Pandanus furcatus-Himalayan Screwpine

[Eric in Orlando]

Here is a nice specimen of Pandanus furcatus, Himalayan Screwpine, at Leu Gardens. It is from northeastern India. This is reportedly one of the hardiest pandans as it grows up to 5000ft. in the Himalayan foothills. It is ut 5 years old from seed, planted in July 2004. The palm to the left is Livistona nitida.

[mppalms]

Great picture, Eric.  I have one, much smaller, that has somewhat more yellow leaves.  Is it missing some key nutrient?  Thanks.

Jason

[Eric in Orlando]

I think they are heavy Nitrogen feeders when young, thats what I experienced. Ones that I grew in 1gal. would get yellow after they were ready to be stepped up. A does of quick release fertilizer helped them out.

[Peter]

What a great plant-thanks Eric!  Mine struggled thru the freeze of last year; I pulled the spear, but it has recovered and is growing, albeit fairly slowly.

[mppalms]

Thanks.  I'll try more N.  I've been surprised by how robust this plant is; it is growing like crazy and grows through all but our very coldest weather.  It is pushing itself out of the pot it is in now (ready for the ground I think), and it nearly got blown over by the winds we've had since it has so much top growth.  I need to take a picture of it (maybe when the leaves are less yellow-green).

Jason

[SunnyFl]

(Eric in Orlando @ Jan. 29 2008,17:41)

QUOTE

I think they are heavy Nitrogen feeders when young, thats what I experienced. Ones that I grew in 1gal. would get yellow after they were ready to be stepped up. A does of quick release fertilizer helped them out.

Thanks for the info, Eric - our baby furcatus has the yellowy-green leaves.  We'll give it some nitrogen fert.  Do they do well in pots?

[fastfeat]

Cool. How much do these branch?

[_Keith]

I found this old thread on same, http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin/ptarchive/ikon...t=NW;f=4;t=1330  

Anyone have new cold hardiness info on this plant?

[jdapalms]

This has to be the hardiest Pandanus that I have grown here in Southern Calif. I have quite a few of these at my Fallbrook nursery. It seems that they just have not caught on to the landscape trade here. I planted several in our garden area and am pleased with how they look.

Eric, your plant looks very nice.

Jerry

[mppalms]

I can't say enough good things about this Pandanus.  I had zero expectation that it would survive, let alone grow from 2-leaf seedling to a 3-footer through three winters.  I have no idea what its ultimate hardiness is.  From some of Peter's earlier posts, I think he said his house saw 20 deg. F.  That's a tough temp for any plant to take, and if this plant *survived*, it merits another look for those who like the look of a Pandanus.

BTW, the "yellowing" I mentioned doesn't look bad.  In fact, it's kind of a lime green and could do quite well with the right colors around it.  But, I have seen examples of it with dark green leaves, and I think that's the way it should be.

Jason

[Peter]

Yes, 20d with no canopy, with my usual caveat of excellent air and water drainage.

[Eric in Orlando]

They don't sucker and from descriptions they often can grow unbranched or with just a few. It seems they get taller before they branch.

The coldest this specimen has seen was 31F a couple weeks ago. Another specimen we have planted had some minor burn at 27F back in 1/2003. The damage was similar to that we had on P. utilis. Oddly enough, P. tectorius suffered no damage at 27F nor did P. pygmaeus 'Variegatus'

Seedlings are fast growing and quickly fill a 1 gal. pot.

Pandanus are one of my favorite groups of plants. Its great rarepalmseeds.com has been getting a lot of unusual Pandanus seeds lately. We are growing quite a few species for cold hardiness trial here.

[fastfeat]

I like the "tree-type" species as well. Well-formed (hurricane-undamaged) P. utilis make cool-looking tropical "Christmas trees".

I'm less enthusiastic about the clumping/suckering species though. No matter how careful I am around them, pulling weeds or cleaning dead foliage, I always end up slicing some skin...

[Peter]

Eric,

any photos of your P. monotheca?

[spockvr6]

(Eric in Orlando @ Jan. 29 2008,16:47)

QUOTE

as it grows up to 5000ft. in the Himalayan foothills.

Wow Eric!

Those things get TALL over there  

[tank]

Eric,

Thanks for the picture!  I wish we could grow these up here in the ground!  They definitely like heavy fert.  BTW, how old is the L. nitida in your pic?

Here is a blurry pic of mine from last summer.  It was about 6ft OA at that time.  Its seen temps down to 25 F unprotected.  It experienced significant tip burn at this temp and sort of became mottled for a week, until temps warmed up and the "mottling" went away.  It definitely showed some damage at 25, especially in the older leaves.

[Eric in Orlando]

(tank @ Jan. 30 2008,10:23)

QUOTE

.  BTW, how old is the L. nitida in your pic?

It is about 5 years old from seed.

