What has grown faster than you expected?

[Ben G.]

What palms have you grown that have proved after than conventional wisdom would have assumed?

Probably my most surprising grower has been my little nannorrhops. When I got it in late May, it sat in a hot mailbox too long. So its only two little strap leaves shriveled and died. It quickly started sending out new growth though. It has grown six new leaves in 4 months. That's not crazy, but it is faster than most young palms grow in my experience.

End of May:

Today:

[Dwarf Fan]

Chamaedorea radicalis has been a really fast grower in my climate. 

[DTS]

My Butia Odorata started opening up fronds like it never had transplant shock since April.

[Ben G.]

14 hours ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Chamaedorea radicalis has been a really fast grower in my climate. 

Until recently I only had one little radicalis, but they do seem to grow pretty well. Mine usually grew about 4 new fronds each growing season in Oklahoma.

[Ben G.]

5 hours ago, DTS said:

My Butia Odorata started opening up fronds like it never had transplant shock since April.

Nice. I love it when plants just take right off when we put them in the ground. My washingtonia did that too. I know that washingtonias are pretty good growers generally, but I was still surprised.

It wasn't growing at all in it's pot, but it took off as soon as it went in the ground.

I hope your butia continues to grow well for you.

[Fusca]

Without a doubt my fast growing surprise is my Butia odorata.  Here it is in the fall of 2020 in a 7-gal pot shortly after purchase.  Roughly 5' overall height.

 

And here it is after 3½ years in the ground and roughly 12' overall height with 7-gal size container for scale.

 

[Ben G.]

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

Without a doubt my fast growing surprise is my Butia odorata.  Here it is in the fall of 2020 in a 7-gal pot shortly after purchase.  Roughly 5' overall height.

 

And here it is after 3½ years in the ground and roughly 12' overall height with 7-gal size container for scale.

Wow. That is nice speed for a butia. Have you watered and fertilized it well? Or is it just a happy aberration?

[Harry’s Palms]

I have posted before about a certain Howea that I have . I have other Kentia palms around my house and they grow very well here but this particular one grew at least twice as fast as my other that I have. It was a seedling I dug up from a bunch of volunteers outside of a greenhouse where Kentia’s were grown and sold. The seedling stood out with a much thicker petiole and larger primary leaflets. I planted it very close to a column near my front door because it was so small I didn’t want anything to happen to it. I have never seen a Howea grow this fast . The other thing about this particular palm has a huge “foot” at its base. Harry

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, Ben G. said:

Wow. That is nice speed for a butia. Have you watered and fertilized it well? Or is it just a happy aberration?

Strange thing is that I have not until recently.  First two years it was in the ground the house was rented so it got no special care from the renter.  In spite of the neglect the palm thrived and took off before I got here!  I've watered it minimally and fertilized it since moving here but I've ordered some high phosphorus fertilizer (0-50-30) for it to encourage it to flower which it hasn't done yet.

Nice Howea @Harry’s Palms!

[Patrick]

On 10/9/2024 at 8:36 PM, Dwarf Fan said:

Chamaedorea radicalis has been a really fast grower in my climate. 

I second that...

[MarcusH]

3 hours ago, Patrick said:

I second that...

From my experience,  my Wash.Robusta is one of the fastest growing palms I have so far. I didn't expect it to grow this fast but I'm not complaining at all.  This one was planted in March 2022 ,  completely defoliated twice incl. partial spear pull.  The recovery process is remarkable.  The palm is about 6 feet tall. 

[Patrick]

Oh, yeah, for sure. Washy's are beasts when it comes to fast growth. I just pulled a sprout in the front yard today- from somewhere lol! I was joking with another PTer the other day how the Sabal seeds, now seedlings, he gave me look too much like Washingtonias and I have to refrain from yanking them from the community pot lol! 

 

I love Washys, they're beautiful- especially with several meters of trunk; but I try to enjoy them in other peoples' yards.

[LivistonaFan]

Almost everything grows slowly here @ nearly 44°N and 1500 ft elevation. 

The soil is heavy clay with stones that are often the size of a football. Incidentally, most of the walls were covered with stones from the property. 
The climate is generally mild and humid, with the exception of the Mediterranean summer, when the plants are unfortunately not watered. 
In short, most palms struggle, especially the first few summers. 

One exception is this Parajubea torallyi var. microcarpa:

February 2021:

 

Today, same pot next to it: 

 

 Just for comparison: A Queen palm, few meters away:

[LivistonaFan]

9 minutes ago, LivistonaFan said:

 

quote instead of edit. For context the Queen Palm has only grown ~30 cm (1 ft)

 

Just to show you how abysmal the growth of some palms can be (granted, there was one transplant including shock). 6 years of  "growth" for this Butia eriospatha🤐. 

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, LivistonaFan said:

quote instead of edit. For context the Queen Palm has only grown ~30 cm (1 ft)

 

Just to show you how abysmal the growth of some palms can be (granted, there was one transplant including shock). 6 years of  "growth" for this Butia eriospatha🤐. 

Your post inspired me to make a similar one.  I've already posted my surprisingly fast palm but I've got a couple that are surprisingly NOT fast.  At least not yet.  Like your Butia my mule was obtained as a 3-gal and transplanted from my yard in San Antonio in March 2022 after almost one year in the ground there.  It's still the same size!  It spear-pulled a few weeks after the transplant and spent over a year in recovery but it's starting to show signs of taking off (finally!).  Same thing with a Washingtonia filifera that has yet to get going.  It was just going palmate when planted and just a little bigger now.

[Las Palmas Norte]

19 hours ago, Fusca said:

... Same thing with a Washingtonia filifera that has yet to get going.  It was just going palmate when planted and just a little bigger now.

Interesting. That seems to contradict conventional wisdom regarding Washingtonia and the speed in which they grow. I'm sure next year will be much more productive.

By comparison, here's 3 months growth with one of my Washingtonia x.

July

 

October

[Ben G.]

27 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Interesting. That seems to contradict conventional wisdom regarding Washingtonia and the speed in which they grow. I'm sure next year will be much more productive.

 

I second this.

June 1st:

Today:

[Bkue]

On 10/9/2024 at 10:43 PM, Ben G. said:

What palms have you grown that have proved after than conventional wisdom would have assumed?

Probably my most surprising grower has been my little nannorrhops. When I got it in late May, it sat in a hot mailbox too long. So its only two little strap leaves shriveled and died. It quickly started sending out new growth though. It has grown six new leaves in 4 months. That's not crazy, but it is faster than most young palms grow in my experience.

End of May:

Today:

Zone pushing and possibly imminent death at some point but I have 300 areca’s , 3 xl adonidias, 3 royals. Several others but insignificant. In Oviedo. Let old awesome now and for the last 4+ yrs but understood time can run out at any point. 
 

I have 8 small Alexandra’s and 3 coconuts going as well but consider them dispensable. 

[Ben G.]

Wow. That's a lot of palms for one property. I hope they keep growing well for you. All of the bad freezes in recent years seem to have been missing Florida though. (At least from an outsider's perspective) Hopefully that trend continues for you.

[Enar]

The palm I needed help identifying has grown to this size from seed within 3 years (see below) since we bought the house in 2021 and I planted it sometime after.  Never would have thought it could grow that fast.