Dypsis prestoniana

[aussiearoids]

About 14 years planted now. 

Just dropped a few leaves and now has 5' of trunk.

Gave me seeds once .. but has not been fruitful again.

It is very close to my drive in so fronds hanging in the way get trimmed.

[realarch]

Looks good Michael. It’s a good manageable size, those leaf sheaths are heavy muthas when they fall.

Tim

[Tracy]

On 11/26/2022 at 9:02 AM, realarch said:

It’s a good manageable size, those leaf sheaths are heavy muthas when they fall.

Good point TIm.  I can still cut off the petiole and upper portion of leaf as the leaf begins to die, so when a leaf sheath falls on it's own it takes a little bit of the weight and range of damage down.  They still can do some damage when they fall though.

 

On 11/26/2022 at 3:13 AM, aussiearoids said:

Gave me seeds once .. but has not been fruitful again.

Similar experience here too.  Intermittent that they actually set seed although pretty consistent in flowering during our summer months.  Another friend here (Bill Sanford aka BS Man) mentioned that he thought that at least here it had to do with how much water they get... more water, more likely the flowers develop into seed.  That seemingly wouldn't be the case where you are, as I assume you get a great deal of annual rainfall.  Any thoughts on why yours doesn't set viable seed more often?

[Kim]

I can't think it's the water. I have 2 -- one flowered relatively young and produced a prodigious amount of viable seed after one or 2 efforts, and continues to produce tons of seed. The other had probably 8 ft. of trunk before it flowered and produced seed. Observing others nearby, some flowered and produced seed long before mine which had been in the ground a couple of years longer. They seem variable between individuals. Just my observation.

[mike in kurtistown]

Mine that is mature enough to flower produced a bunch of fruits, of which not a single one seed germinated. A second inflor produced seeds that germinated en masse, as Kim has noted. Subsequent inflors have not produced any fruit at all.  Plenty, plenty of water from rainfall, maybe they need more nutrients (fertilizer).

[aussiearoids]

Tracey , we do have a very dry month every now and then , and it just happens to coincide with the ripening time for this . 

Wet season/summer has just started with some good falls.