Is this a hyophorbe indica?

[happypalms]

I purchased these two palms many years back as tube stocks from a chain store as hyophorbe verschaffeltii but I was told they where hyophorbe indica so now more  contusion  but the trunk is not showing any verschaffeltii traits any information greatly appreciated thanks.

[peachy]

The indica have a lot of colour in them, touches of reds and purples from my experience, so I think you got the jackpot with indicas and not spindles.

Peachy

 

[happypalms]

18 minutes ago, peachy said:

The indica have a lot of colour in them, touches of reds and purples from my experience, so I think you got the jackpot with indicas and not spindles.

Peachy

 

Bingo nice score if it is then a rare palm now in my area.

Richard 

[tim_brissy_13]

Doesn’t look like indica to me Richard. I think it’s just a vershaffeltii and just stretched out a bit from being grown in some shade. 

[Tyrone]

That’s not an indica. It’s a stretched verschafeltia.

Hyophorbe indica should grow awesome for you. I can grow them here. Both forms are awesome and more of a rainforest palm than the bottle and spindle which in the wild grow on small islands on the coast. 

[happypalms]

7 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Doesn’t look like indica to me Richard. I think it’s just a vershaffeltii and just stretched out a bit from being grown in some shade. 

I always thought it was a verschaffeltii that’s what I knew it as 25 years ago and Iam still convinced that’s  what it is just no spindle shape in the trunk.

[tim_brissy_13]

7 hours ago, Tyrone said:

That’s not an indica. It’s a stretched verschafeltia.

Hyophorbe indica should grow awesome for you. I can grow them here. Both forms are awesome and more of a rainforest palm than the bottle and spindle which in the wild grow on small islands on the coast. 

My red/southern form H indica has gone from seed to over my head height in less than 3 years and it’s just been through about 10 nights straight of temperatures between 2C and 4C (36-40F) albeit without frost. Bottles and spindles would suffer but the indica keeps going. I’d imagine they’d be an easy grow in the subtropics. 

[flplantguy]

How catastrophic is a light freeze? I heard they dont handle them at all, but what about under heavy canopy?  Thats where i put mine as a test but i also love the plant and would hate to lose it.

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

My red/southern form H indica has gone from seed to over my head height in less than 3 years and it’s just been through about 10 nights straight of temperatures between 2C and 4C (36-40F) albeit without frost. Bottles and spindles would suffer but the indica keeps going. I’d imagine they’d be an easy grow in the subtropics. 

I just love how you have packed as many palms in as you possibly can but I noticed a bromeliad in there surely that’s a planting mistake when it could be a palm instead of a brom but nice indica  as well 3 years old fast as 😁

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, flplantguy said:

How catastrophic is a light freeze? I heard they dont handle them at all, but what about under heavy canopy?  Thats where i put mine as a test but i also love the plant and would hate to lose it.

From my experience hyophorbe don’t like heavy frost but not sure about the indica.

[flplantguy]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

From my experience hyophorbe don’t like heavy frost but not sure about the indica.

Spindles here take light damage on bad years, and of course bottles fare worse but usually survive. Even a few made it through our infamous 2010 freeze events. There is also an Adonidia merelii in a neighborhood near here in the protected southern U by the front door in a typical 80s development home.  Thats what got me to try some of these, but i dont have the same level of warmth they do, so i know the risk of frost is higher and cover is a must.  Not sure on how often it drops below freezing as these last two years are oddities, so mine will have some infor for everyone here soon. (hopefully good)

[Tyrone]

3 hours ago, flplantguy said:

How catastrophic is a light freeze? I heard they dont handle them at all, but what about under heavy canopy?  Thats where i put mine as a test but i also love the plant and would hate to lose it.

A light freeze under heavy canopy is fine. The cutoff point for H indica in the open is -1C, but it will look ugly for a while if it saw frost on its leaves.  They are much faster growing than the bottle or spindle so they outgrow damage a lot quicker.

They also need amazingly good drainage. Last year I saw them in habitat growing in an 800 year old lava flow. The soils are thin, with a lot of organic matter, but the underground substrate is full of cavities and hollows, some you could fall metres down if you weren’t looking where you were treading. I used to lose the odd one in pots if the soil got even remotely gluggy. The same soil a Bangalow would thrive in. I now make a special mix for my indicas in pots that sort of resembles an orchid mix but with extra fines in it. They seem to love it and grow quickly in it. I actually think they store water in their big succulent roots, which almost resemble a Strelitzia in style. Strelitzias also have the ability to be quite drought tolerant and like good drainage. In habitat some of the indicas even have the start of stilt roots and you can examine the roots very closely trying to anchor into the thin rocky soil. 

[flplantguy]

I have sharp drainage so that wont be a problem! Quite the opposite, its all gone in seconds so my next priority after a greenhouse is an irrigation system that can do the watering for me thats better than what poly tube to a spigot can do.  I have a decent sized red in the ground and seedlings of the green variety.  Ill check their mix and see of its draining well enough, its coir and perlite in a 4 inch pot so it should be good for the little guys.  They didnt like the plane ride from hawaii and are starting to grow now.

