Brahea armata growth rate

[Marius]

Hi

I found this picture of one of my Brahea armata palms taken in 2021. 
I took new pictures this morning to compare. It has grown rather quickly in 4 years. 

[happypalms]

Nice one ☝️I have one in the ground that’s over 20 years old and it still looks it’s sitting in a six inch pot, it just never grew for some reason! So slow for me that’s for sure!

[Marius]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

Nice one ☝️I have one in the ground that’s over 20 years old and it still looks it’s sitting in a six inch pot, it just never grew for some reason! So slow for me that’s for sure!

Hi Richard. That is terrible. Are you in a humid climate?  I think my inland dry winter wet summer and low humidity does the trick for Braheas. 

[gyuseppe]

mine was 35 years old and was ready to flower, but last year it was eaten by the red palm weevil

[JohnAndSancho]

Here are mine. Looks like I've got a way to go to catch up to y'all. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Definitely slow here . Mine is about 20+ years in the ground from a very small plant in a 10” pot. We have a very dry climate here with a short rainy season so this guy is irrigated weekly. South facing slope , so lots of direct sun . Yours looks amazing . I don’t remember seeing such nice , long petiole on them . Harry

[Marius]

3 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

mine was 35 years old and was ready to flower, but last year it was eaten by the red palm weevil

That sounds like a terrible pest Gyuseppe. I don’t think we have it in South Africa. Fingers crossed. 

[Mazat]

5 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

mine was 35 years old and was ready to flower, but last year it was eaten by the red palm weevil

☹️

[Mazat]

10 hours ago, Marius said:

Hi

I found this picture of one of my Brahea armata palms taken in 2021. 
I took new pictures this morning to compare. It has grown rather quickly in 4 years. 

So fast 👍🤗

[Silas_Sancona]

Famous silver beast and it's buddies at a garden in N. Tucson ..

2014,  shortly after this particular garden was created..





Last time i saw it / it's buddies planted in this spot ..10 / 8 / 2022










.....At the same time, where heat ain't so generous,  they can crawl..


The old hood back in San Jose..  Used to walk / drive past these -at least- 3 times a week going to / from school ( Elementary thru High School ) and friends houses who lived in this area..

Over the course of that 12.5 year period, a few decades ago ...And then some ..Current Streetview shot is from September of last year..  these have barely risen from where they were when i was a freshman in High school. 

" Tall Boys " were about the height of the center one when i was in 4th grade.

Beauties, yes  ..beat by many generations of snails in a race?,  definitely,  here at least..

[JohnAndSancho]

I didn't realize just how slow these were. I'm imagining and thinking about where to plant stuff. Just for giggles and grins I looked at prices on eBay and almost $1k for 18" of trunk? 

 

I'm guessing by the time my seeds sprout and get big, I won't be around to see it. 

[happypalms]

On 5/20/2025 at 7:43 PM, Marius said:

Hi Richard. That is terrible. Are you in a humid climate?  I think my inland dry winter wet summer and low humidity does the trick for Braheas. 

Iam not sure what the story is but its  just not growing, if I can get more of them I will try again 

[gyuseppe]

On 5/20/2025 at 9:09 AM, happypalms said:

Nice one ☝️I have one in the ground that’s over 20 years old and it still looks it’s sitting in a six inch pot, it just never grew for some reason! So slow for me that’s for sure!

Richard here they grow well, in May I was at the botanical garden of Naples, and I forgot to collect some seeds! I only took those of brahea nitida

[Marius]

7 hours ago, happypalms said:

Iam not sure what the story is but its  just not growing, if I can get more of them I will try again 

Full sun. Mine seem to love regular watering. 

[happypalms]

13 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

Richard here they grow well, in May I was at the botanical garden of Naples, and I forgot to collect some seeds! I only took those of brahea nitida

Well you will have to go back and get some seeds and put them in. And plant them for future generations.

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, Marius said:

Full sun. Mine seem to love regular watering. 

It is in a fairly hot dry sunny position. Perhaps lack of water is holding it back, might be time to hook up some irrigation lines to it. One of the problems I have is the large eucalyptus trees drink a lot of water and store it the greedy things they are not leaving any for my palms. 

[Marius]

8 hours ago, happypalms said:

It is in a fairly hot dry sunny position. Perhaps lack of water is holding it back, might be time to hook up some irrigation lines to it. One of the problems I have is the large eucalyptus trees drink a lot of water and store it the greedy things they are not leaving any for my palms. 

Maybe that’s it then. Don’t know if your high humidity plays an adverse role

[happypalms]

12 minutes ago, Marius said:

Maybe that’s it then. Don’t know if your high humidity plays an adverse role

Humidity sits around 70 percent give or take a few percentages. Here’s a pic of the poor thing. But funnily enough it’s just starting to get a little move on ever since I have been giving my garden some more attention. Getting divorced tends to let a few things go astray in life, that and four operations later, iam back loving life and my garden again! 

[Marius]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

Humidity sits around 70 percent give or take a few percentages. Here’s a pic of the poor thing. But funnily enough it’s just starting to get a little move on ever since I have been giving my garden some more attention. Getting divorced tends to let a few things go astray in life, that and four operations later, iam back loving life and my garden again! 

It looks healthy. I’m glad that you are getting much joy from your garden. It is one of my favourite things too. 
maybe humidity can be a negative. I remember a friend of mine tried to grow one in Durban but it just stood still for years. 

[happypalms]

31 minutes ago, Marius said:

It looks healthy. I’m glad that you are getting much joy from your garden. It is one of my favourite things too. 
maybe humidity can be a negative. I remember a friend of mine tried to grow one in Durban but it just stood still for years. 

It is healthy but it’s slow that’s for sure! Durban is close to the same latitude as my area and a lot of plants from that area do well in my climate, and Madagascar as well.

[peachy]

Dit is lekka. Die broodboom is ook uitstekend.

[peachy]

36 minutes ago, happypalms said:

It is healthy but it’s slow that’s for sure! Durban is close to the same latitude as my area and a lot of plants from that area do well in my climate, and Madagascar as well.

It has a climate like around Gilgandra or Narrabri @happypalms and is at a fairly high altitude.

Peachy

[happypalms]

5 minutes ago, peachy said:

It has a climate like around Gilgandra or Narrabri @happypalms and is at a fairly high altitude.

Peachy

You should try my place on a hot 42 degree Celsius day with a hot north wind, slightly a few degrees less than that lovely town of  Narrabri, that reminds not to live over that side of the great dividing range, no thanks you can have that barren place they call a town!

[Harry’s Palms]

I think these love heat but I could be wrong. The last year or so mine has picked up speed , coincidently we have had more heatwaves. Harry