Washingtonia Robusta in pot- Tips/Tap Root, Watering

[Pal Meir]

3 hours ago, Mohsen said:

@Pal Meir

I bought this one few weeks ago as " American Cotton Palm" so my guess was it should be Filifera but now I am not sure...as the petioles are not pure green?

anyone can tell from the pics?

If it is true that W filifera doesn’t have purplish leaf petioles it must be W robusta or W filibusta …

[RobustaEnvirons]

I decided to take the next step as PalmatierMeg long ago suggested and I re-potted my oldest Washy (that I bought from Nevada on ebay last August). I re-potted it in a more standardized black container, rather than the clear Powerade bottles I've been using up til now. And boy was it a job cutting the Powerade bottle down the side. I hope I didn't cut the roots up or anything while doing this. I tried to be careful but it was hard to cut and all with the roots right up against the walls. 

It now looks as if it did indeed need re-potting! Geez, there's a lot of roots here. There was still a lot of potting medium that fell lose though.

I can now see that because I had the soil piled so high up the trunk over time, it only appeared that it wasn't growing very fast. Under closer observation I can see it has a larger trunk indeed. I tried to plant it high enough in this new pot so that more of the trunk could be exposed. Now it actually has a trunk on it, and with the signature red/purple color too! 

I think it definitely needed it, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it does now that its got room to let loose now.      

[RobustaEnvirons]

[RobustaEnvirons]

There's even a little new growth pushing through (came up before re-potting though). 

[Pal Meir]

I found an old photo from 1982-06-16 showing 14 Washingtonia seedlings (germinated in May 1982) in tiny 6×6cm peat pots, on the other photo from 1984-01-08 four of those seedlings 1½ year later in 12×12cm plastic pots. What I want to demonstrate is, you don’t need deep or large pots for young Washies. All you need is sun and water (and a little fert).

[Brad Mondel]

Mine actually grow faster in smaller pots than they do deep ones. 

[RobustaEnvirons]

On 7/29/2016, 10:20:14, Pal Meir said:

I found an old photo from 1982-06-16 showing 14 Washingtonia seedlings (germinated in May 1982) in tiny 6×6cm peat pots, on the other photo from 1984-01-08 four of those seedlings 1½ year later in 12×12cm plastic pots. What I want to demonstrate is, you don’t need deep or large pots for young Washies. All you need is sun and water (and a little fert).

That makes sense to me. I've definitely been giving them Sun, Water, and Fertilizer. I've had them all outside all summer long, and its been in the 80s & 90s!   

The main reason I chose to pot it up in the 1-gallon pot, is because I thought it was time to; due to the roots filling up. I wasn't sure though. It certainly looked like it (as shown in the pictures). My washy was very slow at pushing through new growth. Also, PalmatierMeg suggested it. So I figured I'd just do it.   

  

[RobustaEnvirons]

43 minutes ago, Brad Mondel said:

Mine actually grow faster in smaller pots than they do deep ones. 

Why do you think that is? Is it because it has to spend less time concentrating its resources on growth in the soil (since its a small pot)? To me it seems like its takes forever to grow while in a larger pot, but I can't see how much growth its doing below the soil. Once the roots are built up enough, I'd imagine that it would grow faster above soil. It would certainly save you the trouble of having to re-pot it as soon if you started a Washy from seed in a bigger pot. I recently started a Washy seed in a black 1-gallon container so that I don't have to re-pot for a while. If I'd have used a 20oz Powerade bottle or something smaller, I'd have to re-pot it into the 1-gallon sooner. So I just jumped to the 1-gallon to begin with.   

Edited July 30, 2016 by RobustaEnvirons

[Brad Mondel]

21 minutes ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

Why do you think that is? Is it because it has to spend less time concentrating its resources on growth in the soil (since its a small pot)? To me it seems like its takes forever to grow while in a larger pot, but I can't see how much growth its doing below the soil. Once the roots are built up enough, I'd imagine that it would grow faster above soil. It would certainly save you the trouble of having to re-pot it as soon if you started a Washy from seed in a bigger pot. I recently started a Washy seed in a black 1-gallon container so that I don't have to re-pot for a while. If I'd have used a 20oz Powerade bottle or something smaller, I'd have to re-pot it into the 1-gallon sooner. So I just jumped to the 1-gallon to begin with.   

