The Palm Tree Factories of Florida

[kylecawazafla]

Hello everyone! I recently drove around Homestead, FL photographing all of the different palm tree species being grown on a commercial scale. Here is the result!

Bismarckia nobilis

Phoenix canariensis

Cocos nucifera and Washingtonia robusta

Caryota mitis

[kylecawazafla]

I was kind of surprised to see so many Washingtonia robusta

Thrinax radiata and Coccothrinax barbadensis??

Some of the canals are host to Alligators!

I didn't know they still grew bananas commercially in the US!

[kylecawazafla]

Adonidia merrillii

A Palm medley... Roystonea regia, Wodyetia bifurcata, Phoenix roebellinii, etc

Livistona decipiens

[kylecawazafla]

Aside from Alligators, you might come across other strange things on these side roads!

Not all palms are created equal I guess these weren't profitable

Latania loddigesii

[kylecawazafla]

Livistona chinensis

Boy, is it wet!

Phoenix sylvestris

Bismarckia nobilis

[kylecawazafla]

Hyophorbe lagenicaulis and Bismarckia nobilis

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii

A canal meandering through the palm plantations

A fish on the side of the..... road

[kylecawazafla]

Bismarckia nobilis

Roystonea regia

[kylecawazafla]

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii

Cocos nucifera

[kylecawazafla]

Veitchia arecina

Ptychosperma elegans

That's all! I hope you liked them!

[Adam from Oz]

That is amazing! Thanks for the pics.

Kinda depressing in a way to see so much "monoculture". Factory is definitely the right word.

How much would a mature Hyophorbe go for?

Cheers,

Adam

[Stevetoad]

Kyle , youre having way to much fun now that your in the land of the coconuts! Great pics thanks for sharing them. Those bizzies are huge! I thought they didn't dig well?

[Jeff Searle]

Kyle,

Thanks for all your good photos. If you notice, most of the palms are large and tall, and will never make it to a future landscape. Their just too big now, and are growing bigger by the day. Many of these fields unfortunately will be bulldozed over in time and piled up to die. I've seen this happen before.Way too many palms for the demand......

Sorry if I sounded so negative.

[DoomsDave]

Kyle,

Thanks for all your good photos. If you notice, most of the palms are large and tall, and will never make it to a future landscape. Their just too big now, and are growing bigger by the day. Many of these fields unfortunately will be bulldozed over in time and piled up to die. I've seen this happen before.Way too many palms for the demand......

Sorry if I sounded so negative.

I remember those when I visited back in 2007, especially the miles of royals.

Hmm. How long before the fields sprout houses, whose new owners will (hopefully) want palms?

[Harry]

Great pictures!

I doubt however that all these palms will eventually find a buyer.

Do palm people turn up with trucks/ winches on bulldozing days and pick up free stuff?

[amazon exotics]

Kyle,

Thanks for all your good photos. If you notice, most of the palms are large and tall, and will never make it to a future landscape. Their just too big now, and are growing bigger by the day. Many of these fields unfortunately will be bulldozed over in time and piled up to die. I've seen this happen before.Way too many palms for the demand......

Sorry if I sounded so negative.

Jeff your so right on this.

[newtothis]

Great pictures!

I doubt however that all these palms will eventually find a buyer.

Do palm people turn up with trucks/ winches on bulldozing days and pick up free stuff?

I'm thinking the same thing..if they would advertise it I would fly out, rent a trailer, and drive back

[Mandrew968]

Dave, people in South Florida want condos--they are lazy and don't like to worry about lawn maintenance. One of the main reasons the economy tanked, down here, was there are just too many condos, currently! Occupants are no longer paying their HOAs and there are no more contracts to build more appartments(which is where most of those common palms get sold for). Home prices are very low currently and the news is now warning the populous that investing in a home is not the safest of investments any longer. Many individuals have chosen to default, resulting in rent free living for as long as 2 years, in some cases! Because of this, the masses will not listen to anyone who tells them their yard is an investment. Worst case scenario, I know my palms are worth more than the grass I displace!

[Palmateer]

Bottle palms trucked up to St. Petersburg have been offered for about $49.95 for a nice-sized specimen.

How much would a mature Hyophorbe go for?

Cheers,

Adam

[palmislandRandy]

Dave, people in South Florida want condos--they are lazy and don't like to worry about lawn maintenance. One of the main reasons the economy tanked, down here, was there are just too many condos, currently! Occupants are no longer paying their HOAs and there are no more contracts to build more appartments(which is where most of those common palms get sold for). Home prices are very low currently and the news is now warning the populous that investing in a home is not the safest of investments any longer. Many individuals have chosen to default, resulting in rent free living for as long as 2 years, in some cases! Because of this, the masses will not listen to anyone who tells them their yard is an investment. Worst case scenario, I know my palms are worth more than the grass I displace!

