My new babies/Mexican Fan Palms

These grew quick, gotta repot them this week. Thanks for looking, I'm so excited.

Lavina

Looking good!

They look great. Were there more to start with? Looks like 100% germination. I failed once with the same set up. Disn't know enough and left the fruit on the seed. They all molded. Where did you get your seed? Did you collect or buy them? Sorry bout all the ?'s. Good job.

David

They have all come up 100 per cent. It only took 3 weeks for them to grow up.I have them in bigger pots about 3 gal now so we will see how they do. I got them from a friend who lives in Ariz. during the winter. He has a big one in his yard there.
D-mail your address and I will send you some seeds already hulled out.

Thank you sooooo much. I'll have to figure out how to go about doing that. Currently I have King, Queen, & Date palm seeds in ziplocks. I like the mini green houses, there just too big for the space I have to work with. Thanks again. Gonna learn something new, wahoo.

David

Those Mini green houses were $6 from Lowe's can't beat that.

Lavina

Lavina what are you going to do with all those palms?? :)

I have no idea started out as a joke I think, then bam 30 plants. Everyone may get palms for Christmas. They are growing very well I'll show a picture of how I have repotted them sometime today.
Palms sell here for around 50 a 5 gallon pot. I didn't go into it to sell them just to see if they would grow.

Lavina

great job i have grown from seed as well and yes they take awhile to get big but i think its rewarding to see them grow up.

If I knew someone in Florida I would have them collect me some queen palm seeds. i have grown from vacation last year that i picked up off the ground and brought it back its been 6 months and now its aver a foot tall with really wide palms.

Wow sounds like I need some of the Queen Palms

Lavina

yes ill post a pic this weekend but from seed this is the faster grower ive tried so far.

Mexican fan palms are the fastest growing fan palm in AZ. I've seen 10 year old palms at 40 feet. I didnt plant any because of the cost of trimming such a tall 40' palm is about 500 per tree and they need it once a year here. You have a forrest there in 5 years. I grow mexican blue fans that dont grow so fast. This one is about 5 years old, and they top out at about 20 feet in 15-20 years..

This message was edited Sep 20, 2006 12:45 PM

Pretty, I never knew so many different kinds were available until a friend gave me seeds. Wow it has opened up a new world for me.

Lavina

That's not a 'Mexican Fan Palm' per se... yes, it is a fan palm that grows in Mexico, but it's not a Washingtonia robusta... that is a Brahea armata.

Palmbob you can tell that by my seedlings or are you talking abaout the picture of the blue?

Lavina

the blue... can't tell seedlings apart, particularly at that age.

I am aware of what a Brahea armata is I have (6) palmbob. It is called a blue mexican fan, blue hesper, or brahea armata. My apologies for not using the scientific name as down here everyone knows that the blue mexican fan and the mexican fan are not the same palm.. I have read that the blue hesper and the robusta are closely related genetically as is the guadalupe fan palm. The robusta is a very tall (but with a relatively small crown) growing fan palm here in AZ that ends up looking like a broomstick at 60' tall.

It´s probably cheaper to buy a ladder that long and diy ;-) We don´t have these problems here. The wind let them develop relatively thick stems and it takes care that old leaves don´t stay for too long on top of them once they are really tall. BTW I like the broomstick look but I guess you guys have seen them long enough reaching for the sky.

its probably just an arizona thing(dry, hot) but mexican fans tend to grow tall real fast and dont retain many live palms. Some get to 80'. I am too old and wise(and afraid) to even use a 30' ladder up against a tree that moves with loading while I saw off a palm. I love the california desert palm(washingtonia filifera?), but its so huge, and they cost alot to maintain(trim), and if you ever need to remove a 40' tree weighing many tons it will be $2K. I have a friend that has (3) 30+ footers with trunks almost 3' wide, and, on 1/4 acre, if they fall in any direction, either houses or block walls will be destroyed. I prefer the smaller palms that are easier to maintain. The mexican blues(brahea armata) are easy to grow here due to the dry climate, high sun, tolerance of desert cold, and high pH soil.

I've never heard of a mexcian fan palm falling over.. They don't even seem to fall after they die..

