Tahina spectabilis

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Nongnooch Tropical gardens Thailand has this beautiful specimen

All the biennial attendees went to pay homage

[Mandrew968]

I love that distichus growth! The USDA facility off of Old Cutler road has a bunch about that size--they were the biggest I had ever seen...

[sarasota alex]

Great specimen! Looks like they have it growing in full Thai sun

[gyuseppe]

this is very beautiful !

[Bill Austin]

WOW what a great specimen

[Central Floridave]

thnx for the photos. That is the biggest one I've seen so far in cultivation!

Mine isn't growing very fast at all. Has anyone figured out how to increase this palm's growth rate? Mine very rarely gets watered and I haven't fertilized all that much, so that may be holding it back. (duh). anyone figure out what this palm likes yet? Nongnooch obviously has!

[richnorm]

That's so strange how the distichous growth is at a right angle to the heel. Must be diving at a very steep angle or perhaps it has stopped tillering now. Clearly it loves compacted soil!

[Daryl]

Here's another shot with BS man for scale!

Daryl

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Wow!

[Jeff Searle]

thnx for the photos. That is the biggest one I've seen so far in cultivation!

Mine isn't growing very fast at all. Has anyone figured out how to increase this palm's growth rate? Mine very rarely gets watered and I haven't fertilized all that much, so that may be holding it back. (duh). anyone figure out what this palm likes yet? Nongnooch obviously has!

Dave,

This palm loves to be fed, watered and in full blasting sun! I suggest you plant it as soon as it's ready. It will do much faster in the ground.

[Central Floridave]

Mine is and has been in the ground for awhile and gets semi-full sun. I'm just guilty of under feeding and watering it. It ain't dead and did survive our super cold winters 28-29F though. I'll step up the fertilizer. Maybe it just has been building up the root system before it bust a move. I noticed bismarckia do that also. They just sit for two years then boom, grow faster. Mine has survived numerous droughts and non-care by me. so it is tolerant of neglict, but suffers in the growth department with my style of gardening!

[waykoolplantz]

I have 3 in the ground, the largest is at the edge of my pond. Seems to like the water

[Harry]

Great looking specimen.

And the palm is not bad either!

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Fantastic specimen Colin !

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Fantastic specimen Colin !

Hi Troy

There will be pictures of Palms and Cycads from attendees that are going to amaze all

start saving for Miami Biennial

regards

colin

[Eric in Orlando]

Wow, that is very cool ! Can't wait until ours get that size !

We have several planted out, they grew nice this summer.

[Trópico]

Long live the queen!

[Mandrew968]

I can attest to mine just basically sitting for about a year. Mine loves the full sun and has started to get much larger leaves than before. No soil ammendment for this palm, nor does it get any irrigation and is probably not fertilized as much as it could take... I would like to make an assumption: These palms have a tendancy to move a little--mine is staying put so I would guess it is happy(a palm on the move makes me think it's not happy with its' particular situation).

[Central Floridave]

Here is shot of mine tonight. Its got a lot of catchin' up to do! I got a good dose of rain the past few weeks including tonight. Its getting juiced up w/fertilizer on Saturday!

[Central Floridave]

I cleaned mine up, fertilized it, and gave it a good soaking. (yeah for the weekend). Now that I see how pretty they are when they get bigger I'll be taking better care of this one!

[George Sparkman]

I love that distichus growth! The USDA facility off of Old Cutler road has a bunch about that size--they were the biggest I had ever seen...

Andrew,

can you post some pictures of those at the USDA facility.

[Mandrew968]

George, I took a few last time I was there but they were with my cannon, not my blackberry. I will ask my wife to do the whole memory card/resize photos thing when she has time.

[Jeff Searle]

I just planted my second one here at the house yesterday from a 10 gallon size pot. My first one has now been in the ground for well over a year. And like some of you mentioned, this palm WILL sit for several months without putting up a leaf, or maybe one or two. It's going through the root establishment phase first. Once it gets established, then come the leaves.

[Moose]

I have 3 in the ground, the largest is at the edge of my pond. Seems to like the water

Mike - how good are they growing? How significantly bigger is the one near the pond?

[Alicehunter2000]

Anyone test the limit of cold hardiness yet? Would be curious to see if it has at least the hardiness of a Bizmarkia or D. decipens. It is a much prettier palm than I had previously thought. Anybody selling potted specimens still? I missed out on the frenzy a few years back when seed was available, now having regrets.

[Jeff Searle]

Anyone test the limit of cold hardiness yet? Would be curious to see if it has at least the hardiness of a Bizmarkia or D. decipens. It is a much prettier palm than I had previously thought. Anybody selling potted specimens still? I missed out on the frenzy a few years back when seed was available, now having regrets.

