Pseudophoenix hits the dirt.

[flplantguy]

They are definitely getting plump!  Looks amazing and shows why it's a favorite palm of mine.

[Looking Glass]

3 Year Update….

On 9/25/2021 at 4:58 PM, Looking Glass said:

Charlie Brown’s Pseudophoenix……

March 5th 2021…

Today…

 

The One-Armed Bandit grew another arm, so I figured it was time.   

June 9th 2021….

Today…

Still have to find spots for 3 more in pots.   Hopefully these do well in the ground.  

Six more months and it’s gloomy, wet and weedy out there, so it’s time…..
The one armed bandit added some rings…..

Charlie Brown will peel away this frond over a few months and show a couple rings too….

The young trio seems a little sluggish, but it making progress…. (Though not as fast as the summer weeds)

The center stoplight crotons are pretty speedy for crotons….

I’m trying to get these bromeliads to stick….   They never stick well for me…

Nursing baby bromeliads everywhere these days…..  

The beat-up critical-care project failed rehab out back, but this skinny, slow, weirdo out back in the pot is doing well…

[D. Morrowii]

Those Bucs are maturing nicely! I’m anxious to try and trunk host some bromeliads myself. The videos on youtubes make it sound real easy, not so? 

[Looking Glass]

18 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

Those Bucs are maturing nicely! I’m anxious to try and trunk host some bromeliads myself. The videos on youtubes make it sound real easy, not so? 

I’ve only tried stolon-forming Aechmeas and they just seem very slow to root in.  Many of these don’t tolerate soil very well without rotting.   They prefer being in nothing at all.  Ideal for hanging if they would just stick.  They do ok potted in loose rock.  

Aechmea correia-araujoi is my best sticker and reproduces at a decent rate….  It’s smaller, like 1.5x the size of a hand.  

Will try Billbergia next…. Perhaps they’ll stick better.  I’ve got limed adult tree space though.  

[D. Morrowii]

Ah yeah, those look awesome. I’m just discovering bromeliads so I don’t know a lot about them. I like that there are so many varieties and its nice that they sucker. I have some billbergia so maybe I’ll try a couple of those on one of the Sabal trunks.

[Looking Glass]

8 minutes ago, D. Morrowii said:

Ah yeah, those look awesome. I’m just discovering bromeliads so I don’t know a lot about them. I like that there are so many varieties and its nice that they sucker. I have some billbergia so maybe I’ll try a couple of those on one of the Sabal trunks.

Bare sable trunks are nice and rough….   Hopefully they’ll grab onto that well.  When I got my first batch of bromeliads years ago, I found out pretty quickly they want decent air circulation and good light.  Most common Neoregelia, Aechmea, and Billbergia are not deep shade lovers.  

[Looking Glass]

Not due for an update, but Carribean stuff looked so happy with this brutal summer sun that I couldn’t help getting a few pics.   

Aechmea ampla potted up.   

[Frond-friend42]

Very nice beauties. Is that Copernicia a gigas?

[Looking Glass]

3 hours ago, Frond-friend42 said:

Very nice beauties. Is that Copernicia a gigas?

It’s a Hospita.  Enjoys the sun and heat there and I’m pretty generous with the water.  Slowly the fronds are getting bigger. 

[Jonathan]

Very nice, but I suspect a bromeliad thread sneaking into palm central - well played sir!

Pseudophoenix is one of my top of the list palms I'll never be able to grow.

[Looking Glass]

4 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Very nice, but I suspect a bromeliad thread sneaking into palm central - well played sir!

Pseudophoenix is one of my top of the list palms I'll never be able to grow.

 

 

[miamicuse]

I don't think I was able to get bromeliads to stick to my palm trunks, orchids yes but I had no luck with bromeliads.  Even ones I planted in the ground around a palm that grew so dense around it and climbed up higher and higher basically taking over the palm trunk at 4' or lower completely, in April 2023 when we had the massive rain event that dropped 26" of rain in 6 hours, that entire colony of bromeliads floated away and broke into multiple clusters of 2 here, 3 there, 5 over there, the furthest was a cluster of 5 many blocks away when the water receded.

