Ravenea rivularis trunk questions

[ThePalmNovice]

Sorry if these are obvious or easy to answer, but I have a few questions concerning Majesty Palms and their trunks. I currently have 3 Ravenea rivularis outdoors in a humid 9B climate. I got these trees primarily because I love the smooth thick trunk on them when they grow up as well as the circular crown of leaves. The plants I have are all about 5ft tall from pot bound 4 gallons buckets. They've been in the ground for less than two months. 

I've followed most of the recommendations Palmpedia and Betrock's Guide to Palm's have on growing them. Give them good soil, drainage, and water the heck out of them. So far they seem to be doing good, and their sprouting out new fronds everywhere. However I have a few questions I couldn't seem to find anywhere. I'd love it if anyone could answer them. 

1). The trunks on mine look split apart at the base. In fact, now that they’re in ground they seem to be getting further apart. Is that normal? The pot and roots suggested this was all one tree, but I'm starting to wonder if I have two small trees growing together. Here's the pic for you to decide. Are these two separate trees, or will it all join back together as it grows up? 

 

2). How long do these take to form a true wooden trunk? Most sources suggest Ravenea rivularis are fast growing, yet I've seen other gardeners say this is a slow grower. Which one is it? If grown properly can I expect a small above ground trunk like this in a year or years from now? 

3). How soon should I fertilize these? I've had others on Palmtalk say you shouldn't fertilize new palms, and for the most part I've avoided that. Yet everything I've read about majesty palms says they need a lot of fertilizer or else they get nutritional deficiency and yellow out. Do I need to fertilize these at a sooner point then other palms or let them go until fall? 

Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can provide. 
 

Edited March 7, 2017 by ThePalmNovice

[pigafetta]

Looks like you have three palms, they will not form one palm as they grow they will always be three seperate palms.

Growth rate depends on many different factors such as how much warmth you get and for how long, water and fertiliser but they are generally a steady grower in most climates, i wouldn't call them fast but not slow by any means, expect it to trunk in a few years.

Possibly being multi planted they may be a little slower than if single palm as competing for water and nutrients.

I always add fertiliser when i plant out a palm, or fertilise in the growing season.

Edited March 7, 2017 by pigafetta

[topwater]

30 minutes ago, pigafetta said:

Looks like you have three palms, they will not form one palm as they grow they will always be three seperate palms.

Growth rate depends on many different factors such as how much warmth you get and for how long, water and fertiliser but they are generally a steady grower in most climates, i wouldn't call them fast but not slow by any means, expect it to trunk in a few years.

Possibly being multi planted they may be a little slower than if single palm as competing for water and nutrients.

I always add fertiliser when i plant out a palm, or fertilise in the growing season.

You have two separate trees, the growers often put 2-3 seedlings in a pot.  Yours look really good, and majesties are fast in our climate, humid 9b.  To be honest, I've only had 5 in the ground for two years, the singles (3) have done way better than the doubles(2) for me. Also, they didn't like a low of 28f this winter, they'll be fine but at least 25% leaf burn. 

[topwater]

1 hour ago, pigafetta said:

Looks like you have three palms, they will not form one palm as they grow they will always be three seperate palms.

Growth rate depends on many different factors such as how much warmth you get and for how long, water and fertiliser but they are generally a steady grower in most climates, i wouldn't call them fast but not slow by any means, expect it to trunk in a few years.

Possibly being multi planted they may be a little slower than if single palm as competing for water and nutrients.

I always add fertiliser when i plant out a palm, or fertilise in the growing season.

Agreed.  Majesty is not a clumping palm, if you have two in one pot you have two separate trees.  At my big box they are sold as house plants too.  I'm also humid 9b, I planted two singles and one double last year, the double did really bad, I'm digging it up.  

[topwater]

Also, I spent a year sun hardening mine before they were planted.  If you take them from the indoor house plant section of Lowes to full south Texas sun, they last 4-5 days, max. 

[ThePalmNovice]

The trees I got were sold outdoors to begin with and planted in January, so the sun was no problem. But, wow! I've actually got 6 Majesty palms growing together? (3 on one tree, 2 on the other). Not sure how I feel about that. I've never seen an example of a mature, full grown Majesty directly beside one another. Can anyone provide an example? I'd hate to dig them up as their growing really well, but should I separate these before they get any bigger? Or would that cause more harm and slow down rate of growth even further?

Edited March 7, 2017 by ThePalmNovice

[GMann]

Home Depot sell them like that (in clusters) as indoor potted palms.

Majesty is the slowest palm I have growing in my garden. I have one and I have basically given up on ever seeing any clear trunk on it.

If I ever wanted to see a trunk on one, I would buy one that already has trunk.

[topwater]

7 hours ago, GMann said:

Home Depot sell them like that (in clusters) as indoor potted palms.

