Beccariophoenix alfredii 8 years growth.

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

On 4/8/2026 at 3:18 PM, Stevetoad said:

It’s about 20 feet to the top of the taller leaf tip

Wow amazing growth. I hope mines that large in 7 years. 
 

I think it’s about the same size as yours in 2019. 

[Stevetoad]

On 4/14/2026 at 5:05 PM, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

Wow amazing growth. I hope mines that large in 7 years. 
 

I think it’s about the same size as yours in 2019. 

I would bet it will be bigger!  In the location you planted it in. Full sun and backfilled soil like that is about as good as it could ask for. mine only gets a few hours of full sun and is in a lot of competition with the other surrounding palms. 

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

9 minutes ago, Stevetoad said:

I would bet it will be bigger!  In the location you planted it in. Full sun and backfilled soil like that is about as good as it could ask for. mine only gets a few hours of full sun and is in a lot of competition with the other surrounding palms. 

Im in California, some people say they don’t grow as well. But im about 25 miles as the crow flies from the coast. It gets 100 degrees here in the summer. I think if I deep water during the high heat it might explode in growth, fingers crossed 🤞 

[bubba]

Great thread! These are several specimens at Mounts Botanical Garden in WPB, Fl.

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

4 hours ago, Stevetoad said:

I would bet it will be bigger!  In the location you planted it in. Full sun and backfilled soil like that is about as good as it could ask for. mine only gets a few hours of full sun and is in a lot of competition with the other surrounding palms. 

Do you think I should fertilize? Its been in the ground now about two months. 

[Stevetoad]

On 4/24/2026 at 12:02 PM, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

Im in California, some people say they don’t grow as well. But im about 25 miles as the crow flies from the coast. It gets 100 degrees here in the summer. I think if I deep water during the high heat it might explode in growth, fingers crossed 🤞 

Im in San Diego about 18 miles from the ocean. My summers get into the 100s as well.  I do think you will see it explode in about 2-3 years. it's the cliche of 1st year sleep, 2nd year creep, 3 year leap. If it's been in the ground 2 months I would wait to feed it for a while. Im not a good person to give advice on feeding though. I haven't fertilized in about 10 years and before that I think I only did 2 times.

 

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

1 hour ago, Stevetoad said:

Im in San Diego about 18 miles from the ocean. My summers get into the 100s as well.  I do think you will see it explode in about 2-3 years. it's the cliche of 1st year sleep, 2nd year creep, 3 year leap. If it's been in the ground 2 months I would wait to feed it for a while. Im not a good person to give advice on feeding though. I haven't fertilized in about 10 years and before that I think I only did 2 times.

 

Oh nice haha I thought you were in Florida. So we have a similar inland valley Mediterranean climate. That’s even more reassuring. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ti plants grow that tall except in Florida. 

[sonoranfans]

While BA grows deep roots, especially in high drainage soil, watering a wide root zone will give expansive roots and faster growth.  More roots means more uptake of nutrients to a point.  A wide wetting area is recommended for these as they grow larger.  My largest has some pretty dense roots within 4" of the surface 15 feet from the trunk.  As is above is below.  Larger root systems often lead to larger palms above ground.  If you wanted to keep one from getting too large, water less and/or restrict the root zone size.

[mnorell]

2 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

While BA grows deep roots, especially in high drainage soil, watering a wide root zone will give expansive roots and faster growth.  More roots means more uptake of nutrients to a point.  A wide wetting area is recommended for these as they grow larger.  My largest has some pretty dense roots within 4" of the surface 15 feet from the trunk.  As is above is below.  Larger root systems often lead to larger palms above ground.  If you wanted to keep one from getting too large, water less and/or restrict the root zone size.

