What do you do with your nuts?

[enigma99]

I have several large queens, used as a canopy for the heat and cold. Unfortunately they create probably a good 1000+ lbs per growing season of nuts. 

 

Option 1) let them drop. Then I have to deal with picking them up and the seedlings.

Option 2) cut them off, but not too late so a 100 pounds of nuts doesn’t come crashing down on your precious understory palms.

3) cut immediately after flowering?

Curious how everyone deals with this.

[GottmitAlex]

Here's what at youtuber has to say about the subject. I made a mad dash to search for the video since its been a year after I watched it.

He's probably a palmtalker.

https://youtu.be/Gsgci058YGY

[kinzyjr]

@enigma99

Most of my fruiting palms are at a reasonable height currently, so if I don't want volunteers, I remove the flower spikes and seed pods.  If they were as heavy as yours, I would tie a rope to them before I cut and then lower them into a wheel barrow.  If you can get them before they actually set seed, the weight should be a lot less.  If you grind the flower spikes up or burn them after they dry out, they do make good organic soil additives.  Just a few options for you to consider.

@GottmitAlex

Great video!

[enigma99]

Cool, Thanks for the response guys. I will start cutting right when it flowers from now on. You can’t even give away queen palm seed 

[GottmitAlex]

6 minutes ago, enigma99 said:

Cool, Thanks for the response guys. I will start cutting right when it flowers from now on. You can’t even give away queen palm seed 

Not even in Flahriduh. 

[V-Cycle]

@GottmitAlex being from Florida, I’m not sure if I should take offense to that?

[Jim in Los Altos]

These monster fruits fall from a queen palm on my side yard. They’re like golf balls. I let them fall and clean up what the squirrels don’t eat. King palm fruits fall by the thousands and are like little glass marbles. The palms are too tall to reach the fruiting branches even with my 25’ extension latter so it’s a daily sweep of the walkways during fruit drop periods. 

[Cikas]

11 hours ago, enigma99 said:

Cool, Thanks for the response guys. I will start cutting right when it flowers from now on. You can’t even give away queen palm seed 

Well in USA maybe. In Europe Queen palms are still very rare. Alot of people buy seeds. 

[paquicuba]

I have a couple of them as well for the same purpose (see inset image.) I wait until the seed pods open up and then cut the inflorescence and the pod immediately. If I wait a day or two, the inflorescence will create a huge mess on the sidewalks and on top of the other plants. If I cut the mature unopened pod, I take the risk as you mentioned of having an over 100 lbs missile to go down and destroy the understory palms and/or other tropicals. Don't allow by any reason your queens to seed 'cause you may have volunteers for years to come. 

[enigma99]

I braved the 105 degree heat to cut my nuts off 

[enigma99]

Nuts anyone?

 

 

Work in store for this weekend. What a mess

 

[Brett in Mission Viejo]

Estimated 200 lb Caryota Gigas seed pod with thousands of nuts: Not only a caustic skin irratating nut mess but it is at the end of this monocarpic palm's life to be eventually removed. The last several weeks have been a continual raining of seed. Additional pods will form downward over the next few years. Remove them before the trunks die and turn to concrete. I think I am finally done with monocarpic species, but they sure are eye candy and nice medium shade overhead canopy during growth!

[sandgroper]

15 hours ago, Cikas said:

Well in USA maybe. In Europe Queen palms are still very rare. Alot of people buy seeds. 

People hate them here because of the number of seeds they drop, I have thousands of them to cleam up regularly.  I don't know what the importation laws are in various European countries but I'm happy to post you as many as you want if it's legal.

[Cikas]

5 hours ago, sandgroper said:

People hate them here because of the number of seeds they drop, I have thousands of them to cleam up regularly.  I don't know what the importation laws are in various European countries but I'm happy to post you as many as you want if it's legal.

There is no restrictions for seeds in European Union. Here in southern Europe Queens are still very rare and very wanted in gardens. :) 

[DoomsDave]

What do I do with my nuts?

Hmmmmmmm

Many I give away, generally the small-seeded types. Many Palm Talkers have been the beneficiaries. Soon, the children of my nuts will fall in many foreign lands.

Large-seeded types, like queens, I usually toss. I hear they make great hog feed, but I don't have any mediocre, let alone great, hogs to feed. Back when I had a large queen palm, I'd usually saw off the seed clump when it was about half-grown. Sometimes, if you did the blossoms, it kept blooming and blooming. And blooming. (Etc.)

[Monòver]

7 hours ago, Cikas said:

There is no restrictions for seeds in European Union. Here in southern Europe Queens are still very rare and very wanted in gardens. :) 

Not as rare. In Southern Spain is a common palmtree.

In my work, every weeks i am planting them.

Tomorrow i will plant 12 more.

[dalmatiansoap]

It is a rare palm here in Croatia. I can count mature specimens on my hand fingers in whole Dalmatia county.

[enigma99]

39 minutes ago, dalmatiansoap said:

It is a rare palm here in Croatia. I can count mature specimens on my hand fingers in whole Dalmatia county.

You need 5,000 seeds to jump start Croatia? :)

[Cikas]

2 hours ago, Monòver said:

Not as rare. In Southern Spain is a common palmtree.

In my work, every weeks i am planting them.

Tomorrow i will plant 12 more.

In spain maybe ( in recent years ). Old queens are not that common even in Southern spain. But in other southern european countries like Croatia, Queens are very rare ( they were not available at all in stores until recently, and even now they are hard to find. I would say everyone here would prefer Queen palm in garden over CIDP or Washingtonia. :)

[redant]

I used to love when my palms went to seed, now other then the rare ones I dread it. We do eat most of the coconuts.

[dalmatiansoap]

11 hours ago, enigma99 said:

You need 5,000 seeds to jump start Croatia? :)

Thanks but I'll skip it this time :).

I have several seedlings already but it's nice to know a good supplier ;)

[Mangosteen]

I cut the Queen seed pod as soon as there is any separation between it and the trunk. It is lighter at this point and does only minor damage to the plants growing below. The longer you wait, the heavier it gets. This also allows you to remove the whole thing (both the pod and the inflorescence) at one time. The pod at this stage is green and easy to cut. If you wait until the inflorescence emerges, the pod starts to brown and harden.