Big palms in small containers

[NorCalWill]

I’m currently shopping for various palms for a landscape job I’m working on, and while shopping for palms at various nurseries, I’m seeing a few large palms that are packed into small nursery containers. They’ve obviously outgrown their pots and should have been moved into larger ones. 

Will palms in this situation grow up normally when put in the ground, or will they be permanently stunted? I’ve literally seen palms in 5 gallon nursery pots with trunks that fill the diameter of the pot!! They’re probably rooted into the ground as well… Good lord.

 

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, NorCalWill said:

I’m currently shopping for various palms for a landscape job I’m working on, and while shopping for palms at various nurseries, I’m seeing a few large palms that are packed into small nursery containers. They’ve obviously outgrown their pots and should have been moved into larger ones. 

Will palms in this situation grow up normally when put in the ground, or will they be permanently stunted? I’ve literally seen palms in 5 gallon nursery pots with trunks that fill the diameter of the pot!! They’re probably rooted into the ground as well… Good lord.

 

It's always been amazing to me to see palms growing like this, but apparently some almost prefer it to lots of legroom!  I would say that it depends on the species and/or the level of care given at the nursery whether they will be stunted or not.  @Josue Diaz recently posted a pic of a mule palm in this situation but I'm pretty certain that it will grow up normally.  I recently purchased this Hyophorbe lagenicaulis and I've seen them sold in even more extremes than this pretty frequently so not so concerned about it.  The palm was completely rootbound but the spear is moving since I put it in the ground.

[Harry’s Palms]

I just refreshed a pot containing 5 C. Metallica palms and moved it into a slightly larger pot . It was doing very well and looked as though it was in an appropriate sized pot . It was mostly roots! I decided to bump it up just a bit to allow for more fresh soil. I think it was happy but I just gave it a little wiggle room. Harry

[PindoPalm]

About 4’5 Butia in 15gal.

[PindoPalm]

The butia is going to get moved into a bigger pot it still has space to grow and it’s currently flourishing i also believe it has changed colors since I moved it out of the 10 gal. don’t know if that’s related but amazing to see.

[NorCalWill]

On 4/26/2024 at 5:24 AM, PindoPalm said:

The butia is going to get moved into a bigger pot it still has space to grow and it’s currently flourishing i also believe it has changed colors since I moved it out of the 10 gal. don’t know if that’s related but amazing to see.

Looks healthy and happy to me.

[Sohail Ahmed]

On 4/26/2024 at 5:20 PM, PindoPalm said:

About 4’5 Butia in 15gal.

@PindoPalm Can I please know the age of this palm? Thanks!

[PindoPalm]

21 hours ago, Sohail Ahmed said:

@PindoPalm Can I please know the age of this palm? Thanks!

Yes, about 6-8 years old depending on how well the nursery treated it before I bought it. It’s been growing for the couple years I had about 5-8 inches a year.