Some palm fields in Florida

[ErikSJI]

I have been traveling all over Florida and snapped some photos of some palm fields.

[Walter John]

who's palm fields are they ?

[_Keith]

Fields of Dreams

They built it but they (buyers) did not come

[ErikSJI]

Wal I am not at liberty to say as I have been chastised before for mentioning palm farms who are not IPS members.

Keith everyone of these guys are moving a lot of palms this year. Things are picking up.

[_Keith]

Wal I am not at liberty to say as I have been chastised before for mentioning palm farms who are not IPS members.

Keith everyone of these guys are moving a lot of palms this year. Things are picking up.

That is great to hear, Erik. I saw pictures of some last year being bulldozed and burned to make room for other endeavors.

[ErikSJI]

It seems to be common practice for these guys to bulldoze palms and plant fresh ones.

[virtualpalm]

Looks familiar, Erik. I was in a royal palm field very similar to that one just this morning. Although they don't look like traditional row crops, these fields are planted and harvested just like farm fields in the Midwest, and the growers really are farmers of palms. Just like with any farmer, they must look at supply and demand, and if they have a crop that is no longer in demand or for which there is an over supply, they have to make the decision to clear the field and start over. One of the owners I spoke to (actually the owner of the field that I showed the video of the royal palms being "mulched") said that it costs thousands of dollars to clear a field and thousands more to prepare and replant it, so it is not a decision that is made lightly. While it is sad to see palms being destroyed, in their eyes it is just business.

On a similar note, there are a couple large fields near where I work that once had thousands of Latan palms growing in them. Another large grower apparently bought the fields, cleared them (knowing that Latans are cold-sensitive and that they got damaged pretty badly a couple winters ago), and planted tens of thousands of 3-gallon size Chinese fan palms in both fields. At first I was a little surprised to see this since there really doesn't seem to be much of a market for that species here in south Florida. But then I realized that this species is not cold-sensitive, grows well in our soil and climate, and does not seem to have a problem with the pests that attack many other palms (rugose spiraling whitefly being the most common and problematic right now). It is a gamble deciding which species to plant; it may work out, or it may be a waste of money. In this case, though, it takes years of investing time and money before there is any resolution to the gamble. Interesting business.

[ErikSJI]

It was pretty impressive watching the different types of Machines they use to dig the palms, pull the palms, load the palms etc.

I was amazed at how fast the palms came out of the field. A few weeks later most of the palms where gone either sold or in the palm graveyard and replanted.