A california desert palm(washtontonia filerifa) is a much bigger palm, with a trunk 3' thick, filled with water. This palm must weigh 10x a mexican fan, making much more work for the roots. The crowns are also much larger than a mexican fan. A mature one is is the most enormous fan palm I've ever seen. In the phoenix desert, hard clay soils and all, root systems are harder to grow to support the rapid growth above ground. I've never seen one(washingtonia filifera) fall either, but I've heard that a worker in CA was killed by a falling palm during trimming. This is the tree, california desert palm, that scares me in confined spaces. I dont like mexican fans in my yard because they grow tall fast and out of scale with the rest of the landscape. My experience in the phoenix area is that often the part of trees above the ground outgrows the roots. It could be ample sun with long growing season combined with drip irrigation and heavy clay soils leads to this condition. Many non palms get knocked over by the wind each year in the monsoon season(high winds, some rain) even though the trees may be relatively mature. My technique to deal with this is to not choose trees that grow too large and try to modify the soil to breath better for better root development.

LavinaMae, how bout those pictures you promised ;)

Forgive me for forgetting the pictures. I will take some tonight. I have put the seedlings in the basement for the winter so don't laugh at my junkie basement as I am using part of it as a green house.
I have got to figure out how to get my grow lights up.I have 2 and don't want to connect them diredtly to the floor studs,I do have lots of chains to put on them as soon as I fiqure out how to connect the chains.
My flower/tree fasination is growing hope Hubby survives the turbilance.LOL

Thanks for all the info as I am just learning about palms. I need all the help I can get from you who already have experience.

Lavina

Ref desertpalm: Maybe you would like our climate. Everything grows - slow but steady all year long. But I´m still too new into palms to have experienced possible downsides of it. Hardly anyone here has to pay for taking out big trees since there are specialised landscapers who do it for free and sell them to new developments. The brahea is definitely one I want to try, too...

Well folks I had a computer update from microsoft and now I am having problems posting pictures. Maybe I can get this corrected soon and will post them.

Lavina

mcwolf, I'll bet capetown is beautiful, and year round growing sounds great. You must feel fortunate to live there. How many species of palms can be grown outdoors there? I live in AZ because its where the job took me. I came from massacheusetts, where palms are truly rare, even indoors. One of the pluses of AZ has been the climate that allows growing a little over over 20 palm species(and growing), a modest amount, but I'll take it. We have a very dry climate as little moisture makes it over the southern california mountains. What we get in moisture must come from either side of mexico north. This means that we have lower relative hunidity than southern california, often single digit humidity in the hot season preceeding the monsoon(just means wind direction change, not necessarily rain) in july/august. In the arizona desert, well watered trees can grow very quickly. I have planted slower, shorter growing palmettos(sabal bermudana, blackburniana), Braheas, butias, (1) livingstonia chinesis(heavily shaded), Trachycarpus fortunei(heavily shaded), phoenix robellini(1/2 day shaded), Chamaerops humilis, and Bismarckia. Bismarckia grow to about a amaxmum height of around 25' in the desert. It may be the lack of humidity,as palmbob suggested. Bismarckias in Madagascar grow to 60+ feet. I try to keep mine happy with some "jungle rain" at the end of some days using a hose.

Sure, I like the Cape a lot especially since I grew up in Germany which isn´t a tropical paradise either ;-) But till now I feel that everyone´s palms grow faster, look better etc. ;-) I´ve got a main issue which is wind or better say too many days with strong winds blowing them dry. Water as such isn´t a big problem since I could run the wellpoint pump as long as I want if needed. As palmbob said. There used to grow about 40-50 different species in So Cal and now there are 400. I don´t think it will be that much on our peninsula but definitely more than 4 different phoenix and 2 washis. I´ll try my best to keep numbers up but I fail to get much more than 30. I´m not into seeds yet and everything else is not available at the moment. I just know Braheas from you guys the others you´ve mentioned I try already.
Interesting to learn more about your humidity situation. The lowest I meassured at my place was just below 20%. Normally it doesn´t get below 30% in summer which feels very dry to me. 40 to 50% is what I call normal. But in 20 to 30knots wind, sometimes for weeks ongoing even this makes fonds wither and finally break. Maybe I should emphasize that I live next to a small fresh water lake just behind the dunes of the Atlantic, less than 1 mile away of it and therefore quite exposed to the elements.
BTW. My girlfriend used to study in Phoenix and loved the heat very much. Here she got toughend up quite fast, though ;-)

