Anyone Still Planting?

[joe_OC]

40 minutes ago, Josue Diaz said:

I did a thing... 

 

dypsis "super" decipiens. planted on a mound about 12" above grade. filled the hole with crushed cement chunks, gravel, perlite and organic material mixed with our native sandy soil.

Why did you use crushed cement?  Drainage?  Did you consider how the cement will raise the pH?

[Josue Diaz]

28 minutes ago, joe_OC said:

Why did you use crushed cement?  Drainage?  Did you consider how the cement will raise the pH?

Drainage and because I had a bunch of it from a recent reno. I've seen decipiens planted in spots surrounded by cement so I figure any effects are negligible?

[xvang01]

Late November planting.

1. Syagrus coronata x Queen. 

2. Copernicia baileyana 

3. Tribear x2

4. Parajubaea tv

5. Dypsis decipiens 

6. Cycas debaoensis

7. Jubaea x Butia (blue form)

[Stevetoad]

6 hours ago, Tom in Tucson said:

When I read your reply, I initially thought your decision to plant Livistona victoriae at this time of year was crazy for two reasons:

1. It is very difficult to locate this species for sale, and it would be foolish to take the risk now.

2. After reading many posts about this species on PalmTalk I realize that growing this species successfully in California requires supplying them with as much heat as possible.

Today I realized I might be wrong. Last summer I bought some seeds of this species from rarepalmseeds.com after having great success sprouting a lot of seeds of Livistona mariae. I received the seed in late August and did not get as quick a response as L. mariae. So the leftover seed was left out in the garage without any supplemental heat. This afternoon I discovered 2 more seeds that sprouted!

Maybe what this species requires is heat for the leaves to grow, but the roots don't need it. For the last couple weeks our temperatures have been in the 40s at night and the 70s during the day. The garage is averaging around 55°.

Good luck with yours!

Hi 76°, Lo 39°

It really was more out of necessity. It wasn’t doing very well I. My greenhouse and was a favorite Palm for spider mites. The spot that it’s in now should be great for it. It gets a good amount of full sun and is next to the asphalt street so it should get plenty of heat. Time will tell if it was a mistake planting it now but I feel like the greenhouse was going to be a slow death. 

[Missi]

I planted out 2 Areca triandra close to the house last weekend.  Will cover on coldest nights this winter!

[Josue Diaz]

13 hours ago, xvang01 said:

Late November planting.

1. Syagrus coronata x Queen. 

2. Copernicia baileyana 

3. Tribear x2

4. Parajubaea tv

5. Dypsis decipiens 

6. Cycas debaoensis

7. Jubaea x Butia (blue form)

 

Your garden is going to look amazing Xiong! I've read it's best to keep baileyana on the drier side during winter. Great list you've got, I'm surprised you'd plant the dypsis decaryi x leptocheilos this time of year though! 

[Estlander]

Planted a P. Roebelenii a week ago and some Philodendron Hope just yesterday. 

Hoping it won’t be a crazy winter as far as extreme lows. 

[tim_brissy_13]

18 hours ago, Stevetoad said:

It really was more out of necessity. It wasn’t doing very well I. My greenhouse and was a favorite Palm for spider mites. The spot that it’s in now should be great for it. It gets a good amount of full sun and is next to the asphalt street so it should get plenty of heat. Time will tell if it was a mistake planting it now but I feel like the greenhouse was going to be a slow death. 

L victoriae should be fine outside in So Cal. There is at least one long term specimen growing here in Melbourne and we are heat deprived in comparison to you guys.

[xvang01]

7 hours ago, Josue Diaz said:

Your garden is going to look amazing Xiong! I've read it's best to keep baileyana on the drier side during winter. Great list you've got, I'm surprised you'd plant the dypsis decaryi x leptocheilos this time of year though! 

