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Verschafeltia splendida and/or Hydriastele (Siphokentia) beguine as a houseplant?


piping plovers

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1 hour ago, Reynevan said:

What about watering? Is there any risk of overwatering this mix? Fertilisations appears to be problematic too.

Watering is kinda problematic because of very fast drainage. Frequency of watering should be high, in summer it could be also ever day, but you can keep some water in the box under the pots... Fertilisation isn’t problematic at all, you can use slow-release fertilizer and add it into the mix or (I prefer) to use water disposable fertilizer and water them with it every period of fertilization 

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28 minutes ago, GrumpyGrower said:

Watering is kinda problematic because of very fast drainage. Frequency of watering should be high, in summer it could be also ever day, but you can keep some water in the box under the pots... Fertilisation isn’t problematic at all, you can use slow-release fertilizer and add it into the mix or (I prefer) to use water disposable fertilizer and water them with it every period of fertilization 

Zeostrat + coco chips ordered. Wish me luck :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just received my 5 sprouted Verschafeltia seeds from Australia.  Appear to be really robust and healthy sprouts.  First time growing palms from seed.  And I finally get to try Verschafeltias after seeing them last December in FL for the first time.  Thanks for all your help/postings in this endeavor.

Photo of one of the seedlings below and then a few in their new pots.

1127940099_VerschafeltiaseedlingWP_20190624_18_19_01_Pro.thumb.jpg.072b1f78e31f4154b3c9de1d9bc44c63.jpg858772820_VerschafeltiapottedWP_20190624_18_32_09_Pro.thumb.jpg.1529802b2c20c99445a1e073219a5411.jpg 

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Nice!  I got some of the same ones.  We'll have to compare at the end of summer!  I've got mine in coconut, leica/vermiculite mix and perlite.   I've got them in the greenhouse normally, but as Europe is baking in a monster of a heat wave, Im just keeping wthem outside under some larger plants.

IMG_20190617_105002.jpg

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Good to hear!  Yes, I'll post some pics end of summer.  Getting seeds already sprouted in a tropical climate (North Queensland, AU) certainly has its benefits.   We have not had the hot weather you are getting in Europe but at least the seeds arrived for our warm humid season and can get a good start in life before winter arrives.  My mix is similar yours, except I used some small pieces of orchid bark mix instead of the coconut fiber.

Anyone else looking for sprouted seeds, I got mine on eBay.  I believe the seller still has more available.  10 days shipping to my area and well-packed for the long journey.

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  • 1 month later...

These are definitely fastest palms I've ever grown. I'm glad I've found this thread:) Will order more seeds for sure.
I wonder what are your experiences with overwintering Verschaffeltia indoors in pot? Is it any difficult? Can it be done without heat mat/ artificial lights?

 

Rafał

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Update of my indoors Verschaffeltia, 2/3 I repoted from 2 to 7l pot.

 

there are 2 of them, one is still in 2l pot and in the front of them is Johannesteijsmannia altifrons, look how small it is in comparison with Verschaffeltia!

C4B97AC5-CD9F-408A-83A3-BAE08DB34912.thumb.jpeg.c8b112f4d3feddb25370d7fa4ef8dfd4.jpeg2E6BCF34-BCF7-474A-94BB-E04377C246D3.thumb.jpeg.200bc9a967327bf42997d074f1411316.jpeg

please make yours update of your palms too, thank you :)

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1 hour ago, GrumpyGrower said:

Update of my indoors Verschaffeltia, 2/3 I repoted from 2 to 7l pot.

 

there are 2 of them, one is still in 2l pot and in the front of them is Johannesteijsmannia altifrons, look how small it is in comparison with Verschaffeltia!

C4B97AC5-CD9F-408A-83A3-BAE08DB34912.thumb.jpeg.c8b112f4d3feddb25370d7fa4ef8dfd4.jpeg2E6BCF34-BCF7-474A-94BB-E04377C246D3.thumb.jpeg.200bc9a967327bf42997d074f1411316.jpeg

please make yours update of your palms too, thank you :)

DO you still have seedling from the Thai dwarf variety?

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19 minutes ago, Reynevan said:

DO you still have seedling from the Thai dwarf variety?

I gave it to my friend, didn’t find anything special on it, just a little slower. Spines were same 

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Grumpy, did you start the Johannesteijsmannia altifrons and the Verschaffeltias at the same time?  Nice comparison on the differerence between growth rates!  I have not mastered this QUOTE function yet.  The Joeys are in no hurry it seems.

 

Edited by piping plovers
ooops hitthe send button before I entered text.
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On 6/27/2019 at 4:05 PM, Makaisland Palms said:

Nice!  I got some of the same ones.  We'll have to compare at the end of summer!  I've got mine in coconut, leica/vermiculite mix and perlite.   I've got them in the greenhouse normally, but as Europe is baking in a monster of a heat wave, Im just keeping wthem outside under some larger plants.

IMG_20190617_105002.jpg

Any progress here? :P

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6 hours ago, Reynevan said:

Any progress here? :P

Well, I managed to kill with kindness 3 of my 5 seedlings.  Two remain.  Not sure what happened as they all received the same care and conditions.  They all had healthy roots when they arrived, but could not tell if the germinated tips were all alive.  The 3 rotted at the base where they joined with the seed.  The 2 remaining are pictured below 7 weeks after receiving and planting.  The two below began forming the spines and the other did not, that's when I could tell something was wrong with the others.  I guess you need to grow spines to survive life.

1102145808_Versseedlingsaug2019.thumb.jpg.8317b7bc68ac77b0a1445c8d7ce0e8fe.jpg

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5 hours ago, Makaisland Palms said:

Yeah!  Huge growth actually!  Here's me standing next to one of them for scale.  

It is Huuuge standing next to you.  Almost Jurassic - Era in scale :)

With that scale I thought you were standing next to a Coco de Mer (Lodoicea maldivica) seedling!    

And thanks for the seedling photos, now I can know what to expect for the next stages in growth.  Are these approximately 12 weeks old?  

Edited by piping plovers
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I'm not sure on total age, I've had them for about 7 weeks, and I'd imagine it was at least a couple weeks old(germinated) when I got them, so yeah. 10 to 12 weeks id say.  

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7 hours ago, Makaisland Palms said:

I'm not sure on total age, I've had them for about 7 weeks, and I'd imagine it was at least a couple weeks old(germinated) when I got them, so yeah. 10 to 12 weeks id say.  

That is faster than Washingtonia :P

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  • 3 weeks later...

No really!  Where have you been keeping them, and what have you fed them?!  They make mine look like dried corn husks!

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3 minutes ago, Makaisland Palms said:

No really!  Where have you been keeping them, and what have you fed them?!  They make mine look like dried corn husks!

I keep them on a west-oriented window sill. I  grow them in Lava/Zeolite/Pumice-Coco Chips in about 60-40 ratio. Coco chips are not ideal, if only I could find any decent pine bark here, I'd repot them immediately. But the rocky mix I use is great.  So yeah, get rid of any market potting mix and move it to rocky material + something to hold moisture like pine bark and you're good to go :)PalMeir mix is a perfect example.
Bought them as germinated seeds a month ago, so no feeding yet. The seeds are huge, they must have a lot of supplies left there.
I also found out that underpotting does great, I've killed so many palms by keeping them in too big pots. Not anymore :)
I wonder how will they survive winter indoors here, I don't have any artificial growing lights yet.

 

 


 

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  • 3 months later...

I was in Naples botanical garden (Florida) 3 weeks ago and found a few nicely potted specimens of Hydriastele (Siphokentia) beguine.  I looked and looked but didn’t find any Verschaffeltias in the plantings. Photo below.69E6FA2C-FF78-4116-BB50-9C52DF11CDFC.thumb.jpeg.819621c0f4cf19e3afb0257ac45f1763.jpeg

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On 1/1/2020 at 3:50 PM, piping plovers said:

I was in Naples botanical garden (Florida) 3 weeks ago and found a few nicely potted specimens of Hydriastele (Siphokentia) beguine.  I looked and looked but didn’t find any Verschaffeltias in the plantings. Photo below.69E6FA2C-FF78-4116-BB50-9C52DF11CDFC.thumb.jpeg.819621c0f4cf19e3afb0257ac45f1763.jpeg

I have a friend who used to work at NBG. He said they used to have some V. splendida in ground but the freezes 10 years ago killed them.

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Naples (inland), FL - technically 10a but more like 9b in the winter :hmm:

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10 hours ago, Missi said:

I have a friend who used to work at NBG. He said they used to have some V. splendida in ground but the freezes 10 years ago killed them.

