What usually happens when you plant a ton of palms too close?

[Palmfarmer]

Will the strongest ones just take over and make the others get stunted? will it kill the weaker palms? anyone got some really overgrown gardens they would like to share

[DoomsDave]

You get a yard like mine . . . .

[GottmitAlex]

13 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

You get a yard like mine . . . .

OMG. True! Wahr.

[DoomsDave]

BUT

Mae West was reputed to have said

"Too much of a uh-good thing"

[tossing hair thrusting chest]

"can be wonderful!"

[DoomsDave]

@Palmfarmer!

Sorry, we're having a bit of fun! This captivity is getting tiring.

The best garden to illustrate your point that I know of is that of the late Ralph Velez, here in California, and I'm gonna have to dig up some pictures.

I'm only partially "Velezed."

[Palmfarmer]

hahaha ok i am thinking full on totally crammed though like planting Canary island dates and bismarckias 1 meter from each other or similar. 

[Merlyn]

Some of my yard is "structured" with "proper spacing" between palms so they will grow to be focal points.  In those areas I made sure that I planted the dominant and faster growing ones so they'd end up being the focal point with other supporting accent palms.  Right now I'm working on turning the East side into a jungle, so I'd love to see some pics!!!

[DoomsDave]

Here’s a shot of my yard from February 2016 more or less

That white flowered bush on the left is a Crassula Jade Plant in full bitchen' bloom.

[TomJ]

The simple answer is.... magic

 

[DoomsDave]

I've never had a burglary.

Hope that doesn't jinx it . . .

I think potential burglars are scared off. What's back there?

[Meangreen94z]

Just one picture? From 2016? You have to have more than that

[Palmfarmer]

Yeah it might hide Tigers and some chimps in there for protection. Holy shit thats one hell of  a jungle, mine will probably look that overgrown with time as well. I keep on telling myself ''the garden is full, no more palms" but i somehow manage to plant one more each time i come a cross a nice one. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

You get a jungle. A happy jungle! 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Jim in Los Altos

[GottmitAlex]

Awesome Jim! And they said I planted my cocos too close!

 

[Oviedo_z10b_lol]

@redant and @TikiRick, you guys wanna throw some Florida jungle pics in this thread? Gotta represent! 

[enigma99]

Mine is super close as well. After things start getting bigger you can always delete. 

[sonoranfans]

On 7/22/2020 at 1:58 PM, Palmaholic said:

It does get hot, not Arizona, palm springs hot but summertime high temps are always in the upper 80's to upper 90's with some periods of 100 degree temperatures and it is a dry heat with very little humidity.  I am slowly starting to transition away from drippers since my soil is all sand and rock.  I recently poured 2 gallons of water/water soluble fertilizer into the basin of the Bismarck and it was gone within 45-60 seconds.  I have purchased some spot spitters, some 7 GPH and some 17 GPH and am hoping to get the entire surrounding area wet so I can use controlled release fertilizer.  It will be a lot of work for some of my palms since the area around the trees are covered with weed fabric and rock on top of that so I will have to pull back the rock and fabric to put down the fertilizer.

I was using only water soluble fertilizer before but after getting feedback on this thread, it appears that my soil simply drains to fast for the water soluble fertilizer to be effective.  It sounds like the better approach is to switch to controlled release fertilizer and supplement with the water soluble fertilizer.  Do you think that is a good idea and if so, do I need to wet the area before I use the water soluble fertilizer or can I soil drench if the soil is dry?

 

14 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

hahaha ok i am thinking full on totally crammed though like planting Canary island dates and bismarckias 1 meter from each other or similar. 

If you plot bismarkia and CIDP  at 1M trunk center to trunk center, I expect it will get ugly.  They will thrash/abrade each other in the wind and inhibit each others growth.  Many more slender palms like many crownshafted palms can be bunched.  Bunching some palms leads to stunting and abrasion damage.  I would never plant sabal causiarum within even 3M of a bismarckia or borassus for example.  I have an ongoing tight fit with my borassus about 12-13' from a large beccariophoenix Alfredii.  The borassus is still moderate size(14' overall) but its pushing into the alfredii crown already.  If I had known I would have separated them by another meter.  At the time no one seemed to know how large alfredii's actually get.  Alfredii's can easily have a 25' wide crown, possibly 30'.  The borassus are similar in width of crown.

[Tracy]

10 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

The heron looks to be on the hunt.  Do I recall you have a pond, possibly even koi??? I have a couple of friends that had to put netting up over their koi ponds to keep the herons and egrets from poaching.  I guess when you go full jungle, you have to expect the predators to arrive eventually!  Looking at your garden and some of the others, the key is to have some layering.  Upper canopy, mid-levels and ground level plants.

14 hours ago, TomJ said:

The simple answer is.... magic

 

As Tom pointed out to me when visiting last weekend, there is a delicate balance.  You don't want to have such a jungle that you end up killing palms that require sun.  Tom, you mentioned a couple of very rare palms that were lost at a Vista garden near you due to the development of a thick canopy that shaded out the sun requiring lower palms.  

Since I have a small space and plenty of palms as well as other plants that require a good deal of sun, I'm trying to be a little more strategic with layering and spacing the tall or fast plants, in order to allow sun to get down to my sun demanding plants.

[kinzyjr]

Question: What usually happens when you plant a ton of palms too close?

Answer: It typically results in your chainsaw blades getting a little duller and your bulk yard waste pile getting a little higher.