The people I know in South Florida are far from lazy. Me being one of them.

Nice photos Kyle.

[virtualpalm]

For the true palm nut, you haven't really "lived" until you have been in the middle of a royal palm field standing in knee-deep water where the sky is totally blocked out above you by palm leaves and it is dark and humid and for as far as you can see in every direction there is nothing but massive gray trunks and any photo that you may want to take requires a flash... and then all of a sudden your ears nearly explode and the ground shakes as a squadron of fighter jets takes off from the nearby Homestead Air Reserve Base and flies literally a hundred feet above your head as they depart for their daily maneuvers. It is truly an experience of a lifetime! Every time I am in that situation it reminds me of being in the jungles of Central America... at least until the roar of the jet engines shocks me back to reality!

Nearly all of those fields pictured in Kyle's spectacular photos were planted during the housing boom that took place here in south Florida in the early and mid 2000's. For many years I witnessed more and more fields being planted and more and more palms being grown. When I first got into the landscaping business in 2006, royal palms were selling for $100 per foot of gray wood. Now you can buy a beautiful, fat, well-grown 12'GW royal for $150. There is a glut of common palms here now, and for the first time in the five years that I have been in landscaping I am receiving notices of "field clearance sales" followed by entire fields of whatever is left in them being bulldozed. In one recent case it was to plant bananas! It is an interesting time to live in south Florida.

Jody

[virtualpalm]

How much would a mature Hyophorbe go for?

Adam, I just looked at a recent PlantFinder, which is our local green industry resource, and the going rate is around $10-15 per foot overall.

Jody

[Tomw]

Kyle,

Thanks for all your good photos. If you notice, most of the palms are large and tall, and will never make it to a future landscape. Their just too big now, and are growing bigger by the day. Many of these fields unfortunately will be bulldozed over in time and piled up to die. I've seen this happen before.Way too many palms for the demand......

Sorry if I sounded so negative.

I was really enjoying the pictures of all theses beautiful palms until you did the “Debbie Downer”. I guess the truth hurts…

Edited September 27, 2011 by Tomw

[virtualpalm]

Those bizzies are huge! I thought they didn't dig well?

Hey, Steve. Bismarckias are difficult to move well if they are not root pruned, and even so sometimes they go into shock. That is why many of the growers keep them root pruned on two sides at all times by driving a tractor with a blade down the rows and cutting the two sides. The best growers of bismarckias either root prune them all around, leaving only the roots at the bottom of the root ball until they are sold, or they dig them and put them on racks and let them harden off before they are sold. Below are a couple photos from a field in which all of the bismarckias have been root pruned and await sale. We bought two out of this field earlier this year for $150 each and they didn't shock at all.

Jody

Edited September 27, 2011 by virtualpalm

[kylecawazafla]

I think ignorance is bliss, since I'm sad those palms will die. I think they could find creative ways to salvage the palms. Like setting up a ropes-course or paintball field among the palms, selling thatch, seeds, or AT LEAST selling them for their palm hearts or making palm wine. I think something as simple as plantings of palms can make a huge cultural statement.

[Kris]

Thanks for those beautiful visuals....

Love,

kris

[MattyB]

That was Paul and my rental car after a wild night partying at Ken's.

[paulgila]

as i remember you were the driver that trip.

[Mandrew968]

Dave, people in South Florida want condos--they are lazy and don't like to worry about lawn maintenance. One of the main reasons the economy tanked, down here, was there are just too many condos, currently! Occupants are no longer paying their HOAs and there are no more contracts to build more appartments(which is where most of those common palms get sold for). Home prices are very low currently and the news is now warning the populous that investing in a home is not the safest of investments any longer. Many individuals have chosen to default, resulting in rent free living for as long as 2 years, in some cases! Because of this, the masses will not listen to anyone who tells them their yard is an investment. Worst case scenario, I know my palms are worth more than the grass I displace!

The people I know in South Florida are far from lazy. Me being one of them.

Nice photos Kyle.

Of course, I didn't mean you, Randy--or anyone else on Palmtalk, but you don't live in a condo, do you know?..

[Ken Johnson]

That was Paul and my rental car after a wild night partying at Ken's.

I knew Kyle would find the old PRA leftovers. The palms sure looked odd from that angle.

It sure is weird to see so many big palms still in the ground being maintained. There must be a market waiting that theses guys know about or else they are in trouble for sure. Even my farm full of large rare palms is worth a fraction of its former value.

