fat trunked palms

[sonoranfans]

Gotta love thick trunked palms and we have a lot of those out there.  As the song goes:  "Fat bottomed trunks You make the rockin' world go 'round".  To those unfamiliar maybe some of these trunk sizes can help with how close you can place it to that fence or sidewalk.  I'll start with a roystonea regia fattie with 26-28" rhick trunk down low and several inches thicker(30-33") 5-8 foot below the crownshaft

[sonoranfans]

Some may already be familiar with my sabal causiarum, over 30' tall up there somewhere ...  This was a 7 gallon seedling with strap leaves in 2011 when it was planted out.   The causiarum has a swollen trunkbase of near 40" thick.  This is my fastest growing palm, a "jack in the beanstalk" type palm.  Yeah its a monster, cant have more than one of these in my yard.  The good thing is its self shedding after 7-8 years of hanging on to leafbases it decides to drop them when I cant reach without a ladder anymore.

 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

I really wish I could add to this topic , unfortunately haven't been at my current home long enough for anything to get fat yet = ) Future S.Causiarum,  BxJ , Bizzie and S.Uresna should put on some weight in the next few years. @waykoolplantz should definitely be able to add to this topic. 

T J 

[DoomsDave]

3 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Gotta love thick trunked palms and we have a lot of those out there.  As the song goes:  "Fat bottomed trunks You make the rockin' world go 'round".  To those unfamiliar maybe some of these trunk sizes can help with how close you can place it to that fence or sidewalk.  I'll start with a roystonea regia fattie with 26-28" rhick trunk down low and several inches thicker(30-33") 5-8 foot below the crownshaft

Your palm’s got a twin!

 

[tim_brissy_13]

This Jubaea at the Auckland Botanic Gardens was particularly chunky. Wish I used some kind of scale. 

[Manalto]

9 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Some may already be familiar with my sabal causiarum, over 30' tall up there somewhere ...  This was a 7 gallon seedling with strap leaves in 2011 when it was planted out.   The causiarum has a swollen trunkbase of near 40" thick.  This is my fastest growing palm, a "jack in the beanstalk" type palm.  Yeah its a monster, cant have more than one of these in my yard.  The good thing is its self shedding after 7-8 years of hanging on to leafbases it decides to drop them when I cant reach without a ladder anymore.

 

It's magnificent. I love the smooth "concrete" trunk! A Sabal Speed Demon - who knew?

Still waiting (4 years) for mine to distinguish itself from its surrounding Sabal minor neighbors. Maybe the 8B winters slow it down?

[sonoranfans]

Love those fat trunks, need some more jubaeas and washingtonia filifera fatties, I know they are out there.  Here is bismarckia nobillis, its not the fattest one Ive seen for sure but at around 3' at the base it graces my yard every day.   

[sonoranfans]

4 hours ago, Manalto said:

It's magnificent. I love the smooth "concrete" trunk! A Sabal Speed Demon - who knew?

Still waiting (4 years) for mine to distinguish itself from its surrounding Sabal minor neighbors. Maybe the 8B winters slow it down?

could be winter setbacks have slowed it but this sabal started out well but then picked up growth speed after trunking.  It might benefit from some protection when small up there.

[sonoranfans]

6 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

This Jubaea at the Auckland Botanic Gardens was particularly chunky. Wish I used some kind of scale. 

I love jubaeas, wish I could grow a happy one here.  They take so long to grow they are really for subsequent generations if you do plant one.  This makes them an even greater treasure!  I do have a (BxJ)xJ from patrick in a 25 gallon container that I am going to plant out this year and just see how it does.  Its long overdue for the ground.

[Butch]

Not a monster, but trunk vs height these guys do well...

Butch

[rizla023]

8 minutes ago, Butch said:

Not a monster, but trunk vs height these guys do well...

Butch

Your other pictures of this gave me inspiration to do my own potted bottle palm!

[DoomsDave]

14 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

This Jubaea at the Auckland Botanic Gardens was particularly chunky. Wish I used some kind of scale. 

Bet 2 M in diameter, easy.

[DoomsDave]

Here’s big Alfie my biggest Beccariophoenix alfredii.

 Next to a Roystonea borenquenia 

 

[DoomsDave]

Here’s Jayne Mansfield my last remaining Roystonea oleracea.

Roystonea borenquenia in the background.

[Butch]

On 10/3/2023 at 9:21 AM, rizla023 said:

Your other pictures of this gave me inspiration to do my own potted bottle palm!

Thank you... It doesn't have that big bottomed look anymore, but it's still doing well in the pot...

Butch

[sonoranfans]

Some trunks come out nice and smooth and dont have a taper or bulge down low.  Copernicia fallaensis is one of those palms: Mine has a 28* diameter trunk  based on ~ 88" perimeter(88/pi).  Sorry about the crooked pic in #2, sometimes the moire-like leaflet patterns tend to be distracting when I take a pic.  This is the leeward side so not so much damage from IAN.  It had at least a 12-14 more leaves in the crown prior to IAN.  Its out there unprotected from wind with no nearby palms to buffer so it will get damaged in wind.  Fortunately its growing out pretty quickly with 10+ new leaves this year.  Another 2 summers without a hurricaneand it will be holding bluish green leaves to the horizontal as before.

[pogobob]

Archy max, royal, and royal

[Fusca]

Here's a pair of twin fat filifera-dominant filibusta in San Benito.  With a couple of fat Sabal mexicana as a bonus.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Fusca

[DoomsDave]

Here’s my Archontophoenix Slapsie Maxie

[DoomsDave]

Here’s Roystonea borenquenia out on the front yard 

[DoomsDave]

Here’s Chambeyronia hookeri watermelon 

(maybe a Demi beast)

[GreenBeard]

Can anyone tell me what kinda palm this is?

[DoomsDave]

15 hours ago, GreenBeard said:

Can anyone tell me what kinda palm this is?

Looks like a Canary Island Date that needs a bit of grooming.

[aztropic]

I have a Brahea armata I grew from seed with a rather robust trunk. 

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[SeanK]

You guys like 'em thick, eh?

[bubba]

Great topic! There is a place just outside Key Largo that got into Copernicia’s and Borassus’s almost contemporaneously with Fairchild. Some of these palms have been posted in previous threads:

 

 

[bubba]

[bubba]

[bubba]

[bubba]

[bubba]

[bubba]

[bubba]

A 50 foot thick Royal ( far left) is about the same size as two pictured smaller Copernicia’s than the premier pictured big one’s (Copernicia and Borassus):

[Jim in Los Altos]

Parajubaea totallyi next to Queen palm trunks

 

Archontophoenix ‘Illawara’

 

Brahea edulis

[Motlife]

This washingtonia (I presume?) is from streetview as some absolute turkeys removed this beast recently! And the delicious naan wrap shop behind it is gone too. 

[sonoranfans]

Wow some great fat trunk pics, thanks!  Wish I could see them all in person, monsters all!  Jubaeas, W FIlifera, Copernicias, Royals, Borassus are all astonishing palms!