Anyone Growing Acoelorraphe wrightii?

[PalmTreeDude]

Is anyone growing any Acoelorraphe wrightii? If so how cold hardy is it, I am assuming 9b or a warmer 9a? Pictures? Habitat picture? 

[kinzyjr]

It grows here really well.  I don't have any in my own garden... yet.  It is one palm I plan on adding eventually, but I want to grow it from seed.

The UF site says 9a, (22F-25F) : http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st058

 

[DoomsDave]

2 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

It grows here really well.  I don't have any in my own garden... yet.  It is one palm I plan on adding eventually, but I want to grow it from seed.

The UF site says 9a, (22F-25F) : http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st058

 

And a long life to you!

OY!

They're not fast from seed.

[Hillizard]

2 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Is anyone growing any Acoelorraphe wrightii? If so how cold hardy is it, I am assuming 9b or a warmer 9a? Pictures? Habitat picture? 

I've been growing a clump for years here in the ground in interior NorCal. My place is somewhere between 9a/9b I think. It handles our occasional winter freezes well, but does get leaf bleaching/burning in the summer. I'm expecting that to be minimized once the mule palm triplet I have nearby gets more height. This palm prefers very moist soil, so I never let it dry out. I'll post a picture of it sometime, after I trim off the dead fronds and weed around it! 

[DoomsDave]

Heat is better.

Yes.

For A. wrightii. And water.

[mike in kurtistown]

Here are a couple of habitat photos, from Cuba in 2014:

I have grown them from seed, but very, very slow. I think east Hawaii is not hot enough for them.

 

[kinzyjr]

@Hillizard They definitely like it swampy, or at least wet.  Exactly what one expects from a palm with the nickname "Everglades palm".

@mike in kurtistown I think you may have the wrong palm.  I've never seen any with a smooth trunk.  That could be my own ignorance though.  The picture below is what I typically envision:

[PalmTreeDude]

1 hour ago, mike in kurtistown said:

Here are a couple of habitat photos, from Cuba in 2014:

I have grown them from seed, but very, very slow. I think east Hawaii is not hot enough for them.

 

I think that's the wrong palm also? But that aside, where are the seedlings? I see habitat photos of palm like this in a grassland like climate all the time, but I never see many younger ones or seedlings around them? Do very few survive? I am saying this for palms like the ones in your pictures in general. 

[Silas_Sancona]

Pretty sure the Palm Mike shared pictures of is Colpothrinax wrightii.

As for the other wrightii, agree.. likes heat ( seedlings I have haven't flinched w/ our special brand of heat) , and extra moisture.. and is a slow starter once germinated.  

One of the coolest, slender- trunked, clumping palms I can think of. Should be seen more in warmer places in CA. and other places where it can handle the cold. The big clumps that greet anyone entering Kopsick from the parking lot in St. Pete are always eye catching. 

[bar]

Been growing this in Sacramento for several years now.  It was pretty slow growing, getting too much shade from my Metasequoia.  Once I took down the Metasequoia this spring, its leaves became stiffer and fuller.  It's a very easy plant to grow here, in zone 9B.  I do give a lot of water during the summer.

Bruce

[Umbrae]

I have several large clumps around the pool, these have never frozen but a place down the road has a HUGE clump and according to the owner his have frozen back a couple times but always come right back, i lose a stalk here and there now and again but the clump keeps on growing 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

They are 9a hardy and trunks will die in the teens, but they will come back from suckers. 

[quaman58]

I will second the opinion that growing them from seed is an awfully painful way to go about it. I purchased a smallish 2 gallon plant at least 6 years ago that is finally making some growth headway (i.e. stems). So after perhaps 10 years from seed, it's finally what could be termed a moderate grower. Nice clumps are very cool; but there's not too many of them in Southern California.

[mike in kurtistown]

Oops!!

 

[Josh-O]

I have a monster in my garden

Don Hodel (Right) and Eddie Green (Left)  for scale

 

 

[Silas_Sancona]

8 hours ago, mike in kurtistown said:

Oops!!

