Speed of brahea clara

[akaranus]

First pic June 2022..second pic now. Very good speed for brahea, cant wait to see it in next few seasons what will do...

[Leelanau Palms]

Beautiful. What are your typical winter minimum temperatures?

[akaranus]

Last 5 winters including this one only one night down to -1C... before that usually few nights down to -3,-4.. every 10-15yrs maybe -6...solid 9a zone to 9b as for absolute minimume..this year is extremly warm..today was 18C..we never saw before 2018 that much warmth during winter days...

[Swolte]

Impressive growth! Mine is a snail. Trunk diameter has doubled from 1" to 2" in 6 years. Height remained similar around 18". It gets beaten back by a relentless series of extreme droughts and winters recently here in Texas.

Edited January 19, 2024 by Swolte

[akaranus]

6 hours ago, Swolte said:

Impressive growth! Mine is a snail. Trunk diameter has doubled from 1" to 2" in 6 years. Height remained similar around 18". It gets beaten back by a relentless series of extreme droughts and winters recently here in Texas.

i have one also that is stuck in time and space...for this one above, i think best thing for speed beside good few winters that i replaced soil in this part of the garden, 80cm deep, with humus mixed with river sand, and now soil is very loose, roots can penetrate easily through....i am now doing ,for every new "special palm" planting,  same trick...

Edited January 19, 2024 by akaranus

[Tom in Tucson]

22 hours ago, akaranus said:

i have one also that is stuck in time and space...for this one above, i think best thing for speed beside good few winters that i replaced soil in this part of the garden, 80cm deep, with humus mixed with river sand, and now soil is very loose, roots can penetrate easily through....i am now doing ,for every new "special palm" planting,  same trick...

You're right about the soil. The species in this genus all require the best drainage you can provide. A case in point; a similar species also from Sonora (perhaps the controversial B. elegans), that there were  several of, were growing in rock crevices in huge boulders near San Carlos Bay in Sonora. I could not believe how good they looked. They were very robust, and without a lot of dried leaves in this desert environment. Live and learn.

Hi 76°, Lo 43°

[Keys6505]

This one has been in the ground for (I think) going on 3 years now from a 1 gal (again, I think..I should keep better records).  It's sloowww.  I just unwrapped it from its protection form the two 20 degree nights we just had.  For speed comparison, the L. Decora to the left was planted at the same time and roughly the same size.

[Meangreen94z]

I’ve  heard claims they are faster than armata, but that looks comparable 

[akaranus]

On 1/20/2024 at 9:31 AM, Tom in Tucson said:

You're right about the soil. The species in this genus all require the best drainage you can provide. A case in point; a similar species also from Sonora (perhaps the controversial B. elegans), that there were  several of, were growing in rock crevices in huge boulders near San Carlos Bay in Sonora. I could not believe how good they looked. They were very robust, and without a lot of dried leaves in this desert environment. Live and learn.

Hi 76°, Lo 43°

some are native plants( not palms) that grow from rock cliffs are mostly water loving plants and spread roots even 10m around in rock craks before starting to make some scenery above..as for drainage i agree, its golden rule, always keep it moist but not wet ..sand sure helps

[akaranus]

22 hours ago, Keys6505 said:

This one has been in the ground for (I think) going on 3 years now from a 1 gal (again, I think..I should keep better records).  It's sloowww.  I just unwrapped it from its protection form the two 20 degree nights we just had.  For speed comparison, the L. Decora to the left was planted at the same time and roughly the same size.

 

you are wrapping clara and dont have problem on 20F with bizzie and decora?..nice data for those two ! how long was duration of cold) did you protect them also?...yea your clara doesnt look like its full of life, something is missing in her formula for grow and look great

[Marius]

Here are pics to show growth rate of one of my Brahea clara. This took 6 years ( first pic dec 2017 and second today Jan 2024). 
 

notice the palm circled and labeled 2 is Beccariophoenix alfredi. It has hardly grown at all. 

