My Nypa Palm

[Really full garden]

I rarely post photos from this garden because it is difficult . It’s dark, often gloomy. 

Nypa , very happy in my lily pond. This one is slow but steady. I plan to move this to the beach.

 

 

[Austinpalm]

Thanks for the picture.  How old is that plant and how long has it been in that location?

[Really full garden]

It’s almost 10 years old. I germinated three seeds and this was the only one to survive.

[Tyrone]

I remember swimming at the beach in southern Thailand and having little germinated Nypas bob by on the waves. We were there all day and I collected 5. At the end of the day I released them back to sea hopefully to wash up somewhere else. Would love to grow this species, but being outside the true tropics it would never grow.

Your one is cute.

[Austinpalm]

On 7/17/2019 at 9:16 AM, Really full garden said:

I rarely post photos from this garden because it is difficult . It’s dark, often gloomy. 

Nypa , very happy in my lily pond. This one is slow but steady. I plan to move this to the beach.

 

 

How is this palm doing now?

[Really full garden]

On 3/31/2022 at 11:40 AM, Austinpalm said:

How is this palm doing now?

It’s interesting that you asked. My pond has gotten more and more shady as the surrounding canopy grows. I am no longer able to grow water lilies.  My Nypa was slowly going into decline with almost no growth.

I decided to move it to my beach garden. The rootball was not large . I had prepared a very large hole 1m x 1m x 1 m deep. This hole was lined with a pond liner with a few holes in the bottom.

The hole was filled with my native sand , clayish soil , coconut coir and leaf mold. The palm was planted and the hole was flooded every other day. I had installed a tee pee of coconut palm fronds to provide some shade. All of the original fronds died slowly but the spears remained green. This week one  frond is opening and the other not far behind. I drench the hole weekly with a sea kelp root stimulant.

This has been a four month process to transition this palm from 100% aquatic to semi aquatic. It is actually growing in mud very similar to what the palms experience at high tide growing along the banks of tidal mangroves.

[Really full garden]

11 hours ago, Really full garden said:

It’s interesting that you asked. My pond has gotten more and more shady as the surrounding canopy grows. I am no longer able to grow water lilies.  My Nypa was slowly going into decline with almost no growth.

I decided to move it to my beach garden. The rootball was not large . I had prepared a very large hole 1m x 1m x 1 m deep. This hole was lined with a pond liner with a few holes in the bottom.

The hole was filled with my native sand , clayish soil , coconut coir and leaf mold. The palm was planted and the hole was flooded every other day. I had installed a tee pee of coconut palm fronds to provide some shade. All of the original fronds died slowly but the spears remained green. This week one  frond is opening and the other not far behind. I drench the hole weekly with a sea kelp root stimulant.

This has been a four month process to transition this palm from 100% aquatic to semi aquatic. It is actually growing in mud very similar to what the palms experience at high tide growing along the banks of tidal mangroves.

Took this photo just this afternoon.

[Austinpalm]

On 4/2/2022 at 8:20 PM, Really full garden said:

Took this photo just this afternoon.

Thanks for the reply.  I currently have a couple of seeds sprouting and was wondering if I could plant them in a low spot in my backyard.  I am concerned about how wet the site needs to be for the palm to survive as well as how salty it can be.  My soil has a high salt content from the nearby hypersaline Laguna Madre.  I have read that nypa naturally occur in the upper limits in riverine mangrove systems where they receive regular freshwater exchange.  Not too sure I can mimic that easily.

[Really full garden]

12 hours ago, Austinpalm said:

Thanks for the reply.  I currently have a couple of seeds sprouting and was wondering if I could plant them in a low spot in my backyard.  I am concerned about how wet the site needs to be for the palm to survive as well as how salty it can be.  My soil has a high salt content from the nearby hypersaline Laguna Madre.  I have read that nypa naturally occur in the upper limits in riverine mangrove systems where they receive regular freshwater exchange.  Not too sure I can mimic that easily.

I imagine they can handle some brackish water. My planting hole is always moist ( never let it dry out 100%)