 

It's all good Mlike.. just wish these were easier to grow/ obtain.. 

[Silas_Sancona]

On Sat Oct 28 2017 21:04:42 GMT-0700, PalmTreeDude said:

I think that's the wrong palm also? But that aside, where are the seedlings? I see habitat photos of palm like this in a grassland like climate all the time, but I never see many younger ones or seedlings around them? Do very few survive? I am saying this for palms like the ones in your pictures in general. 

Digging around a bit, the "Grassland" habitat you're seeing is the result of clearing/ burning for pasture land. Colpothrinax apparently grew in extremely sandy Pine forest before everything, except them were cleared out. Somehow, this species was able to adapt and persist in a situation without the extra shade/ cover, etc of the original habitat.. 

I'd bet Cattle or whatever livestock graze around these, keep a good % 'age of seedlings mowed down.  Taken away, you'd likely see recruitment of younger individuals. 

A similar situation involving Feral Goats played out on Guadalupe Island off Baja, until fairly recently. Those species effected ( including. Brahea edulis), are already starting to rebound from nearly being exterminated.

[Missi]

I mean, I know they're slow, but I wish plants were more readily available. All I have are 2 year old seedlings grown from seed I collected from plants in a beach access parking lot, and they're not much of anything.

[topwater]

I lucked out and found this one last year, it bleached out pretty bad last summer but I think it’s easy zone 9. 

 

Edited October 30, 2017 by topwater

[Phoenikakias]

On 29/10/2017, 4:37:50, Hillizard said:

I've been growing a clump for years here in the ground in interior NorCal. My place is somewhere between 9a/9b I think. It handles our occasional winter freezes well, but does get leaf bleaching/burning in the summer. I'm expecting that to be minimized once the mule palm triplet I have nearby gets more height. This palm prefers very moist soil, so I never let it dry out. I'll post a picture of it sometime, after I trim off the dead fronds and weed around it! 

Hmm, I do not find it slow here. It just needs a lot of water and had an issue with alkaline soils. In such soils potassium is less available to the plant, plus iy gets leached through heavy watering. What you perceive as sun scorch may be in reallity potassium deficiency. It is so anyway in my garden Interestingly an osmocote reach in potassium does not seem to solve the issue, but it DOES so an organic fertilizer of three months duration, rich in potassium and of K-Mg ratio 3 to 1. David Silva has one that has bloomed for the first time this summer. And a small detail, Paysandisia LOVES it... 

Edited October 30, 2017 by Phoenikakias

[Missi]

2 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Hmm, I do not find it slow here. It just needs a lot of water and had an issue with alkaline soils. In such soils potassium is less available to the plant, plus iy gets leached through heavy watering. What you perceive as sun scorch may be in reallity potassium deficiency. It is so anyway in my garden Interestingly an osmocote reach in potassium does not seem to solve the issue, but it DOES so an organic fertilizer of three months duration, rich in potassium and of K-Mg ratio 3 to 1. David Silva has one that has bloomed for the first time this summer. And a small detail, Paysandisia LOVES it... 

But it's native to habitat with alkaline soils. (i.e Florida)

[Palmaceae]

5 minutes ago, Missi said:

But it's native to habitat with alkaline soils. (i.e Florida)

Yes it is a native but grows in the rich mucky soils in the everglades. They do much better in deep organic soils, but the ones in sand never look as good.

[Missi]

Just now, Palmaceae said:

Yes it is a native but grows in the rich mucky soils in the everglades. They do much better in deep organic soils, but the ones in sand never look as good.

Ah! Great point! It won't be as much of a carefree palm as I thought! I may have to rehome my seedlings.

[PalmTreeDude]

21 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Digging around a bit, the "Grassland" habitat you're seeing is the result of clearing/ burning for pasture land. Colpothrinax apparently grew in extremely sandy Pine forest before everything, except them were cleared out. Somehow, this species was able to adapt and persist in a situation without the extra shade/ cover, etc of the original habitat.. 

