Who is Growing Acanthophoenix rubra?

[Kim]

Acquired from Floribunda and planted January 2019, this palm is looking really lovely at the moment. It has always been a very spiny thing, but yesterday I did a double take -- it's as smooth as a fine suede jacket! And such color! No evidence of the "rubra" (red) for which it is named, but beautiful all the same.  Still young, and has only a few spines on one side of the trunk. I'm interested to see yours -- please share photos if you are growing this species. 

 

 

 

[realarch]

That is beautiful, and a palm you don’t encounter much on this forum or, come to think of it, in gardens either. 

Tim

[Looking Glass]

These are awesome looking.  Used to be my holy grail palm.  but South Florida was not k8nd to these.  

Not sure why more people don’t grow these… maybe those spines when young.  I picked up a couple of babies from Floribunda a few years back.  At first they grew like crazy, then (like so many tropicals) when the summer nighttime heat really picked up, they got miserable. They went back and forth like this for a couple of years, then I decided to it was cruel and unusual punishment.  They looked terrible.  I took the loss.  

They kind of have thin, soft leaflets, like teddies, or a R rivularis. 

[flplantguy]

I'm giving them and A. crinita a try in my greenhouse for now, but understand that they are not long term (maybe the crinita if it handles summer🤞). The rubra are very spiny and red now, but are only 4 inch pots still and I have had them less than a week lol.  No idea how they will do, but who knows🤷?

[quaman58]

Wonderful palms Kim.. Back in the day I'd spent a lot to get them, only to have them be confiscated at customs or die. But perseverance finally paid off and now I have a number of them; and they're remarkably trouble free in my 10a climate. The crown shape of these when they're mature is as tropical as it gets. Prior to that, all the Acanthophoenix seem to have a pretty vertical, upright look to them. Your looks perfect!

[happypalms]

I will be as soon as I can get these three in the ground, but for now they are quite fast growing and have cool tolerance, another year of growing them and see how I go planting them in the garden. 

[tim_brissy_13]

Been pleasantly surprised by my one and only to sprout from a small seed batch last year. Hasn’t been fully exposed to the elements yet but has coped with the cool. Suchan interesting and colourful little seedling. Very rewarding from seed. 

[Matt in SD]

I have all three Acanthophoenix growing in my San Diego garden and all grow perfectly. My A rubra are grown from seed off a tree in San Diego (Dennis Willoughby's garden).  The only reason not to grow these I could think of is the spines, but in my opinion they are much less lethal than Phoenix roebellinii or canariensis which are all over the place.  Photos coming...

[Matt in SD]

This one is in a prime spot.  Trunk is almost a foot across at the base, much more robust than the others, but hard to tell in photos.

[Matt in SD]

This is in the coldest and most exposed part of my garden

[Matt in SD]

And here's a trio, rousselii is the big one, crinita front right, and rubra in back

[tim_brissy_13]

45 minutes ago, Matt in SD said:

And here's a trio, rousselii is the big one, crinita front right, and rubra in back

Wow! Awesome idea to have all 3 to compare differences. The A rousellii crownshaft is eye catching! Has it produced viable seed?

 

Nice Tahina photobomb too!

[Matt in SD]

Yeah, the rousselii produces viable seed.  Last year, probably 5-6000.  Its crazy.  But germination is really slow and sporadic, starting almost a year after harvesting.  And the eophyll is like 1/2" long.  I have some seedlings doing well and a bag in my germination box with a few thousand seed.

[Kim]

Very impressive Matt! The A. rousselii is a stunner! Nice to see these mature palms in your garden. 

[quaman58]

10 hours ago, Matt in SD said:

Yeah, the rousselii produces viable seed.  Last year, probably 5-6000.  Its crazy.  But germination is really slow and sporadic, starting almost a year after harvesting.  And the eophyll is like 1/2" long.  I have some seedlings doing well and a bag in my germination box with a few thousand seed.

Hey Matt,

Do you try to clean the fruit off of the seed itself, or just sow them as is? As you correctly note, these things are small & the fruit is pretty thin (& persistent) when trying to clean. Good to hear from you..

Bret

 

[Matt in SD]

Hi Bret,

I gave up on trying to clean the seeds, it's just too hard.  They germinate anyways.  Disclaimer that I have never waited it out to see if I actually get a good overall germination rate.  I got ~10 germinated seeds from several hundred, and then gave the rest to Len, then he got several and I think tossed them.  I thought it was maybe because our climate is not ideal that the seeds were not great, but Jeff Marcus said he has had the same experience, super slow and then very sporadic germination.  The seedlings seem pretty easy despite the starting so small.  This all applies to A rousselii.

