Howea in hot & humid

[ahosey01]

Can this be done or do they croak?

[Tyrone]

What sort of temps are you talking about? 

[RiverCityRichard]

In Central Florida, I grew one in a container for 3 years. It sat in a shaded spot on my porch, and there were no holes in its pot, meaning it was typically growing in flooded muck. Was deep green and it kept growing even in the summer months.

 

Transplanted it last month into the ground in nearly full shade. Since I transplanted it its newest spear has shot up like a rocket. There are some growing in Florida, they just require shade and adequate water.

[ahosey01]

1 hour ago, Tyrone said:

What sort of temps are you talking about? 

I get 96-105F in the summer pretty regularly, but relative humidity is around 70%.  Would grow it in between two fairly closely-situated houses so it would only get sun when the sun was in between those houses.

[Harry’s Palms]

Howea F. can handle warm climates but they want cool breezy nights . They don’t do nearly as well in Hawaii as they do in Southern California. We have pretty arid conditions inland , non coastal environments . Our daytime temps are in the eighties f. most days but can easily pass 100 for a few days. Even then , our night time temps dip to mid sixties, sometimes a bit lower. Harry

[Chester B]

I've got three here in Houston in pots still.  It's a palm I really like but they are just so damn finicky.  I've grown them for years but have never had one look decent, whether they were inside or outside.

I had them out in full sun starting in January and they were growing well and actually looking good.  I kept thinking wow, these are taking this sun so well, and then one day in May or June I went out to water and they were burnt to a crisp.  So now they're in full shade growing painfully slow and infested with bugs again.  It took me months to get rid of the scale and now I'm dealing with Mealy bugs.  They seem to tolerate the heat and humidity just fine, it's the sun and the pests that are holding them back.

[Looking Glass]

They don’t normally do well in hot, humid South Florida, but at a local steakhouse, they’ve been in the ground for years doing fine.  Very shady moist spot, and well protected. It’s possible here, but when the sun hits them for long here, they die.   

[SeanK]

So, are they OK in morning sun or is zero direct sun a requirement?

[Hurricanepalms]

There are quite a few growing in shade to light shade. Here is one in Vero Beach, Fl growing in full sun and it’s about 22 to 25 feet tall. Maybe this one is a genetic freak or they can take more sun once they are at an advanced age. 
 

 

[bubba]

[bubba]

Breaker's PB. These guys have a horticulture budget:

[Tyrone]

22 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

I get 96-105F in the summer pretty regularly, but relative humidity is around 70%.  Would grow it in between two fairly closely-situated houses so it would only get sun when the sun was in between those houses.

On Lord Howe Island where Howea originate from, at sea level the temps never exceed 30C or 86F during the day. In the summer it’s very humid there. If you are getting into the 40C (105F) plus territory these will start to burn as it’s simply not what they’d ever see on Lord Howe Island. That’s my experience growing these in Perth. Also if your mins in summer are in the 70s F or higher on average they can start to sulk. So, if you were growing these in a hot climate, I’d position them so they were fully shaded from the hot midday to early afternoon sun and I’d keep them moist all summer. If mins are too high in summer they will likely slow down in growth and may become a bit stunted. They like a cool down at night in hot weather, and love coastal see breezes with plenty of air movement, which is just what they’d get in habitat. 

[ahosey01]

Based on this feedback I don't think I love these enough to try this hard, lol

Space is limited.  I'll stick with the tropical / dry tropics stuff that wants to get roasted and never cool off.

[MoPalm]

Here is mine. San Francisco Bay Area - about 30 miles in-land. I planted it in late summer this year around August 30 thinking we will not see 100F+. I was right for a few weeks then in early October we had record heat waves reaching 105f for a few days. I witnessed the leaves that see the sun when the temperature rise to 100+ start burning, but not that bad as the nights always cool down to low 60es. It survived thankfully. I was just hoping the new fronds will eventually adapot to the heat, especially if it is in fully sun. This tree gets full sun from sunrise to sunset. It grew or I should say opened 3 fronds since August 30 and the forth is started to open now. 

The one underneath it was my motivation to go big! This one is Belmoreana . Not the very upright form though, just hybrid. It burned right after planting even though i acclimated it slowly and saw 100 degrees with no burn. I think it got transplant shock.

I am going to shade cloth them next year if I see them start burning in June.  I am hoping they will get more sun/heat tolerance as they root through winter/spring. 

Tyrone - How often does it get 100F+ in Perth? Do you see any Howeas in full sun taking the 100F+ with no burn?  I know in Southern California they had one of the worst heat wave this year. I believe I read 114F in Fallbrook back in early September this year. 