I'd bet Cattle or whatever livestock graze around these, keep a good % 'age of seedlings mowed down.  Taken away, you'd likely see recruitment of younger individuals. 

A similar situation involving Feral Goats played out on Guadalupe Island off Baja, until fairly recently. Those species effected ( including. Brahea edulis), are already starting to rebound from nearly being exterminated.

Makes sense now, thanks!

[lapalmeraie]

Stunning species but a now go down here in zone 7a. Even with appropriate protection it won’t hold. Seeds keep well for long time and do germinate easily but as said you’ll need to be very patient afterwards. They are really sold down here in Europe. 

For pictures I refer to my palm description:

http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/2017/06/27/acoelorrhaphe-wrightii/

Enjoy

Niek

[kinzyjr]

Collected 12 seeds over the weekend.  We'll see how they perform if they sprout.

[iwan]

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/3020-acoelorraphe-wrightii/&do=findComment&comment=839303

[edbrown_III]

I grow it 6 or 7 places in the yard---- very cold hardy 

 

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

On 10/31/2017, 7:34:43, kinzyjr said:

Collected 12 seeds over the weekend.  We'll see how they perform if they sprout.

They Like Wet Feet, and nutrient rich, bottomland soil.  Given that, they are not slow at all.  My Jacksonville palm went from a 6" pot to 15' in less than 5 years.  And all its trucks survived lows at or slightly above 20, though it did lose many fronds.  I can see how thats really close to their low temp limit though, before canes die.  Here in Winter Haven's lousy central FL ridge sand..they just barely hang on.  Its just not the environment where they thrive.

 

 

[Umbrae]

Keith I wonder of you could mitigate that by amending the soilnwith  regular loads of compost and heavy mulch ?

 

[bubba]

Mike,

Are you certain that those pictures were not taken at another Biennial in the DR? Those palms look remarkably like Cocothrinax spissa. I distinctly remember some photographs taken by Jack Sayers during that DR Biennial that looked much more like the pictures you accidentally posted on this Ar thread than the Cw posited as the specimens in Cuba. Cuba or DR?

[mike in kurtistown]

Keith,

I know exactly what those palms were - Colpothrinax wrightii. And the photo is from western Cuba. I took the pre-tour before the Miami biennial in 2014. Here is one of my pics of Coccothrinax spissa that I took at the DR biennial in 2006: The similarities, at least from a distance, are striking.

[Tropicdoc]

1 hour ago, Keith in SoJax said:

They Like Wet Feet, and nutrient rich, bottomland soil.  Given that, they are not slow at all.  My Jacksonville palm went from a 6" pot to 15' in less than 5 years.  And all its trucks survived lows at or slightly above 20, though it did lose many fronds.  I can see how thats really close to their low temp limit though, before canes die.  Here in Winter Haven's lousy central FL ridge sand..they just barely hang on.  Its just not the environment where they thrive.

 

 

Bet they would love it here. We call our soil blackjack or gumbo. It’s black clay and it’s rich as hell just doesn’t drain

[bubba]

Thank you for the clarification! Also, Josh O’s Aw (back on topic) is sensational!

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

18 hours ago, Umbrae said:

Keith I wonder of you could mitigate that by amending the soilnwith  regular loads of compost and heavy mulch ?

 

Oh yes, that would help.  Its a matter of time & priorities.  I'd rather grow something that doesn't need so much coddling.  I'm no longer a plant coddler.  

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

17 hours ago, Tropicdoc said:

Bet they would love it here. We call our soil blackjack or gumbo. It’s black clay and it’s rich as hell just doesn’t drain

If they can take your winters, then I think you're right.  They won't thrive if winter lows are near 20 every year.  They'll survive those events occasionally, but there is a price.

[Umbrae]

I had a hard time getting this one to get going, until i started adding compost quite liberally and keeping it mulched after a while I backed off and it seems to be on auto pilot