Windmill Palm fronds bending

[Palmlover_78]

Hey are the fronds on a windmill suppose to do this? I thought they stay fully erect...Thanks

[UK_Palms]

Generally speaking, Trachycarpus Fortunei fronds are very prone to wind damage and are easily bent, especially in strong winds. However it varies between individual specimens. Some just have more robust fronds than others.

One of my Fortunei's has pretty robust fronds that do not bend in the wind much at all, but it is also a slow grower. Whereas my other Fortunei is a very quick grower, but the fronds on it get trashed by the wind and bend very easily. So yeah, how robust the fronds are varies quite a bit, from specimen to specimen. 

Your one doesn't look to have much wind damage at all. Hard to say how robust it will be though until it gets a bit bigger and the fronds are further off the ground and more exposed to winds. 

[Allen]

They will do whatever.  Some bend easy some don't.  Some change as they age.  It might do different in sun and shade as well.  In general bent fronds are the norm.  If you want almost certain stiff fronds get a waggy.

 

 

[UK_Palms]

19 minutes ago, Allen said:

They will do whatever.  Some bend easy some don't.  Some change as they age.  It might do different in sun and shade as well.  In general bent fronds are the norm.  If you want almost certain stiff fronds get a waggy.

 

 

Agree entirely, although some Fortunei specimens will keep very stiff, robust fronds in windy weather still. Depends entirely on the specimen. 

[Allen]

here's two 8 footers in my yard that get treated basically the same with similar sun.  The palms are just all different

 

 

 

 

[Palmlover_78]

Thank You everyone for the responses :D, you guys are Awesome

[DallasPalms]

A neighbor closeby landscaped his yard with the nicest Trachys around in an arrangement lining the walkways and driveway...  they had the crowns left on full size...One had alot of seeds hanging it's why I stopped... He said I could get some and I noticed the trees behind all have stiffer fronds in the summer.. just the one in front had alot of sagging tips...

almost all of the box store trees look saggy and I prefer stiff...but they sit right on that tree for some reason, for me anyhow. I went back later to find they had straightened out on the same tree. So I figure some react to heat stress maybe? Or moisture? Maybe food supply or minerals? 

When I was grabbing seeds I noticed alot of variation ... the saggy leaf tree had the smallest seeds and the shorter tree with the most stiff fronds drops Lima beans, much larger darker seeds... I went back for one other since it was taller with stiffer leaves and they turned out to be in between the size of the other two!

They are all planted next to concrete making me pretty sure it is genetics but also weather conditions and moisture can probably make them fluctuate...  

Perhaps potted Trachys eat up all the food really fast? Or drink up all of the water and show stress and also genetics too

*** I looked at a photo I took it turns out they are still tip saggy on that particular tree with the smaller seeds...just not near as much as they were before... it's a much different look now since they trimmed the bottoms out*** hard to see @ now I see why they chopped 

The house is for sale eh

Edited December 26, 2020 by DallasPalms

[Palmlover_78]

How Canadian of you EH