Palms with big leaves

[sonoranfans]

I thought I'd start a thread on big leaves, palms of all kinds with big leaves.  Add yours if you have any you'd like to share.  First up, my 35-40' roystonea regia dropped one today in a wind and rain storm.  The leaf is 20' long without the crownshaft, and the crownshaft is 6'+.  Im guessing over 50 lbs after dragging it to my "fallen leaves area".  Normally they dont fall off all green and heavy, but this one just came off in a storm, its hefty for a 200lb man to drag around.  It fell directly under the tree in the expected well within 10' diameter around the trunk.  But yes plant one of these near your driveway and you may have a problem.

[JLM]

If you did plant these near your driveway, bye-bye windshield.

[chad2468emr]

When I lived in South Florida, there were at least two times where I had to literally swerve because one of these fell near my car. They plant them along roads and sidewalks constantly so I am always amazed that I’ve never been knocked out or had my windshield smashed. 

[DoomsDave]

28 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

I thought I'd start a thread on big leaves, palms of all kinds with big leaves.  Add yours if you have any you'd like to share.  First up, my 35-40' roystonea regia dropped one today in a wind and rain storm.  The leaf is 20' long without the crownshaft, and the crownshaft is 6'+.  Im guessing over 50 lbs after dragging it to my "fallen leaves area".  Normally they dont fall off all green and heavy, but this one just came off in a storm, its hefty for a 200lb man to drag around.  It fell directly under the tree in the expected well within 10' diameter around the trunk.  But yes plant one of these near your driveway and you may have a problem.

Fifty pounds is a good start, but they hit sixty when the palm gets really tall.

How well do I know.

[PhilippineExpat]

Around here the biggest fronds belong to arenga pinatta and coconuts. They both get fronds over 20 feet. I think my neighbor's coconut fronds are taller than my house lol. 

[Frond-friend42]

You could start a fitness program moving leaves for the palm enthusiasts in your area. Sadly, I live too far away to participate.

[96720]

Royals are beautiful palms I Don’t think mine are that big, another big leaf palm is Bismarck mine have petioles 6’ long and leafs 7-8’ wide

[greysrigging]

The Corypha utan fronds are up there, too. Bigger in dia than my box trailer....lol !

[sonoranfans]

Yes corypha is a huge fan leaf!  Truly a massive palm, need a bigger yard....

[Kim]

In my garden the heaviest leaves are undoubtedly the big Dypsis.  D. prestoniana leaves have heavy wood bases but I can still manage to heft them to the compost pile with great effort. 

D. Prestoniana on the left :

A fallen frond, 20 ft. or more, reaching nearly to the D. onilahensis behind it, resting atop a sturdy ti plant:

Size of base of crownshaft in relation to my hand:

 

 

[Kim]

Dypsis canaliculata (possibly incorrectly identified, but that’s the name it was purchased under) is dramatically more difficult to drag away., estimated weight in excess of 50 lbs. In the photos below, a frond had fallen, balancing perfectly on the “ holey boulder.”  After struggling with it, Bo helped me stand it upright, and as you can see, the hard woody crownshaft about matches my own height, about 5’2” .

[John hovancsek]

Lemourophenix has really heavy leaves.  I have to cut them in to 3 pieces to hall away

[TomJ]

55 minutes ago, John hovancsek said:

Lemourophenix has really heavy leaves.  I have to cut them in to 3 pieces to hall away

Wish I had that problem

[Kim]

1 hour ago, John hovancsek said:

Lemourophenix has really heavy leaves.  I have to cut them in to 3 pieces to hall away

Your Lemur must be huge! Got a photo?

[ahosey01]

Believe it or not, my neighbor has a large Washingtonia filifera in pretty much full shade under a pecan canopy, so the petioles stretch far out.  Some of the leaves are probably 15 foot long or more.  Biggest Washingtonia leaves I’ve ever seen.

[John hovancsek]

12 minutes ago, Kim said:

Your Lemur must be huge! Got a photo?

I work at florabunda 3days a week. It's not mine but one I take care of 

[Kim]

Wow, lucky you!  I’ve seen the beautiful beast, now I get it!!

[Kim]

As far as overall length, in my garden it’s Clinostigma samoense — and I apologize for posting pics of them yet again -- but the palms are over 30 ft. tall now and when a frond crashes down it’s an expedition hauling it away. When brown, the crownshaft goes all limp and often is partially split, so that is like trying to pick up a giant thick wet leather beach towel that also has a stiff 20-ft. rachis and leaflets attached.  Probably comical to watch, but once I get a good grasp of the leathery part and hoist the blade over my shoulder, I can haul it away in a single trip.  Sort of a personal challenge, lol.

