Nice little batch of palm seedlings mail order

[happypalms]

I purchased a few of the more common varieties of palms for my nursery. Some are common to collectors but they still good exotic species of palm for the home gardeners out there, and some collectors still. In this batch there are Areca guppyana, Livistona muelleri, licuala sumowongii, brassiophoenix schumanii, hyophorbe langenicaulis, ptychosperma waitianum. Some nice tropical looking palms for the market in my area. Five years time should see them looking good. I use different size containers for each variety matching the container to what type of roots each variety has. A good potting up trick. Long thin roots such as the licuala and Livistona want a thin long square style of tube. Half the hyophorbe went into 4 inch round tubes and the other half into deep forestry tubes. The brassiophoenix into 75mm standard tubes and the ptychosperma went also went into 75mm tubes. So round or square and different sizes in containers plays a big role in potting up seedlings. Making watering easier having the right containers for each root system that are different. Just an observation I have come to over the years as a grower. But very noticeable the difference in raising seedlings to advanced palms. As I have a lot of seedlings you learn a trick or two with so many different varieties. 

[peachy]

This year has been so bad for seedlings here. I have lost about 90%  of those purchased in the last 12 months. It jumped from cold to hot overnight then back to cold after 6 days of heat.  Last week we had the weather we usually get in winter, days in the 20s and single digit nights. Since friday, normal spring weather has begun at last, usually a great time of year to buy  and plant palms.  Sadly my vet wants to upgrade her Mercedes and the managing directors of the Australian supermarket chains can't survive on their meagre 3 million a year so I am the one who foots the bill for the poor dears. so alongside of my usual light duties, looking after dogs, cats and birds, I am spending nearly all day in the garden then working until 2 or 3 in the morning. Do I sound like a whining old cow ? Well in actual fact, I am.

Penurious Peachy

[Harry’s Palms]

It sounds like you have developed a system there . That’s a lot of little seedlings to sort through and pot up. You are a busy man , Richard. Here , we are officially in Fall mode . That usually means dry winds are coming . I had all of the large palms trimmed a few weeks ago but anything under 15-20 feet is on me . The large Chamaedorea had to be tied and anything that could be trimmed without hurting the palm was . Then , a couple of Caryota Mitis that had flowered a couple years ago had to be cut down or they would’ve ended up blown down , three of the trunks were over eight feet tall! So , it sounds like it was a palmy weekend for us both. Harry

[happypalms]

9 hours ago, peachy said:

This year has been so bad for seedlings here. I have lost about 90%  of those purchased in the last 12 months. It jumped from cold to hot overnight then back to cold after 6 days of heat.  Last week we had the weather we usually get in winter, days in the 20s and single digit nights. Since friday, normal spring weather has begun at last, usually a great time of year to buy  and plant palms.  Sadly my vet wants to upgrade her Mercedes and the managing directors of the Australian supermarket chains can't survive on their meagre 3 million a year so I am the one who foots the bill for the poor dears. so alongside of my usual light duties, looking after dogs, cats and birds, I am spending nearly all day in the garden then working until 2 or 3 in the morning. Do I sound like a whining old cow ? Well in actual fact, I am.

Penurious Peachy

Oh we can go on about the corporate companies how they need to put a spa in in the homes alright. Iam going back to my vegetable garden and planting more food so at least I can have quality food that doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Let’s look at what the world has become ever since the dreaded C word went around the world and made a lot of corporate capitalism companies gouge us into poverty. Iam dreamer iam going to back to live in the eighties some may even say the seventies. I lost a lot of different varieties of seedlings as well a few weeks ago in the hot dry weather change from winter a few sabinara magnifica just up and died along with some of my seedlings purchased prior to winter so no more pre winter purchasing palms. But didn’t you say your vet needs a pool to lounge around in. So get them little fur balls down for there vet for the pool payments. I hear you peachy like a lot of other people do. At least they cannot tax us looking at our gardens but iam sure there working on it.

Richard 

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

It sounds like you have developed a system there . That’s a lot of little seedlings to sort through and pot up. You are a busy man , Richard. Here , we are officially in Fall mode . That usually means dry winds are coming . I had all of the large palms trimmed a few weeks ago but anything under 15-20 feet is on me . The large Chamaedorea had to be tied and anything that could be trimmed without hurting the palm was . Then , a couple of Caryota Mitis that had flowered a couple years ago had to be cut down or they would’ve ended up blown down , three of the trunks were over eight feet tall! So , it sounds like it was a palmy weekend for us both. Harry

You learn a lot as you go. Palm talk is great place to just read and learn as well. Spring has sprung in the land of OZ down under so for me the next 9 are a growing paradise for plants. I get temperatures in the high 30s (Celsius) in summer and love it. Just add water and away they grow. It sounds like a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean with all that wind you get. As for being busy when the suns rises it begins then when the sun sets I have to finish work it’s just to dark to work outside. We love our gardens it’s not working as I see it. More like Mother Nature helping hand she does all the hard work.

