Palm Weeds

[Kim]

Palms as weeds? For some, perhaps this is inconceivable. For others, the list may be long.

While we all come together here to discuss our love for palms and palm cultivation, sometimes we have to deal with unwanted palms. Has this ever happened to you? What are the undesirable palms in your area, and what do you do if they sprout on your turf?

I'll go first.

Birds drop seed of Washingtonia robusta, and they sprout anywhere, even in concrete crevices. If left alone, they will eventually produce a very toothy palm. If not properly nurtured, it will be scruffy looking. They say a weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted, and I remove all weeds from my garden, even if they happen to be Washingtonia robusta. So as soon as they are identified, out they go.

[ed110220]

The only palm that often seems to seed itself here is P. canariensis (or ratty looking hybrids with P. reclinata). However, in difficult locations and without fertilisation or irrigation it grows so slowly it would be hard to describe as a weed (many of the "soils" here are little more than beach sand that holds little water or nutrients and are trying even for a plant as tough as a Phoenix).

I have never seen a Washingtonia self-seed, I'm not sure why not though.

[MattyB]

The Lodoiceas are really getting out of control around my parts. Dirty weeds are they.

[LJG]

Kim, I have 4 VERY old Washingtonia robusta right on my property line. I deal with 1000s of seedlings sprouting up all over yard. I have seen them even germinate in my pool. Like Matt's issue with Lodoiceas, Washingtonia robusta are my dirty (not the good kind) little weeds.

[ed110220]

The Lodoiceas are really getting out of control around my parts. Dirty weeds are they.

I hear they are especially difficult in the paving cracks etc!

[aussiearoids]

Calamus seedlings pop up all over the place , damn things are prickly to pull out .

[Really full garden]

For me its Dypsis lutescens,Livistona saribus ,Chamaedorea tepjilote and Wodyetia bifurcata - the Agoutis bury the seeds all over.

[realarch]

W. robustas here in SD, A. alexandrae and D. lutescens in Hilo. I'm glad I don't have the Lodoicea problem being closer to the coast that Matty has, those seeds can be a PAIN.

Tim

[BS Man about Palms]

Should I respond to this thread or just let people imagine what I'd say?

[chris.oz]

Should I respond to this thread or just let people imagine what I'd say?

No palm grows naturally here in Melbourne, but come back in 100,000 years and I am sure there will be CIDP here.

Thing is, I am not so sure there will be humans around to call them weeds.

[Ntheastpalms]

Syagrus romanzoffiana are weeds in my garden. The fruit bats love the sweet fleashy seeds, which is ok but the rotten things scream & fight allnight when the palms are fruiting . Once the seeds are on the ground rats collect them & hoard them in the most unusual places & eventually they germinate.

So Syagrus are quickly becomming rare & endangered in my garden if you get my drift .

The only other palms that could possibly be discribed as weeds here are Archontophoenix alexandrae & Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. The fruit eating birds spread the seeds around & the seeds germinate readily if they are covered up with some garden mulch.

[avb]

I've had a teribble time with Pritchardiopsis jeanneneyi popping up. I finially managed to kill them off with repeated doses of Round Up concentrate. They hung on much longer than the Lodoiceas that came up about the same time.

[Palm Guy]

For me : Livistona Chinensis, Phoenix reclinata, Phoenix canariensis, Phoenix dactylifera. I only dislike the livistona chinensis...the others are ok!

Other palms I've seen self seed and are becoming naturalised: Ptychosperma elegans, Syagrus romanzoffiana, Roystonea olearacea+ regia, Washingtonia filifera + robusta and the odd Cocos nucifera in beach areas. None of these are considered undesirable though..

[BS Man about Palms]

Should I be killing these Cyphokentia macrostachya's that keep popping up or did somebody want of the last few? I just shot the last ones.

[fiji jim]

Really some of these 'problem palm' must be sent here and you can have my coconuts.