Tribear over grown it's pot in just 6 months. Our winter season is far too long it will be another 5 months till spring time. The palms could not waite and I usually dont like to keep palm in pot for too long. I think that if I planted in the ground it will be much warmer then in the pot. What do u think? Maybe frost cloth with bamboo sticks for this winter season. Next one, will be on it's own. 

[Josue Diaz]

3 hours ago, xvang01 said:

Tribear over grown it's pot in just 6 months. Our winter season is far too long it will be another 5 months till spring time. The palms could not waite and I usually dont like to keep palm in pot for too long. I think that if I planted in the ground it will be much warmer then in the pot. What do u think? Maybe frost cloth with bamboo sticks for this winter season. Next one, will be on it's own. 

That makes sense. I'm hoping for a quick winter. if your tribear does well, that will be next on my list to try. I'll ha e to come by sometime and see your new palms. If you can grow pritchardia hildebrandii, I think you'll have little problems with any on your list. 

[BS Man about Palms]

I will say that I have several palms that I have considered planting in the last month... but then "Lazy Bill" spoke up in the back of my head and said "wait until it rains and gets the ground wet where you will plant, easier digging!!" Here's hoping some water appears this winter to aid digging.  

[Palm Tree Jim]

7 hours ago, BS Man about Palms said:

I will say that I have several palms that I have considered planting in the last month... but then "Lazy Bill" spoke up in the back of my head and said "wait until it rains and gets the ground wet where you will plant, easier digging!!" Here's hoping some water appears this winter to aid digging.  

[Missi]

12 hours ago, BS Man about Palms said:

I will say that I have several palms that I have considered planting in the last month... but then "Lazy Bill" spoke up in the back of my head and said "wait until it rains and gets the ground wet where you will plant, easier digging!!" Here's hoping some water appears this winter to aid digging.  

"Lazy Missi" speaks up often. Too often.  Only two out of like 15 palms I wanted to plant in ground this year are actually in ground...and those two just got planted only last weekend!  In my defense, the South Florida heat and humidity is BRUTAL!

[DoomsDave]

Ah yes.

There's that inner dialogue between Lazy Dave and Crazy Dave, the latter wants to plant and plant and plant and plant.

This weekend, Crazy will win over Lazy.

OH YES.

[joe_OC]

18 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Ah yes.

There's that inner dialogue between Lazy Dave and Crazy Dave, the latter wants to plant and plant and plant and plant.

This weekend, Crazy will win over Lazy.

OH YES.

What did CRAZY DAVE plant?!

[DoomsDave]

29 minutes ago, joe_OC said:

What did CRAZY DAVE plant?!

For starters, Dypsis lafamazanga

Among others.

Seedlings to come!

[DoomsDave]

Obscenities?

Anyone?

[joe_OC]

5 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Obscenities?

Anyone?

I was waiting for the rest of the plantings....   

[NOT A TA]

Yesterday I was digging and potting Cocos. Last week was graduation day for a few so I set them free and planted them in their permanent locations. Here's my story, if anyone likes this kind of thing I can start an ongoing thread "Chronicle of a landscape Vigilante" or something similar. I'm new here so I don't really know what everyone might or might not be interested in.

I do what I refer to as "vigilante landscaping and landscape maintenance". There are areas everywhere where formal or semi-formal landscaping is lacking or plants are essentially abandoned. Might be public or private property. If it's public I find out who's responsible and contact them to try and get maintenance done or whatever.  If it's private I try to do the same or talk to neighbors in the case of absentee owners, corporate owners, etc.  If anyone objects I just leave the area alone and move on. I'm trying to make the world a nicer place not cause anyone stress. Typically neighbors and users of the area are thrilled and sometimes the neighbors, owner, or responsible department offers assistance or equipment. The other day I had a school district official offer the use of their power washer when I told the school maintenance director there I was going to bring mine and use a neighbors water (with their permission already approved) because the sidewalk concrete is black with mold where I've been planting. However I've digressed. On with the Palm story........

