Rhopalostylis sapida pics

[cbmnz]

On 11/14/2018, 11:21:46, coops 3214 said:

Heres a couple of mine growing in geelong victoria and loving life

Look healthy. Occasional hot dry waves must be the only thing that would bother them there. Frosts would be less severe than what ones around my neighborhood seem to survive with ease.

[bubba]

We can only dream! Magnificent palm and thank you.

[cbmnz]

Unexpectedly came across a nice specimen today in Newstead, NZ.

This one seems to be doing very well considering no overhead cover, in a area of flat land outside of any urban heat island, that is subject to radiation frosts as hard as anywhere in the local region.

 

 

[Jim in Los Altos]

I have quite a few of them in my garden. They take many years to trunk but once they do, they really take off!

[Palm Tree Jim]

6 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

I have quite a few of them in my garden. They take many years to trunk but once they do, they really take off!

Looking great Jim.

[Tyrone]

I just love your garden Jim. 

[Tyrone]

On 01/12/2018, 1:13:26, cbmnz said:

Unexpectedly came across a nice specimen today in Newstead, NZ.

This one seems to be doing very well considering no overhead cover, in a area of flat land outside of any urban heat island, that is subject to radiation frosts as hard as anywhere in the local region.

 

 

That's a beauty. No other palm looks quite like these. They're unique.

[Alicehunter2000]

You folks areally so lucky to be able to grow these

[cbmnz]

Just spotted this old one in Bluff, NZ at 46.5S on Streetview.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-46.6077138,168.3562284,3a,24.1y,207.67h,101.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sS5UwM5A6hYVsuD7hSpVSkQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Tyrone]

I can't open your link.

All I get is this message. 

"400. That’s an error.

Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request.  That’s all we know."

[Tyrone]

15 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Just spotted this old one in Bluff, NZ at 46.5S on Streetview.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-46.6077138,168.3562284,3a,24.1y,207.67h,101.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sS5UwM5A6hYVsuD7hSpVSkQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I just put those coordinates into google earth manually and it took me to the bottom of the South Island and what should be in the picture on street view in someone's backyard but a very tall nikau palm. Would it be a natural individual left from when the area was first developed or planted out? It looks very old.

 

If it's natural then that's the most southerly individual in the world. If not it's still impressive. That's a long way south. The area looks beautiful too, but boy it would be cold in winter at that latitude. 

[DoomsDave]

On 9/17/2018, 7:38:11, Tyrone said:

Darold your Chatham is massive. 

Darold's palms need an orchestra and chorus to celebrate, ooo eee!

[cbmnz]

8 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I just put those coordinates into google earth manually and it took me to the bottom of the South Island and what should be in the picture on street view in someone's backyard but a very tall nikau palm. Would it be a natural individual left from when the area was first developed or planted out? It looks very old.

 

If it's natural then that's the most southerly individual in the world. If not it's still impressive. That's a long way south. The area looks beautiful too, but boy it would be cold in winter at that latitude. 

Odd why the link did not work. Works for me. Not natural, Nikau are only known to exist naturally as far South as a bit past Hokitika half way down South Island's West Coast and Banks Peninsular in the vicinity of Christchurch on its East. Although some debate about the origin of that grove, as they grow only in one gully a long way from any other populations.

Bluff is a very old town (by NZ standards), had its heyday late Nineteenth Century. That Nikau would have been planted about 100 years ago when the oldest houses in the area where built.

The winter temperatures there would actually not often go below about -3C. But brutal windchill's year round would drive some people mad. The temperature would only get out of the midteens on a minority of days, even in Jan and Feb. But evidently a suitable climate for Nikau, they don't need heat.

[Tyrone]

I was reading how Antarctica used to have a climate similar to South Island NZ before everything like Australia broke away from it and the ocean currents etc changed. In that case it's not hard to imagine them growing on Antarctica and now only occur on NZ. 

Its amazing how they don't really require temps even in the 20's in summer to do well. I wouldn't do well in that environment.

[Darold Petty]

I'm spending the first day of winter in my garden, and will try to provide quantitative data about my palm. 

[Gary]

this one is a pitt island form at Landsendt in nz and has bees instead of seeds

[richnorm]

26 minutes ago, Gary said:

this one is a pitt island form at Landsendt in nz and has bees instead of seeds

Lucky they have a resident beekeeper!