[tim_brissy_13]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

I just love how you have packed as many palms in as you possibly can but I noticed a bromeliad in there surely that’s a planting mistake when it could be a palm instead of a brom but nice indica  as well 3 years old fast as 😁

Haha I actually have more varieties of bromeliads than palms planted in the garden if you count all the cultivars and hybrids but I definitely consider them companion plants to palms which of course are my main obsession. 
 

I like how bromeliads compliment palms with their growth habit, colours and textures. And the best part is they don’t have competitive root systems so you can plug them anywhere. The bromeliad in the photo is Vriesea Snows of Maunakea x Gulz which goes a nice white colour with red markings in bright light. Colour also seems nicer and brighter on most broms in cooler weather which suits the Melbourne climate just fine!

[peachy]

Ooh did I get it wrong.  It's just that I have never seen a spindle with such colouration before. Bottles and Indicas have always been the show-offs for me.  I did own a bottle/indica hybrid, very slow growing but such a fabulous looking palm and tougher than indica in my climate.  For me the indica needed constant watering in the hot weather, miss a few days and they were goners at my place.  In private gardens around my area, Spindles are a regular sight, the rare Bottle here and there but never an Indica. The first 2 mentioned are also sold in many nurseries, where as the indica I only ever found at palm nurseries.

Peachy

[happypalms]

3 hours ago, peachy said:

Ooh did I get it wrong.  It's just that I have never seen a spindle with such colouration before. Bottles and Indicas have always been the show-offs for me.  I did own a bottle/indica hybrid, very slow growing but such a fabulous looking palm and tougher than indica in my climate.  For me the indica needed constant watering in the hot weather, miss a few days and they were goners at my place.  In private gardens around my area, Spindles are a regular sight, the rare Bottle here and there but never an Indica. The first 2 mentioned are also sold in many nurseries, where as the indica I only ever found at palm nurseries.

Peachy

Peachy I wouldn’t say you got it wrong you just didn’t get it right I have two indica seedlings in tubes but do t think they will be flowering any time soon I guess there’s many a debate about what someone says what a palm is or isn’t we all learn something new every day and today I learnt I had verschaffeltii just without the spindle trunk iam more disappointed I don’t have the nice spindle trunks that’s why they where planted around my house.

Richard 

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Haha I actually have more varieties of bromeliads than palms planted in the garden if you count all the cultivars and hybrids but I definitely consider them companion plants to palms which of course are my main obsession. 
 

I like how bromeliads compliment palms with their growth habit, colours and textures. And the best part is they don’t have competitive root systems so you can plug them anywhere. The bromeliad in the photo is Vriesea Snows of Maunakea x Gulz which goes a nice white colour with red markings in bright light. Colour also seems nicer and brighter on most broms in cooler weather which suits the Melbourne climate just fine!

I never buy broms there given away on mass around here with so many people doing garden renovations but broms are easy and good value in tropical look garden.

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, flplantguy said:

Spindles here take light damage on bad years, and of course bottles fare worse but usually survive. Even a few made it through our infamous 2010 freeze events. There is also an Adonidia merelii in a neighborhood near here in the protected southern U by the front door in a typical 80s development home.  Thats what got me to try some of these, but i dont have the same level of warmth they do, so i know the risk of frost is higher and cover is a must.  Not sure on how often it drops below freezing as these last two years are oddities, so mine will have some infor for everyone here soon. (hopefully good)

Tim has it right he’s on the money for cold hardiness a heavy frost would not be there friend interesting information about the adonidia merelii taking the cold climate I might have to plant a few out I have some in tubes.

[peachy]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

Tim has it right he’s on the money for cold hardiness a heavy frost would not be there friend interesting information about the adonidia merelii taking the cold climate I might have to plant a few out I have some in tubes.

None of the Veitchias I have like the winters here. They get ratty and spotty with dead bits on the leaves.  Last year after winter, they all developed twisted stunted leaves, that seemed to come all at once and jammed together. It took 6 months for them to come back to normal. So far they are coping with the cold and not a sign of blemish but there's still 8 weeks before things warm up agan.

Peachy

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, peachy said:

None of the Veitchias I have like the winters here. They get ratty and spotty with dead bits on the leaves.  Last year after winter, they all developed twisted stunted leaves, that seemed to come all at once and jammed together. It took 6 months for them to come back to normal. So far they are coping with the cold and not a sign of blemish but there's still 8 weeks before things warm up agan.

Peachy

Yes winter is around the corner some of my small satakentia about 4 have succumbed to the cold wet low soil temperatures up they where bare rooted in the mail so 4 so far is not to bad to start of with.

Richard 

[meridannight]

Any images of them after when they were purchased? 

[happypalms]

29 minutes ago, meridannight said:

Any images of them after when they were purchased? 

 Unfortunately no images they where purchased more than 20 years ago way before the good old camera phone.

[meridannight]

H. verschaffeltii can certainly sport reddish-purplish hues. 

If it is H. verschaffeltii, then it's certainly a bit of an oddball.
I haven't grown H. indica, so no comments on that.

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, meridannight said:

H. verschaffeltii can certainly sport reddish-purplish hues. 

If it is H. verschaffeltii, then it's certainly a bit of an oddball.
I haven't grown H. indica, so no comments on that.

That makes two of us iam going with verschaffeltii.