Arizona bottle palm RIP

[aztropic]

After nearly 20 years in the ground,in Mesa,Arizona,this bottle palm has finally met its demise.Surprisingly,it wasn't the annual dips below freezing that took it out,but our record breaking summer heat of 53 days at 110F or higher.8 of those days were 115-118... Without any protection on an eastern exposure,the trunk took in enough heat to kill the wood and rot the tree from the inside out.Same thing happened to a few of my other smaller crownshafted palms,including its sister spindle palm that had survived 15 years in the ground on the same eastern exposure.Here's to hoping we don't experience another summer like this for awhile.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, aztropic said:

After nearly 20 years in the ground,in Mesa,Arizona,this bottle palm has finally met its demise.Surprisingly,it wasn't the annual dips below freezing that took it out,but our record breaking summer heat of 53 days at 110F or higher.8 of those days were 115-118... Without any protection on an eastern exposure,the trunk took in enough heat to kill the wood and rot the tree from the inside out.Same thing happened to a few of my other smaller crownshafted palms,including its sister spindle palm that had survived 15 years in the ground on the same eastern exposure.Here's to hoping we don't experience another summer like this for awhile.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Bummer, sorry to hear Scott Lost several things that had survived, up until this summer also.. Reluctantly considering a hard decision regarding half of my Plumeria as well.. A couple are already on their way out.  -Sigh-

[Palmcycasnut]

Never thought it would have been the heat Scott. As long as we've been watching winter lows so if it drops below 30 we can cover our precious palms from the grim reaper of freezing weather it turns out to be the summer that ended up eventually taking them out. What a severe bummer. 

[Silas_Sancona]

19 minutes ago, Palmcycasnut said:

Never thought it would have been the heat Scott. As long as we've been watching winter lows so if it drops below 30 we can cover our precious palms from the grim reaper of freezing weather it turns out to be the summer that ended up eventually taking them out. What a severe bummer. 

Agree.. You can cover things -as needed- to protect from cold exposure.. Very little you can do about heat, esp. this summer's kind of heat here.  Shaded patio/ stuff under shade cloth isn't even enough, in some circumstances.

[lzorrito]

2 hours ago, aztropic said:

After nearly 20 years in the ground,in Mesa,Arizona,this bottle palm has finally met its demise.Surprisingly,it wasn't the annual dips below freezing that took it out,but our record breaking summer heat of 53 days at 110F or higher.8 of those days were 115-118... Without any protection on an eastern exposure,the trunk took in enough heat to kill the wood and rot the tree from the inside out.Same thing happened to a few of my other smaller crownshafted palms,including its sister spindle palm that had survived 15 years in the ground on the same eastern exposure.Here's to hoping we don't experience another summer like this for awhile.

Sorry to hear that. What a loss... We also had similar dry heat wave issues around here with sudden scorching sun...and no chance to react.

[Gonzer]

The constriction of the trunk near the crownshaft indicates that the palm was already in a steady decline.

[aztropic]

Probably was in decline as other palm growth has created more shade around it.Problem became obvious just over the last month though when new spear sunburned and started drying,which it has never done before.Trunk was still solid a week ago,but saw liquid seeping out today.Touched the area and it's already mush... Got a primo spot open now to try something new.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Rickybobby]

Crazy sorry for your loss 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

3 hours ago, aztropic said:

Got a primo spot open now to try something new.

Thats the spirit =) The palm has run its course time for something new and rare haha. Whatcha thinking of replacing it with ? 

T J 

[96720]

That’s a lousy deal I hate loosing plants you have had for so long. This summer was a killer look around town all kind of dead trees lots of dead queens I sure hope we don’t have another summer like this.

[palmsOrl]

13 hours ago, aztropic said:

After nearly 20 years in the ground,in Mesa,Arizona,this bottle palm has finally met its demise.Surprisingly,it wasn't the annual dips below freezing that took it out,but our record breaking summer heat of 53 days at 110F or higher.8 of those days were 115-118... Without any protection on an eastern exposure,the trunk took in enough heat to kill the wood and rot the tree from the inside out.Same thing happened to a few of my other smaller crownshafted palms,including its sister spindle palm that had survived 15 years in the ground on the same eastern exposure.Here's to hoping we don't experience another summer like this for awhile.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

I am sorry for your loss.  It appears to have hung in there for a good long time.