[Gary]

first  time these 2 attempted to remove a swarm of bees as hobby is other son

[cbmnz]

4 hours ago, Gary said:

first  time these 2 attempted to remove a swarm of bees as hobby is other son

Haven't seen them growing in long grass before. It doesn't seem to be bothering those ones.

[rprimbs]

That's an awfully low swarm of bees.  Here in California USA the bees that make their hives so low tend to be "Africanized". 

In my experience the "Africanized" bees aren't necessarily any more aggressive, but they are inferior honey producers. 

I would be wary of adding them to a hive with a good Italian, or Carnolian queen.  If they make queen cells, and make their own queen, then your Italian bees and queen may leave.  And you will be left with an inferior queen and bees.

[Darold Petty]

On 9/17/2018, 7:19:56, Darold Petty said:

The ratio of diameter between the trunk and crownshaft is variable in the nikau palms I grow here in California.  The greatest differential is when the palm is vigorous, and is developing several spadices simultaneously within the crownshaft.  I would be cautious about assigning a geographic identity based just on this one character.  I grow R. sapida x baueri, R. baueri, R. sapida Chatham Island, R. sapida Great Barrier Island, and R. sapida Little Barrier Island.   By far, the most heavy bodied and overall large palm is the Chatham Island form.

  Here is a photo of my R. sapida 'Chatham Island'; but it does not always appear so bulbous. 

.  In Keith Boyer's book he shows a massive palm next to a women with big sunglasses and a blue blouse.  I was obsessed for years by this image, until Keith told me that the woman was quite petite, and that they had posed her adjacent to the largest palm they could locate on the small island.

   My plant of R. s. LBI has failed to achieve the dimensions of the one shown in Keith's book and mine just looks like any generic Rhopalostylis.  

Ok, sorry for the delay in quantitative data about my palm.  

Measurements from today are..  trunk diameter  23 cm or 9 inches,  trunk height 2.8 m or 9 feet, crownshaft diameter 45 cm or 18 inches, and 49 leafbase scars on the trunk, yielding 5.7 cm or 2.25 inches, average growth dimension for each leafbase scar and internode.   The following photo is from today also.  

This palm was planted in 1995 from seed distributed by the late Inge Hoffmann in 1993.

[joe_OC]

Love it!

Don’t even THINK about doing what you said you were going to do!

Edited December 24, 2018 by joe_OC

[Tyrone]

6 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

Ok, sorry for the delay in quantitative data about my palm.  

Measurements from today are..  trunk diameter  23 cm or 9 inches,  trunk height 2.8 m or 9 feet, crownshaft diameter 45 cm or 18 inches, and 49 leafbase scars on the trunk, yielding 5.7 cm or 2.25 inches, average growth dimension for each leafbase scar and internode.   The following photo is from today also.  

This palm was planted in 1995 from seed distributed by the late Inge Hoffmann in 1993.

That is a lot of growth for 25 years from seed.

[cbmnz]

Noticeable difference between these ones growing within metres of each other in the Hamilton City Centre.  Both are getting similar amount of sun.  One on right must be R. Baueri?

[Tyrone]

2 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Noticeable difference between these ones growing within metres of each other in the Hamilton City Centre.  Both are getting similar amount of sun.  One on right must be R. Baueri?

Yes, I'd say you are right.

Back a few years ago when I wasn't as familiar with the difference between the species any Rhopalostylis I saw I assumed to be sapida, until I saw a sapida and asked what it was. In this part of the world R bauerii is much more common than sapida due to the summer heat level. I couldn't grow sapida that well in my Perth garden. Seedlings would just rot away in summer. Now I'm in a cooler area I can grow both. One big positive for living on the doorstep of the southern ocean.

[cbmnz]

Surprised, the local  hardware store (Mitre 10) most of the time has no  palms at all in its small garden section.  But today, a whole row of R. Sapdia at not too bad a price. They were not labelled as such, but look like Chatham/ Oceania to me.

Resisted buying any,  have four in the ground already and decided from an experience many years ago that they don't like being confined to pots long  term.

 

[Tyrone]

1 hour ago, cbmnz said:

Surprised, the local  hardware store (Mitre 10) most of the time has no  palms at all in its small garden section.  But today, a whole row of R. Sapdia at not too bad a price. They were not labelled as such, but look like Chatham/ Oceania to me.

Resisted buying any,  have four in the ground already and decided from an experience many years ago that they don't like being confined to pots long  term.

 

I'd have bought them all. They're great looking specimens.

