Livistona muellerii

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Livistona muellerii recovering very well after last winter's freezes.  You can see the scorched older leaves on this specimen, but its grown like mad with this year's very wet rainy season.  It looks like its going to be a beautiful palm.  It's dang hard to keep up with 3 acres of mowing and pruning when you have a  full time job.  Our place looks ratty again...we always get behind when its raining.  Everything grows so fast...which is good and bad.

[edbrown_III]

Good show I started one as a 3 gallon like 25 years ago in Jax ------- never thought it would  make it but it has prospered over the years -----

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

You give me hope mine will be okay then, Ed.  

[edbrown_III]

mine lost its leaves every year until it started getting milder in the 2000s      ---- once ye have a few get years when the leaves last for longer than a season you start getting decent growth ----it just wont be one of those beauties you see in California or one of the drier milder climates 

 

 

[NatureGirl]

It does resemble a Cop. alba in a way. Has your's bloomed Ed? They have those beautiful red colored inflorescences that really stand out.

[NatureGirl]

These are the only Liv’s i’ll Grow anymore. What was the low temp these can take?

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

5 hours ago, NatureGirl said:

These are the only Liv’s i’ll Grow anymore. What was the low temp these can take?

Are these seedlings from your big tree?  

[NatureGirl]

No, I don't have a Liv muelleri in the yard, but am thinking about planting one. These seedlings came from a friends mature tree in Micco.

Does anyone know what the low temp these can take, apparently they aren't as hardy as some other Liv's.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

42 minutes ago, NatureGirl said:

No, I don't have a Liv muelleri in the yard, but am thinking about planting one. These seedlings came from a friends mature tree in Micco.

Does anyone know what the low temp these can take, apparently they aren't as hardy as some other Liv's.

Mine had frond burn in the 26-28 range.  It didn’t seem so slow it down though.  

[Walt]

In March of 2002 I was sold what was presented to be a livistona muelleri (see receipt below). Over the years there has been speculation as to whether this palm is pure L. muelleri or a hybrid of it, and that's why I'm posting the receipt. What I can say is, it's the fastest of all Livistona species I'm growing. This palm has been frost burned years ago, but not in the past five years or more. It's never been defoliated, just burned fronds. Once a frond dies it detaches and falls fairly fast. I like that aspect of the palm, as I don't like dead fronds hanging for months at a time.

I planted the L. muelleri shortly after I got it. In the second photo you can see by the photo date stamp, it reads 12-07-02. The palm had grown noticeably since March.

In the third photo you can see how much the palm had grown by 11-07-09. And mind you, my soil is dry, and most of my palms are slower growing due to the dry ridge soils. I don't have irrigation.

In the fourth photo you can see what my L. mulleri looked just days before Hurricane Irma 09-06-17. 

I thought possibly this palm was a goner, as Hurricane Irma blew the crown over on a sharp angle. There was no way I could inspect it.  But after a few months I could see it was putting out new fronds, although the fronds seemed shorter. The crown is coming back but it still has a lean to it, although not as acute as it did right after the hurricane.

BTW, every year I used to take an updated photo of this palm -- and every year I had to keep backing up farther to get it all of it. The only other species of palm that grew faster than my L. muelleri were my two Syagrus botryophora, and I lost both of them to Hurricane Irma.  I tied them about 10 feet up the trunks with guy ropes, to no avail. The wind snapped the trunks in two above the ropes.

[edbrown_III]

it blooms every year in December but doesnt set fruit ----   I dont know how cold it has gotten at that particulary spot maybe 19 or 20 -----  Foliage burned every year in the 1990s but it s seems to hold foliage better now -------

On 8/11/2018, 6:22:42, NatureGirl said:

It does resemble a Cop. alba in a way. Has your's bloomed Ed? They have those beautiful red colored inflorescences that really stand out.

C> alba is in the front yard 

 

[edbrown_III]

Blooms are reddish orange but not the spectacles that you see in CA 

 

[NatureGirl]

Yes, you're probably right Walt, it could be a hybrid. The first pic of yours as a juvenile doesn't look like my 3gal seedlings at all. More like a Liv. australis?

[Walt]

2 hours ago, NatureGirl said:

Yes, you're probably right Walt, it could be a hybrid. The first pic of yours as a juvenile doesn't look like my 3gal seedlings at all. More like a Liv. australis?

Orlando Dave (from photos I posted years ago here at Palmtalk) thinks it's a hybrid. I can't recall the mixture (maybe decora?) I have four L. decora, all from John Bishock, all the same size. One blew by all the others in growth speed, and there is also a disparity in growth among the other three.  All get the same culture, sun, etc., yet all have a markedly different growth rate.

In any event, regardless of what my Livistona palm is (hybrid?), I'm pleased with it and happy I didn't lose it to Irma. I think I have a photo somewhere of this palm when it was still in a pot, so that might be a better indicator to I.D. it. If I find it I will post it.

BTW, Dave Prall sold me the palm.

[NatureGirl]

I used to grow lots of L. decora and it doesn't look anything like a small one either. But, yes, hybrids are good and all my large Liv's turned out to be Very Hurricane tolerant! 

[mike in kurtistown]

I agree - probably a hybrid or another species. Here are a couple of pics of my largest muelleri. In full sun, planted September 2013. Orange bucket for scale is 5-gal. The stiff flat leaves are characteristic.