[Jonathan]

10 hours ago, miamicuse said:

I don't think I was able to get bromeliads to stick to my palm trunks, orchids yes but I had no luck with bromeliads.  Even ones I planted in the ground around a palm that grew so dense around it and climbed up higher and higher basically taking over the palm trunk at 4' or lower completely, in April 2023 when we had the massive rain event that dropped 26" of rain in 6 hours, that entire colony of bromeliads floated away and broke into multiple clusters of 2 here, 3 there, 5 over there, the furthest was a cluster of 5 many blocks away when the water receded.

What a lovely image...I hope there was a frog in the clump, heading out to colonise new suburbs!

[Looking Glass]

Went out to dinner tonight and stumbled on these Sargentii outside of the place.  Healthy looking, thin trunked.  

[TropicsEnjoyer]

1 hour ago, Looking Glass said:

Went out to dinner tonight and stumbled on these Sargentii outside of the place.  Healthy looking, thin trunked.  

Pseudophoenix next to a Phoenix! Coincidence haha. Also looking at previous pics of your garden I knew it was south florida, I miss all the color and the overall tropical vibe there. Your garden is beautifully done and clearly well maintained. 💚

[Phoenikakias]

On 9/25/2021 at 11:58 PM, Looking Glass said:

Well, I put two of the Pseudophoenix Sargentii in the ground, up front by the road….  hot, driest part of the yard, full, direct sun all day.   Hopefully they are happy there and don’t die of dog-urine poisoning or teenage vandalism.  

Charlie Brown’s Pseudophoenix……

March 5th 2021…

Today…

 

The One-Armed Bandit grew another arm, so I figured it was time.   

June 9th 2021….

Today…

Still have to find spots for 3 more in pots.   Hopefully these do well in the ground.  

Bump, what fill in did you use for the hole in the ground?

[Looking Glass]

12 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Bump, what fill in did you use for the hole in the ground?

I have a base of pure deep sand, and above that a top layer of black, sandy loam that varies greatly from spot to spot from about 6-12+ inches.   For the two largest Pseudophoenix, I did no amending, just mixed up the existing loam and sand in the holes.   For the three smaller Pseudophoenix, I amended their holes with pure sand, as the loamy layer was much deeper there, and that is a wetter spot.   

I originally top dressed with a shell mulch, but then later dressed with a top layer of some soil and wood mulch, covered with crushed limestone for everyone.   

The main problem I’ve experienced with the two largest is Boron deficiency.  I added the soil and wood much top layer to try to alleviate this, along with boron treatments.  

These like well draining soil, alkaline conditions, and lots of sun and heat.  They enjoy a lot of water during the hot season.  During the cooler dry season, they slow down considerably and tolerate drought like conditions.   

 

[Looking Glass]

Now that it has warmed up, these have resumed growing.  The two by the road are slowly tearing off there oldest fronds.  They will peel off over a couple of months.  Still getting Boron issues at times, and now some brown-tipping without yellowing.  
 

 

 

The three little ones are making progress, and the fast growing variety is the least happy of everyone.   

Forgive the weeds.  I need a full day of hand ripping on my hands and knees to restore order for a couple months.   I can’t deal right now.  

[Looking Glass]

The One Armed Bandit’s first flower spathes (two) are emerging this week.  Will be interesting to see what they do over time.  

[Looking Glass]

The One Armed Bandit, shot a stalk out of one of its now three flower spathes rather suddenly, and it popped open.   I wonder if I’ll be able to harvest some seeds from this one.   I guess we’ll find out over time.  Would be nice to grow some of these up from seed. 

[Looking Glass]

The One-Armed Bandit has couple of flower stalks are in full bloom now, and they attract a hoard of pollinating bees and flies.  I assume some good seeds will come of this.   Four big stalks are in progress.   


 

The neighbor cut down a big tree, so Charlie Brown is now getting the most potential sun for his spot, pretty much anll day now,  and rotting leaf drop is minimized in the crown and boots.  

The babies in the center are growing well, with regular Sargentiis outpacing the single faster variant for some reason.    

 

I got necrotic tips on all of the Sargentii over the past year-plus.   No yellowing except on the fast variant.   In the end, I think it is potassium deficiency some how.  I’d bet the limestone layer is to blame in some way.   After trying various things, I settled on the potassium issue causing the necrosis, (it can do this without yellowing in some palms - and potassium deficiency is rare in these) and they did seem to respond to a couple of rounds of heavy potash fertilization.   The younger leaves are holding up and looking better.  

I’ll keep documenting the flower to seed progress, in case anyone is interested in the time frame and progression. 

[Looking Glass]

Seeds are starting to harden off now on the first stalk….   Tons of them.  

There are three other stalks each running about 1-2 months behind the first in the bud, flower, and early seed stages….

Overall, new frond growth has slowed a lot as the palm pours its energy into seed production…  

Hopefully everything isn’t eaten by squirrels and rats in the months to come. 

[Looking Glass]

Late in the year now, after the flower stalks emerged in spring….   The One-armed Bandit’s first 2 stalks produced a heavy bounty of seeds.  Like, tons.   The 3rd stalk a few.   And the 4th stalk aborted.   Now the super heavy seeds are kinking the connection, pinching off nutrient supply and yellowing.  I imagine they’ll start to get orange-red soon.  Drought again to end the year.  

Charlie brown’s Christmas tree has come a long way…

 

These three amigos are chugging along.  

 

The in-ground specimens are all reasonably happy, though this potted guy seems less than thrilled lately.  

[Johnny Palmseed]

1 hour ago, Looking Glass said:

Late in the year now, after the flower stalks emerged in spring….   The One-armed Bandit’s first 2 stalks produced a heavy bounty of seeds.  Like, tons.   The 3rd stalk a few.   And the 4th stalk aborted.   Now the super heavy seeds are kinking the connection, pinching off nutrient supply and yellowing.  I imagine they’ll start to get orange-red soon.  Drought again to end the year.  

 

 

 

 

 

Your palms look beautiful as always but the infructescence stalk seems elongated. I haven’t seen that before. Here’s mine for comparison.

[Looking Glass]

52 minutes ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Your palms look beautiful as always but the infructescence stalk seems elongated. I haven’t seen that before. Here’s mine for comparison.

The first two that came out did become very long indeed.  I don’t know why, or if it’s normal for that particular specimen, as it has never flowered before now.   I can confidently say that it has nothing to do with shade, as it gets none what so ever.   

[Looking Glass]

At this point the largest seed cluster has flopped over and kinked off its blood supply from the stalk.  Seeds are starting to turn red and fall.  It seems like I could probably just cut off the whole stalk and hang it somewhere to finish the ripening process.  I don’t think it’s getting any circulation from the plant at this point, but I’m going to let it continue.  

Not sure what to do with thousands of seeds, or how to clean or preserve them.  I’d like to plant some in cups and see if they will sprout.  

 

[happypalms]

That’s a lot of seeds, you could offer them up for trade or free to other palmtalk members, there easy to clean I use a small power washer usec for cleaning cars, you just put them in a wire cage that will hold the seeds and blast away the flesh, or you could soak the flesh of them, or just mash the pulp up when fresh if it’s soft enough after soaking them.

[aztropic]

I'd put a 5 gallon bucket under each bunch of seeds, and wait for them to turn red over the next few weeks. Then you can clip the stalk into the buckets without losing too many seeds. The cleaning process is pretty gross with this species as the fruit is extremely oily.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[Looking Glass]

Well, it seems to take about 10-11 months from the first flower spike emergence, til the last seeds ripen and all fall off.   Two more stalks to go.   They start to turn red, then all fall off over about a month.  
 

I kind of hope this is a biyearly process, all these seeds are a bit messy.  

[aztropic]

 

5 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

I kind of hope this is a biyearly process, all these seeds are a bit messy.  

Nope. They produce this many seeds every year. You can always clip off the flower stalks when they appear if you don't want to deal with the seeds.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[Looking Glass]

33 minutes ago, aztropic said:

Nope. They produce this many seeds every year. You can always clip off the flower stalks when they appear if you don't want to deal with the seeds. 

I was afraid to cut the stalks this year.  They come out a few fronds up from in between living stems.   They aren’t at the bottom like of the stack like many other palms.   I was afraid I’d trigger rot deep in there.  

I’ll probably cut the spent one now, but it will likely leave a dead stump in the fronds for another year.   I treat these guys super aggressively for any signs of rot…. Trying to ward off Pseudophoenix Decline, which is very prevalent around here.   

I think in the future I’ll cut the flowers, and only leave one on for seeds in years that I want to collect some.   These produce an absolute ton of seeds!