I live in Eastern South Florida 10 B (moved from up North in CT) and most of my neighbors are immigrants who came from the islands. I don't speak Creole and they're limited with English so I don't get much out of them as far as correct common plant names, never mind even thinking about Latin names. However they do understand what I do (although they think I'm crazy) and are happy to help since it usually is to their benefit in some way. Almost every neighbor grows plants for food just because it's the way they were brought up in a 3rd world country.

My next door neighbor has older coconuts too tall to easily harvest, so when mowing the lawn he throws the ones that have fallen into piles on his property. He lets them germinate if they feel like it and gives the plants away to people or tosses the plants on the bulk pick up pile if he doesn't get enough takers. He makes NO effort to enhance germination, they're just piles of nuts.The past couple years he gives the seedlings to me if I want them before they get too big and go on the trash pile. I know some of you are cringing but that's just what folks do here. I used to throw out big garbage cans full of old nuts because they were overwhelming, then I cut all the tall ones down because they were liabilities (don't hate now).

So anyway......Yesterday he asked me to take the last ones from a pile I've been going through but leave the smallest three for his niece who recently bought a home in case she wants them. Since I'm a new member here and thought maybe you might find it interesting I took pics.

I normally dig them up without great care and pot them up. Leave them potted for anywhere between a month and three or four depending on season so they'll develop new roots and then put them in their new home. When I dig them for potting they always end up bare root. When I plant them in their new home they have a compact root system which will hold some of the soil I pot them in.

Pic below, as I arrived yesterday. I've already taken 10-12 bigger Cocos from this pile over the past couple months. This is the North side of the fence and the irrigation for his garden gets it wet. He runs it if he thinks he should, no real method for rainfall or other factors, just a guess. If the lawn turns all brown he'll run the irrigation when he notices. Sandy soil they call topsoil here but to me it's just dark colored sand. hahaha

Pic below, the three I left. Won't be surprised if he wants them gone sometime next year.

Below is what they look like when I dig them up. No way of retaining soil on the roots, it just falls off.

I use a mix of whatever soil I've brought back from planting jobs (primarily sand/sandy loam) and some organic matter I get from another neighbor who's a tropical fruit tree grower. I make a deal with him so I'm not spending money for making up a potting mix. It's one thing to invest my time to try and make the world a nicer place but no budget to spend a lot of money for that privilege! Because the soil is so sandy I use paper to keep it all from leaking out the drain holes. Once roots develop they hold the moist soil well enough and paper is rotted by then.

So here's the ones I potted yesterday. They'll stay in the Mango shaded area about a week then go out into a sunnier area. Being the cool season I plan on keeping them in the pots till probably Feb. or March because roots develop slower in the cool months and if a cold snap is predicted I can stick them in the garage temporarily. Since they're already under stress from being dug & potted (during the wrong season) they're more vulnerable to the cold. I remember how much growth slowed of all the Cocos here in 2009-10 and I don't have time for that so they'll go inside if it's cold.

Here's a few about to be loaded for their ride to freedom that went in the ground last week. They were from the same pile as the ones potted yesterday and should have about a month to settle in to their new digs before our coldest days arrive. The location they're in now will help so they should be fine.

 

 

[kinzyjr]

8 hours ago, NOT A TA said:

Yesterday I was digging and potting Cocos. Last week was graduation day for a few so I set them free and planted them in their permanent locations. Here's my story, if anyone likes this kind of thing I can start an ongoing thread "Chronicle of a landscape Vigilante" or something similar. I'm new here so I don't really know what everyone might or might not be interested in.

I do what I refer to as "vigilante landscaping and landscape maintenance". There are areas everywhere where formal or semi-formal landscaping is lacking or plants are essentially abandoned. Might be public or private property. If it's public I find out who's responsible and contact them to try and get maintenance done or whatever.  If it's private I try to do the same or talk to neighbors in the case of absentee owners, corporate owners, etc.  If anyone objects I just leave the area alone and move on. I'm trying to make the world a nicer place not cause anyone stress. Typically neighbors and users of the area are thrilled and sometimes the neighbors, owner, or responsible department offers assistance or equipment. The other day I had a school district official offer the use of their power washer when I told the school maintenance director there I was going to bring mine and use a neighbors water (with their permission already approved) because the sidewalk concrete is black with mold where I've been planting. However I've digressed. On with the Palm story........