I'm in major agreement in re a wide (and widening) basin for watering, not only for this species but for most. People have been conditioned to think that roots grow down, down, down to get water...without realizing that roots also need plentiful oxygen, and "down, down, down" in most soils is hypoxic/anoxic and thus a "no-grow" zone for roots (except in the most sandy/rocky "soil"), so they almost always go "out, out, out" and stay relatively close to the surface. Beccariophoenix alfredii is native to the immediate shores of the Mania River in central Madagascar, and thus, like the date palm and many other similar river/oasis dwellers, would have ready access to subterranean water. Beccariophoenix alfredii seems like it's definitely more drought tolerant than, say, Ravenea rivularis, but probably enjoys a similar natural environment for maximum growth and happiness. These principles are I think why you see Syagrus romanzoffiana looking great on some highly irrigated golf-courses in the low desert but most of them in general landscape situations look like torture victims because they're placed on pathetic drip-systems with the desert succulents. Same also for Bismarckia, not really in appearance, since it is a pretty tough customer, but in growth rate. Again, they get installed surrounded by Agave and Yucca. And the irrigation systems get geared toward that. Drip, drip, drip.

[Stevetoad]

13 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

While BA grows deep roots, especially in high drainage soil, watering a wide root zone will give expansive roots and faster growth.  More roots means more uptake of nutrients to a point.  A wide wetting area is recommended for these as they grow larger.  My largest has some pretty dense roots within 4" of the surface 15 feet from the trunk.  As is above is below.  Larger root systems often lead to larger palms above ground.  If you wanted to keep one from getting too large, water less and/or restrict the root zone size.

Just out of curiosity, have you seen if these have the same "flexibility" as cocos with hurricane winds? Seems like you guys on the east coast have been growing them well for a while now so I would imagine that they pretty durable. 

[sonoranfans]

10 hours ago, Stevetoad said:

Just out of curiosity, have you seen if these have the same "flexibility" as cocos with hurricane winds? Seems like you guys on the east coast have been growing them well for a while now so I would imagine that they pretty durable. 

seems like cocos petioles are more rigid less bending in 110mph winds,  more likely to snap than the alfredii.  This is actually a good thing as snapping reduced the subsequent wind loads on the roots.  The alfredii lays down and due to its larger leaves and crown is more of a wind sail at any point in time.  The leaves that lay down are permanently bent down but 18 months later a good number are still green in spite of the appearance longitudinal cracks in the petioles.  We had some bad coco burn this past winter, worst since 2010 where many were killed outright.  All the cocos around me now look ratty with brown freeze burn or they have been trimmed and have just 3-4 leaves left.  I have yet to see a coco trunk bent down or angled.  The roots seem tenacious but also the giving up of th eleaves surely helps.  Wild sabal palmettos and homeowner queens have tilted, cocos do not seem to tilt.  If I go 8-10 miles closer to the wate5r the cocos all look pretty good there(west bradenton), not "hawaii good" but they are quite attractive and hold good crowns, bigger, longer leaves and more of them than those around here.   I saw less wind damage in that area from milton though.  Telltale wind damage was on houses and trees, palms were much less impacted, very few knocked down(washies, queens mostly)   The high winds were quite local, 5 miles north on the I75 the wind effects die off.  Snapping petioles to reduce loads is also notable on my sabal causiarum and also all leaves of that palm were either bent down below horizontal or snapped.   My hypothesis is that snapping seems to be a good defense of root damage.  That said none of my (3) alfrediis 22-30' overall took on any tilt.  I would point out that the highest velocity winds occur above rooftops where wind drag is limited.  Taller palms all took a harder hit, harder than more fragile species that were  a lot shorter.  My neighbor has a coco triple, 20' max out in the open unobstructed that lost 1/3 of its collective crown to snapping petioles in spite of being a close in triple.  Its not well cared for so that could be part of the damage issue. 

Sorry for the long reply but context is needed to be accurate.  My neighborhood had some of the worst damage, street signs flattened roofs ripped, trees knocked down or large 4-8" branches of oaks/elms snapped.  due south 3 miles way less damage, no roof damaged or street signs flattened.

[sonoranfans]

21 hours ago, mnorell said:

I'm in major agreement in re a wide (and widening) basin for watering, not only for this species but for most. People have been conditioned to think that roots grow down, down, down to get water...without realizing that roots also need plentiful oxygen, and "down, down, down" in most soils is hypoxic/anoxic and thus a "no-grow" zone for roots (except in the most sandy/rocky "soil"), so they almost always go "out, out, out" and stay relatively close to the surface. Beccariophoenix alfredii is native to the immediate shores of the Mania River in central Madagascar, and thus, like the date palm and many other similar river/oasis dwellers, would have ready access to subterranean water. Beccariophoenix alfredii seems like it's definitely more drought tolerant than, say, Ravenea rivularis, but probably enjoys a similar natural environment for maximum growth and happiness. These principles are I think why you see Syagrus romanzoffiana looking great on some highly irrigated golf-courses in the low desert but most of them in general landscape situations look like torture victims because they're placed on pathetic drip-systems with the desert succulents. Same also for Bismarckia, not really in appearance, since it is a pretty tough customer, but in growth rate. Again, they get installed surrounded by Agave and Yucca. And the irrigation systems get geared toward that. Drip, drip, drip.

