Licuala Transplanting

[sur4z]

HI All- I am in the process of redoing a planting area in the front of my house (facing north). Its a mess of bromeliads, gingers, ti and some palms. The palms include my favorite, a Kerriodoxa elegans, which is the center focal plant, 3 Licuala grandis and some Serenoa repens. The plan looked good when drawn up, but is a mess in reality. No texture, no color to speak of and no layers. I don't want to move the Kerriodoxa but may consider moving the Licualas and Serenoas if they can be moved. Can they? They are quite happy where they are.  Any input would be appreciated. Thanks, Peter

 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Photos? What species of Licuala and how large? Serenoas almost always die when transplanted so if you care about yours best leave it alone.

[sur4z]

Here are a couple pics of the mess. 

 

[Neil C]

Second what Meg said about Serenoa. I just repotted a good size one recently and it packed up it's bags and left about a week later!! Really not sure about Licuala I'm afraid. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Regards Neil

[Palmaceae]

I agree with the comments about sereona, almost impossible to transplant, but when I just recently moved to another house I successfully moved my Licuala grandis with no issue.

[kurt decker]

You can move all that stuff, but you better be pretty exacting about how you do it. We have all killed  those in the past. First off, sharpen your shovel the way you would a knife. You want to cut roots, not crush and break them. Second of all, take the licualas down to about four leaves. Take the serenoa down to two and cut those leaves in half. Did I mention sharpen the shovel? That's critical. Make sure you have good drainage where you move them. The two killers are fungus in the roots where they are cut, and an imbalance between the water the roots can pull up and the amount of transpiration the leaves are doing. Palms can only draw water up through root tips, so when you sever roots, you have to reduce head to balance that. Good luck, but with those size plants you should be fine.

[Cindy Adair]

Hi Peter! 

I moved Licualas with good success from the ground into pots and back into the ground. No idea about Serenoa though.

[Dypsisdean]

I too have had great success with Licualas. In fact, I had 5 L. peltata 'summowongii' about 4-5 ft tall that had to be moved for a garage. They had been in the ground about 5 years from one gals. I told the guys doing the slab to wait for me because I wanted to use my back hoe and do part of the work around them, and get a large root ball, My soil is full of rock, so getting a root ball of any kind to stay intact is difficult.

When I came back in a couple of hours with soil and pots, they had already dug them, put them in some pots they found laying around, and used the garden soil. There were roots hanging out the sides, so I could tell what kind of care they had taken - none.

All five are doing great, 1 1/2 years later. I am now glad I didn't freak and make a scene - which I came close to doing. I didn't want my slab "unlevel" and not square. :)

[sur4z]

All- Thanks for the input. Heck this is south Florida...everything should be transplantable...right? I transplanted my C. macrocarpa, my D leptocheilos, and my P. pacifica all with no problems and all from the ground to another in ground spot in my yard. The only one I had a problem with was my B. noblis and that was because of its tap root...it struggled for a while but now it is a monster. Kurt I think your advise is the best and I will make sure my tree spade is as sharp as I can make it.

Updates will follow when work is done.