[quaman58]

That's a real shame. Kudos to you keeping it going all these years. Dry heat is just evil, providing almost no UV protection. Here in San Diego, we can pull off spindle palms pretty easily, but bottles are much more fussy about their surroundings. 

[Tracy]

19 hours ago, aztropic said:

Probably was in decline as other palm growth has created more shade around it.Problem became obvious just over the last month though when new spear sunburned and started drying,which it has never done before.Trunk was still solid a week ago,but saw liquid seeping out today.Touched the area and it's already mush... Got a primo spot open now to try something new.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

That's a tough loss after the time investment.  I guess the next challenge is what do you plant in it's place and what conditions do you plant for.... another summer like this last or ????  So many of us have seen extremes of weather this last couple of years.  Last year at this time much of Western Australia was ablaze after drought, this year California experience the same, the entire SW hit with dry heat waves in summer, and the Atlantic launching into the Greek alphabet for naming their Tropical Storms.   Maybe the answer is to plant for both extremes, one plant for cold winter's and another for long periods of excessive summer heat... kind of like hedging your bet.

[sonoranfans]

Its shows real growing skill just in keeping it going 2 decades in the arizona heat, but as Bill said it appears that it has been in decline a while based on the constriction of the trunk and its stunted for a 20 yr old bottle.  If it can be grown in arizona, Scott can do it! 

[Frond-friend42]

Good job on that growing. Sorry for your loss.  Beautiful plant.

[aztropic]

Cleaned out the rot and sprayed with H2O2,then daconyl, but insides are just pith - no strings for support like most palms. Curious to see if/how fast it collapses.

Eyeing a bucket of Veitchia arecina seedlings I started for a possible replacement. This is my best microclimate spot in the whole yard. We'll see.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Gonzer]

2 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Its shows real growing skill just in keeping it going 2 decades in the arizona heat, but as Bill said it appears that it has been in decline a while based on the constriction of the trunk and its stunted for a 20 yr old bottle.  If it can be grown in arizona, Scott can do it! 

Hey now! No part o' me is named Bill, Billy, or William.

[sonoranfans]

42 minutes ago, Gonzer said:

Hey now! No part o' me is named Bill, Billy, or William.

Sorry Greg, LOL, my bad...

[Stevetoad]

On 9/20/2020 at 2:52 PM, aztropic said:

Probably was in decline as other palm growth has created more shade around it.Problem became obvious just over the last month though when new spear sunburned and started drying,which it has never done before.Trunk was still solid a week ago,but saw liquid seeping out today.Touched the area and it's already mush... Got a primo spot open now to try something new.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Its sucks to loose a palm that youve had for so long but at the same time its so nice to get some space to try something new.

[Gonzer]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

Sorry Greg, LOL, my bad...

You're back on my Christmas card list

[ChrisA]

Sorry for your loss, this summer has been a dry scorcher in most of the west. Looking forward to watching the replacement as well!  Is the HUGE trunk to the right of your bottle Palm a Queen? Wow, whatever it is.

[aztropic]

Cuban royal.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Coasta]

No!!! Not the bottle palm. This is so sad, I'm sorry for your loss aztropuc.i am glad I got to stop by and see it when it was still alive. May it rest in peace in palm heaven where the temperature never drops below 50 and never goes above 100. 

I do wonder could anything have protected ot from this extreme heat we had?

[aztropic]

Yes.If I had taken the time to shade the trunk,maybe with a towel,this would not have happened.I am always testing the limits of what each palm will survive,and in this case,should have provided some protection on the 8 days we had at 115F or higher.I've noticed over the years that all my palms will tolerate many days of 110F without problems,but each additional degree in temps after that definitely adds exponential stress.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Coasta]

@aztropic well you did a wonderful job growing this beauty for 20 years. Thanks for showing its possible to grow many things here.

[wase471111]

wow, that happened on an Eastern exposure?

