Mexico Palm Photos

[Little Tex]

1 hour ago, Foxpalms said:

Not fully tropical like Cancun but zone 12b with a record low of 8c. A hot semi arid climate bordering on a tropical wet and dry climate with 16 inches of rain annually. 72f highs in the winter with lows of 61f.  85f highs during the summer with lows of 75f. Humidity is pretty high throughout the year however during heatwaves because of foehn effect and the fact the air mass is coming from the desert, the combination of very hot temperatures and high humidity is rare. The average annual humidity is 74% however some websites listed it as high as 87%. Unfortunately one of those places with no official weather stations so the data is a bit dodgy as it's been taken from nearby but probably higher elevation slightly cooler areas. I will also try and take photos of some in a hot dessert climate if I come across some. What would be impressive would be Trachycarpus growing in Jazan Saudi Arabia, where the average daily heat index during the summer is 136f due to dessert heat but it also having very high humidity. 

Where is this?

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, Foxpalms said:

Not fully tropical like Cancun but zone 12b with a record low of 8c. A hot semi arid climate bordering on a tropical wet and dry climate with 16 inches of rain annually. 72f highs in the winter with lows of 61f.  85f highs during the summer with lows of 75f. Humidity is pretty high throughout the year however during heatwaves because of foehn effect and the fact the air mass is coming from the desert, the combination of very hot temperatures and high humidity is rare. The average annual humidity is 74% however some websites listed it as high as 87%. Unfortunately one of those places with no official weather stations so the data is a bit dodgy as it's been taken from nearby but probably higher elevation slightly cooler areas. I will also try and take photos of some in a hot dessert climate if I come across some. What would be impressive would be Trachycarpus growing in Jazan Saudi Arabia, where the average daily heat index during the summer is 136f due to dessert heat but it also having very high humidity. 

Sounds nothing like Cancun, the Canaries (?) might be tropical by technicality...but far from the real thing. Coconuts don't look 100% in the Canaries nor Saudi Arabia.

Trachycarpus grows here with summer highs 33-34C, lows 24-25C, dew points 24C+ (basically Singapore for 3-4 months)...they seemingly do fine for years and then drop dead quickly. I've heard the same thing happens in Florida. The working theory is that root knot nematodes (present in all subtropical/tropical areas) do them in. The nematodes increase in activity with higher soil temperatures and aerated soil (which is why they LOVE Florida sand). The best Trachycarpus here are growing in unamended clay soils (nematodes don't like clay, but aren't absent from it either) often in lawn areas or parking lot islands. Ironically I've noticed they often decline when the well intended mulches applied begin to break up the clay. 

[Foxpalms]

2 hours ago, Xenon said:

Sounds nothing like Cancun, the Canaries (?) might be tropical by technicality...but far from the real thing. Coconuts don't look 100% in the Canaries nor Saudi Arabia.

Trachycarpus grows here with summer highs 33-34C, lows 24-25C, dew points 24C+ (basically Singapore for 3-4 months)...they seemingly do fine for years and then drop dead quickly. I've heard the same thing happens in Florida. The working theory is that root knot nematodes (present in all subtropical/tropical areas) do them in. The nematodes increase in activity with higher soil temperatures and aerated soil (which is why they LOVE Florida sand). The best Trachycarpus here are growing in unamended clay soils (nematodes don't like clay, but aren't absent from it either) often in lawn areas or parking lot islands. Ironically I've noticed they often decline when the well intended mulches applied begin to break up the clay. 

The coconuts on the north western side of the island look slightly better than the ones in the south in my opinion, since the humidity is higher and the rainfall. They also don't get blasted by desert heat coming from Sahara during heatwaves. And yes the climate isn't similar to Cancun it's more similar to parts of Hawaii just cooler since it's at a higher latitude.  The only place in the south where the coconuts look pretty good is masca beach (zone 13a), which is essentially a canyon where it gets hotter during the day and stays warmer a night but the hot desert winds don't seem to batter the fronds like they do in other parts of the south.. Jazan Saudi Arabia also seems to be different from other parts of Saudi Arabia. It's at 16N latitude and whilst it's very hot it's also very humid, all the coconuts I have seen photos of there look much better than they do in other parts of Saudi Arabia. The dew point there is very high. Also I'm not 100% convinced by the climate data online for some parts of the canaries because there are microclimates there that almost always seem to be warmer than the temperature it's supposed to be for the time of the year. For example it's supposed to be 76f with a low of 65f in this area in March and it's much warmer which is usually the same story throughout the year. You can see from the weather forecast. 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Arecaceus]