Thank you Missi.  Good hearing that scoop from the local sources, now I know that I didn't walk by them.  I wonder if that was the same cold spell that hit SWFL back in 2009 ish.  I remember around that time on the east coast of FL, Flamingo Gardens in Davie lost their Coco de Mer (Lodoicea maldivica).  I used to enjoy seeing that Gigantic palm seedling and then all of a sudden it was gone; I think they lost it to a cold snap but I'm sure someone on here would know the full story.

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  • 3 months later...

Ten months later and only one of my 5 germinated Verschaffeltia seeds survived.  The other 4 died within the first month or two.  Here is the survivor.  It had a difficult winter indoors and I am glad it pulled through.  During Dec-March I actually placed it under a regular table lamp (incandescent light?) as I did not have a grow light; figured that extra light was better than nothing in those short days up north.  It seemed to improve with that.  Amazed at how fast they grow and am looking forward to it growing into a specimen like you others have posted above.

231563014_verschaffeltiasplendensseedling10months.jpeg.jpg.904f83a0d13ef7e27d512a99bd822833.jpg't

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

I’m sharing some photos of my V. splendida  seedling.  The photo in post above (in the red party cup) was at 10 months old for anyone interested in progress of growing these as houseplants.  It is now 24 months old and I really enjoy seeing how large each new leaf becomes over the last.  It was the only seed that survived germination of the five that shipped from Australia to New England (north eastern USA).  The first winter indoors after germination was the most treacherous time; I feared losing it.

30A7F39B-0382-4241-8B87-C6CA8BC97FC8.thumb.jpeg.4b3d63cfca0ba158ffb56a88055e60eb.jpeg3F5A7261-E8CA-41EA-9FF9-66E2F5D17D0D.thumb.jpeg.9972eccb783b275626567bfdb4194144.jpeg

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9 hours ago, piping plovers said:

I’m sharing some photos of my V. splendida  seedling.  The photo in post above (in the red party cup) was at 10 months old for anyone interested in progress of growing these as houseplants.  It is now 24 months old and I really enjoy seeing how large each new leaf becomes over the last.  It was the only seed that survived germination of the five that shipped from Australia to New England (north eastern USA).  The first winter indoors after germination was the most treacherous time; I feared losing it.

30A7F39B-0382-4241-8B87-C6CA8BC97FC8.thumb.jpeg.4b3d63cfca0ba158ffb56a88055e60eb.jpeg3F5A7261-E8CA-41EA-9FF9-66E2F5D17D0D.thumb.jpeg.9972eccb783b275626567bfdb4194144.jpeg

Great job! growing these myself indoors(but have a couple in outdoor greenhouse as well)  Your right about germination, can be spotty but if you get past the two leaf state, much easier.

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Reposting below to add quote…

Edited by piping plovers
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4 hours ago, sashaeffer said:

Great job! growing these myself indoors(but have a couple in outdoor greenhouse as well)  Your right about germination, can be spotty but if you get past the two leaf state, much easier.

Thanks Sashaeffer.  They have some growing to do to catch up to yours in photos you shared awhile back.  Yes, in cold winter climates like ours definitely benefits them to summer in a greenhouse or outdoors to give them some advantage for winter months.  I’ve never been able to find that extra-large chunk perlite you mentioned, a new hydroponic supply store just opened nearby and I’ll check with them.
 

off topic here, but—- I think all these hydroponic stores have been appearing in response to the legalization of home grown marijuana in MA & RI and other nearby northeast States.  Not sure if CT has legalized yet but the northeast usually stay uniform because all the State borders are so close to each other. Never saw hydroponic stores prior to the law change. 

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8 hours ago, piping plovers said:

Thanks Sashaeffer.  They have some growing to do to catch up to yours in photos you shared awhile back.  Yes, in cold winter climates like ours definitely benefits them to summer in a greenhouse or outdoors to give them some advantage for winter months.  I’ve never been able to find that extra-large chunk perlite you mentioned, a new hydroponic supply store just opened nearby and I’ll check with them.
 

off topic here, but—- I think all these hydroponic stores have been appearing in response to the legalization of home grown marijuana in MA & RI and other nearby northeast States.  Not sure if CT has legalized yet but the northeast usually stay uniform because all the State borders are so close to each other. Never saw hydroponic stores prior to the law change. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ZU7FVU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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