Sabal palmetto sapling sucker?

[MichaelB]

I am relatively new to growing palms from seed, but was shocked to discover what appears to be a sucker growing from an approximately 1 year old Sabal palmetto sapling. I can’t imagine this is typical, but wanted to ask the experts. Has anyone seen this before? Or is this something else?

[JLM]

Looks like a weed.

[DTS]

12 hours ago, MichaelB said:

I am relatively new to growing palms from seed, but was shocked to discover what appears to be a sucker growing from an approximately 1 year old Sabal palmetto sapling. I can’t imagine this is typical, but wanted to ask the experts. Has anyone seen this before? Or is this something else?

Sabals don't sucker, so that's definitley a weed of some sort

[MichaelB]

Thanks for the responses! I was thrown off because I haven't seen anything like this in any of the 100+ potted plants I have, plus the tiny leaves were not as tender as you might expect. They were more rigid, like a bromeliad, so wanted to be sure before I pluck it out. Thanks!

[Fusca]

11 hours ago, MichaelB said:

Thanks for the responses! I was thrown off because I haven't seen anything like this in any of the 100+ potted plants I have, plus the tiny leaves were not as tender as you might expect. They were more rigid, like a bromeliad, so wanted to be sure before I pluck it out. Thanks!

The others are correct - definitely a weed.  But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a cool plant, it's just undesirable in that spot.  It probably arrived as a seed in your bag of mulch.  I once saw an interesting looking plant growing in an outdoor container where I had a Chamaedorea cataractarum surrounded by mulch I got from a local yard waste recycling center.  I let it grow and it turned out to be a native plant Datura wrightii.  In your case I wouldn't leave it in place for very long if you want to wait and see what it ends up being since it's more likely undesirable!