20 year old California fan palms

[aztropic]

This is what 20 years of growth looks like for Washingtonia filifera,without any supplemental water, in the Arizona desert. I grew these from seed,and planted them at a friend's house. Tough survivors! Second pic shows one in my yard from the same seed batch,with just an occasional watering to compare...

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

[ZPalms]

Pretty neat, They are like mini palms 

Edited May 23, 2022 by ZPalms

[Jim in Los Altos]

A little extra water goes a long way! 

[sonoranfans]

A friend had 2 filiferas near his pool(I questioned that logic) that were 25' + overall only 6 years from a 24" box, so yes water and feed more in the heat and they are pretty fast.   Not as fast as robustas, but they can put on more biomass than a robusta per year.  They do hate wet soil in winter, it will cause roots to die back and growth to stunt.  I never planted one in arizona, I was afraid one day I would have to trim it at height.  That is a very dangerous proposition as they can hold large skirts of dead leaves in the desert that can drop en mass any time with an attempt to trim.  

[Xerarch]

Wow what a difference, and what a testament to the toughness of California fan, that's a brutal environment to survive in with no supplemental water.

[Collectorpalms]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

A friend had 2 filiferas near his pool(I questioned that logic) that were 25' + overall only 6 years from a 24" box, so yes water and feed more in the heat and they are pretty fast.   Not as fast as robustas, but they can put on more biomass than a robusta per year.  They do hate wet soil in winter, it will cause roots to die back and growth to stunt.  I never planted one in arizona, I was afraid one day I would have to trim it at height.  That is a very dangerous proposition as they can hold large skirts of dead leaves in the desert that can drop en mass any time with an attempt to trim.  

WHAT? Filifera's roots dieback in wet soil in winter. More details specific details if you have them.

[ahosey01]

This is cool and all but if that guy would literally just take the hose to them for like 15 minutes every three months they'd probably be twice the size lol

[sonoranfans]

47 minutes ago, Collectorpalms said:

WHAT? Filifera's roots dieback in wet soil in winter. More details specific details if you have them.

according to University of arizona they get root rot in cool wet conditions.  Turn off water in winter cool spells.

[ahosey01]

My favorite stand of these is the giant one growing on the north side of Highway 95 in Parker in an RV lot near the Rio Vista Boat Storage building.  I don't think they water it and there's like hundreds of them, most are massive.

Edited May 23, 2022 by ahosey01

[aztropic]

1 hour ago, ahosey01 said:

This is cool and all but if that guy would literally just take the hose to them for like 15 minutes every three months they'd probably be twice the size lol

Benefit is he can still trim his without a ladder. I'm already up on a 10 ft ladder with a pole chainsaw...! 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona