Attalea phalerata

[realarch]

So, I planted this Attalea phalerata back in late 2011 from a 15 gal. I knew it as going to get big, but wasn’t quite prepared for massive. It just amazes me the stoutness of the trunk, the length of the leaves and the spectacular inflorescence. It wasn’t until seeing them in situ in lowland Peru, I said to myself, well that thing is the size of Texas.  

It as planted about 25 feet from the house and I find I have to trim the fronds because the still hang over the roof. Because of that, it’s not the most attractive looking palm in the garden, just a big. As it ages, I’m hoping the fronds will shorten and it will have a more symmetric crown.

A few photos……..just after planting late 2011, and a recent photo close to the same location.

 

[realarch]

A couple of shots of Godzilla with my super model shovel for scale. 

Tim

[realarch]

Check out this inflorescence, looks like something out of ‘The Bodysnatchers.'

Tim

 

[realarch]

Á few more of the spathe, seed, and overall size. These pods would crush you they are so heavy.

Tim

[Josue Diaz]

Holy wow! That thing is gorgeous. I'd love to be able to grow something like that. 

[freakypalmguy]

What a beauty  

[palmfriend]

Tim,

very impressive!

Probably not a real beauty but somehow a species worth to be tried.

I got aware of this palm a couple years ago and had ordered seeds - unfortunately

nothing happened through all those years while the seeds were looking good all the time.

But then, three or four weeks ago something happened...

...planted out in a deep pot and two days ago the first strap appeared. 

Let's see how this one is going to 'perform' over here.

Tim, thank you for these interesting images! 

 

best regards from Okinawa -

Lars

 

[realarch]

Mahalo for the comments. 

Lars, I haven’t had viable Attalea seed and have yet to germinate any, so I have no idea how long it might take. Soon though, one inflorescence looks rather promising. Good for you, it seems to me these are resilient palms.

Tim

[Fusca]

Lars, like you I got some A. cohune seeds almost 3 years ago and they are still cooking.    Since then I got some A. butyracea and one germinated after about 6 months.  Apparently they are not in any hurry to wake up!

[mike in kurtistown]

Here's my trio, planted out in May 2013. Seeds acquired from a palm colleague in June 2003. I didn't record germination info, but I had 5 seeds to begin with. Like Tim, I never saw the parent tree, had no idea how large they would get. 5-gal orange bucket for scale.

The trees are producing many inflors. Most don't develop:

But I have two so far which have turned into many, many fruits (what will I do with them when they become ripe?):

 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

3 hours ago, mike in kurtistown said:

But I have two so far which have turned into many, many fruits (what will I do with them when they become ripe?):

I'm pretty sure there will be some Pters that would take some seed off your hands. 

T J 

[palmfriend]

17 hours ago, realarch said:

Mahalo for the comments. 

Lars, I haven’t had viable Attalea seed and have yet to germinate any, so I have no idea how long it might take. Soon though, one inflorescence looks rather promising. Good for you, it seems to me these are resilient palms.

Tim

Tim,

honestly I do not remember if I had read any comments about their germination habbits but what 

stands out is the way those seeds look even after a couple of years kept in peat moss boxes - 

almost immune to bugs or any kinds of insects and never losing a single gram of weight, definitely

resilient as you mentioned. 

When time comes I will do a follow up - for the moment,  thanks again for your images! 

 

16 hours ago, Fusca said:

Lars, like you I got some A. cohune seeds almost 3 years ago and they are still cooking.    Since then I got some A. butyracea and one germinated after about 6 months.  Apparently they are not in any hurry to wake up!

Jon, 

that seems to be true but that is ok for me. I am usually hovering over my seeds because I think 

- depending on the species - that there is a triggering event and I would like to be aware 

of it. Regarding these seeds I have honestly no clue at the moment but I am just glad that one of

them jumped into life...

I would love to offer some more useful thoughts but this is all I can share for the moment. 

Tim & Jon

best regards from Okinawa -

Lars

 

 

[Merlyn]

Here's my tiny Phalerata seedling, I planted it in early November 2020 as an experiment.  I have another small seedling in a pot in my nursery area, just in case this one didn't survive the winter.  I had a 28F medium frost on Christmas night, and it took some damage but not a huge amount.  Here it is around February 6th, with some additional bronzing after 30F with heavy frost on the 4th. 

And this is what it looks like today, with 3 new leaves and the top one looking like it's about to get windows in the leaf.  So far it seems fairly hardy, especially since it had zero canopy for both frosts.