Mcwolf, the humidity here is typically 8-15% when temps hit 105-115 in the dry season from may till july. In arizona, the "monsoon", typified by 30-55% humidity, drops the temps by 5-8 degrees as it adds humidity. The humidity is carried on the winds from the oceans on either side of mexico. The dry airs in the pre-monsoon season come over the mountains in california and are drier than those in southern california. This year was a little strange, as the monsoon came and we thought we were through the dry season, but then the winds changed and we got some real hot dry heat in august. Precipitation and humidity can be really erratic here year to year. Watching southern california drown, while its bone dry here, is strange. In the past three years, we have twice gone 100+ days without measureable rain. And yet 5-6 years ago we had a 30 year wet season and the desert was abloom with a carpet of wildflowers and green everywhere. Pondering your situation, I might try planting some tough windbreak hedges and even trees to shroud a palm growing garden of sorts. It would take time, but could help with the wind situation. I also recommend soil ammendment and treatments. What kind of soil do you have??

This message was edited Oct 3, 2006 7:48 AM

You´re right. Wind breaks are crucial. It´s just not always looking good. Solitary palms look much better without growing surround by windbreaks. But I try to grow natural breaks whereever its suitable. Unfortunately it´s my first garden and there are a lot of palms planted which I wouldn´t plant again at there particular spot. Phoenix palms are great as windbreaks and are less harmed by the persistend wind. Might consider some kind of reshaping if I get the right palms instead. Soil is mainly sand since we live on the extension of the beach dunes. In lower parts I have also found parts of clay but don´t know how much it will cover of the property.

hi...i was given some date palm seeds. (forgot which one) what's the best way to germinate them?

I'm not sure but I soaked the 6 I got in water for 48 hours then put in peat dirt.in a closed container type thingy. Wish I could post pictures but I lost my camera dock somewhere. GRRRR

Lavina

Doesn't your digital camera come with a USB port? Usually they do....

Are you talking about the cable thingy?

Yeah. I just plug a USB cable into my camera and run it into one of the USB ports on my computer. When my computer detects the camera, I have it explore it like it would an external Hard Drive, and just manually copy the image files to my PC.

Anybody doing Sago Palms?

I replanted all these since this pic was first posted and last weekend I counted I have 48 in varying stages from babies to teenagers to adults. I've created these categories as I've watched their development. This summer was my first experience with Sago Palms, and I've done rather extensive research and observation on their growth and development.

My goal now is to bring the babies to a healthy teenage phase, and this will be their first winter. Any suggestions on how to help them through these next two months of cold in Houston would be appreciated. From what I've seen so far, I expect (project) we'll experience only about 5 to 7 days of temps that dip to maybe 35-38 degrees. The rest of the days will hover around 45-55 over the next 2 months.

Do I need to put the Sago babies inside under a grow light? My DH says they'll do fine outside. I could group them together on the patio and cover them with clear plastic to protect them from the wind. The patio is on the east side of the house and could be walled in by stretching a sheet of heavy plastic straight across the patio. I would then have a room with three sides being the house. If needed, I could put a space heater in their for warmth. Actually, all the patio plants would then be protected!

Let me know, soonest. Thanks!

Oops. Forgot to post the pic.

Gymgirl
WOW great looking family you have there.
You should be in the pic. as the proud Mom.
As for the cold I can`t help you there .
I am in the tropics.
From what I have read ,
They should do ok in the cold Outside.

my sago was outside when the temps went down to 28 degrees and they didn't react at all- I am positive that yours will be fine in the mid 30's.

Thanks, Guys!

Hey Ms. LavinaMae,
How's your Sago Palm baby doing?

Gymgirl-so far all the palms are growing very slow but seem to be doing fine so far. OK They are in the basement and I have 2 grow lights going plus a flood light. I got some king and queen seeds from a guy in California and can't wait to see what they do. I have them in a grow box thingy in the dirt now so hope them start comming up. I'm doing all this by trial and error.LOL.
I haven't been on the board much in the last 2 months been feeling poorly. I am battling depression which I have never had before that I know of but it all started in Oct. when a couple died in a car wreck in our front yard and I had gone out and saw them and the car and can't seem to get it outta my mind. I was in a car wreck at age 16 and 2 were killed and it has just brought back so many bad memories.
I am going this afternoon to NCSU to get pots to plant them in. The NCSU does recycling and you can get all the pots you want once a year and today is the day. The person in charge said I can get up to approx. 1000 pots of all sizes if I want that many as so far only 3 people had called and wanted approx 20. LOL
I am getting 1 gal-2 gal 3 gal and 5 gals. They have up to 40 gal. containers. Hope I can just get all I want in the truck.I'm going to do container gardening at the coast so I hope to get enough.to get started.

Talk to you all later.

Lavina