Cordyline australis budding in middle of trunk?

[squiggly001]

I have a large 30 year old cordyline Australis that has started producing buds through its bark near the lower middle of the trunk, what do you guys think will come of this? I’ve never known them to grow like this, the buds are located around the circled area in the second photo 

[Darold Petty]

Congratulations, and Welcome to Palmtalk !   

[Palmarum]

Was the trunk damaged in those spots? Cordylines here love to sprout new shoots at locations of injury, stress or irritation.

Maybe he just felt like growing new branches for fun, he is certainly old enough.

Ryan

[squiggly001]

38 minutes ago, Palmarum said:

Was the trunk damaged in those spots? Cordylines here love to sprout new shoots at locations of injury, stress or irritation.

Maybe he just felt like growing new branches for fun, he is certainly old enough.

Ryan

No injury or stress, Buds started poking through the healthy bark, It’s a strange place to start growing new branches. I’ll keep a eye on it, I’m confused because I’ve never seen it do anything like this before. Also it hasn’t flowered in its entire life. Any tips on how to make them flower? 

[Silas_Sancona]

21 minutes ago, squiggly001 said:

No injury or stress, Buds started poking through the healthy bark, It’s a strange place to start growing new branches. I’ll keep a eye on it, I’m confused because I’ve never seen it do anything like this before. Also it hasn’t flowered in its entire life. Any tips on how to make them flower? 

Plants are weird.. , plain and simple.  While many don't, have seen some do this, or pop new branches from close to the base..  After they develop more, you can cut them off if you don't want them. 

As far as flowering,  ..Will flower when ready,  ..is just the nature of things.   If you use something that contains a lot of Nitrogen when fertilizing stuff nearby, that can hinder flowering ..essentially pushing growth at the expense of any flowers.  A lot of water can also push more growth vs. flowers too. Could toss some stand alone Potassium ( K ) or SulPoMag around the drip line as well to help promote flower development later. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

It’s actually a pretty common occurrence. When I had a lot of Cordyline, nearly all of them sprouted along various parts of their trunks. Also, if you chop most of one down, it will have multiple new sprouts on the remaining trunk. Incidentally, Cordyline are not palms. Welcome to the group! 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Jim in Los Altos