Growing Archontophoenix

[Tyrone]

I was just wondering if I could tap into the collective wisdom of the forum to find out what the best ways exist to growing, fat, healthy sunhardened Archontophoenix alexandrae, and Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. I have my own thoughts, but was wondering if there are little tricks etc to boost strong robust growth in fullsun. Any ideas???? I'm trying to grow big 100litre bag specimens.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Daryl]

A lot of the local growers here leave them in trenches full of water. They always look really healthy and robust. Bangas don't look as good if grown in full sun...best to keep them partially shaded. Too shady and they will stretch.

Daryl

[DoomsDave]

I think some A. cunnings are more robust because of genetics, which, in turn, can be helped along by plenty of water.

I have a specimen planted in deeply dug soil, watered like crazy, that's the envy of the garden.

They definitely don't do as well in harder soil, or with less water.

Same goes for A. tuckeri. Deep dirt, plenty of water, zoom! to the moon, and fat, too.

Here in La La Ha Ha, all of the Archies take full sun, no problem.

[sonoranfans]

I have a running experiment with 10 alexes, 4 maximas grown from 4" strapleaf seedlings bought 18 months ago. They are now 3 gallon size, up to 3 pinneate fronds(maximas are slower, 1-2 pinneate fronds). In my environment, the sun is very hot, as there is very little moisture or cloudcover to cut the heat or scatter the sunlight. I first stimulated root growth in a wet shade house environment. Now, I cycle the humidity high and low(single digit), and the layers of sunscreen netting in a less controlled area. Im not sure they will even survive here in the ground, and probably never in full arizona sun. But the interesting thing is that some of them are already tougher in the dry humidity than my dypsis baroni from CA, and foxtails bought from texas. Both foxtails and dypsis are >2x the size of the archontos, and were bought as larger palms. I am hoping the archontos adapt to the dry environment having been in it since the seedling stage. Not one alex or maxima has died, while one foxtail(of 4) and one baronii(of 3) has passed to the fronded meadow in the sky. I expect that when all is done, they will be some of the toughest alexes around. If they dont adapt, I can always grow them in the house in high sunlit areas.

Edited October 10, 2008 by sonoranfans

[Jim in Los Altos]

I totally agree with Dave. All of my Archies are treated equally, planted rich soil and heavily watered. Some have been rockets, growing four to six feet per year (over 20' tall) and others are still relatively small but healthy looking (6 feet tall) so genetics must be at play here. Sun exposure is also similar with most in partial sun and a couple in full sun out of 37 A.cunninhamianas and one A. alexandrae in the ground. Also, most are planted close together in clusters and a few standing alone. Many of my clustered ones have the fattest trunks.

They love water!

[Davidl]

I believe water, location and soil are the biggest factor to a bigger trunk. What I mean by location is if the palm has plenty of light and room it seems to grow more in diameter in the trunk and not shoot to the moon like a cramped one does. Cunninghamiana needs a little shade to look the best but given room to grow and plenty of water it will get fatter as well. I have black sandy soil that has plenty of nutrients and holds water a little longer and that seems to help.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Davidl

[Bennz]

Tyrone,

I've had the same thought, wanting to grow 100L bangalows for local landscaping market, and wondering how to avoid stretched plants. My theory is to grow them in bags with drainage holes at the sides, not the bottom. I got special bags made up that are of a very flat profile, to encourage root width rather than depth. From bare-rooted bangalows I've seen, I think this will work well. My farm is in process towards organic certification, so I will have some fun trying various systems of natural fertiliser. The low wide bags should also help to avoid being knocked over by wind at the wider spacing required for landscape specimens.

I've got 2000 special bags made up, been sitting in the shed for 2 years waiting for me to get the old bulldozer on to the initial site preparation. I will get there eventually. 2000 bags should last me the rest of my life, but it was the most economical way to do a special run of bags. The bags are around 100-120L, I have not calculated them exactly.

There is no doubt at all that there is a huge genetic variation in bangalow palms. I clearly remember seeing a population on a side road of the Pacific Highway that had much thicker trunks than usual. This was about 20 years ago, on my first trip to Australia, and before I had a serious interest in palms. I cant remeember where this populaiton was, despite looking for it on subsequent trips. Somewhere near Wauchope I think. Any Aussie help wiht this?

Anyway, my theory is collect the seeds from those super-fat bangalows and use them as a seed source. Then if the nursery situation ends up stretching them, they will still work out at at least ordinary bangalow trunk diameter.

Some of those super-fat bangalows look almost like small Roystoneas. Not as attractive palms really, as they lack the grace of the more tappered bangalows and alex.s, but I like them. I intend to use fat-trunk bangalows as the major palm component of my 'carbon-forests', as they contaion so much more biomass than ordianry ones. I don't want to get started on what i think about the Kyoto Protocol though!!!

[MattyB]

In my experience the best way to grow an Archonto into a fatty in full sun, is to grow it up to a 5 gallon size plant in filtered light. It prefers this and thrives throwing ample roots, which it will need once it's moved into full sun. Then take this plant, that has not formed any trunk yet, plant it in full sun (accimate if desired), in a rich, deep soil that's kept constantly moist and even downright wet during warm months. Mulching the surface and next to the trunk is important here in our dry climate to encourage the growth of new adventitous roots. Give it a year or two to grow it's roots and fatten up and then BAM!!!!!! it'll go off. Planting a large, healthy, pre-trunking specimine is essential for maximum fattyness.

[Tyrone]

Thanks guys for the input. I knew I could count on you.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tala]

yes agua and then more of it - here its how fat Royals & Queens are done. One caveat for this particular subject, the irrigation has to remain consistent (not necessarily constant), otherwise the woody stems on these have a tendency to split. Don't let them dry out and then try to flood them. Like anythin else in life, balance...

[Walter John]

And then along comes a flying fox and busts your second youngest maxima leaf.

[ariscott]

Read my foxtail answer... I did the same with my A. alexandrea and it seems to work there too. Mine are looking good now (fat) and they haven't started trunking yet. And don't forget 'full sun' otherwise they will grow tall too quickly and never get the fat base.

Regards, Ari