How do you Decide, who Lives and who Dies?

[Funkthulhu]

I'm moving again.  Finally back into a house, not an apartment, with floor to ceiling windows on the East side, smaller high windows elsewhere.  However, I'm now going to be sharing space with my beloved.  As much as she would probably let me, I can't bring myself to hoard all of our space with palm trees.  I have all that space in front of East windows, but I also have to take into account the big pots outside that will need to come inside in the next couple months.  

I have a number of "winners", like my oldest palms, my dwarf date, my wild collected Veitchia, and several others that are happy and healthy.  However, I also have about a dozen pots of seedlings in various states of development, containers of unsprouted seeds, and just rando that has potential but hasn't shown any initiative.  How do you choose?  There isn't enough room for everything, some of this HAS to go!  I've always had a mind-set of "if you live, I'll make space for you", but I seem to be hitting a wall against that.  

/rant, thanks for reading, any advice or personal anecdotes would be appreciated. 

[kinzyjr]

2 minutes ago, Funkthulhu said:

I'm moving again.  Finally back into a house, not an apartment, with floor to ceiling windows on the East side, smaller high windows elsewhere.  However, I'm now going to be sharing space with my beloved.  As much as she would probably let me, I can't bring myself to hoard all of our space with palm trees.  I have all that space in front of East windows, but I also have to take into account the big pots outside that will need to come inside in the next couple months.  

I have a number of "winners", like my oldest palms, my dwarf date, my wild collected Veitchia, and several others that are happy and healthy.  However, I also have about a dozen pots of seedlings in various states of development, containers of unsprouted seeds, and just rando that has potential but hasn't shown any initiative.  How do you choose?  There isn't enough room for everything, some of this HAS to go!  I've always had a mind-set of "if you live, I'll make space for you", but I seem to be hitting a wall against that.  

/rant, thanks for reading, any advice or personal anecdotes would be appreciated. 

Sounds like you want to keep the oldest stuff along with the dwarf date and Veitchia.  I'd start with those and then see what space I had left.  If you aren't dead-set on keeping any of the other stuff, you could just take a sampling of the remainder until you run out of whatever limit on space you set for yourself.

You could put out a full list in the Freebies section to see how many of them you could give away on here and then set the remainder curbside.  As many seeds as I sprout, I only use the one corner of the garage to store all of my young palms, and usually only long enough until they are either ready for the yard or ready for sale/auction/giveaway.  Unfortunately, planting out is not a viable option in this case, so that leaves you with just the space you allocate.  Just suggestions.  Glad you are moving into a house!

[Silas_Sancona]

Funk, for your situation, i think Kinzyjr's advice is perfect. Curious if you'll now have some yard space to perhaps test some super tough stuff up there... Regardless, congrats and i'm sure you'll agree ..it's nice to have more room, lol.. 

Comming back to the question... in a similar situation atm only current plans are trading this relentless desert nuke fest for something a bit more hospitable to plants and myself in the comming months and have been whittling away at the fringes of my own collection for some time in preperation. 

For the most part, been telling myself.. " if it is something i can't easily find back in San Diego / California period,  it stays.. Easily replacable back there?  Let it go." Also, since i'm crossing state lines, " if it isn't healthy by the time its time to pack, let it go, even if it is something that might be harder to replace later on"  To some degree, the last couple summers have helped decide the fate of such things.. including a prized Coccothrinax Azul that had been struggling. 

The special things, ie : my collection of Lignum Vitaes, all the other Florida / ultra rare Sonoran trial stuff i've been focused on, as well as my cactus & remaining Plumeria collection are the most important and head 6 hours west regardless..  95% of what palmsi have, mainly seedlings atp, can easily be replaced if i were to loose them.  Regardless, guarding the potential Sabal Lisas with my life, lol. 

[PalmatierMeg]

On several occasions in the past several years I've had to make hard choices and send perfectly healthy plants, i.e., Dyckias, succulents to the compost pile. Here's what I suggest:

1. Decide which palms you have an actual attachment to. Set them aside. In a day or so re-evaluate with cold eye. then make a final decision.

2. Keep (a few/the best) of the very rare, valuable or well growing palms.

3. If a palm is struggling, dying, looking terrible or bug infested, discard it.

4. Select some healthy seedlings from individual compots, get rid of the rest. If species is common, consider ridding yourself of it anyway.

5. If pots of seeds haven't germinated in a reasonable time, ie. 9-12 months, discard them.

6. If you are unsure of ungerminated pots of seeds, unpot them, search through soil for signs of viable seeds. If you find none, discard contents.

7. If seeds are germinating in a pot, select a few to repot, discard the rest. If you have multiple pots of seeds, discard the extras.

All of this is painful and heart rending when you do it. But I found once all those plants were hauled away on yard waste trucks, I moved on.

[DoomsDave]

@Funkthulhu congratulations on your new place! And, it's hard to top nice, big, floor to ceiling eastfacing windows. Just the right light.

So nice to get space, but I'm aware of the limits, even though I have a lot more.

I'm in a never-ending query as to "should it stay or should it go" and, the answer isn't always easy. I won't bore anyone with the process relating to the removal of plants in the ground, but I still have a lot of palms in a container ranch, including, lately, lots of babies I've sprouted from seeds I've bought, and locally had given to me, and that Palm Talkers have so nicely sent me.

@PalmatierMeg's suggestions are a great start. I concur with her suggestions, though I'm not sure it'll be enough. Also, in the future, as the nuttiness festers some more, you'll be faced with the question again. And again. And again.

I'll start by noting a technique I use in decluttering generally: I make two piles, the "sheep to keep" on the right, and "goats" on the left. (From childhood bible school, I recall.)

