My tiny little palm collection

[basilios]

Livistona decora.

Ptychosperma elegans, 4 years old from seed. One of the palms I take inside the house from November to March...

What remains of a much bigger areca triandra, that was nevertheless able to survive last winter outside, and it was a cold one...

Pandanus utilis, so far no problem with our cold weather.

Edited October 25, 2011 by basilios

[basilios]

Last but not least, an adult adonidia that stays inside year-round...and that concludes the tour! Thanks for watching!

[basilios]

Oooooops!!! I almost forgot! Wallichia densiflora, seemingly a safe bet for my climate.

[Sutter Bob]

Great stuff. Looks like you're ready to take over the neighborhood. Keep up the good work.

[hanapalms]

Hello Basilio,

Good to have you on Palmtalk, welcome. Your collection is impressive, so is your neighborhood. When your sun is setting, ours is rising.

Aloha,

Bill

[Harry]

Impressive container ranch! Bravo!

Any spare seedlings available for sale?

Just so that you can reduce the weight from the balconies!!

[basilios]

Thanks guys - aloha Bill! Nothing to sell for the time being Harry...

[Funkthulhu]

Last but not least, an adult adonidia that stays inside year-round...and that concludes the tour! Thanks for watching!

I love this palm. Can you share any special tips for keeping it "small" and indoors?

[Cedric]

I love and admire container growing on this scale its very intense, a wonderful up close relationship with plants where every tiny detail is magnified each seed a whole continent. Well done its like a little botanical garden going on there, you would Im sure planted out yourself make one terrific plantsmen to reckon with.

[basilios]

Thanks Cedric!

[basilios]

@Funkthulhu : Keeping it "small" is indeed an issue. I try to delay the palm's growth by :

- "feeding" it only once a year with fertilizer

- giving it just the necessary amount of water to go on, but not "thrive"

- keeping it indoors during summer, which is very hot in Athens and could easily add maybe a foot of growth to this palm.

By the way, adonidias are excellent indoors palms, at least for me : I have another 3, quite smaller ones, grown from seed, and all of them are doing more than great. No brown tips from dry air, nor yellowing, not even bothered by spider mites, which they have, but they just don't seem to care. Almost as good as chamaedoreas (but adonidias need much more light to grow decently, so you should give them a relatively sunny spot).

Edited March 22, 2012 by basilios

[Funkthulhu]

@Funkthulhu : Keeping it "small" is indeed an issue. I try to delay the palm's growth by :

- "feeding" it only once a year with fertilizer

- giving it just the necessary amount of water to go on, but not "thrive"

- keeping it indoors during summer, which is very hot in Athens and could easily add maybe a foot of growth to this palm.

By the way, adonidias are excellent indoors palms, at least for me : I have another 3, quite smaller ones, grown from seed, and all of them are doing more than great. No brown tips from dry air, nor yellowing, not even bothered by spider mites, which they have, but they just don't seem to care. Almost as good as chamaedoreas (but adonidias need much more light to grow decently, so you should give them a relatively sunny spot).

I only ask because I have about 30 sprouting right now, and while I intend to give most away, I'll have my pick to keep for my own enjoyment. But your suggestions are sound. Aside from giving them as much water as they want, (and going out on the balcony over the summer) I've kept two R.rivularis happy under an 8 foot ceiling for over 4 years now, and both were at or over 6 ft when I bought them. How many fronds does your Adonidia usually keep? I see the 6th spear coming out on your last picture, just curious.

[basilios]

As it grows bigger and approaches the ceiling, direct sunlight becomes increasingly unavailable for the growing part of the palm, so this is another slow-down factor : it doesn't produce leaves as fast as it used to, and also the new leaves appear a little smaller due to the lack of intense light, but also due to the fact that the pot is becoming too small for the palm - that's another factor that I forgot to mention : I am not going to give it a bigger pot, or fresh soil in any form. But it keeps the old fronds stay on the palm for a long time - a couple of years or even more. Right now it holds 6 fronds, plus the spear. I think I also cut down one that was making people seating on the nearby sofa uncomfortable.

[Janni]

[Funkthulhu]

I love this palm. Can you share any special tips for keeping it "small" and indoors?

Hi Funkthulhu,

as for indoor growing adonidia's I also have some experience to tell. I have that one in the picture below for a couple of years. When I bought it, it had a trunk already. At first it grew relatively quick, but then I had to repot it. At that day I had no other soil, than the natural soil of my parents` garden, which was very calyey. So since then it grows in that clay soil and produces dwarf leaves, grows in a slower pace and my other palms, that don't even think of trunking, are higher by now. I put it out on my balcony through out all summer until temperatures drop too low (round about 7°C).

I hope that helped you

Greetings

Well, I certainly have my pick of Nebraska's clayey Black Gold! Use buckets of it to grow tomatoes and peppers on the balcony every summer.

Thanks for the tip!

-Erik