Veitchia joannis growth rate in Okinawa

[palmfriend]

 

Hi,

finally time has come to tell the story of my beloved Veitchia joannis palms - seed grown as most of you know.

When I started with this great hobby (or someone might say, when I got bitten by the palm bug) and looked at palm images on the internet,

this spectacular species soon caught my attention. Seeds were ordered at the end of 2012...

...and this where the story starts - please be invited:

March 2013 - completely trouble free sprouters, growth rate of the seedlings was already impressive at that time.

A year later, July 2014 - it was soon clear that they wanted out of the pots, no shock or even a flinch when let out into our local alcaline soil.

Two years later, July 2016, phantastic speed of growth - already head-high - fertilizing three times a year and some extra handwatering 

usually only after one or two weeks without any rain...

...but typhoon protection for the young stem was a must. For scale a delicious beverage...(2016)

Four years later in 2020 - the trunk's height already 7ft. - turning into beauties...

Photo taken today from the second floor. Some lower fronds broke early due to heavy rhinoceros beetle attacks last year but their

fast growth rate usually saves them. I recognized a fallen boot and and went down, ...

...and took a closer look at the crown shaft - and this is where today's story ends...

The first spathe of one of my V.joannis palms! 

It might not turn out into viable seeds this time but I think there is from now on a real option to grow this species successfully here in southern Okinawa. 

 

Thank you for your time -

Lars

 

[Hilo Jason]

Thank you for sharing this with us. Beautiful palms!  Congratulations on the first flower. 

[Billeb]

Epic love story 

-dale

[GottmitAlex]

Wow wow wow Lars!!!!

[PalmatierMeg]

Veitchias are all beautiful palms and they grow like rockets. Seeds germinate to the point of weediness and are tough as the devil to pull up. Their only drawback is cold sensitivity. I lost some seedlings in the record cold winter of 2009/10 but not since. You're doing well with them, Lars.

[TheMadScientist]

I just log in to Palm Talk and notice this species posted by Lars @palmfriend, another great photo journal I have to go to FIRST.  WHY, a couple of weeks ago, another great palm talk member @Johnny Palmseed offered this exact species from his yard.  I am really looking forward to these photos happening in my yard over time.....any suggestions how I can import RAIN???  Scott

[PalmatierMeg]

3 hours ago, TheMadScientist said:

I just log in to Palm Talk and notice this species posted by Lars @palmfriend, another great photo journal I have to go to FIRST.  WHY, a couple of weeks ago, another great palm talk member @Johnny Palmseed offered this exact species from his yard.  I am really looking forward to these photos happening in my yard over time.....any suggestions how I can import RAIN???  Scott

Drip if you have irrigation. Veitchias are great easy grow palms and really fast. But I found I couldn't give them away.

[palmfriend]

@Hilo Jason , @Billeb , @GottmitAlex , @PalmatierMeg and @TheMadScientist -

Thank you very much for your encouraging comments! I am really happy that this species seems to do so well over here - ...so far.

...the more when I just found this on the second (right) one...

This size of this spathe is already quite impressive - let's hope for the best! 

 

Updates will follow -

 

regards

Lars

 

 

 

[Tyrone]

They're fast when they are happy. I just love this species. Yours are looking awesome. 

It's a pity I can't grow these any more where I am now. Up in Perth they grew very well and had some big ones along with Foxy Lady's and Foxtails. I miss being able to grow all of them. 

[PalmatierMeg]

They need large spathes. Their seeds are the size of golf balls.

[Brad52]

A Hawai'i climate comparison, the first photo was taken around 10/2020 upon first planting similar in size to Lars 2nd photo, then about 3 months later so maybe Dec 2020 I dug it up and moved to the current spot so it's been in that spot perhaps 18 months.  I've seen similar growth on another couple of the Veitchia  clan and I think this might be my 'go to' for fast palms.

 

 

[palmfriend]

On 6/20/2022 at 1:47 AM, Brad52 said:

A Hawai'i climate comparison, the first photo was taken around 10/2020 upon first planting similar in size to Lars 2nd photo, then about 3 months later so maybe Dec 2020 I dug it up and moved to the current spot so it's been in that spot perhaps 18 months.  I've seen similar growth on another couple of the Veitchia  clan and I think this might be my 'go to' for fast palms.