I agree on all points.  Deep roots help survive drought as long as they get enough drainage to keep the soil oxygenated, wide roots are the ones that resist tilting or being knocked down.  Basic statics and mechanics is when they are aligned to an opposing force they work the best.  Thus if you were to pull straight up to the sky the roots going down deep woudl give the most resistance.  This si why palms that are planted in sand and not continuall mulched and watered witha wide basin get knocked down.  The queens that get knocked down here look like they are severely malnourished and under watered.  I gres wom robust queens in arizona clay with drip systems with 4-6 droppers per tree.  The sideways capillary action was bigger than gravity effects and yeah slow drainage.  The amount of water and fertilizer required to prevent deficiencies was a bit of a shock.  I had one get frizzletop, a nasty deficiency and a long time to recover.  The habitat description I read about BA they they are sited in high drainage soil on slopes in valleys containing streams that are seasonally wet then dry.  In the dry season they have to reach deeper for the water, hence the deep roots they grow.  They are very drought resistant in my experience.  In my yard only Bismarckia is more drought resistant.  However, in the hot, wet season they look stunningly lush compared to in a drought.  Very little brown tipping in drought but the leaves seem to look more drab green and less upright.  This years drought is different, we can only water once a week and its been unseasonably hot and dry  (5F above historical average) and we are way behind in rainfall the last 8 months, a number I hear is 18-20" off average over the last 8 months.  

[Stevetoad]

10 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

seems like cocos petioles are more rigid less bending in 110mph winds,  more likely to snap than the alfredii.  This is actually a good thing as snapping reduced the subsequent wind loads on the roots.  The alfredii lays down and due to its larger leaves and crown is more of a wind sail at any point in time.  The leaves that lay down are permanently bent down but 18 months later a good number are still green in spite of the appearance longitudinal cracks in the petioles.  We had some bad coco burn this past winter, worst since 2010 where many were killed outright.  All the cocos around me now look ratty with brown freeze burn or they have been trimmed and have just 3-4 leaves left.  I have yet to see a coco trunk bent down or angled.  The roots seem tenacious but also the giving up of th eleaves surely helps.  Wild sabal palmettos and homeowner queens have tilted, cocos do not seem to tilt.  If I go 8-10 miles closer to the wate5r the cocos all look pretty good there(west bradenton), not "hawaii good" but they are quite attractive and hold good crowns, bigger, longer leaves and more of them than those around here.   I saw less wind damage in that area from milton though.  Telltale wind damage was on houses and trees, palms were much less impacted, very few knocked down(washies, queens mostly)   The high winds were quite local, 5 miles north on the I75 the wind effects die off.  Snapping petioles to reduce loads is also notable on my sabal causiarum and also all leaves of that palm were either bent down below horizontal or snapped.   My hypothesis is that snapping seems to be a good defense of root damage.  That said none of my (3) alfrediis 22-30' overall took on any tilt.  I would point out that the highest velocity winds occur above rooftops where wind drag is limited.  Taller palms all took a harder hit, harder than more fragile species that were  a lot shorter.  My neighbor has a coco triple, 20' max out in the open unobstructed that lost 1/3 of its collective crown to snapping petioles in spite of being a close in triple.  Its not well cared for so that could be part of the damage issue. 

Sorry for the long reply but context is needed to be accurate.  My neighborhood had some of the worst damage, street signs flattened roofs ripped, trees knocked down or large 4-8" branches of oaks/elms snapped.  due south 3 miles way less damage, no roof damaged or street signs flattened.

Very interesting. Thank you for the reply. It does seem like it would be a very good evolutionary trait the loose leaves and reduce your drag.