Do young Queen palms grow less fronds a year compared to mature ones ?

[MarcusH]

I was wondering if a young Queen only grows a few fronds a year since mine only grew 2 fronds so far and it's already mid May. My Queen palm defoliated in December 2022. I read under good growing conditions they can grow 6 fronds a year.  Do they mean growing season or the entire year?  I fertilize the palm with a slow release miracle go fertilizer. Don't know if it's a good brand.  Any Queen palm growers out there who can share some experiences and advises ? 

[JLM]

Even when small, these dudes can grow very quickly.

This was my Queen as of August 2020:


It had put out a few fronds. 2020 was its first full year in the ground, as it was planted in late 2019.

Now skipping ahead 2 years, this was taken in May 2022:


And then another pic, this one from October 2022:


I dont really know that i did anything differently for this palm to make it grow so quickly, i gave it the typical fertilizer routine and then some water whenever we hadnt had rain in a while.

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, JLM said:

 

Most of your pics aren't showing up, same thing in another thread too 

[MarcusH]

1 hour ago, JLM said:

Even when small, these dudes can grow very quickly.

This was my Queen as of August 2020:


It had put out a few fronds. 2020 was its first full year in the ground, as it was planted in late 2019.

Now skipping ahead 2 years, this was taken in May 2022:


And then another pic, this one from October 2022:


I dont really know that i did anything differently for this palm to make it grow so quickly, i gave it the typical fertilizer routine and then some water whenever we hadnt had rain in a while.

Only one picture comes up maybe you can download them again. 

[JLM]

53 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Most of your pics aren't showing up, same thing in another thread too 

 

12 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

Only one picture comes up maybe you can download them again. 

Hmmmm, ill see if i can edit the post. Is it the first picture only thats showing?

[JLM]

Heres the May 2022 pic:


Heres the October 2022 pic:


It wont let me edit the post for some reason. Usually thats not a problem, but ill go ahead and repost them.

[Foxpalms]

I find queen palms tend to grow pretty fast vertically per new frond, even if they don't make loads of fronds like Washingtonia per year.

[MarcusH]

3 hours ago, Foxpalms said:

I find queen palms tend to grow pretty fast vertically per new frond, even if they don't make loads of fronds like Washingtonia per year.

My juvenile completely defoliated last winter and it's still growing its second frond. Kind of slow in my opinion.  If the grow continues like that I might get 4 fronds by the end of the year before next winter.  Maybe the young Queens take longer to grow fronds I'm not sure. 

[JLM]

19 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

My juvenile completely defoliated last winter and it's still growing its second frond. Kind of slow in my opinion.  If the grow continues like that I might get 4 fronds by the end of the year before next winter.  Maybe the young Queens take longer to grow fronds I'm not sure. 

They also grow slower when injured. Since the palm was defoliated, and given that its younger and much less resistant than an adult palm, it will take longer for it to fully come back. Mine has taken since February to get where it is currently, and so far its just now putting out a new full frond that isnt cut in half or damaged in any way.

[Josue Diaz]

They will grow fast if well watered and fertilized, much slower if conditions are less than ideal. Mine open fronds year round, so it's difficult to gauge how many open each year/season. Usually after a good rain, i'll notice a new leaf has opened. 

[Foxpalms]

45 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

My juvenile completely defoliated last winter and it's still growing its second frond. Kind of slow in my opinion.  If the grow continues like that I might get 4 fronds by the end of the year before next winter.  Maybe the young Queens take longer to grow fronds I'm not sure. 

They do, my large one is against a black wall which is why it grows 3-4 fronds a year this far north but the smaller queen palms I have grow slower. The seedlings grow fairly fast like the large queen palms but put on less vertical growth, but I find the ones in the 3ft-9ft range seem to slow down untill they get bigger.

[jwitt]

Yr 1-It's growing roots...

Yr 2- same

Yr 3- here we go!

 

Edited May 12 by jwitt

[MarcusH]

Well thanks ya'll I guess I just have to be more patient with my young Queen . The other one I have that I recently planted (6 footer) pushed out an entire new frond within two months and the fronds grow more like a stick unlike my young Queen that's growing just different.  Can I water my Queens every day ? 

[D Palm]

The smaller ones need protecting or risk death. If it gets back to back defoliated winters, 90% death rate that small. Remove the mulch back about 2 feet. Water and let it dry. From my observations, the more wet to dry cycles they experience, the faster it will look normal.

Try to protect it this winter so it can grow full speed to size next spring.

[Foxpalms]

15 hours ago, D Palm said:

The smaller ones need protecting or risk death. If it gets back to back defoliated winters, 90% death rate that small. Remove the mulch back about 2 feet. Water and let it dry. From my observations, the more wet to dry cycles they experience, the faster it will look normal.

Try to protect it this winter so it can grow full speed to size next spring.

I typically let my queen palm go through a wet to dry cycle before I water and it works well.

[MarcusH]

On 5/13/2023 at 10:38 PM, D Palm said:

The smaller ones need protecting or risk death. If it gets back to back defoliated winters, 90% death rate that small. Remove the mulch back about 2 feet. Water and let it dry. From my observations, the more wet to dry cycles they experience, the faster it will look normal.

Try to protect it this winter so it can grow full speed to size next spring.

When our first winter storm moved in I didn't want to keep the Queen after I've heard how cold is going to be. I cared more for my other plants and palms . I honestly wasn't too prepared I didn't have frost cloth , christmas lights nothing and I was too busy with work . When the storm was moving in in the afternoon I thought ok let's wrap it around with some thin bedsheet and cover it with a bucket .  Luckily I was home in the afternoons when temps were in the mid upper 30s in the afternoons so I decided to uncover the palm during the day for a few hours and protect it before temps got back to the 20s.  With light protection it survived lows of 16,21,24,28F. For a juvenile that's pretty amazing considering the light protection.  If it gets that cold next winter again I'll protect it with burlap, frost cloth and maybe some Christmas lights.  

[MarcusH]

Just now, MarcusH said:

When our first winter storm moved in I didn't want to keep the Queen after I've heard how cold is going to be. I cared more for my other plants and palms . I honestly wasn't too prepared I didn't have frost cloth , christmas lights nothing and I was too busy with work . When the storm was moving in in the afternoon I thought ok let's wrap it around with some thin bedsheet and cover it with a bucket .  Luckily I was home in the afternoons when temps were in the mid upper 30s in the afternoons so I decided to uncover the palm during the day for a few hours and protect it before temps got back to the 20s.  With light protection it survived lows of 16,21,24,28F. For a juvenile that's pretty amazing considering the light protection.  If it gets that cold next winter again I'll protect it with burlap, frost cloth and maybe some Christmas lights.  

I removed more mulch around the base and apparently it works . It's been raining a lot that last few days and from my observations it grew quite a bit . I think I could identify a 3rd frond growing out but I'm not sure yet .  Sorry about the lawn we were pulling out a lot of crabgrass it's literally a big problem here in San Antonio and since it's been raining so much mushrooms pop out here and there.