How well does a Mexican fan palm succeed in part shade compared to full sun?

[FL_palms]

Wondering about planting a Mexican fan palm in the spring in part shade and how fast it would grow

[Silas_Sancona]

39 minutes ago, FL_palms said:

Wondering about planting a Mexican fan palm in the spring in part shade and how fast it would grow

Will do fine ...and grow fairly fast.. in part shade  ..or full sun of course.  Tough, and pretty adaptable leafy buggers.

[Harry’s Palms]

Should be fine without full sun. Fast growing so keep that in mind. They get VERY tall.

[FL_palms]

19 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Should be fine without full sun. Fast growing so keep that in mind. They get VERY tall.

I’ve seen some in my neighborhood that are only part sun or growing next to another tree and seem rather stunted or dwarfed 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, FL_palms said:

I’ve seen some in my neighborhood that are only part sun or growing next to another tree and seem rather stunted or dwarfed 

Even there in Fl. where you typically see much more rainfall than we do here, if the palm is growing next to another large tree, esp. something thirsty w/ a lot of surface roots, like a Ficus or Ash,  the individual palm could be stunted / slowed down more as a result of competing with the tree's roots for available resources, rather than directly related to the less than ideal light conditions.

In more shade, really dense shade esp,  they might present a thinner crown / overall thinner- looking profile until they break out above that more shaded exposure. ..but, will " thicken up " once at or above whatever is shading them when younger / smaller. 

If you look over pictures of Mex Fans on iNaturalist, you'll see numerous examples of specimens growing in everything from sun to shade, a majority doing well in both ends of light exposures.

Rare that ones that start out in shade are killed outright by growing in such an exposure. 

Here, the most abundant crops of seedlings i see pop up each year are concentrated in areas that are shaded by trees or larger shrubs for half or most of the day.  They also seem to grow faster than those that pop up out where fully exposed to our sun and much drier air / soil conditions ( Soil in shadier areas will typically retain moisture a bit longer than out in areas which see uninterrupted sun from Sunrise to Sunset )

 

[FL_palms]

26 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Even there in Fl. where you typically see much more rainfall than we do here, if the palm is growing next to another large tree, esp. something thirsty w/ a lot of surface roots, like a Ficus or Ash,  the individual palm could be stunted / slowed down more as a result of competing with the tree's roots for available resources, rather than directly related to the less than ideal light conditions.

In more shade, really dense shade esp,  they might present a thinner crown / overall thinner- looking profile until they break out above that more shaded exposure. ..but, will " thicken up " once at or above whatever is shading them when younger / smaller. 

If you look over pictures of Mex Fans on iNaturalist, you'll see numerous examples of specimens growing in everything from sun to shade, a majority doing well in both ends of light exposures.

Rare that ones that start out in shade are killed outright by growing in such an exposure. 

Here, the most abundant crops of seedlings i see pop up each year are concentrated in areas that are shaded by trees or larger shrubs for half or most of the day.  They also seem to grow faster than those that pop up out where fully exposed to our sun and much drier air / soil conditions ( Soil in shadier areas will typically retain moisture a bit longer than out in areas which see uninterrupted sun from Sunrise to Sunset )

 

I just saw the website and it’s pretty cool to see them growing in shady conditions and in the woods like that surrounded by other trees. Didn’t know they could thrive that well in those types of areas. 

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, FL_palms said:

I just saw the website and it’s pretty cool to see them growing in shady conditions and in the woods like that surrounded by other trees. Didn’t know they could thrive that well in those types of areas. 

Shaded areas, a crack in a sidewalk / road, rain gutter / crack in a tile roof tile.  Definitely not picky about where they start out life.. 

There's a park on the far east side of Tucson where you'll find dozens ( and dozens, lol ) of seedlings / younger- aged specimens growing among an extensive grove of much bigger / older specimens, and numerous other trees which line a spring, that create fairly dense shade for several hours or all day..

While not perfect, ..No website for observing / documenting living things ever would be..  iNaturalist is a great resource for looking up ..pretty much any... living organism,  let alone seeing what different conditions a particular plant might tolerate / what might grow in your area, native or introduced.

Be warned, once you start surfing around the site, looking up a few things,  you'll likely end up spending more time than you realized  ..looking up all sorts of other things, .

[FL_palms]

25 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Shaded areas, a crack in a sidewalk / road, rain gutter / crack in a tile roof tile.  Definitely not picky about where they start out life.. 

There's a park on the far east side of Tucson where you'll find dozens ( and dozens, lol ) of seedlings / younger- aged specimens growing among an extensive grove of much bigger / older specimens, and numerous other trees which line a spring, that create fairly dense shade for several hours or all day..

While not perfect, ..No website for observing / documenting living things ever would be..  iNaturalist is a great resource for looking up ..pretty much any... living organism,  let alone seeing what different conditions a particular plant might tolerate / what might grow in your area, native or introduced.

Be warned, once you start surfing around the site, looking up a few things,  you'll likely end up spending more time than you realized  ..looking up all sorts of other things, .

 
About them growing in cracks and sidewalks I’ve definitely seen a few around, not as much as you describe where you are but it is quite common here in northwest Florida. A lot of people tend to cut off the seed stocks before they end up falling to the ground though so I’ve seen those cases but not often.

[Silas_Sancona]

6 minutes ago, FL_palms said:

 
About them growing in cracks and sidewalks I’ve definitely seen a few around, not as much as you describe where you are but it is quite common here in northwest Florida. A lot of people tend to cut off the seed stocks before they end up falling to the ground though so I’ve seen those cases but not often.

