Ground or greenhouse

[BeyondTheGarden]

Hello all, 

I acquired some palms from Raintree tropicals in NW Oregon yesterday.  Some like Trachy's will definitely go in the ground.  Some I am debating if I'd be better off putting them into my greenhouse for a year or two.  

Sabal Uresana, Sabal Louisiana, Jubaea, and R hystrix are the main questions.  I know they all grow slowly, trying to weigh the juice vs squeeze.  Would there be a significant amount of growth from a year or two in the greenhouse vs putting them in the ground? Our summers are so mild here, highs in the mid 70s are the norm.  Compared to the greenhouse which is 90F while the sun is up, and also more humid since we don't get rain all summer.  

The only downside is I wouldn't get to see them in the garden for a year or two which kinda sucks. 

Thanks. 

[Trustandi]

Is the Jubaea 5g size? I would plant the Jubaea in the ground so that it will grow bigger and faster.   I have no experience with sabals though.

[Allen]

My vote would be to plant them all.  Palms need a year or 2 to establish anyway so you are just delaying that.  Palms will do better planted long term.  I hear the heat argument but I still vote plant them.

[Swolte]

Yes, put them in the ground. If needed, you can just give them some extra care and protection during the winter.

[BeyondTheGarden]

That defies my thought process but I'm all in favor of being able to see more palms every time I step onto my back porch.  Thank you.  

So often, when life gives you 2 choices, the one you don't want to do ends up being the better choice so its nice to choose the easy answer sometimes.  

I might put one needle into the greenhouse in an oversized pot just to see what the difference is at the end of the season.  

[BeyondTheGarden]

43 minutes ago, Trustandi said:

Is the Jubaea 5g size? I would plant the Jubaea in the ground so that it will grow bigger and faster.   I have no experience with sabals though.

I've been building up my garden for a year now and I still can't understand this gallon thing.  The pot is 11" wide and 12" tall. 

[JohnAndSancho]

18 minutes ago, Jesse PNW said:

I've been building up my garden for a year now and I still can't understand this gallon thing.  The pot is 11" wide and 12" tall. 

Phil at Jungle Music has some great info on pot sizes on his website. 

 

https://www.junglemusic.net//Plant_Container_Sizes_and_Descriptions2.html

[newtopalmsMD]

I have just one data point related to this topic.  I bought two blue pot special trachy's 3 years ago.  One I planted in the ground immediately (in August) and the other I transplanted to larger pots in each of the next two years.   The potted plant wintered outside for temps above 15F or so but went into the garage on colder nights and whenever there was freezing precipitation.  After two years the palm in the pot was noticeably larger.  I planted it (about 25 feet from the first) last April.  After one more year the trachy I planted originally grew bigger than the one that had two years in the pot.  They both got about the same amount of sun, (the original has sun from 9am to 2pm and while the other get 11am to 4pm.  My supposition is that the originally planted trachy has developed a better root system and this more than made up for 2 years not being protected from the worst days of winter.  So with this meager experience I am inclined to plant palms sooner rather than later... at least for palms that are beyond the strap leaf stage. 

[BeyondTheGarden]

That makes a whole lot of sense.  Thanks for sharing your observations.  

[BeyondTheGarden]

So I wasn't familiar with Sabal uresana, I googled it real quick at the nursery and found a picture of one that was small.  So I assumed it was a Sabal minor.  Now that I've had time to actually look it up, goodness, that is one of the most majestic Sables I've ever seen, and I'm very glad I got it. 

Chester B is the one who told me about Raintree, so a big thank you to Chester B! 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Jesse PNW

[Gator]

Your palms look great.

I think all those should do well in the ground. 

I guess your problem is too much winter moisture, Do you wrap them in the winter ?

[Chester B]

On 5/15/2021 at 5:16 PM, Allen said:

My vote would be to plant them all.  Palms need a year or 2 to establish anyway so you are just delaying that.  Palms will do better planted long term.  I hear the heat argument but I still vote plant them.

I agree with @Allen get them in the ground they are all hardy for our climate so don't delay. 

The Sabals will probably do nothing this year but they need time in the ground to establish.  Last spring I planted a smaller uresana that I had in a pot for two years, it has maybe put out one frond, its that slow right now.  I planted my seed grown Sabal minor and in one year they put out more fronds than they had in the previous two in the pots.  Sabal louisiana (same source) started growing right away for me,  I added a second one this year.  For the Sabals as much sun as possible and lots of water.  Really I don't think its possible to give enough of each.

I find the needles don't care here.  The ones in full sun grow a little faster but keep a compact form, the shade grown ones I think look better.  Needles are very drought tolerant but water speeds them along.