$150 for those Bismarkia? WOW

[sarasota alex]

Great photos Kyle! I drove by some of these farms but really want to get a chance to walk around one day. Hope they still exist then.

BTW, that's not an Alligator on your photo, it's a Spectacled Caiman. Nice find!

[virtualpalm]

BTW, that's not an Alligator on your photo, it's a Spectacled Caiman. Nice find!

I would hope that is sarcasm, Alex, considering the number of exotic invasives we have here in south Florida. BTW, what makes you think it is a caiman and not an alligator?

Jody

[sarasota alex]

BTW, that's not an Alligator on your photo, it's a Spectacled Caiman. Nice find!

I would hope that is sarcasm, Alex, considering the number of exotic invasives we have here in south Florida. BTW, what makes you think it is a caiman and not an alligator?

Jody

No sarcasm, Jody. I'm not an expert on crocodilians, but it looks like a Spectacled Caiman to me. There is an established population in Dade and Broward Counties since the 1960s - http://myfwc.com/wil...ctacled-caiman/

Here is a picture of a Spectacled Caiman I took in Costa Rica

[Really full garden]

I think ignorance is bliss, since I'm sad those palms will die. I think they could find creative ways to salvage the palms. Like setting up a ropes-course or paintball field among the palms, selling thatch, seeds, or AT LEAST selling them for their palm hearts or making palm wine. I think something as simple as plantings of palms can make a huge cultural statement.

It is a shame to see these plams bulldozed.Why cant they be donated to the state or municipal entities and be given a tax write off? Now would be a great time for large scale beautification projects.These palms only enhance the tropical ambiance of South Florida and its place as a tropical destination in the US .The scenery along the Florida turnpike was pretty dismal.I am sure there are many areas that could be spruced up with palms.

[sarasota alex]

I do believe a lot of them (maybe a minority still) will get planted. In Sarasota I do see a lot more mature palms (10-30 ft overall) being planted. Now it's affordable. For the locals, there were many Bismarckias and Livistonas planted along Fruitville a couple of years ago. Last summer there were lots of Coconuts and Veitchias planted along the water near the Bird Key entrance. This year a portion of Siesta Dr. got Copernicias along the median and Palmer Ranch (my neighborhood) replaced all Washingtonias with 20-30 ft Roystoneas, and added more Roystoneas everywhere for a total of probably a 100 trees. Also planted a couple of dozens 20ft Archontophoenix cunninghamianas by intersections..

[virtualpalm]

As a bit of information on this topic, one of the guys that I work with has a friend who owns a big tub grinder, and for the past six months the guy has been doing nothing but grinding up royal palms in fields in the Homestead area that are being cleared to plant other things. I have not seen this level of field clearing firsthand. It is certainly sad to hear, but I guess there comes a time when plants of any kind have to be treated like any other commodity by the wholesale growers if they are not selling and are taking up space that could be used to grow more profitable palms/plants. I was actually thinking a few years ago that there were way too many royal palms being grown down here for the local market to bear... I guess I was right.

Jody

[sarasota alex]

As sad as this is I'm looking for something positive - Maybe this is my chance to try some Coconut cabbage.

[Nigel]

I have walked in most of the palm platations here in south Brasil but those pics blow my mind.

The scale is enormous.

Very interesting about the way some of those palms are grown on raised berms,especially bismarckias.

Pity they cant export to Brasil, 150 dollars wont even buy a small 1m Bizzie in a pot here.

[amazondk]

I have walked in most of the palm platations here in south Brasil but those pics blow my mind.

The scale is enormous.

Very interesting about the way some of those palms are grown on raised berms,especially bismarckias.

Pity they cant export to Brasil, 150 dollars wont even buy a small 1m Bizzie in a pot here.

Nigel,

I do think that they could export to Brazil. It may be a bit of a pain, but it is not impossible. That does not mean it would be economically viable though. In scale Brazil can outgrow most any place with tropical plants anyway due to the shear size of the tropical climate.

dk

[amazondk]

I have walked in most of the palm platations here in south Brasil but those pics blow my mind.

The scale is enormous.

Very interesting about the way some of those palms are grown on raised berms,especially bismarckias.

Pity they cant export to Brasil, 150 dollars wont even buy a small 1m Bizzie in a pot here.

Nigel,

I do think that they could export to Brazil. It may be a bit of a pain, but it is not impossible. That does not mean it would be economically viable though. In scale Brazil can outgrow most any place with tropical plants anyway due to the shear size of the tropical climate.

dk

[colin Peters]

Wow those are amazing. I have seen the cocos plantations here on the north shore of Oahu, and

they don't even compare to that. So sad to know they are probably not to be in someone's front

yard.