Satakentia liukiuensis fast growing

[Scott W]

Bought this as a 3 gallon from Mike at MB Palms when CFPACS visited in June.  Put it into a 7 gallon grow bag after the first week and it's grown nicely since.  Noted today the roots busting out of the bag so decided to put her in a much bigger pot for more room to grow.  Certainly impressed by the growth rate in a little over three months.

[D. Morrowii]

I really like these and plan to add one to the collection next spring. Yours looks awesome!

[Scott W]

Thanks Dean!  She's going to be potted until she's too big to handle, then I'll debate putting her in the ground.  Would certainly be a good test of it's hardiness should I ever see temps in the mid 20s again.

[Looking Glass]

I got these bean poles back in March 2021.  They were grown in deep canopy shade, packed in tight with 20+ of their brethren in pots.  They were about 9 feet tall with their big “shade leaves”….

Spent weeks trying to expose them to the sun.  They burned a little at first.   

After I could wait no more! I put them in full all day sun out front.  I amended the soil quite a bit and hand watered them 1 can per day each, when it didn’t rain or they didn’t get lawn irrigation.  I fertilized a lot.  

Here they are after 8 months….

It was a pretty close call at first.  It was a race to replace leaves as the old ones burned and died off.  They grew a new, smaller “sun leaves” from scratch about every 6 weeks during the warm months and fattened up a little, and now hopefully they are over the hump.  The last couple shade leaves are about to go.  I wonder how they will grow as temps fall to the 70s and 60s and below this winter?  
 

I also grabbed two little guys in pots a Searle Bro’s blowout sale.  I tucked them into some plant cover to let them “emerge” per their nature.  They get angled sun morning and evening. They seem happy. …  

I love the look of these palms as they grow up.  They seem to want a lot of water though.  

[Scott W]

@Looking Glass, those are looking spectacular!  Thanks for the added info as well.  For mine, she typically got early morning then late afternoon shade, with my bamboo shading that particular spot during the what if the day.  Now that we're I. October I'll probably leave her out so that she gets full afternoon sun.

[Lou-StAugFL]

Looking great!  I'll have to try those in St. Augustine.

[Looking Glass]

28 minutes ago, Scott W said:

@Looking Glass, those are looking spectacular!  Thanks for the added info as well.  For mine, she typically got early morning then late afternoon shade, with my bamboo shading that particular spot during the what if the day.  Now that we're I. October I'll probably leave her out so that she gets full afternoon sun.

Thanks! I was warned to be careful about the sun with these.  I think they were at a borderline age for the job out there…..  A little younger and the pace of leaf loss would have exceeded the replacement rate.  It didn’t help that we had a late rainy season and dry summer either.  They just squeaked by and didn’t look pretty for a few months.  I really poured on the water, never letting them get dry.  I don’t know how it will all work out yet, but it’s looking promising now.  

Nice thing about pots though, is you can always move them around if it’s too much.  I had to do some of that when they arrived.  The two little ones in the plant area already moved once already too.  Part day overhead sun was a little too much, they are happier with dappled light mid-day and low angle sun in the morning and evening.   

Got them in June 2021, they are in 3 gallon pots I think…..

They doubled in hight in 4 months with some water and fertilizer since then. 

Your little guy looks great.  It will grow up pretty fast I bet.  These don’t seem like rockets, but don’t seem slow either   Like, medium-fast I guess.  

 

 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Looking Glass

[howfam]

Scott W. How big is your Satakentia and what low temps has it been exposed to. Please post a picture. 

[howfam]

5 minutes ago, howfam said:

Scott W. How big is your Satakentia and what low temps has it been exposed to. Please post a picture. 

oops! Sorry Scott. Wasn't paying attention. Typing between football plays. Nice palm. I'll have to try one soon.

[Scott W]

1 hour ago, howfam said:

oops! Sorry Scott. Wasn't paying attention. Typing between football plays. Nice palm. I'll have to try one soon.

No worries.  Just got it this year, but she was growing in a field in Central Florida, and if I recall correctly Mike said they had some frost last Winter.  So I shall see how it fares this year. 

[Tingtongthai]

2  years  old from about 60cm when planted  Thailand , theyre  fast  have  about 6-7 of  them

[Jack M]

To my knowledge and experience 25F but frost sensitive.  I too am trying to determine how far north in Florida they will go. Given their salt tolerance I think coastal applications will help push that boundary as well as high canopy given their frost sensitivity.  

