Marojejya thread

[realarch]

Eye popping palms in any garden if conditions are right. I have three in the ground, two growing on rock with very little soil. They are also the oldest, about 12 years from one gallon containers. Recently they’ve had growth spurts which means their roots have found fractures in the lava rock. They look impressive at any size.

These are all M.darianii, photos of insignis would be awesome.

Tim

 

[realarch]

Here is the youngest one obviously growing in plenty of soil. A monster of a palm. That’s a 5 gallon bucket for scale. 

Tim

[Barry]

Tim,

Beautiful palms, I tried one here in Ft Myers, it didn’t make it. I would like to try again, not sure if it will grow here.

[D. Morrowii]

1 hour ago, realarch said:

Here is the youngest one obviously growing in plenty of soil. A monster of a palm. That’s a 5 gallon bucket for scale. 

Tim

That thing is stunning!

[metalfan]

Yours make mine look like it doesn't even exist LOL and mine is older than yours.

[Rick Kelley]

These are a favorite.  I have six of different ages and will probably keep adding more in years to come.  My three largest ones were shredded in a storm last December. They will look pretty sad for another year until they grow a new set of fronds.  They bloomed like crazy last fall, but apparently only produced male flowers.  No seeds this time.  Here is a five year old that started from a one gallon pot.  It is located in a shady, sheltered spot. The fantastic entire leaves made it through the December storm without damage. The dense canopy forces the plant to stretch the leaves a bit more to collect the little light reaching them.  I'm estimating the longest frond is around 12-14 ft high.  For scale the large anthurium leaves on the right are each 4-4.5 ft tall.  Marojejya grow fine in full sun here in Hawaii, but then the leaves are a little smaller and more easily damaged by wind.  Too bad these are such water hogs and sensitive to cold.  Every palm nut should be growing these, if only....  A Licuala peltata Sumawongii is photobombing on the right.

[Hilo Jason]

Here’s the one I am growing in my Hilo garden. Love these and many more will be added to the new property. 

 

[realarch]

Thanks Barry and Dean.

Looking good Rick, boy, that is one long leaf. It seems that those grown in fulsun also have thicker leaves than those in shade. 

Jason, younger Marojejya are so impressive because of the scale. Such a great palm.

Tim

[Kim]

I have a single Marojejya darianii, trunking and trying to flower. It got a big head start by being planted out from a 15-gal. pot February 8, 2011. 

At time of planting:

...May of 2020, red shovel for scale.

[metalfan]

Mine is definitely way behind you guys palms even though its old. No trunk. Bought as a seedling from Floribunda. Growing in the greenhouse

[Cindy Adair]

Amazing photos of an amazing species!
 

I have several planted, but nothing close to trunking. 

I can’t wait to see more of these beauties live in October at the Biennial!

[Cindy Adair]

First the smallest one planted too close to everything and in too much shade.

 

These two are my largest ones with the one on the right a beetle attack survivor from last year. See my hat for scale.

Another view of the one the beetles left alone.

The surroundings where the two are growing.

I do have a couple of others, but got so distracted by seeing beetle damage to one of my other palms I didn’t get more photos…

[mike in kurtistown]

I have five big ones in the ground. Here is a trio. Scale is provided by the lawn chair in the lower right.

 

[Jeff Searle]

To all, all of these are beautiful! Thanks for sharing. 

[Brian mac]

6 minutes ago, Jeff Searle said:

To all, all of these are beautiful! Thanks for sharing. 

Yea

[Frond-friend42]

I have a few of these M. insignis seedlings--decent germination rate. A cool feature as seedlings is their immediate girth, spotting and a little blushing.

[D. Morrowii]

Not to bum this thread out but heres one of 2 I have. Sort of a baby walking dead version of the above 

[realarch]

Hey Dean, we’ll send positive thoughts your way. Do you have any anti-zombie spray?

Tim

[palmfriend]

Beautiful thread and a great inspiration again!

Thank you all for posting those great images. It seems to be susceptible to winds which would make a bit tricky over

here... However, for my next seed order I will add this species to the list.

 

regards

Lars

 

[PalmsandLiszt]

Smol one. I boringly went for the green, not-undead variety.

[Palms Brisbane]

16 hours ago, D. Morrowii said:

Not to bum this thread out but heres one of 2 I have. Sort of a baby walking dead version of the above 

Do you know why this happened? Mine looks similar.

[Frond-friend42]

Yes. Maybe we can develop some care tips specific to this palm..? Mine I still keep inside ziplock bags so far.

[PalmsandLiszt]

1 hour ago, Palms Brisbane said:

Do you know why this happened? Mine looks similar.

What are you growing it in? These grow in peat bogs and need an acidic medium. I'm guessing your medium is not good in this respect and the palm is struggling to maintain its chemical balances. All that damage can't possibly be just from sunburn or low humidity.

[Brad52]

I killed 3 small plants of them, then almost killed the replacement 3 before paying more attention to them, all in-ground (or on-ground here since I have no ground for them to  be in).  They were all sun burned and too dry so now I treat them with daily watering and the slow death seems to have abated and new leaves are peeking out.  But right now all 3 would fit the zombie category...

[Hurricanepalms]

15 gallon in coastal Central Florida. I would  like  to plant it out, but ,from what I read, it sounds like it would be a death sentence.

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Hurricanepalms

[D. Morrowii]

6 hours ago, Palms Brisbane said:

Do you know why this happened? Mine looks similar.

@Palms Brisbane I wish I did. I've tried a few different things over the last 3 months. First I re-potted it to get a look at the roots and raise it a little since the other one I have looks better than this one and was sitting higher in the soil. I waited a month or so and very little changed. So I removed a small amount of soil from the top and mixed in some Osmocote plus and waited. After a couple of weeks some of the leaves were a little less chlorotic but then nothing. A couple of weeks later I added a tablespoon of sul po mag and again nothing much changed. I got a new leaf but it was both chlorotic and necrotic. I keep it watered daily and the potting soil is fast draining but holds a little moisture so I don't think its drying out. Humidity isn't much of an issue here either but the soil is pretty alkaline at around 7 to 7.5 on the cheap probe anyway. Last week I added a teaspoon of soil acidifier but I think it takes awhile to alter the PH. So for now I'll just keep it watered and see what happens.

[Palms Brisbane]

11 hours ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

What are you growing it in? These grow in peat bogs and need an acidic medium. I'm guessing your medium is not good in this respect and the palm is struggling to maintain its chemical balances. All that damage can't possibly be just from sunburn or low humidity.

I have it in best potting mix can buy, with mix of perlite and minor amounts of peat. So not sure if it's soil related. It's also in shade house with good humidity and watered correctly. So yeah not sure. Not sure if a fungus.

[Frond-friend42]

Mine are in peat+ perlite. And I spoil them with spring water, to avoid some of the local alkalinity  (at least that's how I think about it). Hopefully I can keep them going strong.

Best wishes for restoring those ragged zombies !

[PalmsandLiszt]

On 3/13/2022 at 1:45 AM, Palms Brisbane said:

I have it in best potting mix can buy, with mix of perlite and minor amounts of peat. So not sure if it's soil related. It's also in shade house with good humidity and watered correctly. So yeah not sure. Not sure if a fungus.

I'd test soil pH to be sure. If it's above 7 then try to reduce it considerably. Doesn't look like a fungus to me, but absolutely does look like some sort of chemical imbalance caused by an inappropriate medium, particularly if you have good humidity and it gets lots of water. Mine had some far from optimal humidity levels over the past winter, and only has some very minor brown tips to show for it.

[DoomsDave]

They don't make it for me, and I've tried a few.

The late Dr. Darian had one at his place, which, while not big like the ones in Hawaii, was impressive enough.

They're thirstier than multiple schools of Irish Fish as an Irish friend would have said. They're happy in Hilo, I have no doubt. Anyone ever try one in Kona?

[Dypsisdean]

30 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

They don't make it for me, and I've tried a few.

The late Dr. Darian had one at his place, which, while not big like the ones in Hawaii, was impressive enough.

They're thirstier than multiple schools of Irish Fish as an Irish friend would have said. They're happy in Hilo, I have no doubt. Anyone ever try one in Kona?

Dave - they do fine here in the Kona coffee belt. Here's a few in the garden. Shovel for scale in a few of the pics.

[Palms Brisbane]

Thanks all. Amazing palms.

[DoomsDave]

19 hours ago, Dypsisdean said:

Dave - they do fine here in the Kona coffee belt. Here's a few in the garden. Shovel for scale in a few of the pics.

Ah, good!

I knew I could flush you out with that request! Nice palms and great to see you again!

[David Davenport]

On Saturday, HIPS sponsored a tour of one of the Big Island's finest palm gardens. Bill Austin gave us the history of his working for Jeff Marcus, and how he acquired some of the amazing palms in his extensive collection. This pic of some of the HIPS tour group in a very Jurassic Park-like grove of marojeyjas gives you an idea of the scale of the 40+ year old plantings. 

[Rick Kelley]

David,

What a spectacular photo to start your participation on PT.  Welcome and we are looking forward to many more posts.

For everyone else, David and Robert have been creating another amazing palm garden in lower Puna in East Hawaii.  It is appropriately named 'Paradise Found'.  With any luck David and Robert will be sharing many photos of their property.  They are getting explosive growth rates from their palms and tropical accent plantings. 

Getting back to Bill Austin's incredible garden, it is always a special treat whenever Bill invites the local palm society to wander through his six acres of tropical forest.  It is just amazing.  Many PT members have posted photos of their visits to Bill's garden over the years, but photos just cannot capture its magic.  You really need to see it in person, preferably in the rain.  It is a commentary on how many fantastic palm gardens are on the Big Island, that the upcoming IPS Biennial Tour could not squeeze this garden into the main itinerary.  But fear not. Folks coming to the biennial will have a full free day where they will be able to visit other private gardens, including Bill's (and Paradise Found!). There should be a list of 8-12 private palm gardens to choose from ready to welcome small groups of IPS folks on their free day.  Be sure to pack an umbrella.

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks so much for these photos of one of my (admittedly many) favorite palms!

I am also very excited to hear about a list of private gardens whose owners might be willing to allow visitors during the October IPS Biennial.
 

I am pretty sure I will run out of time/daylight to visit them all so perhaps a second HI trip will be required, maybe timed with a HIPS meeting?

[David Davenport]

Most of us on the Big Island love sharing our gardens with fellow enthusiasts. I’m sure we can help you set up visits to some of the most significant ones that you don’t get a chance to visit in the October biennial trip. 

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks David!

[Frond-friend42]

My insignes:

[realarch]

Good luck with your M. insignis! You don’t see many of these around, even here in Hawaii. I thought I had acquired a few, but they turned out to be M. darianii. 

Here’s a recent photo of the first one in this thread. 

Tim