pygmy date palm Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix Roebelenii) Not Flowering Properly

[shmendan]

For the past two years, my palm has attempted to flower, but never opens up properly. I can see from the flowers that it is female. They sort of just dry up and fall off. There are two pods on this one. Only one of the three trunks appear to have seed pods. Is any of this normal, and if not, what can I do to fix this? Thanks.

Edited July 11, 2022 by shmendan
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[Johnny Palmseed]

Your palm is still in a pot and looks young. Both those things will limit it’s ability. Also, Phoenix palms require a male and female plant in close proximity to seed. I can’t tell from the picture if you have more than one palm.

[shmendan]

1 hour ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Your palm is still in a pot and looks young. Both those things will limit it’s ability. Also, Phoenix palms require a male and female plant in close proximity to seed. I can’t tell from the picture if you have more than one palm.

It’s about 8 feet tall. It has to stay in a pot for now because it has to be moved for the winter. Wouldn’t it just not seed at all unless it is older? It has three trunks but I don’t know if this counts as three different plants. Regardless if there is a male palm near it, it should still bloom, no?

[Jim in Los Altos]

You have three separate palms in one pot. You may have both sexes. Time will tell. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

14 hours ago, shmendan said:

It’s about 8 feet tall. It has to stay in a pot for now because it has to be moved for the winter. Wouldn’t it just not seed at all unless it is older? It has three trunks but I don’t know if this counts as three different plants. Regardless if there is a male palm near it, it should still bloom, no?

It’s genetically driven to produce the inflorescence but if it doesn’t have enough energy it will be stunted. It’s not natural for a palm to grow in a pot so it’s not uncommon to have some deficiencies. This also occurs with juvenile palms sometimes as well. Even young plants that are monoecious (male and female on the same plant) will produce an inflorescence but they can abort the seeds or they can be undersized. Yes the 3 trunks are 3 separate palms, so you could possibly have at least 1 male. The males will be obvious as they will spread the pollen profusely when shaken or tapped. Are you in an area where the palm needs to be moved indoors for the winter due to cold temperatures?

[Looking Glass]

I’ve got 10 (5x doubles) of these and they are a couple of years in the ground from 7g pots.   They all do this to varying degrees.  Every house here has a few of these and they all seem to pop open at the same time in spring.  Some are many years old.  I never do see any dates/seeds for some reason, even in those that make big inflorescences.  
 

[shmendan]

8 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

It’s genetically driven to produce the inflorescence but if it doesn’t have enough energy it will be stunted. It’s not natural for a palm to grow in a pot so it’s not uncommon to have some deficiencies. This also occurs with juvenile palms sometimes as well. Even young plants that are monoecious (male and female on the same plant) will produce an inflorescence but they can abort the seeds or they can be undersized. Yes the 3 trunks are 3 separate palms, so you could possibly have at least 1 male. The males will be obvious as they will spread the pollen profusely when shaken or tapped. Are you in an area where the palm needs to be moved indoors for the winter due to cold temperatures?

I do live in a colder area. In Southwestern Ontario, Canada. I do plan on planting it soon though, as we have the materials to build a warm greenhouse box for winter time.

[shmendan]

21 minutes ago, Looking Glass said:

I’ve got 10 (5x doubles) of these and they are a couple of years in the ground from 7g pots.   They all do this to varying degrees.  Every house here has a few of these and they all seem to pop open at the same time in spring.  Some are many years old.  I never do see any dates/seeds for some reason, even in those that make big inflorescences.  
 

When your male trees flower (if there are any), you can take some of the pollen on a piece of paper and dust it onto the female flowers.

[Looking Glass]

6 hours ago, shmendan said:

When your male trees flower (if there are any), you can take some of the pollen on a piece of paper and dust it onto the female flowers.

It’s ok.  There are various seeding palms everywhere, and it’s a pain to clean up 100s of pounds of seeds all the time.  I normally cut stalks when I can, while they are easy to clean up in one grab.   Baby common palms pop up where you don’t want here, and have to be yanked out as weeds.  Baby Bismarcks are the hardest to pull out by far.  They basically can’t be yanked from the ground by hand.  

There are bugs, and bees and lizards all over everything, so I’d be surprised if they don’t get pollinated, but there are also rats, squirrels, birds, raccoons and possums that eat and disperse a lot of the fruits from palms here.  Maybe they get eaten?