Ptychosperma schefferi Questions

[Tomw]

OK, so I want to create a neighbor / wind block for my backyard, and I have my neighbor’s approval to plant in there yards along our fence. I’ve been considering using Ptychosperma schefferi and need some information about there growth rate and the viability for a neighbor / wind block. So, how fast they grow and what do they look like in 2 – 3 years? Can anyone share pictures of there Ptychosperma schefferi? Any information will be appreciated.

[Dr. George]

Aloha Tom

See you are not having much luck getting input from our FL colleagues, so I'll bump this with some pics and info from our HI experience and see if we can get others to chime in.

So first off the disclaimer - all that I am going to show and share are from HI and come with no implied applicability to your conditions in FL.

We have 6 species of Ptychosperma in our collection: cuneatum, macarthurii, salomonense, schefferii, sanderianum and waitianum. All of which are clumping except for the salomonense which is a single stem species. Specimens of most of the clumping species were planted out 3 years ago as 15 gal specimens along a portion of our driveway that skirts the property line with a similar objective of providing a partial visual screen. The following pics are from Fall of 2010 so were taken 2 years after the original planting:

P. schefferii:

P. cuneatum:

P. sanderianum (first pic is of ours, second pic is a more mature specimen in a friend's garden):

So here is the P. schefferii pictured above now in the Fall of 2011 (1 year later):

Also from the Fall of 2011 is this P. macarthurii:

If you were in HI, there are several other clumping species that would make nice windbreak/visual screens, including the clumping A. vestiaria, and Pinanga coronata (pictured below). If your winters are on the cold side, you might consider something more cold tolerant like Arenga engleri.

P. coronata

Hopefully something here will be helpful and others will chime in. - gmp

[Tomw]

Thanks Dr George for you comments and pictures. Judging from what you’ve shown me, I think that the Ptychosperma macarthurii and the Ptychosperma cuneatum may make the best windbreak/visual screens. I thought that the Ptychosperma schefferi had wider leaflets and would be a thicker. That’s what’s great about this sight, you can ask question that may help you from making a planting mistake.

[Jeff Searle]

George,

Your photo of P. schefferi is not. Schefferi has wider leaflets and the terminal leaflet is usually much more wider. The overall look would resemble more closely to a P. mac. but with many of the terminal leaflets being bigger. Sorry, I don't have a picture, but I'm sure someone else will chime in.

Jeff

[Dr. George]

Thanks, Jeff - I just go by the labels - what's this world coming to when you can't trust a nursery label - anyway, that gives us 2 schefferi questions for the Ptychosperma fans: 1) who has a pic of the real deal? and 2) any guesses at the correct ID of ours? - gmp

[Tomw]

George, I’ve been doing some digging and I found some pictures of the Ptychosperma schefferi. This picture validates my original impression of what the schefferi looks like, I hope it helps with your ID.

This is not my picture, it is property of Southeastgrowers.com

[sarasota alex]

Tom, I planted P. schefferi in early January of 2011. Not the best time to plant things to say the least but I just couldn't resist. At the time of planting it had 4 growth points. 3 had pinnate leaves and one still had simple ones. This is what it looked like when planted.

Our January and February were pretty mild and the lowest it saw was 40F. On that night wrapped the growth area with a towel and covered it with freeze protection fabric. It still partially defoliated and I soon pulled a spear out of the most developed growth point. I'm hoping this happened because it didn't properly establish itself, because if it gets that damaged at 40F with protection, there is no way it would live through my winter.

Anyway on the positive note, I gave it some peroxide and it soon started growing. Slowly at first, but really picked it up in the summer. This is the most recent picture. I got about two feet of growth on the very stem where the spear was pulled. Most of it during the summer. Growth rate slowed down significantly since we stopped getting our daily summer rains. The rest of the stems didn't grow as much and the smallest one still has simple leafs, produced only two of them since it was planted and is still below ground.

I'll tell you if it makes it through the winter and continuous to grow like that it would be a striking palm in just a couple of years.

[sarasota alex]

Also it's nor really obvious from the photos, but it now is about twice as tall as it was when planted.

[peachy]

I bought P. schefferi a couple of years back, but it looks so much like the good Doctor's, that now I am starting to wonder what it is now too. Somtimes it doesn't pay to check out a thread.

Peachy

[Dr. George]

I bought P. schefferi a couple of years back, but it looks so much like the good Doctor's, that now I am starting to wonder what it is now too. Somtimes it doesn't pay to check out a thread.

Peachy

Peachy - I'd rather like to think that we have a very rare split leaf form of P. schefferi - gmp

[Tomw]

Also it's nor really obvious from the photos, but it now is about twice as tall as it was when planted.

Alex,

Your palm looks great now; I like this palm more and more. Hopefully we’ll have a reprieve for the type of winters that we’ve had the last 2 years

[Tomw]

I bought P. schefferi a couple of years back, but it looks so much like the good Doctor's, that now I am starting to wonder what it is now too. Somtimes it doesn't pay to check out a thread.

Peachy

Peachy - I'd rather like to think that we have a very rare split leaf form of P. schefferi - gmp

So, on your labels it will be Ptychosperma schefferi var split leaf! I herd that they existed but have never seen one due to the rarity.

[Tomw]

I bought P. schefferi a couple of years back, but it looks so much like the good Doctor's, that now I am starting to wonder what it is now too. Somtimes it doesn't pay to check out a thread.

Peachy

Peachy - I'd rather like to think that we have a very rare split leaf form of P. schefferi - gmp

Double posted, sorry…

Edited October 20, 2011 by Tomw

[Dr. George]

I bought P. schefferi a couple of years back, but it looks so much like the good Doctor's, that now I am starting to wonder what it is now too. Somtimes it doesn't pay to check out a thread.

Peachy

Peachy - I'd rather like to think that we have a very rare split leaf form of P. schefferi - gmp

So, on your labels it will be Ptychosperma schefferi var split leaf! I herd that they existed but have never seen one due to the rarity.

Yes - only 2 known locations in the world - Kona and Queensland.

Once, again, you heard it first on PalmTalk!

Seed available next spring.

gmp

[Tomw]

I bought P. schefferi a couple of years back, but it looks so much like the good Doctor's, that now I am starting to wonder what it is now too. Somtimes it doesn't pay to check out a thread.

Peachy

Peachy - I'd rather like to think that we have a very rare split leaf form of P. schefferi - gmp

So, on your labels it will be Ptychosperma schefferi var split leaf! I herd that they existed but have never seen one due to the rarity.

Yes - only 2 known locations in the world - Kona and Queensland.

Once, again, you heard it first on PalmTalk!

Seed available next spring.

gmp