I thought that would be relatively "safe" out here, along with a northern exposure.

Only been here 3 years, and only lost some Plumeria, a yucca rostrada, and a madigascar palm so far; I  want to add a bottle palm to my collection, and the spot I had for it was, what I thought was a "safe" eastern exposure, but not so sure now..although hard to believe anything survives out here when the air is 118/sunny areas are 140...

Where do you guys recommend finding a nice bottle palm? I live in the NW tip of Phoenix, and have bought from Whitfill and Moon in the past, along with some local nurseries, but I dont see alot of Bottle palms when I am out looking

thanks so much!

[Coasta]

@wase471111 the plant stand sometimes carries them, I would recommend calling and asking.

also the plant stand sells to home depot and you can get them there.

Two weeks ago I also came across one at summer winds nursery in Mesa. I was pretty surprised. 

 

[wase471111]

thanks Coasta, I appreciate the info!

do you happen to remember how much that bottle palm in your picture was? 

[Coasta]

@wase471111 i believe it was 299.99 :). 

[wase471111]

thanks, the plant stand doesnt have any, either does moon, checking with whitfill now, will try summer winds in a bit..

its really busy at all the nurseries/plant stores now....if I didnt know better, I would think fall is here, but with 105 degrees still here all week, not much of a fall!

[aztropic]

Nurseries are going to make bank over the next 6 months as all the plant material that was killed over our record breaking summer starts to get replaced. Queen palms across the valley have died in the 10's of thousands and people will want something to replace them with. Mule palms will be the new likely candidate if enough can be imported.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[aztropic]

10 hours ago, wase471111 said:

Do you happen to remember how much that bottle palm in your picture was? 

Earlier this year,local HD's had a few for $129 each.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Coasta]

@aztropic hopefully the nurseries don't recommend more queen palms.

[wase471111]

21 minutes ago, aztropic said:

Earlier this year,local HD's had a few for $129 each.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

last week there was a small one at Home Depot near me for 89 dollars; I was so distracted by the new bizzy I had coming, I didnt pay attention or grab it; now, it seems like there arent any around ..

[Coasta]

Awe man!! That would have been a good deal! 

[wase471111]

9 hours ago, Coasta said:

Awe man!! That would have been a good deal! 

yeah, even though they dont always have the highest quality plants, sometimes you find a hidden gem!

[wase471111]

question for you guys; aside from this years "death heat",  is it usually safe to grow bottle palms out here?

I have a semi shaded eastern exposure spot for one, if I can find one, but, a couple of the nurseries said they cant handle out heat out here, while others said they are ok if you are careful in placement...

I tend to believe more what you guys think about that, than some random nursery employee...

Thanks! 

 

[aztropic]

After growing mine for the last 20 years,I can honestly tell you it is NOT safe to plant a bottle palm,in the ground,in Phoenix, Arizona. Keeping one in a pot under a shaded patio would be a better idea,so you could bring it in to protect it when our temps exceed 105F or drop below 45F. Many times over the years,I had to cover the palm on cold nights,and even provide external heat with a wrapping of C9 Christmas lights to make sure the palm bud stayed alive as a minimum. Even so,it did completely defoliate a few times, but luckily, always came back for another year.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Palmfarmer]

8 minutes ago, aztropic said:

After growing mine for the last 20 years,I can honestly tell you it is NOT safe to plant a bottle palm,in the ground,in Phoenix, Arizona. Keeping one in a pot under a shaded patio would be a better idea,so you could bring it in to protect it when our temps exceed 105F or drop below 45F. Many times over the years,I had to cover the palm on cold nights,and even provide external heat with a wrapping of C9 Christmas lights to make sure the palm bud stayed alive as a minimum. Even so,it did completely defoliate a few times, but luckily, always came back for another year.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Sorry for you loss. A little of topic what is the least cold hardy palm you can grow in Phoenix without any protection? My Climate looks very similar on paper, but it seems that we have some colder nights. 

[wase471111]

thanks, I am coming to the same conclusion about planting one in ground  vs. in a pot on the patio

does the same hols true for a spindle palm?

 

thanks for your advice!