Potted Cabbage Palm

[Ann Louise]

I'm a newbie here so please be forgiving.  I recently purchased a Cabbage Palm as an anniversary gift for my husband.  We live in the northern part of Middle Tennessee (zone 7A) so for now, we are keeping the 4-foot tall palm in a very large exterior-glazed terracotta pot.  I have a greenhouse where we will overwinter the tree.  We would like to eventually put it in the ground but I don't know if that's going to be possible here.  I haven't been able to find any information about potted cabbage palms.  If anyone has any advice whatsoever, please feel free to pass it along.

[kinzyjr]

@Ann Louise

Welcome to Palm Talk!  The Cabbage Palm, Sabal palmetto, tends to grow slowly in pots.  In this case, that is a good thing.  They are hardy to zone 8a temperatures without protection.  If you put it in the ground, you'll have to plan on protecting it.  Given their heights at maturity, it would eventually be infeasible to protect.  It would probably be better to keep it in the pot in that regard. 

[Rickybobby]

Is there any drainage holes in the bottom of that pot?

[Ann Louise]

3 hours ago, Rickybobby said:

Is there any drainage holes in the bottom of that pot?

Yes, the pot had one 1" hole in the center and we added at least twenty more 1/4" holes.  In the bottom of the pot, I had a terracotta saucer the perfect size that I turned upside down and drilled another twelve or so 1/4" holes.  From there, I filled the pot with a lot of professional mix and additional perlite.  I ran out of mix so I added peat, fine nuggets, and a humus/compost mix.  The tree is potted to the original dirt line from where it was dug up.  (BTW, the palm was "hurricane cut" for shipping.)  I have drenched the pot and water runs easily out the bottom.

[Allen]

Nice - neighbor.  Hey if you're ever in Murfreesboro you can stop by and see my palms.  I have 2 little Palmetto (Smaller than yours) in the ground.  they will need to be protected.  

[Ann Louise]

On 9/16/2019 at 11:48 PM, Allen said:

Nice - neighbor.  Hey if you're ever in Murfreesboro you can stop by and see my palms.  I have 2 little Palmetto (Smaller than yours) in the ground.  they will need to be protected.  

Sorry it's taken me so long, it's been a busy week for me.  We would love to see your palms sometime but we don't head your direction often.  How do you plan to protect them as they grow taller?  We would love to put it in the ground but we're very afraid of the winters here.