Multiple heads x 15 in one Palm

[Bob Tranter]

Hi, very pleased to find your website and Forum. I live in Dubbo, NSW, Australia  (Five hours west of Sydney) and about ten years ago we moved to our property a lovely Palm Tree, type of which is unknown.. 

Over these years this Palm has grown strongly so strongly in fact that it is now a Palm with approximately 15 heads in its crown.. From the attached photos please see how it is now bending over to one side. The tree is in a very healthy condition.

My problem is I do not know what to do with it now. Over time the bend will become bigger and bigger and apart from looking kind of funny it may end up having gravity bring the tops downwards.

I certainly want to,do the right thing by it, so I am hoping your Forum can assist me with recommendations. Should I

          Just leave it alone and see what happens,  or

          Try and cut out the 15 or so heads and try and replant them in large containers.. If so what would the required process be.

I am also seeking to find our it’s correct variety, and hopefully the photos may assist, especially the seed pod photo.

Any help or suggestions  would be appreciated.

Many Thanks.

Bob Tranter.

 

PS Unsure what happened but the photos appear to be upside down - must be because we are Down Under.

[kinzyjr]

@Bob Tranter

Welcome to the forums!

From the look of it, I'd say it's a Phoenix - probably Phoenix dactylifera or Phoenix sylvestris.  Basal suckers (from the root ball) tend root fairly well, but not sure if there is a success rate or what it would be when the growing point branches like your specimen.

[Bob Tranter]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

@Bob Tranter

Welcome to the forums!

From the look of it, I'd say it's a Phoenix - probably Phoenix dactylifera or Phoenix sylvestris.  Basal suckers (from the root ball) tend root fairly well, but not sure if there is a success rate or what it would be when the growing point branches like your specimen.

 

[Bob Tranter]

Thanks. I Googled basal suckers and see that they are generally caused by stress. We’ve just experiences Australia’s worst drought ever with basically no rain for three years where we live. That type of stress may account for the multiple heads. What to do about them now becomes the question. Thanks for your response.

[kinzyjr]

1 minute ago, Bob Tranter said:

Thanks. I Googled basal suckers and see that they are generally caused by stress. We’ve just experiences Australia’s worst drought ever with basically no rain for three years where we live. That type of stress may account for the multiple heads. What to do about them now becomes the question. Thanks for your response.

I have one that branches from pretty much everywhere, both basal suckers and "branching" suckers.  I grew it from seed and it has more of the feral date palm form you'd see in nature.  I just let them grow and assume their own form unless they get too close to the driveway.  Having one with multiple heads gives your palm a unique look.  Anyone with enough currency in the bank can buy a solitary palm ready for retirement from a date palm grove and install it, but not everyone has a palm with 15 heads.

[Steve Mac]

Hi Bob, I think that Kinzy is right that it is a Phoenix palm but which one I don't know either.  The problem with leaving all of those heads on it for me, would be the difficulty in maintaining it looking good.  People have different tastes.  But as it ages it is only going to become more dense and hard to trim out all of the dead leaves in the middle and you know how spikey it is. I would be trimming off a lot of the lowest heads until I thought that it looked good.  Or if you like that dense look, go with Kinzy and leave it.

Either way I don't think that it will hurt the plant. There is not much that you can do about the lean except by cutting off the heads on that side only, that may encourage it up straight.

I think that planting those heads that you cut off is likely to be a waste of time, I don't think that they form roots, but I have not tried it myself, perhaps someone else has.

You do have a very special palm there mate.

[TomJ]

From the Northern hemisphere that palm looks like it's upside down.  

This is a pygmy date palm in front of a church by my house.

At least 10 heads.

I posted it in another thread a bit ago.