Will digging a small archontophoenix myolensis kill it?

[sonoranfans]

I have an area of my yard that seems to be a fertile place for A. Myolensis volunteers.   I have two seeding Myolensis but only one gets the volunteers due to shade and rich soil.  I was thinking of digging a few of them up putting them in containers and eventually planting then in other sites in the yard.  If they will likely die I will probably let a couple of them grow where they are.  Its a little tight there but most of th epalms are tall.  The parent tree has 15' trunk.  Anyone have transplant experiences or advice with these or other closely related archies?  Here are the volunteers

 

[happypalms]

Yes and no, it can be done, I watch my neighbour dig out Cunninghamiana with a excavator and out the 30 or so he has done a few die but he has been quite successful (with an excavator though). These are removed from habitat on private property. As you would know dig up as much root ball as possible but expect a failure and success good luck. I have seen hundreds of Cunninghamiana dug up before with little success as seedlings. Larger ones are more likely to live. 

[PalmatierMeg]

First of all, don't try to dig it out of the ground all at once. You should trench around it in four steps with a one month wait between each step. Try to obtain the largest rootball you can and avoid cutting/damaging the roots. I wouldn't try moving any Archo until the spring warmup is imminent. Trenching around any palm you want to move should be mandatory and you should plan for it very carefully - not a good time to get all impatient and chop it out. Figure the project will take months to accomplish. I once had to move a trunking Areca catechu Dwarf. It took a whole summer to trench around it. My palm survived with no setback.

[Jonathan]

There's a couple of points that I'd consider.

Firstly, if they're volunteers then you probably don't want them to stay where they are, so there's nothing to lose. And secondly is you're reasonably careful, the law of averages will probably allow for some survivors. 

I've dug out more palms than I care to remember, including species that are allegedly difficult to transplant, like Parajubaeas (2 dead out of 20 dug), and Rhopalostylis, which had a slightly higher mortality rate, probably 20%. 

I'd go for it, but expect a few losses. Good luck!

[sonoranfans]

OK I will dig next spring and root prune it a little at a time.  Sounds like good advice.  I have planted a bunch but at  transplanting I am not experienced.  Thanks every one.

[tim_brissy_13]

I moved 6 A myolensis from my old property over 6 years ago. Sizes ranged from a little larger than yours to nearly trunking size. I had 100% success. Much easier than A cunninghamiana which doesn’t have much tolerance for disturbance. Now all are going really well and only the largest at the time had a set back but that was due to underwatering while in the pot after transplant waiting for its new home. It’s now the smallest of the 6. 
 

The one pictured was the second largest at the time and is now the largest. 

[Harry’s Palms]

I got a great deal on two , almost trunking A. Cunninghamiana that were field grown . I knew what I was getting into but decided to “roll the dice” . It took almost a year before they started coming around . I had always believed King palms to be not transplantable . I have successfully moved many other palms . I think it is possible with great care and patience . It sounds like the other varieties of Archontophoenix aren’t quite as sensitive . Some palms can almost be ripped out of the ground and moved with very little set back. 
    Years ago , I was setting pavers for a pathway down the side of my house and had a new French drain dug and installed. I wasn’t too worried about all the roots that had to be removed from my mature canopy palms ….except for the pair of king palms that were right next to where the digging was . We had to get a circular saw to cut the roots and I was sure the Kings were goners . They never even lost a frond! Harry

[sonoranfans]

thanks for the info @Tim!  I was unaware of sensitivity differences in transplanting of the different archontophoenix.