Dypsis leptocheilos Culture

[gavilan1]

I purchased this young teddy bear palm from a local nursery less than a month ago, but I didn't get a lot of culture information with it.  Needless to say, I placed it in a partial sun location, receiving direct sun for the last three and a half hours before sunset, and occasional shots during the day through the nearby canopy.  I kept the container medium moist, watering lightly once a day in the morning, along with occasional misting.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the new spear that it had when I bought it was not opening, and the tips of the leaves were drying out a few inches.  Too much water?  Too much sun?  Too little water? Too little sun?  Any help here is appreciated.  I don't want to lose this teddy.  I was back at the same nursery this weekend, and noticed a remaining teddy in half sun with most of its six or seven fronds removed, and just a spear remaining.  I will share any recommendations I receive here with the nurseryman, in case he needs some suggestions, too.

(Sorry about the clutter - I moved the palm into a heavy pine canopy area in the back of my pool area, where the palm gets an hour and a half of direct sun in the morning, and the same in the evening.)

[DoomsDave]

Doug!

You're in a quasi-acceptable 'hood for Leptos.  

Plenty of water, and sun, feels on the fuzzy crownshaft.  I've got about 8 in the ground with more to come.  

Okay, the feels are optional.  For the palm, anyway . . .

They'll be much prettier in GG than NB or HB because of the extra heat you'll get.  There's a couple-three in Quail and they're okay, but a bit gnarly . . . .

dave

[madagascarbob]

In cali. the leaf tips always dry out on teddy's ,the teddy triangle cross does better.

[quaman58]

I actually picked up a nice 5 gal. one yesterday in th indoor plant section. Obviously, I'll go through the acclimation process to sun. I'm thinking yours looks a bit burned, perhaps. I have a couple smaller ones in full sun, a couple miles from the coast. They're doing pretty well.

Bret

[redant]

These have been very difficult for me (in FL) as well. One thing I have noticed is they do much better in soil that is light and airy, lot of peat and vermiculite. Then keep moist but not wet and fertilize on a regular basis. Out of about 10 I have 2 real nice ones, 2 so so, and 6 dead ones.

[osideterry]

Anyone else think watering lightly once a day might not be ideal? I tend to water my potted palms 1-2 times a week, and until I see water come out of the bottom of the pot. Watering lightly everyday keeps the top moist, but the roots might not be getting enough.

[MattyB]

Good point Terry about the watering lightly.  I like to think of the water flowing out of the bottom of the pot as flushing out any potential stagnant stuff down there that could cause rot.

Anyway, about the Teddy culture:  I'm inland a few miles here in SoCal so I think I can answer this one with relative confidence.  In my experience, Dypsis leptocheilos can handle from midday to sunset full sun against a hot wall no problem....no sunburn issues.  Of course this is after acclimation.  I acclimated a 5 gallon size palm using shade cloth that I progressively cut more and more holes in, over a 2 month period.  The first leaf that emerged after taking the shade cloth still showed burn but all the ones after that were perfect!  They don't seem to mind rather wet soil that's not the best drained either.  This is a great palm for full sun here in SoCal.  So many Dypsis surprize me in how much sun they can take (ie. pembana, baronii, onilahensis, lepto, madagascarensis complex etc...)  From what I've noticed, if your Teddybear has any hint of a petiole (even 1"-2") then it's been in lower light levels and will need to go through an acclimation period.  Usually the leaflets will come straight out immediately w/ no petiole ala R. sapida.

[DoomsDave]

I concur in all respects with Matty's observations.  I have a number of them in clay soil that are doing well, after being plucked from death's door in "degraded" potting soil in pots.  They also like plenty of water.

[DoomsDave]

(redant @ Jun. 07 2007,10:06)

QUOTE

These have been very difficult for me (in FL) as well. One thing I have noticed is they do much better in soil that is light and airy, lot of peat and vermiculite. Then keep moist but not wet and fertilize on a regular basis. Out of about 10 I have 2 real nice ones, 2 so so, and 6 dead ones.

Hmm.

That doesn't sound like D. leptocheilos at all.  Sounds more like lastelliana, which, while it bears a superficial resemblance, is a different palm entirely.

dave

[BS Man about Palms]

Yeah, that "other" "L" dypsis that has fuzz can be a real bi*ch to keep happy.  The last I got was an enormous 15 gal to improve my chances.  (heres hoping)

[RadPalms]

Doug......Did you happen to get yours at Tropical Vibe......I pick up one about a month ago and the leaf tips started turning a dark brown and was working up the leaf pretty quick.  I had it in partial shade and thought I should move it into my shade house.  When I went to move it with my dolly alot of water came out of the drain holes....I noticed that the holes were up about an inch from the bottom.....So I tip it to it's side and drilled a bunch of holes into the bottom......Out came a lot of stinky water....so I flushed the soil as you would to get rid of the salt build up and the problem has stopped.....It is under my shade cloth for now....good luck with yours....

