to transplant down in my new garden in Albany. It has about 40cm of clear trunk (about 16 inches) and has a twin quite a bit smaller attached to the side. What are my chances in transplanting it. Is it doomed to fail once they trunk?

I also have a trunking Chambeyronia macrocarpa var hookeri which I'm thinking will transplant easily, but not really sure, and a smaller trunking southern form Hyophorbe indica that I don't want to leave.

If I was certain the new owners would appreciate the plants I'd probably leave them, but it's quite likely the new owner will just execute anything and everything.

I have access to a hiab to lift the decipiens but if it's not going to work at all, I'll just have to leave it behind and never drive down that street ever again.

Here is a picture of the decipiens.

Also I have a nice Dypsis saintelucei that has started trunking that I want to take as well. Anyone transplanted one? I'm hoping they are like D lutescens to transplant.

I've not transplanted any of those palms, but plenty of others.  If they do transplant easily I understand you wanting to keep them - they look great!    My last couple of moves involved a couple of large palms - I had my real estate agent write into the listing that I planned on moving certain palms and no issues.  I even was able to get permission from the buyer of one of my houses to allow me to keep the palms in place and come back for them in a month or two when I had another yard to plant them into!  Good luck!

Jon

Tyrone:

I'm not sure how those palms will move, but I'm shooting some good karma for success.

Chambeyronias supposedly move a lot better if you spray them with an "anti transpirant" like Cloud Cover, which supposedly helps to avoid death by drying out. A friend of mine down the road did that with his, and had great results. I'm going to  have to edit some Chambeys at my place and I'm going to try some.

Best of luck!

P.S I'm sure Josh-O will will have some ideas. He moves palms like some people move their, well, you know . . . . .

I don't know but your Dypsis is gorgeous!

;)

I can't remember where or when I heard this, but I do recall reading somewhere  (on PalmTalk?) that an established Dypsis Decipiens cannot be transplanted without it going into swift decline.  If others disagree, they will surely post their views here.  I have no personal knowledge of this, myself, however.

We dug up two D. Dicipiens with about 6 foot of trunk and both are alive (albeit one is kind of struggling and lost two of the original 4 trunks). It was not a professional job by any means but I think they made it as it has been 18 months now.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've been thinking of trying to trench it but I'm time poor. Anyone know how long from trenching to transplanting it should be for it to be effective and worth the effort?

Theses were transplanted to Wollongong Botanical Garden...they were not happy last time I checked but not sure about now :

 

this is a tricky one to transplant.Decipiens are very root sensitive and HATE to be disturbed. If you must dig get a massive root ball. Looking at the size of your palm I would personally trench out at least 18" out from the main trunk around the entire palm and cauterize any tap roots you can visually see.cauterizing tap roots on sensitive plants has served me well this past few years with a great success rate. make sure you do a good fungal drench once you get it into its new location.

 

Keep us posted on how it goes

How do you cauterise roots. I've never done it before.

Tyrone, I assume Josh-O uses a portable torch. (not a flashlight!)  Here in California there are two types of fuel, propane and Mapp gas. You want Mapp gas, as the propane cylinder will not burn when the bottle is inverted with the flame lower than the tank, whereas Mapp gas can function in this position.  I learned this while trying to solder a copper water pipe in the bottom of a trench.  The self-igniting head piece is very convenient, also.  (I am too computer incompetent to post images of these tanks and head.) 

17 hours ago, Tyrone said:

How do you cauterise roots. I've never done it before.

with a blow torch. When you cut a tap root you literally just singe the ends to seal up the root from bleeding out. you wont kill the root in the process. This also sterilizes the wound at the same time. I only do this on palms or trees that have fleshy water bearing tap roots.

Josh-O this is why palmtalk is just so amazing and why I asked my questions here. I've learnt something new and it makes complete sense. Thank you.

I remember quite a few years back watching a documentary on brain surgery and how some pioneering surgeons for whatever reason had to remove a large section of the brain, but after an initial recovery all the patients died and they couldn't initially figure out why. Some years later they examined the slices of brain from the deceased and found high amounts of iron in the brain tissue. Then they realised that they should have closed up the main artery that fed the removed part of the brain. Once they did that there patients lived. I see a similarity with cauterising palm roots when transplanting. I will definitely do this. It makes sense.

8 hours ago, Josh-O said:

with a blow torch. When you cut a tap root you literally just singe the ends to seal up the root from bleeding out. you wont kill the root in the process. This also sterilizes the wound at the same time. I only do this on palms or trees that have fleshy water bearing tap roots.

Hi Josh, 

This may work with any palm sp (Even Ravenea) ? what do you mean by "fleshy water bearing tap roots" ?

Thank you.

On 11/7/2017, 8:21:00, Josh-O said:

this is a tricky one to transplant.Decipiens are very root sensitive and HATE to be disturbed. If you must dig get a massive root ball. Looking at the size of your palm I would personally trench out at least 18" out from the main trunk around the entire palm and cauterize any tap roots you can visually see.cauterizing tap roots on sensitive plants has served me well this past few years with a great success rate. make sure you do a good fungal drench once you get it into its new location.

 

Keep us posted on how it goes

Josh is the man with this!

i am pretty sure that the ones at woolongong are nearly dead Simon Goodwin told me  ! 

Very hard to move and would be bullet proof left in current location.

What about turning the house into a rental property as property prices in the west are at an all time low sine the end of the mining boom. Although i guess vacancy rates are high as well.

On 11/8/2017, 12:28:17, Tyrone said:

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've been thinking of trying to trench it but I'm time poor. Anyone know how long from trenching to transplanting it should be for it to be effective and worth the effort?

Hi Tyrone

How we do it here ( trenching ) is we dig right round the Palm during mid Spring cutting through all the lateral roots - then back fill the trench with bark, and then let it sit for 3-6 months ( depends on how long it takes for the cut roots to heal over ) When that's done we remove the bark ( that's why we use bark because its light and easy to get back out of the trench ) Then cut and dig under the remaining part of the rootball, and remove the Palm.

I know you don't have time to do this so good luck with removing it.

Rod.

 

On 12/11/2017, 7:39:25, Tassie_Troy1971 said:

i am pretty sure that the ones at woolongong are nearly dead Simon Goodwin told me  ! 

Very hard to move and would be bullet proof left in current location.

What about turning the house into a rental property as property prices in the west are at an all time low sine the end of the mining boom. Although i guess vacancy rates are high as well.

Thanks Troy. It's already been a rental. That's why half the plants have died. We are getting rid of it.

11 hours ago, Albey said:

Hi Tyrone

How we do it here ( trenching ) is we dig right round the Palm during mid Spring cutting through all the lateral roots - then back fill the trench with bark, and then let it sit for 3-6 months ( depends on how long it takes for the cut roots to heal over ) When that's done we remove the bark ( that's why we use bark because its light and easy to get back out of the trench ) Then cut and dig under the remaining part of the rootball, and remove the Palm.

I know you don't have time to do this so good luck with removing it.

Rod.

 

I'm probably going to try the root cauterisation technique if I move it at all. The likelihood of the new owner just mashing it to the ground so they can park their car on the lawn is very high. When I planted it I never thought we'd ever move. Life has a way of throwing curved balls- at your head. 

On 11/9/2017, 6:01:56, dwimss said:

Hi Josh, 

This may work with any palm sp (Even Ravenea) ? what do you mean by "fleshy water bearing tap roots" ?

Thank you.

any roots that leak lots of fluid are generally what I'm referring to.

 

I would defiantly cauterize Ravenea roots. every time I dig specimen xerophlia I do a very through job cauterizing them

On 11/9/2017, 7:19:53, Palm Tree Jim said:

Josh is the man with this!

thanks Jim.

lots of trial and error over the years

On 11/16/2017, 4:00:02, Tyrone said:

I'm probably going to try the root cauterisation technique if I move it at all. The likelihood of the new owner just mashing it to the ground so they can park their car on the lawn is very high. When I planted it I never thought we'd ever move. Life has a way of throwing curved balls- at your head. 

Of course a lawn is for parking!

Didn't think about that when I pulled the lawn to plant palms. Now, no place to park, except that filthy expanse of black asphalt.

Tyrone, may I hijack your thread?  I, too, might have to transplant a dypsis decipiens and am looking for advice.  I made the mistake of planting mine in deep shade. As a result, it has been sitting there for seven years and hasn't grown an inch.  I didn't want to plant it in full sun here in northern Florida because I was warned that this palm would hate our heat and humidity.  It has done well in shade for seven years, but it simply will not grow, so must be transplanted to a sunnier location.

Questions: 

1.  If I don't transplant it at all, will it stay the same size for the next thirty years? It is small.  I bought it as a seven gallon size (the pot was FULL of roots, but the palm itself was small).

2.  Will it eventually grow into a big palm, even in deep shade?  If so, how long do I need to wait?

3. If I trench about two feet around it, will that be enough to save it from transplant death?   Also, how deep do I need to dig beneath it?

4.  I saw the blow torch root cauterization post above.  Holy Cr*******p.  I do not own a blow torch and would be terrified to use one.  The blow torch method sounds kind of insane, although I do trust you experts out there.  Can I simply use a Bic lighter instead? 

5.  How will I know which root is the tap root to be cauterized?  There are going to be hundreds of roots under there.

6.  Isn't Dypsis Decipiens famous for not transplanting well?  Am I making a huge mistake by moving it at all.  Help?!

 

Any thoughts?

On 22/01/2018, 10:58:28, Sandy Loam said:

Tyrone, may I hijack your thread?  I, too, might have to transplant a dypsis decipiens and am looking for advice.  I made the mistake of planting mine in deep shade. As a result, it has been sitting there for seven years and hasn't grown an inch.  I didn't want to plant it in full sun here in northern Florida because I was warned that this palm would hate our heat and humidity.  It has done well in shade for seven years, but it simply will not grow, so must be transplanted to a sunnier location.

Questions: 

1.  If I don't transplant it at all, will it stay the same size for the next thirty years? It is small.  I bought it as a seven gallon size (the pot was FULL of roots, but the palm itself was small).

2.  Will it eventually grow into a big palm, even in deep shade?  If so, how long do I need to wait?

3. If I trench about two feet around it, will that be enough to save it from transplant death?   Also, how deep do I need to dig beneath it?

4.  I saw the blow torch root cauterization post above.  Holy Cr*******p.  I do not own a blow torch and would be terrified to use one.  The blow torch method sounds kind of insane, although I do trust you experts out there.  Can I simply use a Bic lighter instead? 

5.  How will I know which root is the tap root to be cauterized?  There are going to be hundreds of roots under there.

6.  Isn't Dypsis Decipiens famous for not transplanting well?  Am I making a huge mistake by moving it at all.  Help?!

 

Got a picture. If it's not too big then it may transplant fine.

I never moved mine in the end and the place has sold.