Washingtonia Filifera stopped growing

[KPoff]

So this may seem like a silly question and I know palm trees stop or slow growth significantly when it starts to cool off. I planted this filifera back in March and it grew relatively fast all spring and summer but it seems to all but have stopped growing since early September and we still had nights in the 70s and highs in the 90s every day almost. It looks healthy as far as I can tell other than it decided it’s growing season was over for some reason. Is this odd, normal, does it look ok? I’m in 8A west Texas and filifera are quite common around here and get very large. Most seem to be used in xeriscapes where this one is in the middle of my yard and gets sprinkler water twice per week but never bothered it. Thank you.

[jwitt]

Looks healthy to me. 

I personally like them to be dormant heading into winter. I stop watering to encourage this behavior the first week of October. 

Hopefully it is putting energy into root growth, as it appears to be at the early or beginning stage of "fattening".  Lawn winterizer is a great application this time of the year, for a future fattie.

I suspect the shorter days, lower temperatures, and cutback on lawn watering all made your palm do what it is doing.  Exactly what one could hope for in zone 8a. 

[MarcusH]

I have the same problem . Some are faster than others. I grow 3 Filiferas . One planted as a tiny plant already grew taller than the other 2 that I've bought at the nursery about 2 years ago.  I think those were 3g sized ones but I'm not too sure anymore.  Anyway those just stop growing in mid summer while the other one that I grew from seed and planted as a juvenile growths way faster . It gets sunlight all day long while the other ones get about 20 to 30 percent less sun . Some grow fast and some don't.  The large ones you get at the store take a long time to grow deep roots.  Talking about years. 

[KPoff]

16 hours ago, jwitt said:

Looks healthy to me. 

I personally like them to be dormant heading into winter. I stop watering to encourage this behavior the first week of October. 

Hopefully it is putting energy into root growth, as it appears to be at the early or beginning stage of "fattening".  Lawn winterizer is a great application this time of the year, for a future fattie.

I suspect the shorter days, lower temperatures, and cutback on lawn watering all made your palm do what it is doing.  Exactly what one could hope for in zone 8a. 

@jwitt I never have used winterizer fertilizer on my lawn. I do use a good dose of langbeinite on all my palms in the fall though. I’ve read that helps prep them for winter by forcing cell structure and root growth. Not sure if it does anything but I figure it can’t hurt them.

[KPoff]

15 hours ago, MarcusH said:

I have the same problem . Some are faster than others. I grow 3 Filiferas . One planted as a tiny plant already grew taller than the other 2 that I've bought at the nursery about 2 years ago.  I think those were 3g sized ones but I'm not too sure anymore.  Anyway those just stop growing in mid summer while the other one that I grew from seed and planted as a juvenile growths way faster . It gets sunlight all day long while the other ones get about 20 to 30 percent less sun . Some grow fast and some don't.  The large ones you get at the store take a long time to grow deep roots.  Talking about years. 

@MarcusH this one wasn’t sited the best probably as I planted it on the NW corner of my house. It’s far enough out in the open though that during the winter it will get 5 hours of direct sun but not until afternoon unfortunately. In the summer it gets 8-10 hours of sun or so. We will see how it fares the winter. Hopefully it’s a normal winter.

[MarcusH]

Washies love sun, the more the better .  I have two growing in the backyard on the SE side and one on the NW side of the house. The one on the NW side of the house gets the most sun. Our house is one story high so it gets a good amount of sun in the morning as well.  There's a giant oak tree growing on the S side of the house on our neighbors property, which interrupts (filtered sunlight) the sun exposure for a couple of hours but that's pretty much it other than that there's plenty of sunshine throughout the day.  Let me show you the difference of their growth. Remember the ones in the backyard are in the ground for about 1 to 1.5 years longer . I will also add pictures of the time when they were planted to give you an idea of their size then and now.

[jwitt]

5 hours ago, KPoff said:

@jwitt I never have used winterizer fertilizer on my lawn. I do use a good dose of langbeinite on all my palms in the fall though. I’ve read that helps prep them for winter by forcing cell structure and root growth. Not sure if it does anything but I figure it can’t hurt them.

I do the lawn winterizer, nothing but root fertilizer and nitrogen.  The nitrogen is not released until 2-3 months after application, which is perfect timing for a monocot (grass/filifera).

I looked up langbeinite and it looks to do the same minus the nitrogen. Be careful though as langbeinite can have sulpher, which is acidic, and something you want no where near your filifera. 

 

[KPoff]

15 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Washies love sun, the more the better .  I have two growing in the backyard on the SE side and one on the NW side of the house. The one on the NW side of the house gets the most sun. Our house is one story high so it gets a good amount of sun in the morning as well.  There's a giant oak tree growing on the S side of the house on our neighbors property, which interrupts (filtered sunlight) the sun exposure for a couple of hours but that's pretty much it other than that there's plenty of sunshine throughout the day.  Let me show you the difference of their growth. Remember the ones in the backyard are in the ground for about 1 to 1.5 years longer . I will also add pictures of the time when they were planted to give you an idea of their size then and now.

