Grow Palm From Cutting ?

[WonderKeeper]

Is anyone out there growing palm from mature cutting? Y ?

1. For edible nut/fruit like coconut, date palm...etc. grow from mature cutting ( palm head ) would shorting the trunk for easy harvest.

2. Save palm that uprooted , damaged from bad weather , animal or insect.

3. Easy for carry on from a collecting trip.

The picture was taking more than 2 year ago. My neighborhood cut down some palms. They gave the cutting to me for yard decoration. I did use one palm head and planted in the soil. I will tell you what happened to that palm head later.

For now please share your story of growing palm from cutting.

[LJG]

Palms do not grow from cuttings. Without the Root Initiation Zone and growth point both intact, you have no way for it to grow.

[MattyB]

I think he's alluding to the fact that his washy cutting took. I know you can take a cutting of some Chamaedorea.

[Dave-Vero]

Yes, I should have saved the top of a Chamaedorea metallica that I once cut off. BTW, several are doing fine in amazingly deep shade and a Chamaedorea planting a couple of years ago is bringing up some really nice stems.

Rhapis is easy to propagate from cuttings.

[Pal Meir]

I have saved an old tall Chamaedorea elegans twice by cutting (the 2nd time when it was almost 40 years old), always when the stem was about 2 m or 7' high. The same I had to do with old Ch. metallica, because their thin stems can grow up to 4 m.

[Pal Meir]

I forgot to add Rhapis palms. In Japan there they cut old Rhapis humilis and excelsa when they are too tall.

[Pal Meir]

Here some pics from a book by Okita Yoshihiro:

[BigFrond]

Pix??? I'll be surprise if that palm head lasted more than a week.

[_Keith]

Sometimes secrets are unlocked and then the whole changes,,,,,,,,and grows a black stem.

[BigFrond]

Sometimes secrets are unlocked and then the whole changes,,,,,,,,and grows a black stem.

Haha... Them black stem are harder to get a peek then them U-FO.

[LJG]

Chamaedorea's root really high up the stem in wet areas. I have a Metallica with root initials a foot up the trunk.

Sorry, but it is a fact you won't grow a palm like a Washy from some stem cutting like shown above. A palm cannot create a new growing point or a new RIZ. Call me crazy

[LJG]

Here some pics from a book by Okita Yoshihiro:

kañsyutiku toriki.jpg

That is airlayering. And notice the growing point is still kept? You can't cut the top and bottom off a Raphis and do this.

[tropicbreeze]

I have a Chamaedorea seifrizii cutting that's still surviving. It was a stem broken off about 350 mm above the ground by a falling frond from a larger palm. It only had one leaf and a new spear emerging. Just shoved it in the ground and left it thinking nothing would come of it. Now, about 9 or 10 months later, the spear has grown a lot longer but hasn't unfurled. The one frond dried off a couple of months back. It started flowering a few months back. And there's a few shoots along the stem about 15 mm long. It's progressing but extremely slowly. Still unsure whether it'll manage to establish itself.

[Pal Meir]

Here some pics from a book by Okita Yoshihiro:

kañsyutiku toriki.jpg

That is airlayering. And notice the growing point is still kept? You can't cut the top and bottom off a Raphis and do this.

Yes, of course. It works with the tops of Rhapis and some Chamaedoreas (e.g. elegans and metallica) after airlayering and only if the meristem is still intact. In other cases I think it is only possible with the lower part of suckering palms (and not with Washingtonias as shown above in#1).

[WonderKeeper]

Thank You everyone for your feedback and thoughts.

As for now we are know some of clustering palm like Chamaedorea, Rhapis... can be grown from mature cutting or even can be air layering.

There is no surprise here if some of you think that palm can not grow from cutting, because most Dr. or expert in palm would share the same thought.

Palm head would continue to grow for a few weeks or month even it has been cut.

I collected 3 heads. One mature head I planted in the ground for over 2 years now. The other 2 I left in shade. One of them was mature head, which continue to pushed out couple inches new grow and died in about a month . The other head was cut short. It also shot out new grow and died in a few weeks.