I live in Eastern South Florida 10 B (moved from up North in CT) and most of my neighbors are immigrants who came from the islands. I don't speak Creole and they're limited with English so I don't get much out of them as far as correct common plant names, never mind even thinking about Latin names. However they do understand what I do (although they think I'm crazy) and are happy to help since it usually is to their benefit in some way. Almost every neighbor grows plants for food just because it's the way they were brought up in a 3rd world country.

My next door neighbor has older coconuts too tall to easily harvest, so when mowing the lawn he throws the ones that have fallen into piles on his property. He lets them germinate if they feel like it and gives the plants away to people or tosses the plants on the bulk pick up pile if he doesn't get enough takers. He makes NO effort to enhance germination, they're just piles of nuts.The past couple years he gives the seedlings to me if I want them before they get too big and go on the trash pile. I know some of you are cringing but that's just what folks do here. I used to throw out big garbage cans full of old nuts because they were overwhelming, then I cut all the tall ones down because they were liabilities (don't hate now).

So anyway......Yesterday he asked me to take the last ones from a pile I've been going through but leave the smallest three for his niece who recently bought a home in case she wants them. Since I'm a new member here and thought maybe you might find it interesting I took pics.

I normally dig them up without great care and pot them up. Leave them potted for anywhere between a month and three or four depending on season so they'll develop new roots and then put them in their new home. When I dig them for potting they always end up bare root. When I plant them in their new home they have a compact root system which will hold some of the soil I pot them in.

Pic below, as I arrived yesterday. I've already taken 10-12 bigger Cocos from this pile over the past couple months. This is the North side of the fence and the irrigation for his garden gets it wet. He runs it if he thinks he should, no real method for rainfall or other factors, just a guess. If the lawn turns all brown he'll run the irrigation when he notices. Sandy soil they call topsoil here but to me it's just dark colored sand. hahaha

Pic below, the three I left. Won't be surprised if he wants them gone sometime next year.

Below is what they look like when I dig them up. No way of retaining soil on the roots, it just falls off.

I use a mix of whatever soil I've brought back from planting jobs (primarily sand/sandy loam) and some organic matter I get from another neighbor who's a tropical fruit tree grower. I make a deal with him so I'm not spending money for making up a potting mix. It's one thing to invest my time to try and make the world a nicer place but no budget to spend a lot of money for that privilege! Because the soil is so sandy I use paper to keep it all from leaking out the drain holes. Once roots develop they hold the moist soil well enough and paper is rotted by then.

So here's the ones I potted yesterday. They'll stay in the Mango shaded area about a week then go out into a sunnier area. Being the cool season I plan on keeping them in the pots till probably Feb. or March because roots develop slower in the cool months and if a cold snap is predicted I can stick them in the garage temporarily. Since they're already under stress from being dug & potted (during the wrong season) they're more vulnerable to the cold. I remember how much growth slowed of all the Cocos here in 2009-10 and I don't have time for that so they'll go inside if it's cold.

Here's a few about to be loaded for their ride to freedom that went in the ground last week. They were from the same pile as the ones potted yesterday and should have about a month to settle in to their new digs before our coldest days arrive. The location they're in now will help so they should be fine.

Vigilante landscaping... I like that!  Welcome to the forum as well!

[Tom in Tucson]

On 11/19/2018 at 9:27 PM, Stevetoad said:

It really was more out of necessity. It wasn’t doing very well I. My greenhouse and was a favorite Palm for spider mites. The spot that it’s in now should be great for it. It gets a good amount of full sun and is next to the asphalt street so it should get plenty of heat. Time will tell if it was a mistake planting it now but I feel like the greenhouse was going to be a slow death. 