My A rubra haven't flowered yet, but I germinated from three different years off of Dennis' plant.  One batch gave very high germination rates and the seedlings were very robust - I literally did not lose a single seedling after germination out of maybe 50-60.  I just could not kill those plants.  The other batches I got either no germination, or low germination and all the seedlings died within a couple months after germinating. I'm generally convinced that conditions during seed development can impact not just germination rate/seed quality, but also the health and robstness of seedlings for at least the early stages of development.

Matt

[mike in kurtistown]

Kim, here is my contribution from here on Hawaii Island, not far from Leilani Estates as you know. No rain today (yet) and my camera battery is now charged up. Acanthophoenix rubra acquired from Floribunda in Jan 2017, planted out in Oct 2018. Had to clear years of dead leaves. Little older ones had numerous and lengthy spines on the crownshaft. Newer leaves and present crownshafts are completely without thorns. Trimmer and 8x8x16 blocks provide scale.

Just for interest, I also photographed my Acanthophoenix roussellii. Also acquired from Floribunda, date not recorded. Planted Jan 2016. Has been flowering profusely for a couple years, but, so far, no fruits at all.

 

[Kim]

Looking good, Mike! Finally a really fine day to get some work done outdoors. Thanks for uncovering these beauties to share with us here. I do envy your soil! Palms grow more robust with that deep soil.

[Matt in SD]

Thanks for the photos Mike and for starting this thread Kim. It's really striking to me how similar the size of my palms in California are to the ones in Hawaii for both rubra and rousselii.  And I know of others with both rubra and rousselii from similar time frames that have plants similar size to mine, so it's not just me getting lucky. When comparing my palms to Hawaii grown palms, it's most common that I have palms still looking like seedlings while the Hawaii growers have palms from the same batch setting seed.  Growth rate difference is often 3-5X per year and this compounds over time. For some reason these Acanthophoenix seems to grow nearly as fast (and look about as good) in Hawaii and California. The descriptions do not indicate them growing at particularly high altidudes, and as far as I know La Reunion is quite tropical. No idea why this is the case, not complaining.  These are pretty high on the list of tropical palms that have surprising cold-hardiness and ability to grow well in cooler/dryer climates (Heterospathe barfodii is maybe top of the list for me).

 

Matt

[flplantguy]

Hopefully they also like a few months of nights in the mid 70s and days around 92, if they can handle that then I may have a shot! That is surprising to see they take the difference so well

[Kim]

Matt, your observations of similar growth rates even in different climates and obvious success to support it should encourage an explosion of Acanthophoenix palm-growing elsewhere.  I had previously avoided most (not all) spiny palms, but was lured into this species after seeing a really beautiful -and tall- example in Bo's old garden. 

@flplantguy -- Go for it. Seems like your temps are similar to Hawaii. I wonder about wet/dry periods? My garden depends solely on rain, which is usually plentiful.

[flplantguy]

1 hour ago, Kim said:

@flplantguy -- Go for it. Seems like your temps are similar to Hawaii. I wonder about wet/dry periods? My garden depends solely on rain, which is usually plentiful.

We have extremes but the averages aren't too bad, and my well water is very good for all of them so far (and the orchids don't brown tip on roots), so I'm hopeful.  Biggest issue so far was overcare (water and frequency) on other species causing fungus, so I need to leave them alone somewhat lol

[Rick Kelley]

Mine came from the same FB batch as Kim's. It went into the ground in March 2019 from a 1 gallon pot. After seven years, it is now about 15 ft (4 m) tall overall with about 4 ft of bare trunk. The color of the trunk is a dull red-orange. Totally carefree.

I had never noticed any spines on the crownshaft, but when I looked closely today, I do see very widely separated short spines about a half inch (1 cm) long.

Much more conspicuous are the white hairs on the leaflets. I have not noticed these on any other palm species growing in the garden. Could this be a reliable diagnostic character in addition to the coloration?

Mine has developed a swollen base.

[ruskinPalms]

How stiff are those spines? I’ve held back for years planting anything with spines for maintenance reasons but if they are on the softer side I might try one after flplantguy figures out which one can take the hell of the summers here. 

[Rick Kelley]

My experience is that the spines are totally harmless. More like short, soft bristles.

[Kim]

Beautiful, Rick! I agree, the soft spines on the underside of the leaves are inconsequential.

When my palm was younger, the spines on the leaf bases looked like this:

Handle with care, but easy enough to avoid getting stabbed.

 

[quaman58]

As noted, the crownshaft on these is just beautiful; here’s one of mine. Forgive the blow up pandas, my wife won’t let me get rid of them. One of those battles not worth fighting..:)

[Kim]

Nice color on yours, Bret! Very healthy looking.

Lol -- the pandas! 🤣 Can't stop giggling.

[JohnStraz]

If someone is up by Ralph Velez's place, i do believe he had one near the curb on the cut-de-sac. please see if you can take a pic