Here are some pictures that I took in my neighborhood to show you guys that palm can send out roots on its trunk way above the ground. These palms are in the same family with the one I collected.. First picture from the left is a younger tree of all, and the other 2 maybe 10 years or more older than the palm cuttings that I brought them home.

Here in The Bay Area where I am living , in the Summer weather is hot and dry . Other season are not humit like in the rainforest ,But some palm do sending out roots on its trunk.

If there is a root system forming on the trunk of a palm, then can it be grow from cutting or air layering it ? Please continue to share your thought and your own experiment in this topic.

[Pal Meir]

When the palm head is growing further for a couple of weeks it is like the growth of hair and nails of a human even after his dead. Inside the stem is left some power. And the growth of roots (in case of non-suckering palms) doesn’t mean anything if the meristem is dead or cut off.

[LJG]

Thank You everyone for your feedback and thoughts.

As for now we are know some of clustering palm like Chamaedorea, Rhapis... can be grown from mature cutting or even can be air layering.

There is no surprise here if some of you think that palm can not grow from cutting, because most Dr. or expert in palm would share the same thought.

Palm head would continue to grow for a few weeks or month even it has been cut.

I collected 3 heads. One mature head I planted in the ground for over 2 years now. The other 2 I left in shade. One of them was mature head, which continue to pushed out couple inches new grow and died in about a month . The other head was cut short. It also shot out new grow and died in a few weeks.

Here are some pictures that I took in my neighborhood to show you guys that palm can send out roots on its trunk way above the ground. These palms are in the same family with the one I collected.. First picture from the left is a younger tree of all, and the other 2 maybe 10 years or more older than the palm cuttings that I brought them home.

Here in The Bay Area where I am living , in the Summer weather is hot and dry . Other season are not humit like in the rainforest ,But some palm do sending out roots on its trunk.

If there is a root system forming on the trunk of a palm, then can it be grow from cutting or air layering it ? Please continue to share your thought and your own experiment in this topic.

Those air roots you show on those Washy's are nothing more then inactive root initials. Same thing you'll find in Phoenix palms. Once they are covered they will grow. That is part of the RIZ. What you showed above in your first pics is cut logs of a Washy with no RIZ or growth point (apical meristem). It is impossible for a palm to grow without these. The pics of the washy heads you showed too won't grow either because it has no RIZ.

Also the growth you saw after being cut shouldn't be a surprise. It validates one of the reasons why palms are so easy to transplant over most dicots. Palms can store large amounts of starches and it can take time to exhaust them all. This is how a massive palm like the Corypha can live up to two years after it began flowering?

[LJG]

Here some pics from a book by Okita Yoshihiro:kañsyutiku toriki.jpg

That is airlayering. And notice the growing point is still kept? You can't cut the top and bottom off a Raphis and do this.

Yes, of course. It works with the tops of Rhapis and some Chamaedoreas (e.g. elegans and metallica) after airlayering and only if the meristem is still intact. In other cases I think it is only possible with the lower part of suckering palms (and not with Washingtonias as shown above in#1).

Correct. For a second I thought some people were trying to compare what we can do with some Cham's or Raphis and hinted it would work with what the original poster showed with his cut Washy logs

[Jim in Los Altos]

When the palm head is growing further for a couple of weeks it is like the growth of hair and nails of a human even after his dead. Inside the stem is left some power. And the growth of roots (in case of non-suckering palms) doesn’t mean anything if the meristem is dead or cut off.

You're right about the continued growth of a palm's "head" after severing it. I've witnessed it. The hair and nail growth on dead people is a myth though. The shrinking of the surrounding tissue during decomposition gives the "appearance" of that. It's real on palms though.

[WonderKeeper]

Just to clear thing out a little. I did not say that I use the trunk cuttings for planting. I only used one head cutting which was the one on the right picture in the middle of my truck. The head cutting on the right picture was left alone without plant it and it already gone.

Yes there is no surprise if palm head will continue to grow even it has been cut off . However it should have a limited time don't you think?

After 2 + years, the head cutting that I planted is still continuing to grow. This experiment is to see if it can shoot out roots. If not then we can find out how long is a palm head cutting can live. At this time I am not going to expose its base yet. I will wait 1 or 2 more years and then I check out its base to see any roots. Sometime in next Summer I will update new picture. As for now the pictures show the growing head next to its trunk cutting and other dry out head ( this one was the one on the left picture inside of my truck, that I did not plant it in the ground) . All of them were collected as the same time.

