Mananjarensis in South Florida...

[Mandrew968]

Last night I purchased a nice sized Dypsis mananjarensis from the SFPS Holiday Auction. I got it for my Father as he has great luck with Dypsis. I have heard these palms are tough from seed, but once they get to a 1 gallon size, they are slow but steady. Still, it is an expensive palm that can be hard to replace... If I can get this palm to thrive at my Dad's, it would go a long way to making our collection, just that much better. I saw a nice one in the Keys, on this forum--how is that one doing? Do they crave iron more than the rest of the Dypsis genus? I was told to plant it high, give it good drainage, and feed it heavily with iron... Here is an observation I have made that leads to my next question; I have noticed of the two types of soil, we have, Dypsis tend to enjoy our grey marl(a clay like dirt) rather than the coral rock. Having said that, I think the marl is a much more water retentant medium than our rock--would what most other Dypsis like, be not enough drainage for this plant? And how much sun is enough? I am thinking full South Florida sun is just too much for a one foot plant... Thanks for the effort, everyone--pics to come, later.

[Rory]

Jeff Searle should be able to give you more valuable input than anyone else on these in South Florida, as he's grown quite a few of these both in pots and in the the ground. Where I'm at in Plantation has pretty good soil by South Florida standards, so I can't comment much on there soil preference for your conditions. I put one that was a little over a foot tall out of a 3 gallon in the ground about 8 months ago in just about full all day sun based off what I had read about these in previous discussions. Some of the older leaf tips burned slightly and the newest leaf that opened about a month after planting also burned slightly, but since then its stabilized and looks good with a new spear coming along just fine. In general I've found a lot of the bigger Dypsis seem to do better if you give them more sun than you'd assume that they'd like, which is why I try and plant most of them in more exposed spots when I can now. I've also noticed the ones I plant in more sun tend to pull themselves down a lot less than those that are in the shade, although planting them high seems to be beneficial regardless of this. What other Dypsis does your dad have growing down there? I'd be curious which ones tolerate the crappy soil you guys have down there, as even in Broward, where the soils not too bad, I've found a lot of these to be pretty picky about soil.

[Josh-O]

Last night I purchased a nice sized Dypsis mananjarensis from the SFPS Holiday Auction. I got it for my Father as he has great luck with Dypsis. I have heard these palms are tough from seed, but once they get to a 1 gallon size, they are slow but steady. Still, it is an expensive palm that can be hard to replace... If I can get this palm to thrive at my Dad's, it would go a long way to making our collection, just that much better. I saw a nice one in the Keys, on this forum--how is that one doing? Do they crave iron more than the rest of the Dypsis genus? I was told to plant it high, give it good drainage, and feed it heavily with iron... Here is an observation I have made that leads to my next question; I have noticed of the two types of soil, we have, Dypsis tend to enjoy our grey marl(a clay like dirt) rather than the coral rock. Having said that, I think the marl is a much more water retentant medium than our rock--would what most other Dypsis like, be not enough drainage for this plant? And how much sun is enough? I am thinking full South Florida sun is just too much for a one foot plant... Thanks for the effort, everyone--pics to come, later.

How about a picture of the DM you bought at the SFPS??

[Mandrew968]

It always does it sideways on my phone... but it's a big deep pot-maybe 2 or 3 gallons?

[Ken Johnson]

Those are my shrimp tails...

[Josh-O]

It always does it sideways on my phone... but it's a big deep pot-maybe 2 or 3 gallons?

is that a Jeff M. palnt?

[Jeff Searle]

Josh......no, this was seed grown from Peter Balasky that got the seed over in Madagascar from one of his more recent trips. I think Pete has now made more trips to the island more than any "other" palm collector of our times.

[Mandrew968]

I was gonna mention it was field collected, but I would guess most if not all are; not too many of these fruiting in cultivation, I would guess...

[kwtimo]

Here's the what I discovered this morning at the Audubon House in Key West. I planted this a year ago, and it has been doing very well. It is at about 8 ft or so to the top of the new leaf emerging.

[Moose]

CAM01013.jpgCAM01014.jpgCAM01015.jpgHere's the what I discovered this morning at the Audubon House in Key West. I planted this a year ago, and it has been doing very well. It is at about 8 ft or so to the top of the new leaf emerging.

Oh my, that is what I'm talking about = nice job Tim!

[palmislandRandy]

OMG Tim, It doesn't get better than that! Here's your mealybug from May 2014.

[Pedro 65]

CAM01013.jpgCAM01014.jpgCAM01015.jpgHere's the what I discovered this morning at the Audubon House in Key West. I planted this a year ago, and it has been doing very well. It is at about 8 ft or so to the top of the new leaf emerging.

What a Pearler

[Josh-O]

Josh......no, this was seed grown from Peter Balasky that got the seed over in Madagascar from one of his more recent trips. I think Pete has now made more trips to the island more than any "other" palm collector of our times.

Jeff, Does Peter sell any seed?

[Josh-O]

OMG Tim, It doesn't get better than that! Here's your mealybug from May 2014.

amazing color!!!

[Josh-O]

CAM01013.jpgCAM01014.jpgCAM01015.jpgHere's the what I discovered this morning at the Audubon House in Key West. I planted this a year ago, and it has been doing very well. It is at about 8 ft or so to the top of the new leaf emerging.

wowzeers!!

[Rory]

Josh......no, this was seed grown from Peter Balasky that got the seed over in Madagascar from one of his more recent trips. I think Pete has now made more trips to the island more than any "other" palm collector of our times.

Jeff, Does Peter sell any seed?

I might be wrong but I could have sworn Pete told me that more recent crop of mananjarensis was from Marcus, regardless, if you're looking for plants Josh, I think Marcus has seedlings on his list right now. If you haven't grown them before, they're pretty easy as far as Dypsis seedlings go in my opinion.

[Jeff Searle]

Tim.....that palm is outrageous!!! It appears to be very, very, very happy. Love to see my babies doing so well, lol.

Rory.....I just assumed that was a Pete palm that he grew from seed. Because as far as I know, Pete doesn't buy palms from Jeff. Now Jeff could of sent him a small one some time ago, it's possible. I also would like to say, these are difficult to keep alive as one/two leaf seedlings, even for Jeff. Once you get them past that and up in to a 4' pot or so, their very easy and take right off.

[dmc]

Tim that thing is off the chain Damn thats nice!! How about an update andrew have you got her in the ground yet ?

[Mandrew968]

Not yet--actually went and looked for her the other day, as onesies tend to get lost in our nursery and all too often, I find them months to a year later, dead... Good news is she is fine and I do intend to plant her--just have not had a lot of time to think of where to place her. I am a big believer and practitioner in 'think ten times, plant once'.