Cold tolerance of Bactris species?

[idontknowhatnametuse]

The most cold tolerant Bactris I know about are Bactris setosa and Bactris mexicana, but I wonder, is there any other cold tolerant Bactris that most people don't know about? To this day I'm really interested in Bactris major but about its cold tolerance, I'm not sure, being a clumping palm it should have some hardiness though. This genus is huge and I assume most species haven't been tested in cold weather.

[mrjc]

12 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

The most cold tolerant Bactris I know about are Bactris setosa and Bactris mexicana, but I wonder, is there any other cold tolerant Bactris that most people don't know about? To this day I'm really interested in Bactris major but about its cold tolerance, I'm not sure, being a clumping palm it should have some hardiness though. This genus is huge and I assume most species haven't been tested in cold weather.

I love bactris I know nothing about the cold hardness sorry but I love the idea of some really cool species of palms or any plants that are unknown but could be the best hardy fruit, palm or exotic plant. If your really into finding one I tried it before with cecropia I looked at people on iNat that studied the genus the most then contacted them and asked them questions sadly the one I found isn’t to hardy just to zone 9a so in my opinion not worth going to South America to go find it.

[kinzyjr]

There are only 3 records in the Cold Hardiness Master Data at this point.  Two observations for Bactris gasipaes and one for Bactris major.  All of the observations are from @Noblick's spreadsheet.  The sources of the data are in Event #21 on the Events_tbl tab of the latest version of the spreadsheet.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

8 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

There are only 3 records in the Cold Hardiness Master Data at this point.  Two observations for Bactris gasipaes and one for Bactris major.  All of the observations are from @Noblick's spreadsheet.  The sources of the data are in Event #21 on the Events_tbl tab of the latest version of the spreadsheet.

Thanks!

[Jadd Correia]

I am growing Bactris militaris in my greenhouse for now, with plans on planting out in my 10A/B garden once it gets to a nice 3 gallon + size. Good luck with your growing and hopefully we can grow these Bactris in more zones!

[idontknowhatnametuse]

5 minutes ago, Jadd Correia said:

I am growing Bactris militaris in my greenhouse for now, with plans on planting out in my 10A/B garden once it gets to a nice 3 gallon + size. Good luck with your growing and hopefully we can grow these Bactris in more zones!

That's nice! B. militaris is my favorite Bactris actually, just too hard to find. It's a holy grail palm. I'm going to get the robust looking frond variety of Bactris major from the mexican pacific coast. Between zones 10A-10B as well. Any soil you recommend for Bactris species? And any photos of your B. militaris?

[TomJ]

My 5gl didn't last one Winter here in Vista.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

2 hours ago, TomJ said:

My 5gl didn't last one Winter here in Vista.

B. major?

[TomJ]

On 4/10/2025 at 11:01 AM, idontknowhatnametuse said:

B. major?

Don't remember. I was told it was the most cold-tolerant species. 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

2 minutes ago, TomJ said:

Don't remember. I was told it was the most cold-tolerant species. 

It was probably Bactris setosa then, it's mostly known for being the most cold tolerant of the genus.