Majesty is the slowest palm I have growing in my garden. I have one and I have basically given up on ever seeing any clear trunk on it.

If I ever wanted to see a trunk on one, I would buy one that already has trunk.

Wow, I thought they were fairly fast. I'm not sure what to think about mine. They have full morning sun but get some shade in the PM. Nonetheless, they didn't enjoy the heat of August so they were stressed out going into the winter and after a low of 28f they had about 25% burn.  They may like your place better, I'm more on the cool side of 9b than Orlando. People have only recently started planting these guys in TC, there tons of little ones in the ground, but so far I have only seen one that has actually trunked, I've no idea how long it took. 

Edited March 8, 2017 by topwater

[RedRabbit]

12 hours ago, ThePalmNovice said:

The trees I got were sold outdoors to begin with and planted in January, so the sun was no problem. But, wow! I've actually got 6 Majesty palms growing together? (3 on one tree, 2 on the other). Not sure how I feel about that. I've never seen an example of a mature, full grown Majesty directly beside one another. Can anyone provide an example? I'd hate to dig them up as their growing really well, but should I separate these before they get any bigger? Or would that cause more harm and slow down rate of growth even further?

Here's an example of a triple: http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/13879-majesty-palm-ravenea-rivularis/&do=findComment&comment=773827

[dwimss]

Double or triple looks good, here some pics :

 

 

[dwimss]

Here some majesty palms (single, double and 4) I have planted last year in the ground : 

Single seems to grow faster, I took the pictures in mid January, we had some cold night this winter in morocco, the leaves are little yellow because of the cold... but now they look better.

[topwater]

I reread your post, they've been in the ground for two months?  Beware of August.  

[ThePalmNovice]

Wow, those are some good looking Majesties dwimss! Thank you for providing pics of the doubles and triples. Those actually look really good when grown up. After seeing that I've decided what I'm going to do with my Ravenea rivularis. First I'll leave the triple pair alone. They are really growing strong (a third frond stalk has started to appear) and I love that triple look when they are big. Plus if it doesn't grow well in the long run its in a position where I can it out and replace it with a bigger palm tree. 

The other majesty I have along the fence however I'll remove the smaller of the two trees. The one tree is much bigger than the other and its right across from the large single Ravenea rivularis. That way it should grow faster (its been the slowest growing one so far) and be more symmetrical with the other tree. Thank you everyone in helping me figure this out. 

On 3/7/2017, 8:07:17, RedRabbit said:

Here's an example of a triple: http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/13879-majesty-palm-ravenea-rivularis/&do=findComment&comment=773827

Thank you. Not only is that a good example of a triple growing inland in Florida, but the information in that thread is valuable in itself.  

On 3/8/2017, 12:08:16, topwater said:

I reread your post, they've been in the ground for two months?  Beware of August.  

Strange, palm trees here seem to do their best in the heat of august. Usually that's the wettest and most humid month for us. Still I trust your advice and will do my best to protect/water them this summer. 

Edited March 13, 2017 by ThePalmNovice

[Hammer]

Palms in pots, especially commercially grown in green houses, have been forced to grow foliage while having their roots restricted in that pot.

Palms have a natural balance of roots to foliage.  Pots can upset this balance. 

A palm planted in the ground from a pot, or transplanted with a cut rootball, does not have the same/natural root system that a naturally occurring one does.

Fertilizers tend to stimulate foliage growth.  Fertilizers applied at planting/transplanting, spur more foliage growth. When in reality the palm needs to and will tend to slow green growth and send energy to the roots for growth below ground.

Palms with healthy and robust root systems are much better situated for long term growth and health.  In the short term, healthy roots can take up more water on hot days. Thus protecting palms from sun burn and decication in hot weather.

Which is why I and many other palm growers do not fertilize until 3 or 4 months after planting out a palm.

 

[PalmatierMeg]

I've tried majesty singles and a double. I found the double planting was much slower growing than the singles, probably because the two palms competed for resources. Eventually both plants of my double ended up dying. Both singles have been trucking for 20 years. This species has such a high need for fertilizer and water that I believe artificially clustered plants should be separated and planted alone. They are not very "graceful", so there are better choices for double and triple plantings.

[ThePalmNovice]

Found a double Majesty Palm while out at a yard sale recently.

Now I can see personally why people say they look better growing apart. The smaller tree in particular didn't look too bad, but it is kind of crowded looking and the trunk of the big one is kind of weird. Just behind this there was also a single growing rivularis that was twice as tall and looked much better. I think that kind of helps me decide its worth it to take out the smaller of my two Majesties if i can.

Still I'm a bit cautious about getting it grow as a single. I'm worried if I dig out one it will damage the roots on the other and set it back. Dose anyone know if that's bad, or have any advice on separating them?