I will be offering one at my sale this coming up weekend, but I think less and less are still around and who knows when the next batch of seed will come along. It's proving to be a winner for so many people so far.

[bgl]

I understand that another mature Tahina in Madagascar is expected to flower next year. Potentially good news! And here's a photo with Kampon and Jeff Marcus with a bunch of Tahinas in pots. And another shot of the big one that's in the ground, this time with Kim for scale. (I know, we already had Bill for scale - hey, this is probably the largest Tahina in cultivation - can't have too many photos! )

[chris78]

I have one small 1 gal pot plant that I am carefully expermenting with This is what I have found out so far .....

WATER They love water but tolerate drought... growing much slower when dry...

SUN Likes sun, even desert sun... tolerate shade but again, shaded will slow its growth...

Fertilizer They like to eat...

FREEZING they seem ok with light short frost so far.. mine had tolerate down to 30 -32 range

PROLONG COOL WEATHER so far this is one thing its not to crazy about... I have left it out over the winter, but by the end

of winter it looks very stressed...... It recovers over our long hot summers very nicely... Winter

day highs are mostly in the 60's and nights in the mid 30's to mid 40's...

I feel as the plant gain in size it will tolerate my cool winters just fine but I will need to grow it to a good size before planting it out...

How have they done in California?? California winters are much longer then what we have in the desert and our spring sun is much stronger as well and they seem to like sun...

Photo is of my small little guy

[elskel]

What a speciman! My one and only is planted on my property in Southern Baja California, Mexico. I planted in the ground about two years ago, protected from gophers with wire mesh and fence to protect from rabbits. The first year not much growth, this past year saw much more growth. These pictures were from a couple months back. With the heat and rains (first substantial in over 5 years) this summer, I am sure the palm thrived.

[pilou]

I have also 3 Tahina in my garden...

N°1

N°2

N°3

[realarch]

Some nice looking Tahina's out there and the ones in Thailand were spectacular.

Mine kinda poked along for about a year and finally started to move with a more developed root system.

I should have planted it higher and had to create a well around it, but it didn't seem to mind too much.

It's interesting to see the different growth habits depending on location, (or I'm assuming), from long petioles

to super compact. Mine is the latter.

[MattyB]

I guess it's time to take the shade cloth off of mine. I was afraid I was going to burn it.

[Pedro 65]

Some nice looking Tahina's out there and the ones in Thailand were spectacular.

Mine kinda poked along for about a year and finally started to move with a more developed root system.

I should have planted it higher and had to create a well around it, but it didn't seem to mind too much.

It's interesting to see the different growth habits depending on location, (or I'm assuming), from long petioles

to super compact. Mine is the latter.

"Top Looking Tahina Tim" Pete

[realarch]

Thanks Pete! It's plugging along.

[bgl]

Great to see Tahinas doing so well all over the place! Here's a night shot of one of mine.

[realarch]

Boy Bo, that thing is moving along quite well. Seems like after they get their legs they might be a faster than most of us expected. Well honestly I didn't know what to

expect, but I was assuming it would be on the slow side.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

The sad thing about Tahina spectabilis is they are dioecious so unless they are planted in multiples in botanical gardens they have no future, (habitat does not look promising long term) no matter how nice they are, they will be wasted in a single planting. If we are to save this palm think about buying 5 next time and donating them to your local botanical institution, with a bit of luck the species will be around for your grandchildren to see.

A really nice palm , worth saving.

The IPS is operated solely and exclusively for scientific and/or educational purposes related to the study of palms, their propagation, culture, conservation, care, and development.

Do not here much about conservation on this forum.

Sorry to bring this up , like to see the species survive

regards

Colin

[Cindy Adair]

I would be happy to try to grow more than the one I have if I can find more. The one tiny seedling was all that was available when I got mine several years ago. I think this is the only dioecious palm that I don't have at least two other individuals to give a chance for seed.

The vines like the sun too and I think the palm will grow much faster when I'm there full time to tend to it.

Donating to local Botanical Gardens sounds like a great idea for after I move. None in Virginia would be able to grow this palm well.

Great photos everyone!

[Jeff Searle]

This past weekend a friend showed me a picture of one that's planted down in Miami. It was easily as big as the one planted at NongNooch, about 10' tall. I was shocked to see this!

[Don Little]

Great to see Tahinas doing so well all over the place! Here's a night shot of one of mine.

Bo, yours looks great but then again everything you have looks amazing. looking forward to seeing it once it gets even more size. Curious to find out how long before they start to trunk.