copernicia cowellii

[Exotic Tropicals]

Is anyone having any success growing these palms? I have two which are about 5 yrs old and they just sit there for months with no growth what so ever. am I doing something wrong?

[sick1166]

any palm that starts with copernicia is a slow grower in my trials but when they get trunk a litte faster a very little they seem to grow better in ground (faster)

[rozpalm]

I have one that has been in the ground 1.5 years and it has created 1 leaf in that time. This one may be even slower then Pseudophoenix ekmanii.

[Gbarce]

Mine makes about 2 leaves a year. That's right one leaf every six months and I already live in the tropics.

This is one of the slowest palms ever.

The scary thing is that they don't accumulate a lot of leaves --maybe 3 or 4 at the most so they always look vulnerable. Then again maybe I am doing something wrong with them

[Al in Kona]

To Ron and Gene, regarding growing Copernicia cowellii. I grew one from seed and as soon as it sprouted I put it in the ground and it is growing but super slow. Yes, it is in competition with Pseudophoenix ekmanii for the slowest growing palm in the garden!

In habitat it grows in serpentine soils which would be next to impossible to duplicate in the garden. Maybe that's one reason they are so slow. Here's a pic of mine after about 5 years in the ground from a sprouted seed.

[Gbarce]

I've noticed with the Copernicias that I have put in the ground (Baileyana, Macroglossa and Fallaensis) that the root systems are disproportionately large compared to what you see above ground si as much as possible I keep my Copernicia seedlings in oversized pots too.

I suspect that a lot of the growing is actually happening underground. If the pot is too small that might further add to the slowness of their growth.

[SubTropicRay]

I've killed this palm (non cold related) countless times. Mine never got beyond the size pictured above and to be honest, have never seen one much larger in cultivation. Larger specimens that I've seen are actually hybrids and not true cowellii.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[Exotic Tropicals]

I have cop. Macroglossa, and rigida in the ground and those are doing

great, but these cowellii's are just there. I'm going to

put them in the ground and see what happens.

[SubTropicRay]

C. cowellii growth rate makes C. macroglossa look fast.

[MAPU 1]

Here's mine.Been in the ground about 4 years.

[MAPU 1]

Will try this again.

[Exotic Tropicals]

Those look great

[Gbarce]

Mapu 1- wow that looks great. You've even gone beyond the strap leaf stage.

Whats the overall age of that Cowelii? How old was it before you planted it in the ground ?

[MAPU 1]

I believe that I collected the seed in 2000.These two plants were in 15 gal. pots for 4-6 yrs. and have been in the ground. maybe 3 yrs. The hundreds that are still in citrys pots look like everyone else's plants.They thrive with lots of water!When in pots I had them in frequently standing water in my nursery.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Mine is supposed to be 25 years old

bought it from jungle music 4 years ago, slow is the word not applicable to this palm, maybe it should be described as glacial in growth

regards

colin

[Gbarce]

Mine is supposed to be 25 years old

bought it from jungle music 4 years ago, slow is the word not applicable to this palm, maybe it should be described as glacial in growth

regards

colin

Please post photos. I want to see what a 25 year old Cowelii looks like. Just to give the rest of us perspective on our plants.

I'm going to plant one of mine this weekend.

[ariscott]

Slower than the other Copernicia?? Hhhmmm... macroglossa, hospita & baleyana are slow enough for me...

Regards, Ari

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Mine is supposed to be 25 years old

bought it from jungle music 4 years ago, slow is the word not applicable to this palm, maybe it should be described as glacial in growth

regards

colin

Please post photos. I want to see what a 25 year old Cowelii looks like. Just to give the rest of us perspective on our plants.

I'm going to plant one of mine this weekend.

It lived in a pot for 21 years and had roots as thick as your fingers, planted it 1 year ago, will take a picture tomorrow, Tough plant, was gassed with methyl bromide and it shrugged the gas off

regards

colin

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Mine is supposed to be 25 years old

bought it from jungle music 4 years ago, slow is the word not applicable to this palm, maybe it should be described as glacial in growth

regards

colin

Please post photos. I want to see what a 25 year old Cowelii looks like. Just to give the rest of us perspective on our plants.

I'm going to plant one of mine this weekend.

It lived in a pot for 21 years and had roots as thick as your fingers, planted it 1 year ago, will take a picture tomorrow, Tough plant, was gassed with methyl bromide and it shrugged the gas off

regards

colin

I have never watered this palm very much, generally left it up to nature. Being very cautious on not allowing it to rot.

Here are a few pictures, It is growing much better in the ground than when in the pot

as you can see , it still has the Australian quarantine tag on it where it lived for 2 years.

regards

colin

[Walter John]

Looks very nice Col, looks a beauty.

About the tag, are you keeping tied on as a memory of it's incarceration ?

[Gbarce]

THanks for sharing that photo!!

It's very informative in terms of illustarting the pace of growth of this palm.

Looks like the rest of us are in for a very long wait indeed.

[Exotic Tropicals]

That palm looks great! Looks like I have long wait.

[Gbarce]

THis is one of mine. The most vigorous one and maintains about 4 leaves. Others only maintain 2 leaves.

Is there amything we can do to mimmic the serpentine soils they grow in? I've read that people throw rusty nails in their soil mix. I've actually thrown coins in their pots along with fertilizer but I really don't know what I'm doing with that.

[PalmatierMeg]

I took these photos of my C. cowellii, which is in the ground about 18 months. Mine looks similar to other people's so I'm not as worried about it as I once was. It puts out about 2 strap leaves per year - and every time one comes up another one dies, so I never have more that 3-4 leaves at best. I have the impression that this palm teeters on a precipice between life & death. Excrutiatingly slow and tiny. I surround it with garden critters so no one accidentally steps on it. For such a tiny plant it had a root system that needed a 3g pot before planting.

I haven't heard of a way to effectively mimic serpentine soil. I believe that soil has a high nickel content which is poisonous to most plants.

Copernicia cowellii. Pictures aren't as good as I hoped because the sun was almost down.

[palmislandRandy]

THis is one of mine. The most vigorous one and maintains about 4 leaves. Others only maintain 2 leaves.

Is there amything we can do to mimmic the serpentine soils they grow in? I've read that people throw rusty nails in their soil mix. I've actually thrown coins in their pots along with fertilizer but I really don't know what I'm doing with that.

I've never heard of someone bribing their palms to grow, let us know how it works!

From Wikipedia:

A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle.

The soils derived from ultramafic bedrock give rise to unusual and sparse associations of edaphic (and often endemic) plants that are tolerant of extreme soil conditions, including:

low calcium:magnesium ratio

lack of essential nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus and

high concentrations of the heavy metals (more common in ultramafic rocks)[1].

These plants are commonly called serpentine endemics, if they grow only on these soils. (Serpentinite is composed of the mineral serpentine, but the two terms are often both used to mean the rock, not its mineral composition.)

Randy

[MAPU 1]

Hi Colin

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don;t think the palm in your picture is C. cowellii.I see no white on it and it has somewhat long petioles.Neither of these are characteristics of cowellii.I will post a foto later of plants in the wild.

Dale

[RainForestt Robert]

Can it be that when there is no serpentine soil the glaucous color is absent? I bought some seeds in 2001 from Leonel Mera who said they were collected in Cuba. The palm is super slow (photo to come later) and is green. When I posted a photo in the past I was told "that ain't no stinking cowellii!". OK, not quite in those words. If it is not C. cowellii I would sure like to know what it is.

Robert

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Colin

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don;t think the palm in your picture is C. cowellii.I see no white on it and it has somewhat long petioles.Neither of these are characteristics of cowellii.I will post a foto later of plants in the wild.

Dale

Hi Dale

It was purchased from jungle music in 2006. My soil is Neutral in PH

After the effort it took to get it here it i would not be happy if it was sold to me incorrectly

regards

colin

[Gbarce]

Can it be that when there is no serpentine soil the glaucous color is absent? I bought some seeds in 2001 from Leonel Mera who said they were collected in Cuba. The palm is super slow (photo to come later) and is green. When I posted a photo in the past I was told "that ain't no stinking cowellii!". OK, not quite in those words. If it is not C. cowellii I would sure like to know what it is.

Robert

I was wondering about that before as well, but I planted my seedlings in my usual soil mix and the seedling are definitely glaucous at this size.

In discussions about blue cycads overe here the culprit we usually site for our plants not being as blue as they should be is rain. Some cycads are blue or silver because of a waxy covering and we think heavy continuous rain washes the coating off a bit so they are more green.

But I think there is always a problem of unwanted hybridization everytime one grows things from seeds.

Can you post pictures of your seedlings? I'd like to see what a 9 year old Cowelii looks like.

[RainForestt Robert]

Gene, here is a photo of my alleged C. cowellii.

Colin, I know exactly how you feel when you believe that you have the real deal only for someone to say "that ain't it".

[Gbarce]

Gene, here is a photo of my alleged C. cowellii.

Colin, I know exactly how you feel when you believe that you have the real deal only for someone to say "that ain't it".

That's happened to me too but it was a Coccothrinax Borhidiana. I should have really done my research first--I had doubts about the seedling , but it was a plant show so once its over I wouldn't get a chance to get it till the following year. I bought it telling myself that it will eventually look like the typical C. Borhidiana. After a year it's even more obvious that its not. When I looked up photos of what a borhidiana looks like at that size it was pretty obvious that it wasn't.

Again I think the culprit might be unwanted hybridization.

Knocking on wood now hoping that my Cowelii turns out true to form. I'd hate to determine its identity 20 years from now and be disappointed then.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

THis is one of mine. The most vigorous one and maintains about 4 leaves. Others only maintain 2 leaves.

Is there amything we can do to mimmic the serpentine soils they grow in? I've read that people throw rusty nails in their soil mix. I've actually thrown coins in their pots along with fertilizer but I really don't know what I'm doing with that.

I've never heard of someone bribing their palms to grow, let us know how it works!

From Wikipedia:

A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle.

The soils derived from ultramafic bedrock give rise to unusual and sparse associations of edaphic (and often endemic) plants that are tolerant of extreme soil conditions, including:

low calcium:magnesium ratio

lack of essential nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus and

high concentrations of the heavy metals (more common in ultramafic rocks)[1].

These plants are commonly called serpentine endemics, if they grow only on these soils. (Serpentinite is composed of the mineral serpentine, but the two terms are often both used to mean the rock, not its mineral composition.)

Randy

I've got the low nitrogen,potassium and phosphorus thing down pat. Now all I have to do is figure out what ultramafic and edaphic mean.

The problem with my cowellii is that it is so small and slow that surrounding trees/shrubs grow faster and I am afraid of shading it out. Dale, you mentioned that it loves standing water which surprised me. I wonder how well it does in shade?

[Charles Wychgel]

Here is my Copernicia cowelli planted in 2000, the more I look at it the more I doubt the ID

Here is a young Copernicia cowelli picture taken in Cuba on the IPS post tour

Big ones with Oscar(ViverolaVida)