[Eric in Orlando]

(Peter @ Jan. 30 2008,10:04)

QUOTE

Eric,

any photos of your P. monotheca?

here is one from Nov. 2006, it is more than 2x that size now. I will get a new photo in the next day or so. It has very wide leaves.

[Peter]

Thanks Eric.  Seems like this one might have some cold hardiness as well.  From the photos, it looks like it might turn into a monster.

[Eric in Orlando]

(spockvr6 @ Jan. 30 2008,10:15)

QUOTE

(Eric in Orlando @ Jan. 29 2008,16:47)

QUOTE

as it grows up to 5000ft. in the Himalayan foothills.

Wow Eric!

Those things get TALL over there  

and funny they only mention redwoods and eucalyptus as the tallest plants............

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Bump! I am trying to find a good spot for one of these, i have a 5 gallon with 3 feet of top growth, I can't seem to find any accurate hardiness info on this one, Jeoff Stein rated it as a zone 9a. It's going to heavily influence where I plant it. I have some good zone 10a spots but if it can take upper 20's without damage, I'd rather place it somewhere else.

Thanks.

[_Keith]

Zone 9b yes, zone 9a no, imho.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Zone 9b yes, zone 9a no, imho.

I was asking about zone 9b, i.e. frosts in the upper 20's. If it can take that, it would broaden the choices where I can put it.

[Eric in Orlando]

warmest parts of 9b, but it is cold hardier and much more cool tolerabt than the common P. utilis.

[BigBpalms]

My monotheca has seen 22 degrees three different times under canopy with only minor leaf tip damage. Not as hardy as Furcatas but close.

[BigBpalms]

getting dark not the best pic

[Tropicgardener]

My monetheca is scaring the crap out of me..............I got it as a seedling back in about 2009. It is now trunking and the leaves are huge......up to 5 metres long !!!

[aussiearoids]

Be scared , be very scared whatever I got given as a seedling has grown like the clappers ...

Big bunch of bananas falling on top of it , just made it easier to prune leaves off .

Frickly pucker

[tank]

Be scared , be very scared whatever I got given as a seedling has grown like the clappers ...

Big bunch of bananas falling on top of it , just made it easier to prune leaves off .

Frickly pucker

Punkin Frickly as hell . Someone please buy or steal the one I have because I'm tired of moving it in and out of the greenhouse. Should be clearing 12' in the pot by summer. Have to take a trip to the emergency room whenever I get within three feet of it (P. furcatus).

Edited April 2, 2013 by tank

[BigBpalms]

Tank - mine (P. Furcatas)got crushed by a falling water oak when we got those 80 mph winds with that last front- headed to gville in a few weeks if its still around im game- ill let u know

[Peter]

Andrew, can you post a photo of your monotheca?

[tank]

Brian,

Tank - mine (P. Furcatas)got crushed by a falling water oak when we got those 80 mph winds with that last front- headed to gville in a few weeks if its still around im game- ill let u know

Brian,

I'm sure it would be much happier planted out. Sorry to hear about your other plants.

[BigBpalms]

Thanks Tank - yeah one big water oak (60') took out three different pandans - sanderii, odoratismus and my only unicornictus which ill probably never be able to replace , one of my syagrus x costae and a nice butia x allogoptera. On top of that it cost me almost $1000 to have it chopped and removed- mother nature can hit the old pocket book in a number of ways- My inlaws just bought a place in archer so next time im up ill drop u a line

[KrisKupsch]

My largest monotheca is growing so fast and huge, I hope it has stable roots as its in the middle of the nursery.

No cold damage on any.

BigBpalms have you any information on P.unicornuatus? I have one that has grown very well, now over a metre of leaves. It was slow to begin with but I expect it to be a massive specimen too.

[BigBpalms]

I have no info on it at all - mine came from thailand in 2007 as a small seedling and grew extremely slow for a while then took off and was starting to trunk when it was smashed- cant remember where i got it and im not sure this is even an accepted name any more- I hope someone knows more as I would really like to get another - not that cold hardy though our 2009-2010 winters did a number on it but it slowly came back.

[Brian Bruning]

Who has tried P. pygmaeus in the Bay Area? Will it grow outside? I tried one indoors a few years back and it quickly died.

[aussiearoids]

Cleaned up lots of leaves and now have 2m of trunk .

Starting to get some stilts .

Looking at pics here , I think this is furcatus ..

[Tropicgardener]

Looks a bit like my P. monetheca Mick.

[aussiearoids]

Had no tag when it was given to me ..

googled furcatus name , and best match was pic at start of this post ...

came from gulubia on ebay , and would have been traded from Toby of rarepalmseeds ..

not fussed about these prickly buggers .. just hope it grows above the bananas and gets blown into the gully when next slycone hits ..;-)

[Matthew92]

Just found some info on how this one does in 9a winters.

http://www.southeastgarden.com/pandanus.html