Tahina spectabilis

[David Clulow]

[font//Century Gothic"]I had some seeds of Tahina spectabilis which were planted in March 2008. They mostly germinated and two seedlings were planted in my arboretum, in full sun in June 2009. They hated it and slowly faded away and died. The other seedlings, in shade are still in big black bags are doing well but I am reluctant to plant them out. Any advice. I am in central Venezuela 9°N, hot at all times, very wet June to November, very dry from February to April. I'm sure you all know that this is a recently introduced species from NE Madagascar only described in 2007. This is my first posting.

[ariscott]

David,

I just replied at the other forum. Anyway, I am the opposite of you... very hot and wet from December to April/May and dry from June to Sept. I am at 12deg south. Plant them... and watch them explode.....

Regards, Ari

[Pedro 65]

[font//Century Gothic"]I had some seeds of Tahina spectabilis which were planted in March 2008. They mostly germinated and two seedlings were planted in my arboretum, in full sun in June 2009. They hated it and slowly faded away and died. The other seedlings, in shade are still in big black bags are doing well but I am reluctant to plant them out. Any advice. I am in central Venezuela 9°N, hot at all times, very wet June to November, very dry from February to April. I'm sure you all know that this is a recently introduced species from NE Madagascar only described in 2007. This is my first posting.

David, a very warm welcome to Palmtalk. What a grand first post with the Spectacular Tahina Spectabalis. David i live in the cool Subtropics of oz and i have 4 inground all in full sun. They are planted in DEEP soil and get a LOT of water. They very much LOVE Heat and Water. Gene and Bo have posted very stunning specimens and no doubt will post theirs again today with their personal thoughts. A very exciting Palm that should grow Extremely well for you in Venezuela. All Best. Pete

[sarasota alex]

Welcome to the forum! And a great looking Tahina!

[MattyB]

Hi David, and welcome!

These can supposedly take full sun everywhere, so I'm wondering if the shock of moving them out from full shade into full sun did it. The only thing I can offer is some techniques that I've learned from babying palms in a less than optimum climate. Maybe this will help give you success.

Take your time acclimating them to full sun, moving them out into more and more sun, over a year period. When you finally do plant them, plant them high, with the growing point out of the muck, in order to prevent any rot, and ammend the backfill with something to make the soil lighter; organic matter, etc. This should help them from rotting out in the wet season. Then just make sure you keep them irrigated during the dry season and hopefully you'll have success. Hope that helps. Good luck.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi David and welcome to PalmTalk. It looks like we have a similar wet/dry season. I planted two Tahina spectabilis in full sun. One of them went right from my shadehouse and was planted into full sun and it didn't faze it at all. In my experience these palms can take full sun, part sun, wet soil for 8 months of the year, and dry periods for a few months without any problems at all. They will really start to grow and increase in size once you get them in the ground. Best of luck with your Tahina and please keep us updated with photos. If you do a search on this site for "Tahina", you will find lots of threads with photos and info.

[realarch]

Welcome David! Your Tahina are the largest cultivated ones I've seen either in the ground or in containers. I agree with Matty, take your time acclimating to full sun.

Mine is still pretty small and was already full sun acclimated when I planted it. Plus it's on a slope with great drainage and it's not suffered any setbacks at all. Look forward

to more posts from you especially being at 9º latitude.

[LJG]

David, welcome and don't trust MattyB. He has 12,600 post here and only 1 was any good.

Mine went from a greenhouse to full SoCal sun thanks to the homeowners association making me take down the shade tent. But it never phased it. Maybe yours died from something else like a fungal or bacterial attack?

[rozpalm]

Alkaline soil, lots of water and sun seems to make these really happy. On one of mine in the ground I am getting close to a 5' across leaf and I have a few in pots not too far behind. If they are in pots I have found that the bigger the pot the bigger and faster they seem to grow. They do seem to go into shock when first planted out but seem to get over it in a few months time. One other interesting thing about this palm is that when it gets really thirsty it curls the blade on the fronds. If they do that it takes a few days for them to flatten back out again.

