Burretiokentia grandifloria - anyone growing?

[DoomsDave]

I have some B. grandifloras I got back in early July, and I'd appreciate any cultural pointers from anyone here.

They were overgrown 1 gallon plants I planted in fivers.

Edited September 26, 2018 by DoomsDave
Mommy made me

[BS Man about Palms]

Tough grow, but I'm still hoping for success.

 

[Palm Tree Jim]

7 hours ago, BS Man about Palms said:

Tough grow, but I'm still hoping for success.

 

Agree.....lost mine.

[Matt in OC]

Mine in a pot has been slow as heck. Viellardii and hapala in the ground are much happier. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Why is this species such a tough grow in CA? Is it too tropical? A high altitude palm?

[colin Peters]

Dave, have one planted out from a one gallon here in a dry area of Honolulu, and doing ok. but very slow also. Maybe one leaf a year.

[DoomsDave]

Hmm. Thanks for the advise! Sounds like it might be an interesting plant for the beaches hereabouts. Or at least the closer the better.

[John hovancsek]

I just got 3 one gallons and planted them all in different areas of the yard we will see what happens.  One is planted full sun the others are shade and filtered light

[richnorm]

My general rule of thumb for any species is,If in doubt, plant them.  Doesn't always work but the odds are probably in your favour versus pot culture....

[realarch]

I agree with richnorm, plant those puppies. 

I planted one back in late 2015 and I must say, it's grown rather well. It was a decent size 1 gal. planted on a slope in full sun. Already developing those long Burretiokentia leaves.

I remember seeing a mature specimen at Jeff's......it was stunning.

Tim

[LJG]

This is an odd palm. I have planted 5. All in different positions to sun and soil. They are all dead. Each gets a brown fungus on leaves and eventually just stops growing and dies. One took 5 years to die. 

Juat a guess, but I have a feeling these grow in some crazy, unique high mineral soil. It doesn’t say this in PON, but it might have been an oversight. Perhaps the cool Cali winters and missing key soil ingredient is the culprit. They do OK in pots. 

These have been available for some time now. Does anyone in CA have photos of nicely grown ones in the ground? Ones that have been in the soil for a few winters? 

[Jupiter1]

Mine tend to burn quickly in the Fl sun. Currently growing in 5 gal pots. They are growing well they just need more shade then I had hoped. Hapala are doing very well here in Palmbay. 

[KrisKupsch]

I was gifted 10 seed from Hawaii and resulted in 3 plants which have grown exceedingly well up into 4” diameter pots now. No issues with bleak winters of 2C. They appear resembly robust now despite being quite weak when younger. Subtropical north east NSW appears quite fine climate wise however they haven’t been planted yet other New Caledonian species thrive here, not just palms either. 

[atlantisrising]

I was told this was impossible here in the Florida Keys, ultimately that advice was correct but I had one in a pot doing nicely for 3 years. I had done some online study of it's growing area, it grows on an ultramafic substrate, essentially lava rock. So I added a lot of bagged lava rock with the potting soil. I think I was on the right track because it improved a lot compared to it's condition when I acquired it from a local nursery. Hurricane Irma eventually killed it along with about 33% of my potted stock, all kinds of fungus and salt air. It was very slow, 2 leaves per year at most. I'm guessing the lava component is why it does so well in certain areas of HI.

[joe_OC]

On 9/26/2018, 12:20:06, LJG said:

This is an odd palm. I have planted 5. All in different positions to sun and soil. They are all dead. Each gets a brown fungus on leaves and eventually just stops growing and dies. One took 5 years to die. 

Juat a guess, but I have a feeling these grow in some crazy, unique high mineral soil. It doesn’t say this in PON, but it might have been an oversight. Perhaps the cool Cali winters and missing key soil ingredient is the culprit. They do OK in pots. 

These have been available for some time now. Does anyone in CA have photos of nicely grown ones in the ground? Ones that have been in the soil for a few winters? 

Researching on Palmpedia:  http://www.palmpedia.net/wiki/Burretiokentia_grandiflora

"Burretiokentia grandiflora grows in very wet forest (rainfall >3000 or 4000 mm per year) on deep, often humic soils overlaying peridotites or gabbros on well-drained slopes or wet depressions. "  (J-C. Pintaud and D. Hodel. 1998)/Palmweb

Had to look up what "peridotites" were.  It's a porous rock made up of silica and high concentrations of magnesium and iron.

 

I am going to grow it in humic rich soil.  Will not let soil dry out and add extra magnesium and iron supplements with my fertilizing program for it.  Will see how they do. 

[Matt in SD]

I had a lot of trouble with these Silas to others. Leaf spitting, stunted leaves and slow death.  Tried different pottimg mixes, in the green house, in the shade house...I think killed four.  Decided to order two as a last try a few years ago.  One did the usual, and the other turned into this.  No idea why this one is happy.

[LJG]

1 hour ago, Matt in SD said:

I had a lot of trouble with these Silas to others. Leaf spitting, stunted leaves and slow death.  Tried different pottimg mixes, in the green house, in the shade house...I think killed four.  Decided to order two as a last try a few years ago.  One did the usual, and the other turned into this.  No idea why this one is happy.

Because it’s a Dumassii. 

I kid....

[Matt in SD]

Haha... definitely not.  Just noticed a funky auto complete error in first sent of my post should say "similar" not Silas.

[joe_OC]

That's the biggest K grandifloria I've seen.  I'm gonna show mine so they know what they need to do.  :)

[BS Man about Palms]

2 hours ago, LJG said:

Because it’s a Dumassii. 

I kid....

Funny, that was my first thought too.  

[atlantisrising]

Long lost brain cell just triggered, realized my previous post was about my Dumasii and this thread is Grandiflora. So I had a small success with Dumasii in lava rock but my Grandifloras never made it past six months, also fungus that got them.

[DoomsDave]

On 9/26/2018, 12:20:06, LJG said:

On 9/26/2018, 12:20:06, LJG said:

This is an odd palm. I have planted 5. All in different positions to sun and soil. They are all dead. Each gets a brown fungus on leaves and eventually just stops growing and dies. One took 5 years to die. 

Juat a guess, but I have a feeling these grow in some crazy, unique high mineral soil. It doesn’t say this in PON, but it might have been an oversight. Perhaps the cool Cali winters and missing key soil ingredient is the culprit. They do OK in pots. 

These have been available for some time now. Does anyone in CA have photos of nicely grown ones in the ground? Ones that have been in the soil for a few winters? 

 

I think you hit the equation. They do well enough on the Big Island, which is lava; I'll be they're restricted to the windward side of the island, too. They also appear to want lots of water. They also don't appear to like high heat, either.

A nice palm for fast-draining soils down by the beach.

[realarch]

Just a couple of updated photos from a previous post above. Pretty fast grower and had to lop off a few lower fronds because of sooty mold. My supermodel shovel for scale. 

Tim