More seriously, here the worst is the coconut

2. Betel nut

3. Manila

4. Golden cane

5. Taraw

6. Chinese fan

7.Macarthur

8.Aiphanes

9.Ivory cane

10. Ruffle fan

and other places in fiji you can add the Royal (but ours does not seed yet) and Date palm and Footstool palm.

In fact the Pinanga kuhlii is colonizing in the hills above Suva and Roystonea regia can be found through the bush in Taveuni and Phoenix dactyfilera is wild in big numbers at Wailolo beach and other areas near Nadi.

[DoomsDave]

Here in Cali, as Kim alluded, it's the Washies that are the worst.

I've got them like cancer, they won't go away.

Phoenix canariensis, as wonderful as they are, can get weedy, too.

As can queens and kings . . . .

I feel a threat coming on.

[deezpalms]

A funny thing that I learned from my Pest Management class is that for Southern California P. canariensis & W. robusta are considered weeds! Boy oh boy them are some expensive weeds!!

[niftinfiftin]

I wish I had some of the 'weeds' some of you others are mentioning! ALL the the way over in NZ, the main palm weeds are T. Fortunei, and phoenix canerensis. In the warmer areas, archontophoenix cunninghamiana is becoming a real problem too. Some of the local councils are trying to ban any more planting of these palms, which the local palm community is protesting.

[Dave-Vero]

Florida has some (native or not) royals growing spontaneously in mostly urban areas, so there are some cautions about growing them near urban nature preserves. Many non-native palms grow poorly here if they aren't provided trace-mineral fertilizers to make up for potassium, magnesium, and other deficiencies.

[Jim in Los Altos]

The main problem palm seedlings in my yard are Trachycarpus. They come up in my lawn often. I get lots of Queen palm sprouts in areas where rodents have hoarded them, occasional Phoenix reclinata hybrids, Washingtonia robusta, Brahea edulis, and lots of Chamaedorea radicalis. I pot up the C. radicalis and leave many in the ground where they sprout. I rarely have any other sort of weeds come up in my yard but certain palms are able to germinate where other weeds wouldn't have a chance.

[bgl]

Palm weeds come in all sizes here. I believe I posted a photo of our tallest palm weed some time ago: an Archontophoenix alexandrae that's probably 35 ft tall (and I try to get rid of them when they're much smaller but this one sort of got forgotten). Sorry about the crown not being visible but I took a night shot straight up the trunk. And then we have thousands of tiny volunteer seedlings. The ones in the second photo are Areca vestiaria. And they definitely grow like weeds. But I just can't make myself use Roundup on them!

[ariscott]

Carpies.... need I say more??? But then, some of you already know how I feel about them!!!! You don't have to have one growing in your yard, to have them. I have 1 year old garden and I am already pulling out carpie seedlings!!!

Regards, Ari

[Walter John]

Syagrus romanceyourpantsoff are an eyesore to me, I know I'm tough but they do get a shabby look in domesticity, I've seen them look good in a dense forest type habitat but as Jon mentioned they have become a pest. Alexs too pop up all the time anywhere

[John in Andalucia]

"Unwanted" palm seedlings is a hazard of nature that could be applied to most palms. If there was a PalmTalk member in every proliferous palm region to say likewise, what good would it serve? I don't see the point in a topic that tries to expand upon the number of species that are considered to be a nuisance or undesirable, when the main ethos is for palm preservation and cultivation. Is this some sort of cathartic process, whereby we love palms so much, that we have to dis them occasionally?

[Walter John]

Jealousy's a curse

[John in Andalucia]

Jealousy's a curse

And to think I was going to suggest that egotism breeds complacency..

[Walter John]

Too late mate, you see, the early bird do indeedth getith thee wormith.

[John in Andalucia]

Quid pro quo and touché cobber!

P.S. Sorry, Kim I didn't mean to spoil your topic.

[Gbarce]

For me its Ptychosperma Macarthurii and Livistona Rotundifolia. These are the pams that were planted by my grandparents and through the decades have spread their seeds in odd places. I have actually resorted to chopping down quite a few (don't hate me)

[John in Andalucia]

For me its Ptychosperma Macarthurii and Livistona Rotundifolia. These are the pams that were planted by my grandparents and through the decades have spread their seeds in odd places. I have actually resorted to chopping down quite a few (don't hate me)

What beauties they never were.