[BS Man about Palms]

Based on what I see of mine and reading here, the only combo they do not like is cool and/or wet..

[Moose]

David - I do not believe that the sun exposure caused the demise of your palms. Although found growing on limestone in its native habitat, I don't believe your soil Ph is an issue either. Many forum members have planted this palm on lower Ph soil with positive results.

Were your palms that were planted raised in grow bags? How much were the roots disturbed when they were planted ? How was your drainage where they were planted. Suspect a root fungi may have been the cause. Just my opinion.

Welcome to Palm Talk!

Ron

[Gbarce]

Hmm that is a bit puzzling because from my experience (and has been the experience of others) sun exposure and wet conditions have not been an issue with my Tahinas. The thing they don't seem to like are cold conditions.

I planted this one about a 2 years ago in the hottest time of the year her in Manila. This came from a rather sheltered position in the shade house and when I put it in the ground i didn't realize that it got sun exposure on the hottest parts of teh day fromaround noon to 3 pm. But this palm never skipped a beat. it just continued putting out leaves on a regular basis.

When finally let loose in teh ground I did notice that it seemed to be digging itself deeper into the ground--I guess that is what teh "heel" is for. But now-it seems to finally be established and it seems to have decided to start growing taller now.

[Gbarce]

THe new leaves are even bigger now, In my last measurement the leaves were 5 feet 2 inches across. I haven't taken new measurements yet but these are at least 4 inches wider by my estimate.

But the significant development is that the petioles are significantly taller than the previous leaves -- The neaw leaves are carried up about 2 feet above the last ones--so it looks like this baby is finally starting to reach for the sky

Kind of getting off topic a bit,

Were there any other circumstances with the transplant that might have affected the seedling's health? These seem to be very resilient palms-- maybe you had an infestation of beetle larvae?

[Gonzer]

How on earth did this palm get named after sesame paste?

[bgl]

Hi David,

And first of all, welcome to PalmTalk! My experience echoes that of others - these palms love full exposure and heat and rain! Plant them out and they WILL grow faster. But you may want to acclimate them gradually. I germinated close to 100 Tahinas back in early 2008. My experience is that they are tough palms. No problems moving them up to larger pots (which they will respond very well to), and I only lost a handful. Good luck with yours!

Aloha!

Bo-Goran

PS. I have six in the ground (since a year back). All in full exposure. Here's a link to my blog showing what they all looked like only a few weeks ago.

http://lundkvistpalmgardencentral.com/2011/11/17/tahina-update-17-november-2011/

[David Clulow]

Hi Gene

I

I think you have just hit the nail on the head. My arboretum is almost full and I do not visit as much as I used to. I used to be very careful and examine my newly planted palms for any evidence of the horrible beetle which has killed off so many of my seedlings, including most of my Medemia argun, just one left. I found the holes and it was indeed this nasty beetle which caused the problem. Here are some photos of the beetle which I took a couple of years ago. They were killed with an organophosphate ant killer

THe new leaves are even bigger now, In my last measurement the leaves were 5 feet 2 inches across. I haven't taken new measurements yet but these are at least 4 inches wider by my estimate.

But the significant development is that the petioles are significantly taller than the previous leaves -- The neaw leaves are carried up about 2 feet above the last ones--so it looks like this baby is finally starting to reach for the sky

Kind of getting off topic a bit,

Were there any other circumstances with the transplant that might have affected the seedling's health? These seem to be very resilient palms-- maybe you had an infestation of beetle larvae?

[Gbarce]

Those things look nasty! We also get those here sometimes but its a hit or miss with those bugs- they seem to strike at random. When they eat up the roots you can still save the palm but if they reach the base of the trunk they are pretty much doomed. The problem is the only time I suspect such an infestation is when fhere are visible signs above ground and that usually means they already reached the trunk of the palm and it's already too late. I guess the first thing to look for is a decline in the growth-- but then again this is pretty difficult to assess.

Anyone out there have any tips to prevent these beetle larvae attacks?