[sonoranfans]

When I first heard about satakentias, people were cautious at proclaiming cold tolerance.  30F or so was given by several sources.  As time has gone by, those numbers have dropped to 25-27F or so.  I planted two specimens(2-3' trunk) from ken johnson two years ago and watered them a lot.  They are pushing new leaves about 7-8 a year now, very happy.  As an emerging palm species Ken recommended part shade when young and they are looking good to my eyes, holding 10 leaves now.

[Looking Glass]

Here’s the weather from their native island.  Kind of similar to certain parts of Florida, especially South East Florida, but more rainy overall, and more wet days, even when there is cool weather. 
 

https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Rainfall-Temperature-Sunshine-fahrenheit,ishigaki-island,Japan

[palmfriend]

Our local hero - a beautiful palm! 

Those in my garden are definitely not slow - in full sun or part shade. 

However, not sure how old these ones are in our Botanical Garden...

...with me as scale...  

best regards from Miyako island -

Lars

 

 

 

[palmfriend]

@Scott W, I am sorry I slightly missed the topic  

Here is one of mine now probably five or less years old from seed...

Five feet tall, completely trouble free... 

 

Lars

 

[Merlyn]

I have a few seedlings that I bought from Meg, still as bifid leafers.  The above info is great, that'll help me figure out where to eventually plant them. 

My reading of the cold damage forum and Kinzyjr's spreadsheet is basically death at 23F, mostly undamaged at 29F, some foliage burn at 26-28F, but severe damage at the extended 29F 2009 freeze at Leu Gardens.  That should make them a pretty solid 9b palm, especially if protected from frost.

[Mandrew968]

My Satakentia are a species advocate. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

@Mandrew968 Quite nice! Are you happy with the growth as a triple? I have not seen many of these and I have never seen them as a double or triple. 

[Mandrew968]

Happier than I thought I would be. I don't triple plant, usually but this was a 3 gallon community pot with only medal places still living. Very happy and so are they.

[Looking Glass]

14 minutes ago, Mandrew968 said:

Happier than I thought I would be. I don't triple plant, usually but this was a 3 gallon community pot with only medal places still living. Very happy and so are they.

What did you do to grow these guys up?  How much sun do they get?  How old are they?  
Please give us a little story here.

[Mandrew968]

These palms are in full sun, low soil content-high limestone rock. No fertilizer no irrigation no trimming. Maybe they get a bit of shade in the morning during summer-or used to. Full sun all day long.

[Johnny Palmseed]

Interesting that the conditions sound similar to mine. I have been unable to grow these. Nicely grown! Do you get viable seed?

[Mandrew968]

Yes, and guys in pink shirts who come by looking for ripe ones.

[Looking Glass]

8 hours ago, Mandrew968 said:

Yes, and guys in pink shirts who come by looking for ripe ones.

Those look great.  I wonder if the tapped into the ground water table under that limestone somewhere.   How old are they?  

[palmfriend]

13 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Interesting that the conditions sound similar to mine. I have been unable to grow these. Nicely grown! Do you get viable seed?

Maybe you were just unlucky somehow.  If your conditions are similar, I would give it another try. All of mine are from seed since none of them

are sold over here at all - they are fast rewarding if you can get established in the ground.

 

Lars

 

[Scott W]

On 10/16/2021 at 9:34 AM, Merlyn said:

My reading of the cold damage forum and Kinzyjr's spreadsheet is basically death at 23F, mostly undamaged at 29F, some foliage burn at 26-28F, but severe damage at the extended 29F 2009 freeze at Leu Gardens.  That should make them a pretty solid 9b palm, especially if protected from frost.

Yeah, that's why I'm trying one here in Jville in what I consider to be a localized microclimate.  I intend to place some additional temperature monitoring around the yard to get better data to support this and see how temps vary.  In the meantime mine will stay potted.

[Merlyn]

@Scott W I'm hoping that they do about as well as K.O. (er...C.O.) in cold hardiness.  I typically get at least 1 night in the upper 20s every year, sometimes with frost.  So I have a larger KO (6' OA) in the backyard with a bit of protection from a nearby Bambusa Lako, and a seedling (1.5' OA) in the front with a sacrificial Dwarf Cavendish for protection.  If those do okay this winter, next spring I will plant out a couple of seedlings that I got from Palmatier Meg.