@MarcusH those look great! Hopefully mine will put on some decent size next year. Have to get it through the winter first. Our winters generally have 5-10 days where I have to legitimately worry about protecting it. Y’all seem to be a solid 9a and here in 8A once you get them through the first few winters and they get some size then I think they are good.

[KPoff]

13 hours ago, jwitt said:

I do the lawn winterizer, nothing but root fertilizer and nitrogen.  The nitrogen is not released until 2-3 months after application, which is perfect timing for a monocot (grass/filifera).

I looked up langbeinite and it looks to do the same minus the nitrogen. Be careful though as langbeinite can have sulpher, which is acidic, and something you want no where near your filifera. 

 

@jwitt yeah I looked it up and it definitely has sulfur in it. I put a couple tablespoons around the base and watered it in so hopefully it doesn’t affect the soil pH too much. I’ve used it on everything else, chamaerops, needle, sabals and trachys and it didn’t seem to bother them last year or this one. Hopefully no effect.

[jwitt]

57 minutes ago, KPoff said:

@jwitt yeah I looked it up and it definitely has sulfur in it. I put a couple tablespoons around the base and watered it in so hopefully it doesn’t affect the soil pH too much. I’ve used it on everything else, chamaerops, needle, sabals and trachys and it didn’t seem to bother them last year or this one. Hopefully no effect.

Your other palms will love the sulpher! 

Careful with the filifera...

[KPoff]

31 minutes ago, jwitt said:

Your other palms will love the sulpher! 

Careful with the filifera...

@jwitt good information, I wish I would have known before. I won’t give it anymore though that’s for sure. Thanks for letting me know.

[MarcusH]

10 hours ago, KPoff said:

@MarcusH those look great! Hopefully mine will put on some decent size next year. Have to get it through the winter first. Our winters generally have 5-10 days where I have to legitimately worry about protecting it. Y’all seem to be a solid 9a and here in 8A once you get them through the first few winters and they get some size then I think they are good.

No, there's no solid hardiness zone in the entire state of Texas, well the RGV is warmer in general but Houston , San Antonio,  Austin ,... can get 1½ half zone colder . That's a lot. 

[KPoff]

15 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

No, there's no solid hardiness zone in the entire state of Texas, well the RGV is warmer in general but Houston , San Antonio,  Austin ,... can get 1½ half zone colder . That's a lot. 

Yeah I guess that’s true, same as here. We are 8A except once every 10 years on average we get a 6b or 7a cold snap during the winter. That’s why 80% of what I have in the ground is sabal minor or needle palm or Trachycarpus. Seems like filifera will live through anything when established though. Seems like almost all survived in Big Spring, Midland and Odessa in 2021.

[MarcusH]

9 minutes ago, KPoff said:

Yeah I guess that’s true, same as here. We are 8A except once every 10 years on average we get a 6b or 7a cold snap during the winter. That’s why 80% of what I have in the ground is sabal minor or needle palm or Trachycarpus. Seems like filifera will live through anything when established though. Seems like almost all survived in Big Spring, Midland and Odessa in 2021.

In the ground I have Washingtonia Filifera , Butia Oderata,  Sabal Minor, Trachycarpus fortunei and a Wash. Robusta hybrid. Except the Robusta all other palms are bulletproof for our climate. If Sabal Palmettos and Mexicana wouldn’t be so expensive for a decent sized palm , I would probably have them all around. I went through multiple Queens I'm done with that nonsense.  Texas climate is the real party pooper lol

[MarcusH]

25 minutes ago, KPoff said:

Yeah I guess that’s true, same as here. We are 8A except once every 10 years on average we get a 6b or 7a cold snap during the winter. That’s why 80% of what I have in the ground is sabal minor or needle palm or Trachycarpus. Seems like filifera will live through anything when established though. Seems like almost all survived in Big Spring, Midland and Odessa in 2021.

You're right , once established Filifera can handle lows , way below freezing . Jim @jwittcan tell you stories about it that makes your jaw drop . 

[KPoff]

12 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

You're right , once established Filifera can handle lows , way below freezing . Jim @jwittcan tell you stories about it that makes your jaw drop . 

@MarcusH I know they can handle -2 F and 9 days below freezing because that’s what they had to survive here.

[MarcusH]

3 minutes ago, KPoff said:

@MarcusH I know they can handle -2 F and 9 days below freezing because that’s what they had to survive here.

Filifera is a tough palm that can handle a lot of beating and beautiful at the same time. If temperatures get below 15f I would protect it for the first few years until the palm is established.  

[KPoff]

13 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Filifera is a tough palm that can handle a lot of beating and beautiful at the same time. If temperatures get below 15f I would protect it for the first few years until the palm is established.  

@MarcusH yeah good call for sure. I was going to protect it if it will be below freezing for more than one day at a time as well. I’m hoping we get back to our fairly consistent 8A/8B winters pre 2020 here this year.