Do you have any way of dealing with these pests without having to dig up the palms by the roots? Will soaking the immediate area with poison diluted in water do the trick or wil that just cause more problems of a different nature?

[Pedro 65]

Those things look nasty! We also get those here sometimes but its a hit or miss with those bugs- they seem to strike at random. When they eat up the roots you can still save the palm but if they reach the base of the trunk they are pretty much doomed. The problem is the only time I suspect such an infestation is when fhere are visible signs above ground and that usually means they already reached the trunk of the palm and it's already too late. I guess the first thing to look for is a decline in the growth-- but then again this is pretty difficult to assess.

Anyone out there have any tips to prevent these beetle larvae attacks?

Do you have any way of dealing with these pests without having to dig up the palms by the roots? Will soaking the immediate area with poison diluted in water do the trick or wil that just cause more problems of a different nature?

Well Done Gene for pinpointing Davids problem, I bet hes glad to find out his problem.. your certainly on the ball.. Gene, this time of year here we have large numbers of Xmas Beetles (Anoplognathus sp ) fly in, land and bury down into the ground to lay there eggs. They can be in massive numbers in our kids sandpit or any new disturbed areas as this is very easy access for them including any new plantings with disturbed soil..What can we do.. For new plantings now i lay down a doubled up layer of shadecloth, they cant bury down. I first used this to stop Brush Turkeys scratching new plantings and it works well then one afternooon saw Beetles trying to bury down to no avail..All Good..For palms in pots, i think a barrier ontop is the go, palms dont last long in pots here as i love to get them into the earth..Also, people must really watch if they get there soil from a big saved pile in the their garden, the beetles no doubt have laid their eggs and the larvae will be there in huge numbers. For folks that dont know, the larvae stage can last for a whole year..thats a whole year of munching and their favourite food is as we all know..roots..All Best Pete

[Alberto]

Anyone out there have any tips to prevent these beetle larvae attacks?

Do you have any way of dealing with these pests without having to dig up the palms by the roots? Will soaking the immediate area with poison diluted in water do the trick or wil that just cause more problems of a different nature?

I lost a parajubaea torallyi ,two Livistona ,1 Brahea edulis to this black big beetles. They bore a hole at the side of preferentially not too big palms,bore to the bud region and then the palm is dead or go to the roots. When I discovered the problem i soak the hole with a several liters of solution of an organo phosphate poison.

[rprimbs]

Where do you get the seeds for this? How hardy is it? Will it grow outside here in Southern California?

[bgl]

There are no seeds available. We only know of two individuals that have flowered and produced seeds. The first one, in late 2006, and that's when the first thread was posted here on PalmTalk, and that's what was the beginning to it being named in the first place. The palm wasn't known prior to that. Then a second individual flowered a year later, and produced lots of seeds. They became available in early 2008 through Rare Palm Seeds, and some of the money went back to the village in Madagascar where they grow. Since then, no other Tahina has flowered, and thus, no more seeds. Nobody knows when the next one might flower. Could be next year, could be 25 years from now. And until that happens, no more seeds will be available.

[Kim]

All the seed came from just a couple of trees that bloomed back in 2006 or 2007 when the palm was first discovered, and was distributed through Kew. No one knows when there will be seed again, because none of the local people could recall ever having seen the palm bloom in their lifetime, giving rise to the theory that Tahina might only bloom once every 60 years, but of course, there is no way to really know.

There are a few plants growing in Southern California -- I recently viewed Gary Levine's planted out among his boulders -- but they really struggle when temperatures drop. This palm really likes the heat year-round, and, well, you know what the weather has been like recently...

Edit: I had not seen Bo's post above before I posted. Here is a recent photo of my Tahina in Hawaii:

[Kim]

Here is a link to the Tahina discovery thread, and I have also bumped the thread for easy reading.

Borassus or Corypha - Tahina discovery thread

[bgl]

These are very robust growers, and it'll be interesting to see them develop over the next several years. Here are two of the six I have planted in a loose grouping. And yes, there's enough room between them! All six were planted in Feb 2011 from 10G pots. The fronds are about 3 ft across at this point. Photos were taken a month ago.