[Pal Meir]

That growth shows that the meristem is still intact. But what you need is something similar to the airlayering of Rhapis or Chamaedorea, i.e. growth of new roots from the stem. If this should be possible in case of Washingtonias I would really be surprised.

[MattyB]

The hair and nail growth on dead people is a myth though. The shrinking of the surrounding tissue during decomposition gives the "appearance" of that. It's real on palms though.

Weirdo

[DoomsDave]

Kenneth, you have opened a fascinating can of, well, something.

I concur in all respects with Len's observations, about the washies, the rhapis, etc.

But . . .

There are a few weird palms that spread by underground stolons; anyone ever take cuttings of those and propagate?

[Pando]

The hair and nail growth on dead people is a myth though. The shrinking of the surrounding tissue during decomposition gives the "appearance" of that. It's real on palms though.

Weirdo

lol Matty - Jim just unlocked the secret to his gardening technique.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Pando

[WonderKeeper]

Ok guys,  so Summer has pasted and and Winter is about here... It is about 3 years from the first day that I stated this project ........Head palm still alive and growing, but slow. The outer ring of this palm is decomposing away as you can see in the pictures......  I will wait until sometime next year and then I would make a video of dig it base up to see any roots there.....

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I know a guy in Louisiana that cut a 12'ct queen about 3' above ground and then stuck the stump 2' in the ground and it generated roots and is currently has about 15' of clear trunk . it was hard for me to believe but i saw the tree and origional stump. 

[Alan_Tampa]

I read somewhere about marcotting coconuts in India, when the trees got tall they built a box below the growing point, allowed roots to grow cut the top off and ended up with a short mature coconut. Had to do with making harvest easier. 

[_Keith]

33 minutes ago, Alan_Tampa said:

I read somewhere about marcotting coconuts in India, when the trees got tall they built a box below the growing point, allowed roots to grow cut the top off and ended up with a short mature coconut. Had to do with making harvest easier. 

You got me curious so I just ran through roughly 10 pages of Marcotting links.  The only mention of coconuts is in using coir as a rooting medium, other than more than one site saying this cannot be done with a Coconut or Oil palm.  Do you have any more specific information on where you might have read this?

[Alan_Tampa]

I will look and see. It may have been Julia Morton's fruits of warm climates 

 

It wasn't. 

Edited December 6, 2016 by Alan_Tampa

[doranakandawatta]

On 23/6/2015 20:48:10, DoomsDave said:

Kenneth, you have opened a fascinating can of, well, something.

 

I concur in all respects with Len's observations, about the washies, the rhapis, etc.

 

But . . .

 

There are a few weird palms that spread by underground stolons; anyone ever take cuttings of those and propagate?

weird palms: a Pinanga species (ID???)  I got from Thabit Suby:

Next month I'll try to separate the traveling stolon.

 

 

[WonderKeeper]

"built a box below the growing point, allowed roots to grow cut the top off "     This  would fall into 1  way of air layering.  Air layering and  grow plant from cutting are different  techniques . Great information.... Hope you could post picture of it....

 

"You got me curious so I just ran through roughly 10 pages of Marcotting links.  The only mention of coconuts is in using coir as a rooting medium, other than more than one site saying this cannot be done with a Coconut  "

Yes this maybe can be done.  The picture of a coconut palm that I took during my research of Vietnamese Coconut  in Viet Nam...   Take a look... the roots came out from a damage trunk...

 

[Yort]

Very interesting topic, so if this is possible... What about grafting the top of one species on the trunk of another?

[doranakandawatta]

5 hours ago, Yort said:

Very interesting topic, so if this is possible... What about grafting the top of one species on the trunk of another?

Grafting Lodoicea on the trunk of common Cocos nucifera, 

[foxtail]

On 6/18/2015, 7:08:23, Pal Meir said:

Here some pics from a book by Okita Yoshihiro:

Do you guys think one can apply this on Cyrtostachys renda?

I did it with an off shot with some roots successful.

BTW, where's the video from the OP?