[kahili]

for me. its Sabal minor. The palm seeds aggressively and the seedlings are all over the yard. But. like Bo, I can't bring myself to either spray roundup on them or pull them! I am thinking about cutting off the seed spathe before they mature though.

When I lived in Hawaii, it was coconuts and D. lutescens (boy do I think both of those palms are boring! )

[SubTropicRay]

Chamaedorea seifrizii and elegans, Queen palms, Phoenix reclinata and Washingtonia robusta.

[quaman58]

I'll have to add Phoenix sylvestris to the list. My neighbor dug up a small seedling growing in his backyard and gave it to me; I assumed it was P. canariensis for the fisrt couple years. It's now old enough (in a pot) to ID correctly.

Bret

[amazondk]

The only palms I see sprouting up in odd places are natives, mostly Astrocaryum aculeatum, and Attalea maripa. I have not seen exotics popping up, but then again there are not many except for roystoneas which are planted everywhere. But, I have not seem them growing except where they are planted. I have seen a few african oil palms that look like they have escaped but not many.

dk

[Really full garden]

This is a Dysis lutescens that germinated in a bromeliad (Neo.concentrica).This is the entrance to my office and the falling seeds create a hazard.

[Carlo Morici]

The worse weed at the Palmetum in Santa Cruz is Washingtonia robusta. That is really bad. We kill them by thousands... and thousands... I wish we had no mother plants on the hill.

Maaaaany species sprout by the mother plants, but they don't grow as fast. Some are quite aggressive. I can think of:

-Arenga engleri

-Washingtonia robusta

-Sabal palmetto

-Livistona decora

-Livistona lanuginosa

-Livistona chinensis

-Latania loddigesii

-Phoenix canariensis

-Copernicia alba

-Syagrus romanzoffiana

-Veitchia spp.

The specimens of Pritchardia hillebrandii and P.munroi, planted in 2001, have just got to the adult age. I bet THEY will become the owner(s) of the hill. Allow some time, let them hybridize and spread down through the slopes.

On the other hand, I have never seen any Roystonea or Dypsis sprouting around.

Carlo

[Kim]

I've had a teribble time with Pritchardiopsis jeanneneyi popping up. I finially managed to kill them off with repeated doses of Round Up concentrate. They hung on much longer than the Lodoiceas that came up about the same time.

Dude, I'm pretty sure you misidentified those seedlings. They are obviously Hyophorbe amaricaulis. Any more problems, give me a call and I'll come take them away, roots and all, and I guarantee you'll never see them again.

[Jeff in St Pete]

The African Oil Palm is a weed here and are popping up everywhere. And I never thought I would say this, but coconuts are a weed too. Right now they are sprouting everywhere and all the old fronds make a huge mess. I still love coconut palms, I'm just not planting them on the property anymore. They are better seen at a distance.

[ariscott]

I reckon.. if you don't drink coconut juice or cook with coconut, don't plant coconut trees (this is for those in tropical climate). I have 3 but not big enough to be a problem yet. When I was in Gove, I used to have one which produce a lot of nuts. I never have problem with the nuts, as Scott used to denut them every week. I keep some for cooking, drinking, etc, etc and I leave the rest of the side of the road. Someone will pick them up and use them too. So, no coconut popping up everywhere and everyone gets to enjoy it. I do a lot of Thai and Indonesian cooking with coconut milk, so I am good. Scott is getting really good in opening them too, although... orangutan still does a better job .

Regards, Ari

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Ari,

I love drinking coconut water and I love cooking with coconut milk (especially mixing spicy curries with coconut milk) But, a few palms would supply me with all the coconuts I needed. I would guess there are at least 100 of them growing on this property and when there are that many, they do spread like weeds! Not to mention how dangerous they are to walk under!