You're doing great with reporting your palms so don't worry about keeping them in small pots. I think you're doing the right thing. I was just pointing out that my shallow potted seedlings grow fronds faster than the deep potted ones. 

[RobustaEnvirons]

6 hours ago, Brad Mondel said:

You're doing great with reporting your palms so don't worry about keeping them in small pots. I think you're doing the right thing. I was just pointing out that my shallow potted seedlings grow fronds faster than the deep potted ones. 

Thank you, I try my best! They're doing pretty good I think. Haven't had any losses yet. Not bad for somebody who knew very little about palms before Nov 2015. 

[Romeo]

On 7/20/2016, 7:15:25, RobustaEnvirons said:

Thank you for all the great information. I appreciate your advise and encouragement. I agree with you though, and I definitely want to think about other long-term species to add to my collection. I do want to have more variety in my collection. The only thing right now is my rather limited space. I live with family, and I am booked up on available space for palms. My grandma (who I live with) doesn't really want me to have more than 4 palms. And that's what I'm about up to now. Since I live with family, I have to rely on using our southwest-facing bay window in the living room during the winter to get my palms through to springtime. I myself live in an unheated/uncooled sun-room year-round, so my palms cannot survive out there once fall swings around in October. 

I don't plan on living in Ohio forever though. I have a plan to move out of my grandma's house in September of 2017, and move to Florida (probably the Orlando vicinity to begin with). So I'm limited on space to grow palms and money for tinkering with them as well. So I think for now I'm probably just going to have to just stick with my Washy's I've got. Then, when I move to Florida I can probably begin experimenting with various different species and stuff. Plus I'll have a more suitable climate for different types of palms.        

Thanks for the links, Its looks like great information. I really could have used a lot of that info when I first started back in the fall 2015. Lol. I made mistake after mistake, but I've learned from them. I still make mistakes, lol. I have heard of Pal Meir here on PT. He really knows a lot! Especially about growing palms in pots! He has posted on a couple of my other threads as well, his info is always helpful.

I personally try to take great pride and care with my Washies and I tend to them everyday. I think with stragegic re-potting, and tending to them, I think I could probably get 7-10 years out of a Washy.  

I appreciate the comment! I've tried hard with them. Its not been a cakewalk, but with constant learning and trying out things to see what works I think they look good too! 

Thanks again!

How can I keep my  Robusta happy in the house this coming winter? Its too small to plant outside. Thanks

 

 

[RobustaEnvirons]

16 hours ago, Romeo said:

How can I keep my  Robusta happy in the house this coming winter? Its too small to plant outside. Thanks

 

 

The first thing you might want to determine is do you have a South-Facing/Southwest-Facing window to place them in for Winter? Or, in the least a West-facing window could work. 

That is a big thing to ensuring that they make it through. They need to maintain receiving at least a certain level of sunshine. Washingtonias love sunshine and do best in high-sunshine and high-heat conditions. Furnace heat can dry them out though, so monitor their moisture levels often in Winter to keep them from being dried out. 

Keep them in the South-facing/South-west facing/West-facing window all winter, water occasionally (not too often since their growth slows in Winter, but still once in a while), and be sure to occasionally rotate them to keep them from growing towards the window.

How is your soil mixture for your Robusta? Do you have a mixture that allows for good drainage and still retains some water? Robusta need to drain well, but still retain moisture. Perlite and Sand can help achieve this. 

I personally have a south-west/south-facing bay window in my home, so that's pretty optimal for keeping them going. I didn't have to do much. They just sat there all winter and grow slowly-but steadily. If you don't have a suitable window then you could use a grow light for 6-8 hours a day on them. I don't know how effective that would be since I never did that, but if you didn't have a decent window then its something to consider. I would imagine you'd have good results with a grow light on them though.

You should be fine to them through if you follow these guidelines. Good Luck!     

[Romeo]

Thank you for the advice. I feel more confident this time around.  Appreciate your help and enjoy your choice palm !  

 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Romeo

[Glenn Whitehead]

Hello all, please advise. Just bought my first Washingtonia Robusta st approx 3 to 4ft tall. Dont want the height to go above 10ft. Should I keep the palm in a large pot or plant in ground & prune? Your advice would be much appreciated