Most of the time that pile on the right is really huge, and the one on the left is smaller.

Anything that's not flat-out trash for the garbage, I'd try to sell or give to others, if they're good for something. Some of the tropicals that might not thrive in your house could still make it in someone's greenhouse.

I realize that I have a much easier time (in theory at least) getting rid of things, since so many Palm Talkers come visit and some just love things that I have too much of. In NE, the market is likely to be more limited, but I'll bet not entirely non-existent.

One way to find out is to try. Craigslist is your friend. I've "Craiged" a lot of plants, parts of plants, etc., in my time.

Let us know what you do and how it goes. It will be instructive for all.

And, accept a blast of good karma for some good luck, and maybe cultivate a few new palm nuts in NE.

And feel free to ask any specific questions you may have. And, show us some pictures of your new place?

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Dave has great ideas. If you have time you could list unneeded palms/seedlings for quick sale + shipping. I've discovered the padded Priority Flat Rate $8.00 envelope can hold a lot of seedlings (i.e., Sabal Lisas, royals, etc). I carefully fill out excess space with styrofoam peanuts, crumpled newspaper or other light material. You'll share your bounty, bring a little into Paypal and find homes for palms that would otherwise end up composted.

[Funkthulhu]

Dave, the new place is all original Mid-Century and I'm moving in all my TIKI stuff. . . It should be a hoot once I get it put together!

[DoomsDave]

51 minutes ago, Funkthulhu said:

Dave, the new place is all original Mid-Century and I'm moving in all my TIKI stuff. . . It should be a hoot once I get it put together!

Buy or rent?

[Rickybobby]

Freebies freebies!

[palmsOrl]

Wild collected Veitchia?!  Like, from habitat?  That's too cool.

I also vote for freebies.  Recipients should of course offer to pay shipping costs.

[Funkthulhu]

Dave:  We're renting. . . from her Stepmom.  So, we basically have rule of the place on the cheap.  

palmsOrl:  A number of years ago (8? 9?)  I went to Ft Lauderdale to help someone move.  I spent an afternoon walking around the neighborhood picking up seeds and photographing the trees.  The Veitchia was in the courtyard and swollen with big red fruit, so no question there.  But some I picked up were obviously brought in by the birds, as I now have a couple healthy Sea Grapes as well as rando palms.  

This whole process of culling the herd will require me to dig through notes and hope I put the right labels on all the seedlings as they sprouted. . . 

[Steve Mac]

What Meg said,

and my extra one is that we are now getting rid of the big ones,

they all end up being a nuisance for us on our small crowded block.

(Next I will probably start cutting down the biggest of our Chamaedorea tenella. )

[Darold Petty]

Erik, I would encourage you to be a bit more brutal than feels comfortable.  Your future self will thank you.  The older I get the more ruthless I become.  I am now contemplating the removal of adult, healthy palms from my garden for various reasons.

[Merlyn]

I have somewhat the same problem, I have 79 palms in pots and 93 in the ground.  I've used up about 80% of my planting space, so I probably have 50 in pots that I have absolutely no idea what to do with.  And I really haven't started collecting "understory" palms yet, since I only have a few areas with any significant shade.  Unfortunately I can't keep them indoors, because one of the cats absolutely loooooves to hook her claws in plants and chew on them.  So the only indoor ones are Beaucarnea Recurvata because they are pretty indestructible.

I like Kinzyjr's suggestion on freebies.  That's what I did with a bunch of sago offsets and a few other palms.  I bought them small and now don't have any space for them, or it was a very common palm that I could easily replace (Livistona Chinensis or similar) so I handed them off to friends who needed a palm.  Think of it as others adopting your babies and growing them as their own! 

[kinzyjr]

27 minutes ago, Merlyn2220 said:

I have somewhat the same problem, I have 79 palms in pots and 93 in the ground.  I've used up about 80% of my planting space, so I probably have 50 in pots that I have absolutely no idea what to do with.  And I really haven't started collecting "understory" palms yet, since I only have a few areas with any significant shade.  Unfortunately I can't keep them indoors, because one of the cats absolutely loooooves to hook her claws in plants and chew on them.  So the only indoor ones are Beaucarnea Recurvata because they are pretty indestructible.

I like Kinzyjr's suggestion on freebies.  That's what I did with a bunch of sago offsets and a few other palms.  I bought them small and now don't have any space for them, or it was a very common palm that I could easily replace (Livistona Chinensis or similar) so I handed them off to friends who needed a palm.  Think of it as others adopting your babies and growing them as their own! 

I feel your pain.  Went out to the garage today only to realize I had nothing left to put the new sprouts in.  Looks like some folks are going to get palms for Christmas this year.

[Mostapha]

HI, have you considered donating them to either botanical gardens  or horticultural schools, Im sure the right prof. would be most appreciative. I donate regularly to a large green house owned by a friend as well as the horticultural department of the state university, both seedlings and overgrown plants. Sometimes you get 50 -100 seeds and end up with 90% germination. Just food for thought, I just hate to see anything die if there are other options. Thanks Mark

[Funkthulhu]

I have actually donated to the Lauritzen Gardens up in Omaha before I moved back to Lincoln, I suppose I could inquire whether the sunken gardens here in town also have an over-wintering greenhouse.  I just don't think i have anything big or rare enough for them to give much interest, especially in Nebraska.

[Mostapha]

Well, its food for thought, it's something you're interested in, obviously. I'm sure they realize you are an intelligent man, and with education even the most common things are of great importance, and if something isn't big or rare enough then they miss out of the experience and education of watching and maintaining what could be one of the most beautiful plants some may ever get the chance to get hands on experience with. I wish you the best of luck finding them homes.  Thanks Mark