Bismarckia with tapering trunk

[Phoenikakias]

I have been observing over several years that the new trunk of my Bismarckia has acquired pemanently a smaller diameter. The start of this feature had coincided with a severe spear pull , from which the plant took 2+ years to recover. I would expect however that in such case (sudden thinning of the trunk due to a shock) subsequently new formed trunk would resume initial girth, as is a usual sight on floridian palms (with disastrous results frequently after several years). But present thinning is different because it looks permanent, so I am wondering if it is a normal feature of Bismarckia or there are other responsible factors, such as not adequately provided water quantity (as the plant grows bigger and provided quantity of water remains the same balance gets disturbed), or etiolation due to increasing shade (by other surrounding palms) or just that I remove quickly old leaf bases (to prevent fungal infection during winter and nesting of rpw during summer), so actually old and new trunk keep fattening up proportionally in same way and the visual difference between the two parts persists. So what is your jurisdiction?

PS

Plant has remainef nevertheless super healthy and robust during the last years.

[SeanK]

Looks normal. 

[Harry’s Palms]

To me that looks healthy but on the smaller size for a Bizmarkia. HarryNot mine , but a typical Bizzy in our area.

[sonoranfans]

they all taper and have a swollen base.  The question is how thick is the trunk?  Mine is swollen to ~33" at the base and that necks down to about 18" at 20 feet up the trunk.  All my thyick trunked palms have a tapered diameter with height except copernicia fallaensis and that one may taper at some point.  The chair is 30" wide for scale

[sonoranfans]

3 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I have been observing over several years that the new trunk of my Bismarckia has acquired pemanently a smaller diameter. The start of this feature had coincided with a severe spear pull , from which the plant took 2+ years to recover. I would expect however that in such case (sudden thinning of the trunk due to a shock) subsequently new formed trunk would resume initial girth, as is a usual sight on floridian palms (with disastrous results frequently after several years). But present thinning is different because it looks permanent, so I am wondering if it is a normal feature of Bismarckia or there are other responsible factors, such as not adequately provided water quantity (as the plant grows bigger and provided quantity of water remains the same balance gets disturbed), or etiolation due to increasing shade (by other surrounding palms) or just that I remove quickly old leaf bases (to prevent fungal infection during winter and nesting of rpw during summer), so actually old and new trunk keep fattening up proportionally in same way and the visual difference between the two parts persists. So what is your jurisdiction?

PS

Plant has remainef nevertheless super healthy and robust during the last years.

Probably difficult to water that palm on sloped rocky ground so yeah it might be a bit undersized vs some of the florida ones.  Most of my neighbors bizzies(at least a dozen of them) dont have a swollen base as large as mine.  They often plant in too much clay and that will stunt trunk thickness in rainy florida.  These palms develop deep roots but not unless the soil dry cycles down there at depth.  If its constantly wet or dry those roots will not grow as extensively and that likely means a smaller palm..  Konstantinos, yours looks like the base is 2' or more right?  That is fine, the necking down is expected.

[Phoenikakias]

2 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Probably difficult to water that palm on sloped rocky ground so yeah it might be a bit undersized vs some of the florida ones.  Most of my neighbors bizzies(at least a dozen of them) dont have a swollen base as large as mine.  They often plant in too much clay and that will stunt trunk thickness in rainy florida.  These palms develop deep roots but not unless the soil dry cycles down there at depth.  If its constantly wet or dry those roots will not grow as extensively and that likely means a smaller palm..  Konstantinos, yours looks like the base is 2' or more right?  That is fine, the necking down is expected.

Circumference of base is exactly 76 cm. And here is the crown. Not very tidy but my garden suffers very frequently from strong gusts.

[aztropic]

Tapered base totally normal. Here's mine.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona