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I read up on each palm's natural habitat and water accordingly. In most cases for tropicals, water heavily in summer and occasionally in winter but researching their origins is the key for me. Peachy

I will have to disagree with the Dioon genus. The leaflets appear like Encephalartos genus. I won't speculate on the species. It looks like it had an encounter with a weed whacker. It is hard to tell if the leaflet spacing on the rachis is the result of it being stretched due to being grown in shade with so many leaflet missing. Take photos the next time it flushes and has hardened off the leaflets and update the thread, The number of teeth on the leaflets may change as the plant matures, so you will get a better id on species over time.

This sounds contradictory to me. Plants normally flower when they have excess energy. If they don't, they are missing something. Lower fronds always have to die anyway. Leaves that die faster during the dry season is indicative of water stress.

Something else I'd like to add re: pots. Drainage is key if you water regularly, obviously. But for the people (uhhh I plead the fif) who tend to err on the side of underwatering, it's an issue too. Soil compacts when it dries out. Every once in a while I'll notice one of my pots (or my homemade planters) backing up and I'll just take a chop stick or a bamboo skewer or a screwdriver, razor blade, whatever is handy - and just poke into the drain holes. I like to use lots of chunky mixes for aeration and sometimes the bark or coco chunks clog the drain holes, sometimes soil just compacts because it dries, sometimes the rootball pushes it down, sometimes it's just old. Bamboo skewer or the metal chop stick works best. Again, totally unrelated to the Jubea but maybe someone will read the title of this topic and it'll prevent some root rot.

I had no idea they got so big. I grew them for the flowers mainly but would cut them back when they got to 2 metres or so.

There was a man from Northern Europe a few years ago on Palmtalk, I think he lived in Belgium or Netherlands. He grew coconut palms as Bonsai plants in his house. You may be able to find some of his posts with a search. So they can live indoors and not need much room also ! Peachy

You guys are blowing me away with your rainfall stats. Alarm bells would be ringing loud if we only had 8mm of rain in September by the 19th, especially if August was dry too. The farmers would be seriously anxious if that happened. I can’t even imagine turning my retic on yet. Here’s hoping that La Niña and the negative Indian Ocean Dipole work hand in hand to give you guys in Victoria and Tassie a warm and wet spring summer growing season. I think here in SW WA neither of those things affect us. Ocean temps are still high but they’re forecasting average rainfall for the next 3 months and above average max and mins. This morning the min was 12C and my place is sort of in the clouds with light drizzle running off the leaves. You can’t really see the rain just hear it running off the leaves in heavier droplets. The rainforest effect I suppose. I can’t wait for sunny weather in the high 20s next week.

I've never seen one inside a grocery store. I've seen ones with 3 aisles and others half the size of a WM.

Take a look around at some of the older palms nearby. Yes, they're Phoenix but my guess is roebellini x ?? I think these are hybrids.

Very nice photos. Great palm trees, my friend.

Some palms I saw in a Pearland apartment complex including a couple of freeze annihilated Everglades palms lol.

Many beautiful views along the walk to the ruins! Not a palm viewing day but pretty bromeliads and some orchids too. The wet season begins in October I am told and after that many more blooms.

Just checked on the volunteer filifera that's been growing below the Woodall rogers freeway across from the aquarium, and it is sure getting thick. Pictures don't do it justice. Looks like it's about to start putting on some vertical growth, but trunk is already taller than I am. Just hoping they don't remove it, because the trunk is right up against the fence and will probably break it if it gets any thicker

watering containers is problematic if you dont have rain to wash hardness away. Even moderate water hardness can be a problem as these crystals tend to dehydrate roots, making fertilizer uptake very slow. I found growing palms in pots to be a real problem in california due to the water, somewhat low RH and the total lack of rain in the heat. The more established nurseries use deionized water in California to prevent hardness buildup and to water overhead to prevent drying through excessive transpiration. An alternative is to rinse the pots thoroughly with humic acid solution once every 2 months or so as this chelates and washes out the accumulated hardness. Plants in pots in Arizona desert needed to be in mostly shade, they tend to cook rapidly in the sun. Black pots heat up fast if the sun shines on them, and smaller pots cool down and heat up faster than larger pots or the ground which is slowest in heating/cooling. Because pots have small areas where water can escape, it tends to slow drainage at the bottom of the pot. The drainge is very low in capillary action in pots its mostly gravity when compared to in ground plantings. The enemy here is a dry cycle that is faster in soil near the top than down on the deeper root areas. You can correct this to some extent with more perlite in the bottom than up top in the soil column in the pot and more organic material up top with a mulch topping. If you do that properly, "when to water" is simplified as you can touch the soil(or use a soil moisture probe) in the pot holes at the bottom to see if its still pretty moist. IF not notably moist, its time to water. And most important learn to watch your plants for signs of dehydration, starting with increased drooping of leaves/leaflets, then dry tipped leaflets.

Only 8mm rain so far for September here after 38mm for August. I usually don’t water anything in ground until October but we’ve been having days above 20C coupled with wind gusts above 80km/h which dries things out quickly. Hand watering things like Lepidorrhachis and Ceroxylon and will soon turn on the automatic irrigation once the cold nights are over and the risk of rot has passed for the more sensitive tropical species. 20.3C max today after a minimum of 4.7C.

Heres my dioon edule. Just planted a week or two ago. Nice little plant.

Dr. Baker’s word of the day is: hippuriform (!) as in: Oenocarpus inflorescences are typically hippuriform (horse-tail shaped)

A few shots from the last couple of days Euterpe Geonoma Lepidocaryum tenue Attalea Iriartea Iriartea deltoidea Oenocarpus bataua

Lunch in Tarapoto

Here’s a glimpse of yesterday’s trek. During COVID when indoor plants collections increased, I imagine this beautiful aroid would have been worth a fair amount. One of the platforms to connect the canopy walk with president Andy and Director Laz. My kind of a jungle walk! So many small treasures. On to the next flight within Peru…

Leafless Vanilla V. barbellata in bloom

El Presidente

View of the Amazon as we walked from our boat to our hotel room. Gorgeous!

32 IPSers on one airplane, that must be a new record! On our way from Lima to Iquitos to meet up with the rest of the group.

That sort of look to the leaf to me is too much water/fungal issues. Small needles sometimes just up and die. I planted 5 needle palms last year maybe a bit bigger than yours. They all were doing well and actively growing. Mid summer one turned crispy like that, spear pulled a couple days later and never recovered. My remaining four, will often have the offsets die and spear pull on me. No idea why.

Encyclia allemanii

Prra. Rapeepatha Pink blooming again

Finally. This is the first decent heavy rain at the house in months. I’ll take it. Even if it’s brief.

Looks like the needles needed it this year. Nice find and photos