Caryota mitis post flowering

[miamicuse]

I understand that Caryota mitis will die after flowering.

I have one cluster with many stems probably 36" or so in diameter with many stems some over 25' tall.  I see two of them flowering now, will these two stems die off after or will the entire 36" cluster die off?

[Merlyn]

@miamicuse that's a good question, I have the same issue.  I have a big Mitis cluster and one trunk flowered and died last summer.  The others are shorter and appear to still be growing.  In mine the tallest trunks were almost all killed off in a frost 3 years ago, and I chopped those down the following spring.  So in mine only the tallest one started flowering.  It's variously called haxapanthic or monocarpic.  On the UFL page it says:

Hapaxanthic flowering occurs in Caryota spp., Arenga spp., Corypha spp., Wallichia spp., Nannorhops ritchiana, some Metroxylon spp., and Raphia spp. In clustering palms such as Arenga spp. individual palm stems die upon maturing and fruiting. However, in the clustering fishtail palm, Caryota, mitis, all stems in a clump, regardless of size, die once the palm has fruited. The small shoots often seen emerging from dying clumps of this species are seedlings, not young offshoots from the original clump.

I think there's a name for the "all stems die" vs "only the flowering stems die" but I don't recall what it is.  I'd be interested in other PTers experience with Mitis too, as mine is a big part of the pathway on my East side and shade for a window on the West side...

[Harry’s Palms]

I have a few clumps around my house. All have been flowering for many years , the trunk that flowers will die and the others continue to grow . A constant cycle of rebirth on these . I usually cut down the stems once the fronds quit looking alive. Harry

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I have a few clumps around my house. All have been flowering for many years , the trunk that flowers will die and the others continue to grow . A constant cycle of rebirth on these . I usually cut down the stems once the fronds quit looking alive. Harry

That was my understanding - only the flowering stem dies while the others continue.  That's been the typical "better option" vs the giant Cayotas.

[miamicuse]

8 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@miamicuse that's a good question, I have the same issue.  I have a big Mitis cluster and one trunk flowered and died last summer.  The others are shorter and appear to still be growing.  In mine the tallest trunks were almost all killed off in a frost 3 years ago, and I chopped those down the following spring.  So in mine only the tallest one started flowering.  It's variously called haxapanthic or monocarpic.  On the UFL page it says:

Hapaxanthic flowering occurs in Caryota spp., Arenga spp., Corypha spp., Wallichia spp., Nannorhops ritchiana, some Metroxylon spp., and Raphia spp. In clustering palms such as Arenga spp. individual palm stems die upon maturing and fruiting. However, in the clustering fishtail palm, Caryota, mitis, all stems in a clump, regardless of size, die once the palm has fruited. The small shoots often seen emerging from dying clumps of this species are seedlings, not young offshoots from the original clump.

I think there's a name for the "all stems die" vs "only the flowering stems die" but I don't recall what it is.  I'd be interested in other PTers experience with Mitis too, as mine is a big part of the pathway on my East side and shade for a window on the West side...

Interesting, so according to this, the entire clump dies including all the offshoots but not small seedlings that's not part of the clump.   I guess in a typical planting there is a mix of two?

Here is one of the clumps that is providing filtered lights to other plants and a pond, if it dies off completely I will have to find another mature shady plant soon.

at about 25 to 30 feet above...

enlarged:

I can't really tell which stems are producing the inflorescences.

[TropicsEnjoyer]

9 hours ago, Merlyn said:

However, in the clustering fishtail palm, Caryota, mitis, all stems in a clump, regardless of size, die once the palm has fruited.

I’ve seen this statement before but I don’t know who concluded that because everyone who actually has Caryota mitis does not speak of this. This would not make any sense either, otherwise caryota clumps everywhere would just all die randomly. In the same way agave pups do not die when the main plant flowers, im certain that mitis pups persist.

[Merlyn]

@TropicsEnjoyer and @miamicuse that's why I was a bit confused by the UFL EDIS quote.  I don't mind chopping down a couple of trunks every other year.  I planted them where there is easy access for putt8ng up my 10 foot A-frame ladder.

[TropicsEnjoyer]

@Merlyn

Honestly someone should contact them and point that out, who knows how many people that has been misleading 😂.

[miamicuse]

any chance that the statement reference above depends on what constitute a "cluster"?

Let's say you go to a nursery and buy fishtail palms in a pot, and in the pot is a group of seedlings, as they grow each seedling sends up their own offshoots and since they are all together we can't tell there are multiple clusters in that pot?

 

[Harry’s Palms]

11 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

any chance that the statement reference above depends on what constitute a "cluster"?

Let's say you go to a nursery and buy fishtail palms in a pot, and in the pot is a group of seedlings, as they grow each seedling sends up their own offshoots and since they are all together we can't tell there are multiple clusters in that pot?

 

One of mine was a single stem when I bought it 20 years ago . It has flowered a few times and sends out new stems . Those stems grow tall before flowering. I had one flower prematurely, but only one stem . The rest get 8-10’ before flowering. Harry