Curt

[gavilan1]

Curt,  thanks for sharing the great catch.  Yes, I did.  Do you inform Johnny about your discovery?  I just went out with camera and dolly and moved the teddy into a clear spot on the deck (the extra water in the background was from watering earlier, and not from the container):

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x240/do.../teddybear5.jpg

Here you can see the water dripping from the open holes in the container.  As soon as I laid it over, water began dripping out.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x240/do.../teddybear2.jpg

Only three drain holes in this container were open, and I'm being generous in the use of the word "open".  The two visible openings in this image are completely closed.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x240/do.../teddybear3.jpg

The "open" drain holes look like this (i hope that this is clear enough to see).  

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x240/do.../teddybear4.jpg

Curt, you probably helped me save this teddy.  Thanks a bunch.

(Sorry, I tried photobin.us today, but it was down, so I opened a photobucket account, but the images posted here only as links...I just noticed that the original photobin.us image in this thread isn't coming up today, either...hmmm...)

[RadPalms]

No I never talked to Johnny about the problem,  I'm glad it may have help to save your palm.....As I understand these palms had just arrived from Hawaii a few days before they were offered at that great price.  I love this palm and can't wait until I have a suitable location in my backyard to put it.

Curt

[Johnny]

Radman -

Thanks for calling me today to inform me about the "bum" cans. I will let my supplier know.

Doug, I am glad you spoke up. Sorry for not catching that earlier. As you know we shift thousands of palms every year and I have never had that problem before. Weird.

BTW, those palms were grown in full Hawaiian sun which means that you shouldn't have too hard of a time acclimating them. We have planted about 6 of them over the past 2 months into full sun  inFountain Valley & Huntington Beach for our landscape jobs and all are doing pretty well. The lower leaves were pruned off and the upper leaves had minor burns. All have open nice big leaves that were not stunted and wider than the others. Give me a buzz if you would like some more info.

Thanks again for the heads up!

[The Germinator]

Hey Bret Where are you picking up Teddy's in the Houseplant section.

Ed

[RadPalms]

Doug.......How is your Dypsis leptocheilos doing? give us a few pictures of your recovering palm...

Curt

[gavilan1]

Curt, I'll make some images this weekend, to give it a few more days, and post them on Saturday, after I get back from picking up some palms in Lake Forest (hopefully).  I doubt that anything noticeable can be seen right now.

[gavilan1]

Curt, here's an image of the teddybear a week and a few days after flushing the container after opening the factory drain holes and adding additional drilled holes in the base.  It's too early to notice any difference, but now I'm not so worried about the long-unopened spear drying out before opening.  

Matt, I checked the fronds and all except one have the leaflets all the way down to where the frond emerges from the trunk/old leafbases.  The one frond with a bit of petiole shows about 1.5 to 2" of petiole (sans leaflets), but that frond has been superceded by another 2 newer fronds (no open petiole).  I am moving this palm back into a sunnier location, as I don't expect any additional drying of the leaflet tips.

On a different note, I just picked up a D. onilahensis, a V. joannis, and a S. schizophylla from Paul in Lake Forest this afternoon - an early self-gifted Father's Day gift (whoo-hoo!).  New babies to dote over...

Happy Fathers Day to those so accused or guilty...

[BS Man about Palms]

Was that Paul in LF or Greg in LF? ???

[gavilan1]

Same difference, no?  I've bought from Paul a few times and from Greg once.  Very satisfied every time.

[BS Man about Palms]

I asked because I didn't know of any "Paul", only Greg.

[RadPalms]

Doug....Your D. leptocheilos will make a nice addition into your beautiful yard....My D. leptocheilos seemed to be a little more burned than yours.....I will be taking it out of the shade house today and take a pic....

[gavilan1]

Hey, Curt.  I put my teddybear in the ground this weekend, since the weather was too great not to, and to my surprise, when I removed the palm from the 15G lowboy container, the whole palm came out in my hand with a 5G or smaller semi-rootbound form.  My guess is that this palm came over from Bo's neck of the woods in a 5G or smaller container, and got upgraded right before we bought them.  It sure made planting easier, even though I had already dug and prep'd the 15G+ sized hole...you might want to check on yours.  Any pics yet?

[RadPalms]

Doug.....Mine had seemed to started to lean to one side so Sunday I removed the soil from one side of the pot and pushed it up strait again....I noticed the same thing about the roots being in a smaller form....I did however have a few roots that were starting to travel to the side (a good sign)......My computer crashed on me over the weekend and I am weeding out the problems with it...  I have no programs installed on it at this time so any photo uploads will have to wait.....I did put my teddy into full sun a week ago and it seems to be doing great.