[cbmnz]

21 hours ago, Tyrone said:

I'd have bought them all. They're great looking specimens.

You could've had all ten for NZD 360.

[Tyrone]

On 1/24/2019 at 5:17 PM, cbmnz said:

You could've had all ten for NZD 360.

Bargain

[Jimbean]

Do you think these will grow in Florida?

[cbmnz]

All reports I've seen say no,  unfortuately. They can't handle long periods of consistent heat especially when it does not cool much at night. The palmfiend on YouTube has a good video on the subject.

[PalmCode]

I'd love to bring some Baueri seeds with me to  try and grow the next time I visit my sisters place in Orlando haha...It doesn't look hopeful but maybe Baueri will grow if you've got enough shade to keep em cool?  Sapida sure wouldn't  take the heat.

[Josue Diaz]

I've posted this picture here before. These are Darold's Rhopalostylis from a higher vantage point. If I remember correctly, these taller ones are hybrids. (Ceroxylon sp. in the background on the right side.)

[cbmnz]

This local one has had to deal with the rude shock of full summer sun after growing 50 plus years in dense shade by the looks. The council decided to clear a strip of dense trees between it and the river, to extend the riverside path. That was done last winter. So far, it seems to be coping ok.

 

 

[Tyrone]

1 hour ago, cbmnz said:

This local one has had to deal with the rude shock of full summer sun after growing 50 plus years in dense shade by the looks. The council decided to clear a strip of dense trees between it and the river, to extend the riverside path. That was done last winter. So far, it seems to be coping ok.

 

 

How hot is it getting there at the moment? 

We've been cool, but a 35C is predicted for Tuesday. That's hot for down here. It might be the hottest day in 2 years as we will likely hit 37C. I'll expect things to burn in 37C. I've just planted some Livistona australis from full shade. 

[cbmnz]

Last 3 days, 33, 30,30 overnight lows 20, 18,17.  And its taken till 6am to dip down to those lows then within 2 hours back in the 20s again. A really warm spell for here. Grass has really  started to brown off but everything in garden looks fine. Good to know your area grows mature Sapida as per the start of this thread, they can obviously take the odd day in high 30's then, just not continuous heat for months.

[Tyrone]

2 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Last 3 days, 33, 30,30 overnight lows 20, 18,17.  And its taken till 6am to dip down to those lows then within 2 hours back in the 20s again. A really warm spell for here. Grass has really  started to brown off but everything in garden looks fine. Good to know your area grows mature Sapida as per the start of this thread, they can obviously take the odd day in high 30's then, just not continuous heat for months.

You've been hotter than us. I've never recorded a 20C min in 5 years. Average for this Jan was 13.2C min to 24.4C max. A bit cooler at night than last January. But I think there's still a ton of summer left to come.

[cbmnz]

20 hours ago, Tyrone said:

You've been hotter than us. I've never recorded a 20C min in 5 years. Average for this Jan was 13.2C min to 24.4C max. A bit cooler at night than last January. But I think there's still a ton of summer left to come.

That would be right on average for Jan here but we ended up with 26.6/14.5.  Jan 2018 ( a record)  was 26.7/15.8  Jan 2017 (still remember as bloody pathetic)  was 22.6/12.2. 2016 was

25.2/14.6. 2015 was 26.9/13.4

So only one below average Jan in the last 5, no wonder starting to think of January like the one just been as normal.

[Darold Petty]

On 1/25/2019 at 1:50 PM, Josue Diaz said:

I've posted this picture here before. These are Darold's Rhopalostylis from a higher vantage point. If I remember correctly, these taller ones are hybrids. (Ceroxylon sp. in the background on the right side.)

Yes, the two Rhopalostylis were sold to me in 1983 in San Diego in 1-gallon pots labeled as R. sapida.  However they have characters of R. baueri as well including ivory colored spadices and very wide leaflets.  Most visitors fro OZ or NZ assume that they are R. baueri.  I have concluded that they are R. sapida x baueri.  The Ceroxylon is C. quindiuense, seed collection circa 1978 by Garrin Fullington.  Mine has about 25 feet of wood trunk, and is a seed sibling to the two in the SF Botanical Garden.  Mine is shorter due to less irrigation.(the palm is in the corner of my yard, and therefore I can only irrigate 25% of its drip circle.)  The palm in the lower left corner is Howea forsteriana.

 

 

 

 

[cbmnz]

Beautiful old specium right in the city here.  Possibly naturally occurring otherwise planted about 100 years ago.