How did your Livistona victoriae fare? 

Hi 77˚, Lo 42˚

[Stevetoad]

On 3/22/2022 at 8:29 PM, Tom in Tucson said:

How did your Livistona victoriae fare? 

Hi 77˚, Lo 42˚

It did fine. Not a very fast palm by any stretch though. I have two. This one and another that is in almost full shade. Both seem to grow at the same slow rate.

[Tom in Tucson]

13 hours ago, Stevetoad said:

It did fine. Not a very fast palm by any stretch though. I have two. This one and another that is in almost full shade. Both seem to grow at the same slow rate.

As I stated in Nov. '18:

"When I read your reply, I initially thought your decision to plant Livistona victoriae at this time of year was crazy for two reasons:

1. It is very difficult to locate this species for sale, and it would be foolish to take the risk now.

2. After reading many posts about this species on PalmTalk I realize that growing this species successfully in California requires supplying them with as much heat as possible.

Today I realized I might be wrong. Last summer I bought some seeds of this species from rarepalmseeds.com after having great success sprouting a lot of seeds of Livistona mariae. I received the seed in late August and did not get as quick a response as L. mariae. So the leftover seed was left out in the garage without any supplemental heat. This afternoon I discovered 2 more seeds that sprouted!

Maybe what this species requires is heat for the leaves to grow, but the roots don't need it. For the last couple weeks our temperatures have been in the 40s at night and the 70s during the day. The garage is averaging around 55°.

Good luck with yours!"

You're report helps to confirm my theory that the root temperature is not the reason they are difficult in coastal California. Santee and other inland areas might have enough heat to allow leaf growth (like desert areas).

If you get a chance, post some images of both of yours over that last few years.

Hi 74˚, Lo 48˚

[Stevetoad]

On 3/30/2022 at 8:38 PM, Tom in Tucson said:

As I stated in Nov. '18:

"When I read your reply, I initially thought your decision to plant Livistona victoriae at this time of year was crazy for two reasons:

1. It is very difficult to locate this species for sale, and it would be foolish to take the risk now.

2. After reading many posts about this species on PalmTalk I realize that growing this species successfully in California requires supplying them with as much heat as possible.

Today I realized I might be wrong. Last summer I bought some seeds of this species from rarepalmseeds.com after having great success sprouting a lot of seeds of Livistona mariae. I received the seed in late August and did not get as quick a response as L. mariae. So the leftover seed was left out in the garage without any supplemental heat. This afternoon I discovered 2 more seeds that sprouted!

Maybe what this species requires is heat for the leaves to grow, but the roots don't need it. For the last couple weeks our temperatures have been in the 40s at night and the 70s during the day. The garage is averaging around 55°.

Good luck with yours!"

You're report helps to confirm my theory that the root temperature is not the reason they are difficult in coastal California. Santee and other inland areas might have enough heat to allow leaf growth (like desert areas).

If you get a chance, post some images of both of yours over that last few years.

Hi 74˚, Lo 48˚

Here ya go. The first one it the one we are talking about in this thread. The other is the one I planted in full shade. 

 

[GottmitAlex]

Not yet....

 

[Than]

On 10/27/2018 at 2:43 AM, GottmitAlex said:

"Not I", said the blind man. 

After a month and a half of red mite infestation (which, since two days ago was eradicated). I'm just grateful my surviving palms are still there...  I'm pretty sure, now knowing what mites are, they are the ones who took out my fenestralis. Or in the words of Eliza Doolittle, "They done her in". So I have one plot available at the east end of the sliver. I'll probably plant one of the emerging Euterpe oleracea `Para Dwarf` I have in the greenhaus come next spring....

 

Good luck on the new plantings! 

How did you eradicate them?

[GottmitAlex]

13 hours ago, ego said:

How did you eradicate them?

I used  I used "bioadvanced 3 in 1 insect, disease and mite control"

You connect it to the water hose and spray away.

Wear a mask while doing it. It's harsh stuff when inhaled.