[akaranus]

wow..i have 8 armatas, 6 edulis, few super silver, acuelata, dulcis, brandeggei and nitida...niether one is even close to this speed of growing like your clara,,what a palm after just 6 years ❤️ , hopefully mine will do something similar...as for b.alfredii yea same here i have tried with 2 and give up, my friend also..they dont move at all in this climate, probably winter to cold for them to thrive....btw love the stone wall behind clara and colour also

Edited January 22, 2024 by akaranus

[Marius]

36 minutes ago, akaranus said:

wow..i have 8 armatas, 6 edulis, few super silver, acuelata, dulcis, brandeggei and nitida...niether one is even close to this speed of growing like your clara,,what a palm after just 6 years ❤️ , hopefully mine will do something similar...as for b.alfredii yea same here i have tried with 2 and give up, my friend also..they dont move at all in this climate, probably winter to cold for them to thrive....btw love the stone wall behind clara and colour also

Thanks for the compliments. I have found that my armatas are not much slower than the clara. 
I furthermore have calcarea blue and green forms ( formerly nitida) , brandegeei and aculeata. They all grow rather well and fast here. 

[Marius]

I’m trying to germinate dulcis, sarukhani and salvadorensis now. 

[akaranus]

very nice collection...it looks brahea genus loves your climate..will put few pics of mine tommorow...

[akaranus]

actually have some pics here..

[Keys6505]

On 1/21/2024 at 1:06 PM, akaranus said:

you are wrapping clara and dont have problem on 20F with bizzie and decora?..nice data for those two ! how long was duration of cold) did you protect them also?...yea your clara doesnt look like its full of life, something is missing in her formula for grow and look great

Difficulty of replacement is typically my biggest determining factor for protection.  We had 16 hours below freezing with a low of 19.8°, then 6 hours barely above freezing, then another 10 hours below with a low of 20°.  Bizzy and Decora were unprotected and look pretty good.  The Decora survived 17° last year pre-defoliated with mini lights, blanket, and plastic.  Bounced right back like nothing happened.  Bizzy previously survived 15° protected in '21 (needed to trunk cut) and then 17° unprotected last year (needed to trunk cut again), so she's a tough B.  The forecast was showing a low of 25° when I was actually wrapping trees this year, if I had known we were getting 20° I probably would have protected them.

[Marius]

7 hours ago, akaranus said:

actually have some pics here..

You have a beautiful garden. 

[akaranus]

14 hours ago, Keys6505 said:

Difficulty of replacement is typically my biggest determining factor for protection.  We had 16 hours below freezing with a low of 19.8°, then 6 hours barely above freezing, then another 10 hours below with a low of 20°.  Bizzy and Decora were unprotected and look pretty good.  The Decora survived 17° last year pre-defoliated with mini lights, blanket, and plastic.  Bounced right back like nothing happened.  Bizzy previously survived 15° protected in '21 (needed to trunk cut) and then 17° unprotected last year (needed to trunk cut again), so she's a tough B.  The forecast was showing a low of 25° when I was actually wrapping trees this year, if I had known we were getting 20° I probably would have protected them.

again great freeze damage data..its quite chalenging for both palm grower and palms year after year with that low temperature numbers...ten years ago i gave up on livistona decora because i have lost 3 at only 25F for few nights, now maybe will try again(chinensis and nitida are doing fine)..as for bismarckia you really got luck with planting  tough one, great looking and recovering after 2 trunk cut...i am keeping mine 2 alive(in good shape) with instaled heating cabels in ground wraped around root ball and switching on when nights temps drop bellow 10°C

[Harry’s Palms]

I do not have the "Clara" but if it is anything like the Armata , it is slow. The Edulis that I planted is pretty  tall but the Armata (same age ) is only about third of the size , they are the same age!  Harry

Edited January 23, 2024 by Harry’s Palms