[Jim in Los Altos]

2 hours ago, Tracy said:

The heron looks to be on the hunt.  Do I recall you have a pond, possibly even koi??? I have a couple of friends that had to put netting up over their koi ponds to keep the herons and egrets from poaching.  I guess when you go full jungle, you have to expect the predators to arrive eventually!  Looking at your garden and some of the others, the key is to have some layering.  Upper canopy, mid-levels and ground level plants.

As Tom pointed out to me when visiting last weekend, there is a delicate balance.  You don't want to have such a jungle that you end up killing palms that require sun.  Tom, you mentioned a couple of very rare palms that were lost at a Vista garden near you due to the development of a thick canopy that shaded out the sun requiring lower palms.  

Since I have a small space and plenty of palms as well as other plants that require a good deal of sun, I'm trying to be a little more strategic with layering and spacing the tall or fast plants, in order to allow sun to get down to my sun demanding plants.

I get all kinds of wildlife since my house is near an open space preserve. My pond is deep so no need to net it. The fish just swim to the bottom when they need to. Deepest part of pond is 8’ deep. Shallow ponds 3’ or less are vulnerable to predators. In ten years, I’ve not lost one fish to a predator. 

[Merlyn]

I was thinking videos from redant's D'Jungle would give you some great views.  This is one of them:

 

[DoomsDave]

6 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Question: What usually happens when you plant a ton of palms too close?

Answer: It typically results in your chainsaw blades getting a little duller and your bulk yard waste pile getting a little higher.

Not always though 

Sometimes you get multiple heights and canopies and it looks glorious 

[DoomsDave]

Hmm.

Maybe my garden might be a good backdrop for this Tahitian lady war dance, lots of shaking spears, and much much else.

 

[DoomsDave]

Okay sorry 

went a bit wild it’s Friday and no karaoke 

Here’s part of my overdone garden 

I like it!

[UK_Palms]

1 minute ago, DoomsDave said:

Okay sorry 

went a bit wild it’s Friday and no karaoke 

Here’s part of my overdone garden 

I like it!

Oh the envy from someone who is at 51N... 

Please, I wish... lol 

[Matt in OC]

A lot of people here have amazing results planting things closely. I’ve found this is most satisfying when you plant adjacent palms with different growth rates so you will have several levels of canopy. For me, it’s been a bit of trial and error as some palms will grow faster (or slower) then you expect. Plant away and edit liberally!

[GottmitAlex]

3 hours ago, Matt in OC said:

A lot of people here have amazing results planting things closely. I’ve found this is most satisfying when you plant adjacent palms with different growth rates so you will have several levels of canopy. For me, it’s been a bit of trial and error as some palms will grow faster (or slower) then you expect. Plant away and edit liberally!

Hear, hear!  I have a B. alfredii between two C. nucifera and a D. plumosa (from seed)  right by a Red Tahiti dwarf coco seedling. I can honestly say, they look gorgeous. (Yes the alfie is an understory paln vis a vis  coco.)  But hey! It holds its own. 

[GottmitAlex]

thank you @DoomsDave

[96720]

I’m in Phoenix where are low temperatures are around 90 we want shade my garden is a work in progress I use royals and phoenixes for shade and then plant other palms in the shade 

[greysrigging]

On 7/24/2020 at 10:02 AM, DoomsDave said:

You get a yard like mine . . . .

You get a yard like mine ....
And we ( Darwin ) have snakes, cane toads, bush rats, possums, bush chooks, fruit bats, quolls, water monitors ( big kick ass lizard things a yard long that look like miniature crocodiles ), barking owls, bush stone curlews that sound like a homicide being committed, not to mention the orb spider webs 6' in diameter, green tree ants just waiting to engulf you when you inadvertently brush against their nests in the trees......, that rummage around in the suburban jungle
But otherwise all good ( we don't have 'Drop Bears' in the Territory, they're a southern critter )

[lzorrito]

23 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

You get a yard like mine ....
And we ( Darwin ) have snakes, cane toads, bush rats, possums, bush chooks, fruit bats, quolls, water monitors ( big kick ass lizard things a yard long that look like miniature crocodiles ), barking owls, bush stone curlews that sound like a homicide being committed, not to mention the orb spider webs 6' in diameter, green tree ants just waiting to engulf you when you inadvertently brush against their nests in the trees......, that rummage around in the suburban jungle
But otherwise all good ( we don't have 'Drop Bears' in the Territory, they're a southern critter )

Now, that´s a jungle!! The real deal! I can imagine the sounds at night, the humid heat and the tropical smells coming out of it...there's nothing the tropics...!

In your latitudes things just don't "usually happen"...they really happen!

Cheers

 

[sandgroper]

36 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

But otherwise all good ( we don't have 'Drop Bears' in the Territory, they're a southern critter )

Don't talk about drop bears, still waiting to get the stitches out, nasty creatures if you survive the asttack!

[greysrigging]

1 minute ago, sandgroper said:

Don't talk about drop bears, still waiting to get the stitches out, nasty creatures if you survive the asttack!

Scary bloody things....especially in the breeding season....

[greysrigging]

I embraced the 'no plan, plant close' garden design back in the day.... as you can see....lol !

 

[DoomsDave]

Drop bears, hmm, I suspect after one, two, maybe more stubbies too many?

Or, maybe, as a result of a really REALLY bad acid trip . . . .