On a side note, I wonder if genetic analysis will eventually lump Satakentia Likukiuensis in along with K.O. in the Chambeyronia group?  Both are native to the sort of island rim on the Taiwan/Philippines/PNG arc, so it is possible they all have common ancestors.  To me the mature forms look very similar.

[Mandrew968]

5 hours ago, Merlyn said:

On a side note, I wonder if genetic analysis will eventually lump Satakentia Likukiuensis in along with K.O. in the Chambeyronia group?  Both are native to the sort of island rim on the Taiwan/Philippines/PNG arc, so it is possible they all have common ancestors.  To me the mature forms look very similar.

No. Despite where they are found, Satakentia is most closely related to Carpoxylon and Neoveitchia. And no Chambeyronia is endemic to New Caledonia.  None of the three are from New Caledonia. 

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, Mandrew968 said:

No. Despite where they are found, Satakentia is most closely related to Carpoxylon and Neoveitchia. And no Chambeyronia is endemic to New Caledonia.  None of the three are from New Caledonia. 

It was merely idle speculation that genetics may "revise" the classifications at some point.  With Vanautu, Fiji, and New Caledonia all close to each other geographically, it seems reasonable that all the species could share a common ancestor, and that it may have diverged millions of years ago.  I wonder how Satakentia ended up 5000 miles away and closely related to palms on Fiji and Vanautu.  But I guess some species have found their way to remote islands thousands of miles away.  Anyway, that's way off topic for just a random thought. 

[Mandrew968]

15 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

It was merely idle speculation that genetics may "revise" the classifications at some point.  With Vanautu, Fiji, and New Caledonia all close to each other geographically, it seems reasonable that all the species could share a common ancestor, and that it may have diverged millions of years ago.  I wonder how Satakentia ended up 5000 miles away and closely related to palms on Fiji and Vanautu.  But I guess some species have found their way to remote islands thousands of miles away.  Anyway, that's way off topic for just a random thought. 

Of the three, it has the smallest seed so easiest to disperse imo.

[steve99]

Here's mine from Oct 2015 and today.    October here is generally quite dry and the first pic shows that.     January is normally one of our wettest months, with this year no exception.   So as of today it's looking in tip top condition.

 

[Scott W]

@steve99 she's a beauty!  

[realarch]

On 10/14/2021 at 4:52 AM, palmfriend said:

Our local hero - a beautiful palm! 

Those in my garden are definitely not slow - in full sun or part shade. 

However, not sure how old these ones are in our Botanical Garden...

...with me as scale...  

best regards from Miyako island -

Lars

 

 

 

Boy Lars, that is a monster! It certainly has been around awhile. 

These are nice palms, beautiful crown shafts and smooth trunks.

Tim

[palmfriend]

On 1/7/2022 at 2:56 AM, realarch said:

Boy Lars, that is a monster! It certainly has been around awhile. 

These are nice palms, beautiful crown shafts and smooth trunks.

Tim

@Scott W - no hijacking! My honest apologies in advance!

I hope it is ok for a quick reply...

@realarch ,

Five years ago I created this thread...

...when I was still new to all this.

By the way...

...here an image with Bo-Göran @bgl when I had the honor to show him around in 2018 .

 

Lars

 

 

 

 

[Midnight Gardener]

@Scott W I just picked up 3 from MB palms at the Leu Gardens plant sale, along with a KO. Good to see that growth rate on yours. I’m hoping mine are the same. Just need to find the right spot to plant them. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

10 hours ago, Midnight Gardener said:

@Scott W I just picked up 3 from MB palms at the Leu Gardens plant sale, along with a KO. Good to see that growth rate on yours. I’m hoping mine are the same. Just need to find the right spot to plant them. 

Those look very nice but also shade grown. Be careful if you are planting them in a sunny area. How was the show? We were going to go Saturday morning but a line of thunderstorms was heading right for the area.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Johnny Palmseed

[EPaul]

@Midnight Gardener Hope you don't mind me asking, but how much were they charging for the Satake Palms?  Also, I haven't been to Leu Gardens yet, do they have a shop year round or was that a limited-time event you went to?

Edited March 24, 2022 by EPaul

[Little Tex]

Do you think one of these would do okay in Houston? Coldest this year was 35

[EPaul]

@Little Tex I believe Houston can get severe cold fronts, with temps below 25 degrees, that would easily kill this palm.