 

On 11/5/2024 at 2:45 PM, Tyrone said:

On Lord Howe Island where Howea originate from, at sea level the temps never exceed 30C or 86F during the day. In the summer it’s very humid there. If you are getting into the 40C (105F) plus territory these will start to burn as it’s simply not what they’d ever see on Lord Howe Island. That’s my experience growing these in Perth. Also if your mins in summer are in the 70s F or higher on average they can start to sulk. So, if you were growing these in a hot climate, I’d position them so they were fully shaded from the hot midday to early afternoon sun and I’d keep them moist all summer. If mins are too high in summer they will likely slow down in growth and may become a bit stunted. They like a cool down at night in hot weather, and love coastal see breezes with plenty of air movement, which is just what they’d get in habitat. 

 

 

[Tyrone]

4 hours ago, MoPalm said:

Tyrone - How often does it get 100F+ in Perth? Do you see any Howeas in full sun taking the 100F+ with no burn?  I know in Southern California they had one of the worst heat wave this year. I believe I read 114F in Fallbrook back in early September this year. 

 

 

 

I think yours will acclimatise. Keep both your forsteriana and belmoreana moist and hopefully your belmoreana will pull through and become well sunhardened.

I don’t live in Perth anymore but when I lived up there just at a guess we had maybe 10-20 days in summer at 100F plus. In recent years they’ve been getting up to 110F or even more which Howea just hate. There are full sun Howeas in Perth but the best are in well watered gardens, or along the coast where early sea breezes cut the temp down early. Even in these gardens where they are looked after they will burn during a heatwave without any canopy. They out grow damage though. Now I live on the south coast where the temps are cooler and it’s easier to grow a good Kentia in full sun. There are quite a few good specimens in non tended gardens that actually look fine in full sun and get only what falls from the sky. Down here in Albany you can grow a much better Kentia than Perth purely due to cooler weather. Even still I reckon a good way to grow Howeas is with some canopy and they love company. Don’t be scared to cram a heap together. That’s how they grow in the wild. 

[hbernstein]

In hot climates, no sun at all is always the safest strategy. Howea might sulk with warm nights, even in shade,  but strong, hot sun will definitely ruin them. 

[MoPalm]

5 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I think yours will acclimatise. Keep both your forsteriana and belmoreana moist and hopefully your belmoreana will pull through and become well sunhardened.

I don’t live in Perth anymore but when I lived up there just at a guess we had maybe 10-20 days in summer at 100F plus. In recent years they’ve been getting up to 110F or even more which Howea just hate. There are full sun Howeas in Perth but the best are in well watered gardens, or along the coast where early sea breezes cut the temp down early. Even in these gardens where they are looked after they will burn during a heatwave without any canopy. They out grow damage though. Now I live on the south coast where the temps are cooler and it’s easier to grow a good Kentia in full sun. There are quite a few good specimens in non tended gardens that actually look fine in full sun and get only what falls from the sky. Down here in Albany you can grow a much better Kentia than Perth purely due to cooler weather. Even still I reckon a good way to grow Howeas is with some canopy and they love company. Don’t be scared to cram a heap together. That’s how they grow in the wild. 

Thanks for the comment. You know seeing this survived the last heatwave and was newly planted with less established roots, I decided to drive south again and get a few more to plant them right next to the ones in the picture. I am actually driving today after work Happy Friday. 

[RichardHemsley]

I would concur with what others have said, they will get scorched in full sun

 I have 1.5M high plant in a container that has outgrown its position on a shady terrace so was moved to a spot with more direct sunlight in spring. It has survived the summer but doesn't look great,  lots of leaf scorching and growth rate has slowed.

[MoPalm]

Richard - Since it was in a shady spot, the fronds have so many photoreceptors to capture energy from the light/sun. Now when you move it to more sun area suddenly, these photoreceptors captured so much energy from the sun and end up burning.  Solution is move the plant slowly so the leaves adjust the amount of photoreceptors it create in the leaves.

Of course each tree has its limit though, not to mention palms are usually grown from seeds.  Seeds in most cases will grow plants that  are not true to their parents.  I doubt it, but who knows maybe there are some kentias that can handle more heat/sun than others, especially if they are grown in full sun and produced seeds that will grow plants that are more adoptable to the grown environments. 

 

 

[Harry’s Palms]

Mine are grown in full sun and look good . When we get heat waves every few years a couple of fronds will burn badly but the palm just keeps growing. I have only lost one to a major heat wave because I was not around to soak the ground around it . It started pushing really small fronds and some time on , it died. It was about 12-15’ tall at the time and had been in the ground for many years. Harry