 

 

Just beautiful!  (I am sorry for the late reply!!) 

It really seems that this species awards you soon when growing up under the right conditions. I am so glad that I probably made the right choice 

when I was starting to order seeds back in 2012.

However, I have now V. arecina, V. metiti and V. spiralis in my garden as well - let's see how those are going to 'perform' - definitely an interesting and promising

species over here!

 

regards

Lars

 

[Brad52]

Yours looks great Lars, I look forward to mine leaping up more but at the same time I like them to stay shorter so that I can enjoy the foliage!

[TheMadScientist]

Lars, yours have family members now in California.  4 weeks to sprout and 2 weeks to grow this much.  I love this photo journal to reference what I can expect.

[palmfriend]

On 7/14/2022 at 1:49 AM, TheMadScientist said:

Lars, yours have family members now in California.  4 weeks to sprout and 2 weeks to grow this much.  I love this photo journal to reference what I can expect.

Congratulations!!

They will provide a lot of joy - definitely a great choice!

Please let us know from to time about how they are doing.

Btw., here are mine - photo taken yeasterday -

..and closer...

That's a couple hundred seeds just on this one...

Let's see if they are going to ripen successfully - I will definitely post an update!

 

Lars

 

[miamicuse]

On 6/17/2022 at 9:39 AM, PalmatierMeg said:

They need large spathes. Their seeds are the size of golf balls.

Golf ball size?  Oh I didn't know that, I planted six of them in a row along a walkway last October, it's about five feet tall now.  May be I should relocate them...

[palmfriend]

Hi,

A short update about this one.

It seems that it had lost many seeds during fall and winter but there are still enough (on it) looking good.

They have already started to fall off and with the emerging spring and summer I guess we have a good chance to get some sprouts.

The only set back...

@realarch Tim mentioned that these are probably a hybrid between a Veitchia joannis and another Veitchia - looking at the seeds...

...it seems that his guess might be correct: The seeds are too small for a V. joannis - they should have at least the double size - but anyways,

I am looking forward to get new palms out of them.

 

Lars

 

 

 

[palmfriend]

A great day!

I checked my boxed seeds today - among them a few I had picked up at the bottom of my Veitchias....

Here are those beauties at the moment...

Btw., the right one has a new spathe already - the boot felt off two days ago...

...and here are...

The first Miyako islands grown Veitchia sprouts - I think they look good!

I am going to pot them up tomorrow and then let's see what happens... 😀

It was the first time to get seeds from these Veitchias so I took my chances and put some of those in boxes with peat moss - many more are left outside, if something 

happens there, I'll keep the forum updated!

 

Still excited -

 

Lars

 

 

[TropicalGardenSpain]

Great to see a nice success story 😍 Well grown! 

[palmfriend]

Hi,

 

a short update and probably an interesting one. 

I enjoyed a stroll through the garden after very busy weeks at work, looking up and down my two seed grown Veitchia joannis (sp.?) palms and thought, what if...?

Getting closer....

...and starting to check the ground....

Nope, just seeds that had fallen off...oh wait....

Here we go! The first natural Veitchia sprout on Miyako island in Okinawa!! 😀👍

The Veitchia species is one of my favorites, so I am very very happy with this development.

I will leave it there and let it grow close to its mother palm - a Veitchia triple is probably looking beautiful....(time will tell.)

 

Thank you for your interest and patience following me during this long thread -

 

Lars

 

[kinzyjr]

53 minutes ago, palmfriend said:

Here we go! The first natural Veitchia sprout on Miyako island in Okinawa!! 😀👍

Nice work!  It's great when a plant completes the lifecycle in your garden!  From seed to seeding!

[happypalms]

They take the cold well one fully mature tree in Grafton nsw Australia copes chilly winter temperatures down as low as 2 degrees possibly even lower temps but not frost 

[Bazza]

Didn't want to start a new thread - just read through this one and it's great!

I planted my Veitchia joannis as a 15 gal. 2 years ago. It got beat up during last year's hurricanes but with a little extra care it's making a decent comeback.

I took these photos yesterday and wanted to get opinions on the interesting yellow coloration of the trunk, as shown below. Is this typical of this variety?  TIA!

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Bazza