Royal growth rate

[enigma99]

I am growing a Royal in NorCal, just hit the 1 year mark. Curious though, these can be extremely fast when happy, and I am curious how fast spears can grow in a 24 hour period? Several inches?

This has been a pretty cool year for me with many days of coastal influence, but on the 90f days I get about an inch per day. Hoping for some hot weather

Edited June 1, 2018 by enigma99

[quaman58]

Which one? Even in coastal SoCal, the borinquena, princeps & regia seen to start growing well by April. Not a great deal of heat around here. They can actually replace their entire crown of 10-11 leaves in a single growing season. 

[GottmitAlex]

29 minutes ago, quaman58 said:

Which one? Even in coastal SoCal, the borinquena, princeps & regia seen to start growing well by April. Not a great deal of heat around here. They can actually replace their entire crown of 10-11 leaves in a single growing season. 

You're right. In socal there isn't a great deal of heat. Especially seaside. Always cloudy,foggy hence the suns rays do not not penetrate and the constantly cool air dominates. That said, 10+ miles inland there is a lot less fog, sunlight does permeate (considerably more than beachside) and of course the results are 10f+ (at least) compared to the beachside.  Yes, there is a limit, if one goes 30+ miles inland they'll run into the elevation problem. With our high latitude, any altitude above 240m will change the playing field (and hardiness zone).

 

[Josue Diaz]

6 hours ago, enigma99 said:

I am growing a Royal in NorCal, just hit the 1 year mark. Curious though, these can be extremely fast when happy, and I am curious how fast spears can grow in a 24 hour period? Several inches?

This has been a pretty cool year for me with many days of coastal influence, but on the 90f days I get about an inch per day. Hoping for some hot weather

I'll keep an eye on the progress of yours. I'm growing regia and boriquena. I'll grow them in pots for as long as I can but they'll eventually go in the ground. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

I've got two borinquena planted together that are just five feet tall that I planted as 1 foot tall one gallon plants that start growing in mid April regardless of weather it's cool or warm but growth speeds way up in 90 degree weather especially if nightime temperatures don't cool down much until after midnight. Lots of water helps tremendously.

[enigma99]

Interesting! Didn’t know they could do 10-11 leafs in a season. At that rate, you could probably measure spears in the inches per hour. I would image that is a well established palm though. 

 This one is a regia, I have tried princeps, regia and borinquena in the past and always failed. In fact I had a borqie die in a spot that saw a maximum low of 33. So I figured something else is going on, like drainage. My soil is hard clay/sand and water will stand all winter long which rots roots. So I tried a french drain with my royal and would pump water almost daily to keep it dry. Well, it worked. 

Now I give my royal lots of water each night and fertilizer often. Seems to like it. 

[Shoowow]

My non-fertillized Roystonea grew about 7 or 8 leafs in the first year, 2017. Spears virtually grow overnight. It’s my fastest grower here in the Azores so far.  Check photos of the minuvida orchard garden here https://goo.gl/photos/jyKGKjR3vL3KbB8M6

[enigma99]

My Royal came to a complete halt 3 days ago... I put down some fertilizer the day before, possibly got some water down the crown from watering. (It's been so hot lately). Temps lately have been 105 during the day, 70 for a low. I would think water in the crown would have long cooked away.

Any ideas guys? I'm a bit worried. Time to break out the hydrogen peroxide? Or maybe it's putting energy into roots, or just in shock mode!

Edited July 18, 2018 by enigma99

[Rickybobby]

I have a young one. Seems about a frond a month in 90f heat 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Ive never measured a queen but washingtonia when super happy will push 3" of spear in 24hrs (almost all growth over night). Im curious how that stacks up against a royal. 

[enigma99]

Update.. back to speed again a couple days ago. FYI, it was the lack of water on hot days. I stopped soaking it at night and that’s all it was. As Dave has said, mucho agua. Certainly true :)