When will my Queen palms flower ?

[aegean]

Queen palms are marginal here in our 8b climate and I managed to grow three specimens from seedling/seed to about 10 foot tall palms, developing a trunk now.

I always protect them in winter times, but it's getting harder every year as they are growing fast now.

I also have two Butia odorata which flower every year and seem to be quite hardy here. As it would probably easier to find a Mule Palm on Mars than in a nursery around here, I would like to try a cross-pollination of the Butias with the Queen.

Can somebody tell me when (what size) I can expect my Queen palm to flower for the first time ?

 

[Collectorpalms]

They need 3 meters of full trunk to flower. They must be very healthy and fat to flower regularly. Mine produced thousands last fall, only to get hit -15c. Mine started flower after 15 years in the ground. When planted they were thin and about 12Ff /3.5m overall height but with no real trunk. Maybe a couple years younger than yours.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[JLM]

Being in 8b it will likely be a long time. It would have at least a few meters of trunk before it flowers more than likely. Its probably variable for each specific palm as to when it flowers, if you had a group planting of three Queens one of them might flower a year or two before the other two (hypothetical scenario). 
My Queens here in 8b took a little bit of damage this winter but they have resumed growth as normal, will likely be a while before mine flowers and they'll probably get killed by cold before that happens.
As for your situation in Greece, im not sure how the cold comes in but for me im wide open for arctic blasts, you may not be. But, about what temperature do you protect them? I protected them this year for anything below about -3.8C, but they should be able to tolerate down to -6.6C. 

[Reyes Vargas]

1 hour ago, aegean said:

Queen palms are marginal here in our 8b climate and I managed to grow three specimens from seedling/seed to about 10 foot tall palms, developing a trunk now.

I always protect them in winter times, but it's getting harder every year as they are growing fast now.

I also have two Butia odorata which flower every year and seem to be quite hardy here. As it would probably easier to find a Mule Palm on Mars than in a nursery around here, I would like to try a cross-pollination of the Butias with the Queen.

Can somebody tell me when (what size) I can expect my Queen palm to flower for the first time ?

 

Like everyone has said they need a lot more hight before they start to flower.  I started the one that I have from seed about 15/20 years ago and it just flowered and produced seed last year.  Mine has about 15 feet 4.5 meters of trunk.  Just like the rest of Texas we got hit hard from the arctic blast and my queen was damaged and probably will not flower this year.  From the looks of your queen it still has a long time before it flowered.

[Ben in Norcal]

Order some mules online, and hope they never flower.  I have no bigger pain in the ass in my yard than seeding queens.  Except, perhaps, trimming my Phoenix canariensis.  But that's a once a year thing, not a constant s**t show of rotting fruit, rats, and unwanted seedlings.

[PalmatierMeg]

2 hours ago, Ben in Norcal said:

Order some mules online, and hope they never flower.  I have no bigger pain in the ass in my yard than seeding queens.  Except, perhaps, trimming my Phoenix canariensis.  But that's a once a year thing, not a constant s**t show of rotting fruit, rats, and unwanted seedlings.

Fusarium wilt relieved me of those troubles. Did the same to my fecund W. robusta. Apparent disasters that turned into blessings.

[aegean]

16 hours ago, JLM said:

Being in 8b it will likely be a long time. It would have at least a few meters of trunk before it flowers more than likely. Its probably variable for each specific palm as to when it flowers, if you had a group planting of three Queens one of them might flower a year or two before the other two (hypothetical scenario). 
My Queens here in 8b took a little bit of damage this winter but they have resumed growth as normal, will likely be a while before mine flowers and they'll probably get killed by cold before that happens.
As for your situation in Greece, im not sure how the cold comes in but for me im wide open for arctic blasts, you may not be. But, about what temperature do you protect them? I protected them this year for anything below about -3.8C, but they should be able to tolerate down to -6.6C. 

I also expect my queens to get killed in a freeze before they flower. I hoped they would flower earlier, but a few meters of trunk will be very hard to achieve in our climate. But as long as I can protect them I will do it. 

We also experience arctic blasts here sometimes and the temperarure can fall to 12 degrees F.  The usual winter has lowest temperarures of about 22 degrees F.

So far I used an "all winter protection method" for all my smaller, less cold hardy palms. It is quite laborious, but proved to be very effective. I build a simple wooden frame around the palm, mount a mesh fabric on it and fill it with dry leaves from the sycamore trees here. On the top I mount a plastic sheet, so the mulch leaves don't get wet. To reduce radiational freeze I also mount a layer of those aluminum windscreen protectors below the plastic sheet. I keep this from december till march.

The queens got too big for this now, but I still use the same method to protect the lower part of the palm with a little hole in the plastic sheet for the top part of the trunk (isolated from the plastic). The crown remains unprotected, but the central growing point should be well protected by the mulch. 

The picture shows one of these shelters. It's a little Brahea armata some years ago. It also became big now and I don't protect it anymore like this.

Edited April 2, 2021 by aegean

[Collectorpalms]

I am in zone 8b Texas.  Do you have long periods of temperatures below freezing or many hours below -6. You can keep you queen alive if its like our zone 8b, where we have very quick cold fronts. 1 to 3 days maybe 2 times a winter, and some winters none at all. I am surprised that my simply wrapping the trunk really good is all that is needed in almost every winter. This year was the exception. I also had mine planted near the house, which helped. Out in the open, they are more prone to the cold. But layer the palm trees in blankets or frost cloth and then cover that with  6ml plastic and it should save the tree down to -10C. after that you would need heat tape. 

[Palmfarmer]

a short 22 like hours should perhaps give some minor to moderate burn, or nothing depending on queen. We had one night this winter where it dipped to 24 briefly. 0 Damage to my around 2 meter queens. also had another one going to 25f or so for an hour again 0 burn for me. This whole city is planted with queens,they are everywhere I saw some discolored ones in the neighboorhood but 0 dead.The royals got hit worse and they burnt, however none died and they are currently pumping out new fronds. Queens are a lot hardier than what many think.