" Scalping Season ",  ..when a majority of both Mexican and CA. Fan palms are trimmed here, typically occurs right before or summer monsoon season starts,  at the end of June, or in early July,  right as most specimens are flowering.  Regardless, many specimens escape a yearly haircut and there is plenty of seed to be found below anything where birds might hang out. Grackles, Mockingbirds, and Starlings really seem to enjoy the fruits off these palms out here.

Remember Sabal palmetto  being the common-est " Crevice Palm "  i'd see popping up ..just about anywhere.. when i lived in both Largo and Bradenton.

[FL_palms]

2 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

" Scalping Season ",  ..when a majority of both Mexican and CA. Fan palms are trimmed here, typically occurs right before or summer monsoon season starts,  at the end of June, or in early July,  right as most specimens are flowering.  Regardless, many specimens escape a yearly haircut and there is plenty of seed to be found below anything where birds might hang out. Grackles, Mockingbirds, and Starlings really seem to enjoy the fruits off these palms out here.

Remember Sabal palmetto  being the common-est " Crevice Palm "  i'd see popping up ..just about anywhere.. when i lived in both Largo and Bradenton.

Sabals definitely have seedlings sprouting up anywhere around most parts of Florida. I’ve germinated Mexican fan palm seeds in little cups using a heating pad before but do you think they’d still have a high chance of germination if I just put them in the ground somewhere when temperatures are high? Say I want to have one in my yard starting from seed without going through the trouble of having to repot it all the time 

[Silas_Sancona]

11 minutes ago, FL_palms said:

Sabals definitely have seedlings sprouting up anywhere around most parts of Florida. I’ve germinated Mexican fan palm seeds in little cups using a heating pad before but do you think they’d still have a high chance of germination if I just put them in the ground somewhere when temperatures are high? Say I want to have one in my yard starting from seed without going through the trouble of having to repot it all the time 

Yep, should sprout as easily ..if not more so.. than Palmetto seed  if placed directly in the ground..  Pop up here almost year round, though most will germinate when it is warmer.  I'll even have seed the birds drop randomly pop up in the lawns, w/out doing anything.. All the seeds have to do is sink through the grass / through any mulch ( ..or gravel, in many yards here anyway ) and they sprout.

Seed has a pretty good shelf- life too.. So if you collected some seeds say in October,  it will still be fine ..and sprout w/ out issue,  if / when you plant in say April ..< or even next October >  I've had seed i thought i'd removed from around potted plants pop up a year later.

As has been discussed many times here, there's a definite advantage to directly sowing seed where you want them, rather than growing in containers  -when you're able to.. 

So you don't loose track of where you'd planted seed in the ground?, if not randomly scattering it?  cut the bottoms off some 1gal plastic pots, and use the top portion of the pot as a " plant ring " you'll insert into the ground / plant desired seed within  ..I've done this for some other plant seed that can be really tricky to transplant from pots into the ground.  These aren't obviously,  but, Never hurts getting them ..or anything else off on the right foot, right out of the gate.. 

Makes it easy to monitor how the seeds are doing, and if you have critters around that can dig up seeds while they're starting to germinate, you can cover the top(s) of the inserted, bottomless pot(s) with a piece of shade cloth, held down w/ stones or metal pins, until the seeds have germinated.

[FL_palms]

14 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Yep, should sprout as easily ..if not more so.. than Palmetto seed  if placed directly in the ground..  Pop up here almost year round, though most will germinate when it is warmer.  I'll even have seed the birds drop randomly pop up in the lawns, w/out doing anything.. All the seeds have to do is sink through the grass / through any mulch ( ..or gravel, in many yards here anyway ) and they sprout.

Seed has a pretty good shelf- life too.. So if you collected some seeds say in October,  it will still be fine ..and sprout w/ out issue,  if / when you plant in say April ..< or even next October >  I've had seed i thought i'd removed from around potted plants pop up a year later.

As has been discussed many times here, there's a definite advantage to directly sowing seed where you want them, rather than growing in containers  -when you're able to.. 

So you don't loose track of where you'd planted seed in the ground?, if not randomly scattering it?  cut the bottoms off some 1gal plastic pots, and use the top portion of the pot as a " plant ring " you'll insert into the ground / plant desired seed within  ..I've done this for some other plant seed that can be really tricky to transplant from pots into the ground.  These aren't obviously,  but, Never hurts getting them ..or anything else off on the right foot, right out of the gate.. 

Makes it easy to monitor how the seeds are doing, and if you have critters around that can dig up seeds while they're starting to germinate, you can cover the top(s) of the inserted, bottomless pot(s) with a piece of shade cloth, held down w/ stones or metal pins, until the seeds have germinated.

Do you think a small peat pot in the ground would work to or would they have a harder time?

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, FL_palms said:

Do you think a small peat pot in the ground would work to or would they have a harder time?

Doesn't hurt to try i suppose, and imagine the roots would push through it,  but really isn't necessary..  I personally have had too much trouble using peat pots for anything ..Tend to dry out too fast.

With the cut pots, once the seedlings are germinated and getting themselves rooted in, you'd just remove the inserted part.

Here's a quick " What it looks like " idea for you ..or anyone else.... who might be interested in trying it out when direct sowing palm or other seeds..

Inserted pot " top " ..specific type of Milkweed seed in these.



Use a piece of plastic grid / piece of shade cloth to keep birds / other critters from digging up the seeds. " Pins " are just metal wire i cut up.



Pot w/ no bottom



...



Approx. depth you'd insert it into the soil.  Once the seedlings are settling in, just remove like a sleeve..