[realarch]

How well I know the snap, the crash, and the lugging away massive fronds. Dypsis robusta and D. prestoniana are by far the heaviest. 

I must say Kim, quite fashionable garden attire! I usually carry my passport when gardening for fear of deportation.

Tim

[ahosey01]

1 hour ago, Kim said:

As far as overall length, in my garden it’s Clinostigma samoense — and I apologize for posting pics of them yet again -- but the palms are over 30 ft. tall now and when a frond crashes down it’s an expedition hauling it away. When brown, the crownshaft goes all limp and often is partially split, so that is like trying to pick up a giant thick wet leather beach towel that also has a stiff 20-ft. rachis and leaflets attached.  Probably comical to watch, but once I get a good grasp of the leathery part and hoist the blade over my shoulder, I can haul it away in a single trip.  Sort of a personal challenge, lol.

This is like the Michael Jordan of gardens.

[Kim]

1 hour ago, realarch said:

How well I know the snap, the crash, and the lugging away massive fronds. Dypsis robusta and D. prestoniana are by far the heaviest. 

I must say Kim, quite fashionable garden attire! I usually carry my passport when gardening for fear of deportation.

Tim

Deportation!  You are too much.! I have missed your humor, Tim. 

[DoomsDave]

Spanky just dropped a big one

 

who me?

 

[Kim]

14 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

This is like the Michael Jordan of gardens.

Oh gosh, thank you for that! However, if you come to Hawaii and visit a few top notch gardens, you'll soon see mine is still second string. 

 

[sonoranfans]

Lots of huge leaves here!  Love them!  Normally a partially dried leaf is not so heavy, they are about 70% water so when they dry, they lose alot of weight.  Fortunatly they do dry out, but not so fast here.

[Gbarce]

Part of an Atalea butyracea leaf.  About a third of it is still on the tree

[sonoranfans]

the biggest palmate leaf in my yard, Borassus Aethiopum, about 10' leaflet tip to leaflet tip.  These leaves have the thickest petioles of any palm I have and its still a juvenile.  

[Kim]

On 9/7/2020 at 7:59 AM, Gbarce said:

Part of an Atalea butyracea leaf.  About a third of it is still on the tree

Attalea are so impressive! Can you show a pic of the whole tree? They look like the most incredible palms fountaining out of the ground with huge leaves before they even form a trunk.

[Kim]

@sonoranfans that Borassus is going to be a monster! Looks great!

[dalmatiansoap]

Not my plant but on of the most impressive with the largest leaves I have ever seen is this Arenga pinnata from La Orotava garden in Tenerife

[PhilippineExpat]

Here is one of my neighbor's coconuts with massive fronds and barely a trunk. It is pretty well shaded and given zero care or attention. I hope mine grow like this!

[hbernstein]

Raphia farinifera:

[Rick Kelley]

 

On 9/6/2020 at 7:42 AM, Kim said:

As far as overall length, in my garden it’s Clinostigma samoense — and I apologize for posting pics of them yet again -- but the palms are over 30 ft. tall now and when a frond crashes down it’s an expedition hauling it away. When brown, the crownshaft goes all limp and often is partially split, so that is like trying to pick up a giant thick wet leather beach towel that also has a stiff 20-ft. rachis and leaflets attached.  Probably comical to watch, but once I get a good grasp of the leathery part and hoist the blade over my shoulder, I can haul it away in a single trip.  Sort of a personal challenge, lol.

I have to agree with Kim. Maybe in time some of my Dypsis or Attelea will drop bigger fronds, but right now my Clinostigma samoense has no competition. This one just dropped a few days ago. I'm 6'3" (192 cm) for comparison. The 19 foot dry frond is not the problem. It is the 9 foot wet crownshaft that is worrying. And because this species grows so quickly, they drop a lot of fronds. For the time being these aren't dangerous. They first flop down for several days before letting go for the final fall. You can't miss the droopy dead frond because it is right in your face. It is a flashing red light. But down the road when the crown disappears into the clouds, one of those could drop without warning. I may need to start wearing my bike helmet when weed whacking. If in a few years someone discovers my skeletal remains under this palm, at least I will have provided a bit of organic fertilizer. It's the circle of life.