Trachycarpus can grow in the tropics at higher elevations. They usually look very bad in the tropics down at sea level or where it's hot year round. I think they need some cool weather. They could do ok in shade under good canopy. At least the most common ones like fortunei or princeps. T. latisectus could possibly handle it better. Maybe even oreophilus. Good potential could be in T. ravenii. But as nobody has one, we can't tell yet.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

On 3/24/2023 at 8:40 AM, ChicagoPalma said:

Forgot to post but look at this giant mule palm!

This is not a mule palm. Even better, it's an Acrocomia Mexicana.

[ChicagoPalma]

21 hours ago, Xenon said:

Something impressive would be thriving coconuts next to thriving Trachycarpus in a fully 100% tropical environment like Cancun 

There are Trachys in Cancun, but not many because of they can grow other palms that are more appealing. It’s also warm year round and trachys like some cool temperatures as well.

Edited March 26, 2023 by ChicagoPalma

[ChicagoPalma]

Oil palm update, they trimmed it. Also a while ago I found a dead spear on a Florida cherry palm. Here is also a bismarckia nobilia.

 

 

[ChicagoPalma]

14 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

This is not a mule palm. Even better, it's an Acrocomia Mexicana.

Looks more like an oil palm

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, ChicagoPalma said:

There are Trachys in Cancun, but not many because of they can grow other palms that are more appealing. It’s also warm year round and trachys like some cool temperatures as well.

I've been to that area a few times and have never seen a Trachy, can't imagine anyone selling it there either....would love to be wrong/see some photos 

[Xenon]

1 hour ago, ChicagoPalma said:

Looks more like an oil palm

Acrocomia is probably right, the leaf structure and color matches better. The lack of spines is throwing me off...maybe just the photos

[Las Palmas Norte]

3 hours ago, ChicagoPalma said:

There are Trachys in Cancun, but not many because of they can grow other palms that are more appealing. It’s also warm year round and trachys like some cool temperatures as well.

Still waiting on pics.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

I doubt there are any Trachycarpus in Quintana Roo. Trachycarpus are not grown in Mexico because they are not popular. Not even in colder areas.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

5 hours ago, ChicagoPalma said:

Looks more like an oil palm

Elaeis Guineensis in Yucatán

Acrocomia Mexicana in Yucatán

[Josh76]

2 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

I doubt there are any Trachycarpus in Quintana Roo. Trachycarpus are not grown in Mexico because they are not popular. Not even in colder areas.

You do occasionally see them in CDMX but they're not common at all.

[ChicagoPalma]

3 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

I doubt there are any Trachycarpus in Quintana Roo. Trachycarpus are not grown in Mexico because they are not popular. Not even in colder areas.

True, they can have other appealing palms that look way better.

[ChicagoPalma]

6 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Still waiting on pics.

Sorry, just enjoying my vacation. But I’ll send pics. Might be wrong also about trachys being at my resort. But I might be wrong

[Little Tex]

On 3/26/2023 at 6:44 PM, ChicagoPalma said:

Might be wrong also about trachys being at my resort. But I might be wrong

sounds about right

[SeanK]

On 3/26/2023 at 7:44 PM, ChicagoPalma said:

Sorry, just enjoying my vacation. But I’ll send pics. Might be wrong also about trachys being at my resort. But I might be wrong

Love to see more pix. Hopefully the Trachies turn out to be Thrinax

[ChicagoPalma]

Yes the trachies are thrinax, and  I’m leaving the Mexican warm weather in two-three days but weather back at home is definitely warming up faster than last year!

[ChicagoPalma]

Finally leaving Mexico and on the road I finally spotted some robusta. They are so uncommon in the Yucatán 

[ChicagoPalma]

14 minutes ago, ChicagoPalma said:

Finally leaving Mexico and on the road I finally spotted some robusta. They are so uncommon in the Yucatán