The Palm Tree Factories of Florida

[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.

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

don, everything here seems ludicrously expensive , maybe its Florianopolis. But I do know those bizzies would sell for huge money here.

[JasonD]

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.

I've heard Roystonea has excellent-tasting palm heart -- it would be cool to harvest some of these before they're too tall. Big yield.

[spockvr6]

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

I am friends with someone from Palmco in Bokeelia and what youve described is true there as well. I drove though one of the fields and saw massive piles of palms stacked up that had been bulldozed over. Most of them Royals. There are just too many of them and all are too large.

One can buy these palms CHEAP. Theyll sell the Royals for $50-75 each and some of these things have like 30 ft of gray wood. The problem is getting them to their new destination. The handling costs far outweigh the practically free palm, so there are few takers. Thus, they get bulldozed over and something else planted.

[spockvr6]

I bought a pair of Royals for my joint down on Pine Island for $75 each (see the afterthought palm in the far right corner of the photo....only good photo I have of them handy). This was one of the smaller ones for this price as I didnt want anything much bigger than this. It was a bear to handle as it was.

Edited October 1, 2011 by spockvr6

[spockvr6]

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

Yes I think thats about what I paid on some recent purchases. I was shocked to see how cheaply one can get some really really big Hyophorbe. I bought a pair of Bottles for $150 each and they are 14-15 ft OA each. And, this price included delivery and dropping into the holes I dug.

The one in the middle is the $150. The two on the sides were freebies from fellow PalmTalkers Scott Tampa and Sonoranfans. Gotta love palm pals!

The Spindles of the same size were even cheaper ($120 each).

[spockvr6]

The brightside in the palm market (among the more common things) seem to be Coconuts. It looks like theyve held their value a little bit more than the other stuff as I havent seen any $50 20 ft Maypans around......

[Dave-Vero]

Home Depot is selling nice bottles and spindles as promos for $50.

The new football stadium at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton is stuffed with mature palms--must have been obtained at bargain prices.

Florida has been known to export palms to resorts in places like the Dominican Republic.

[virtualpalm]

Home Depot is selling nice bottles and spindles as promos for $50.

The new football stadium at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton is stuffed with mature palms--must have been obtained at bargain prices.

Florida has been known to export palms to resorts in places like the Dominican Republic.

And the Bahamas and Singapore, to name just a couple...

Jody

[Mayitin]

Great photographs...I'vepassed some of those plantations on the way to the Everglades....south entrance. The Royals always call my attention

[Mark Heath]

I wish i could get a heads-up when the plan to clear out any Royal plantations. I would love to zip down there and save one!

Jody??? HHHMMM?

Kyle, thanks for the pics, they were breath taking!

[TropiPalmGuy]

Wow Kyle, What a cool trip. Those fields of Bismarkia are surreal. The upside-down Honda was pretty scary. Kinda like an old Miami Vice episode where some clandestine meeting went badly.

[Takil-Explorer]

Well they could also sell the seeds to other countries like Brasil. With that many Bismarckias you should get tons of seeds! And still many countries where they are rare, like India for example. And the economy is growing there so there should be a market downthere.

Alexander

[awkonradi]

Kyle: Great pics. Thanks for posting. Andrei

[virtualpalm]

A couple days ago I found myself driving east on Mowry Drive (SW 320th St.) east of Speedway Blvd. (SW 137th Ave.) in Homestead. As I was driving along perhaps the worst paved road in Miami-Dade County, I came upon an incredible sight that made me think I had to resurrect this thread. I stopped the truck and took a video of what I saw, and I would like to share it with you all. Please read the text associated with the video.

I also took a couple still photos to show the aftermath of this incredibly sad but oddly intriguing practice:

If you look closely at this first photo, you can see one palm in the foreground that had apparently been tagged for sale and was spared the onslaught. You can also just make out the machine responsible for the above video far in the background to the left.

This second photo shows a newly planted "royal palm field" with young seagrapes (a south Florida native tree) coming along.

I look forward to reading your responses.

Jody

[George Sparkman]

Unfortunately it is not uncommon in Homestead & Florida City these days.

I don't know if the seagrapes are the solution.....

Sad,sad times for many really large palms,

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

[Jeff Searle]

I can't say it's new to me. And how many out there can say they've seen this horrible cycle happen twice in their lifetime?

[DoomsDave]

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, to rise rise again . . .

still painful to see!

[Hammer]

Wow. That makes me sick to my stomach. Especially as I am preparing to start my new garden. All that growing time lost.

[oliver]

Wow, that's how to mulch palms trees! I wonder why they take so much time on each tree. I guess they don't decompose well if you just cut them down and put them in a big pile

[Xerarch]

What beautiful pics! And what a shame about the bulldozing, it really breaks the heart, what a waste.

[ErikSJI]

I visited quite a few palm factories in Florida this year as well. They were bulldozing some down to make room for new product.

[ErikSJI]

But on a good note. Of the ones that I visited they say things are picking up and they were selling more trees then the previous few years.

[virtualpalm]

Wow, that's how to mulch palms trees! I wonder why they take so much time on each tree. I guess they don't decompose well if you just cut them down and put them in a big pile

Your guess is correct, Oliver. The big piles of bulldozed palms like Erik showed take years to decompose, whereas the "mulched" palms will degrade very quickly and not take up all that space that could be replanted.

Jody

[Zeeth]

I visited quite a few palm factories in Florida this year as well. They were bulldozing some down to make room for new product.

Well at least it looks like they were mostly queen palms.

In south Florida i noticed a lot of highways planted with new coconut palms, royals, bismarckias and a few others. I assumed the government bought the plants from

failing nurseries like the ones in this thread that would otherwise destroy the palms.

[virtualpalm]

Actually, Keith, most or all of those new palms that you may have seen planted in the Miami area were sold and installed by Manuel Diaz Farms (which is the largest field-grown palm nursery in south Florida) on a contract with MDX (Miami-Dade Expressway), which bids out all of their landscaping jobs to the lowest bidder.

Jody

[Zeeth]

Actually, Keith, most or all of those new palms that you may have seen planted in the Miami area were sold and installed by Manuel Diaz Farms (which is the largest field-grown palm nursery in south Florida) on a contract with MDX (Miami-Dade Expressway), which bids out all of their landscaping jobs to the lowest bidder.

Jody

Thanks for the info. I think it adds a nice touch to the roads, it'd be cool if they did the same thing here