Richard 

[Jonathan Haycock]

You've done well to score a batch of Livistona muelleri seedlings Richard. The only time I've seen them for sale since 2019 was down in Adelaide at the Palm Plantation, but they were too pricey for me. Over a 2 year period I visited Cairns, Townsville, and Rockhampton every 3 months, each time keeping my eyes open for fruiting specimens to no avail. Even in Cairns where they line streets, I came up short!!! 😂 

Eventually, Rockhampton BG delivered and I now have a couple seedlings thankfully. One of my favourite Livistona's due to its rigid leaf structure (as apposed to droopy) and smaller stature. 

[Tyrone]

That looks like fun. Reminiscent of the old Rosebud days. 

[tim_brissy_13]

2 hours ago, Jonathan Haycock said:

You've done well to score a batch of Livistona muelleri seedlings Richard. The only time I've seen them for sale since 2019 was down in Adelaide at the Palm Plantation, but they were too pricey for me. Over a 2 year period I visited Cairns, Townsville, and Rockhampton every 3 months, each time keeping my eyes open for fruiting specimens to no avail. Even in Cairns where they line streets, I came up short!!! 😂 

Eventually, Rockhampton BG delivered and I now have a couple seedlings thankfully. One of my favourite Livistona's due to its rigid leaf structure (as apposed to droopy) and smaller stature. 

Could’ve written this myself! Always been a palm high on my Wishlist but pretty tough to find. Eumundi palms had some a few years ago at a very reasonable price for the size and I ordered one but they sold out before it went through. Also got a batch of seed from RPS but they didn’t do anything.  The ones I’ve seen in QLD are beauties such as at Mt Cootha BGs and a really suitable size for an average garden. @happypalms expect to be a popular man if you ever have any interest in releasing any of these!

[Jonathan Haycock]

29 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Could’ve written this myself! Always been a palm high on my Wishlist but pretty tough to find. Eumundi palms had some a few years ago at a very reasonable price for the size and I ordered one but they sold out before it went through. Also got a batch of seed from RPS but they didn’t do anything.  The ones I’ve seen in QLD are beauties such as at Mt Cootha BGs and a really suitable size for an average garden. @happypalms expect to be a popular man if you ever have any interest in releasing any of these!

I've been told the ones at Mt. Coot-tha have set seed, but every time I've visited them over the last few years (approx. every 3 months), nothing. There are at least 3 mature specimens growing together as well if my memory serves me. They look happy too so not sure what's going on. Perhaps they just aren't in the mood. If I come across anymore seed, I'll keep you in mind. 

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

14 hours ago, happypalms said:

I purchased a few of the more common varieties of palms for my nursery. Some are common to collectors but they still good exotic species of palm for the home gardeners out there, and some collectors still. In this batch there are Areca guppyana, Livistona muelleri, licuala sumowongii, brassiophoenix schumanii, hyophorbe langenicaulis, ptychosperma waitianum. Some nice tropical looking palms for the market in my area. Five years time should see them looking good. I use different size containers for each variety matching the container to what type of roots each variety has. A good potting up trick. Long thin roots such as the licuala and Livistona want a thin long square style of tube. Half the hyophorbe went into 4 inch round tubes and the other half into deep forestry tubes. The brassiophoenix into 75mm standard tubes and the ptychosperma went also went into 75mm tubes. So round or square and different sizes in containers plays a big role in potting up seedlings. Making watering easier having the right containers for each root system that are different. Just an observation I have come to over the years as a grower. But very noticeable the difference in raising seedlings to advanced palms. As I have a lot of seedlings you learn a trick or two with so many different varieties. 

That's quite a haul! Good luck with them all. Thanks for the tip on the long thin roots wanting the square containers. I will try that. 

[happypalms]

11 hours ago, Tyrone said:

That looks like fun. Reminiscent of the old Rosebud days. 

They are fun and the person propagating them used to be Rich’s main propagation man. So he knows his stuff well. A bit like the old days I would say but just as fun as the good days past.

[happypalms]

12 hours ago, Jonathan Haycock said:

You've done well to score a batch of Livistona muelleri seedlings Richard. The only time I've seen them for sale since 2019 was down in Adelaide at the Palm Plantation, but they were too pricey for me. Over a 2 year period I visited Cairns, Townsville, and Rockhampton every 3 months, each time keeping my eyes open for fruiting specimens to no avail. Even in Cairns where they line streets, I came up short!!! 😂 

Eventually, Rockhampton BG delivered and I now have a couple seedlings thankfully. One of my favourite Livistona's due to its rigid leaf structure (as apposed to droopy) and smaller stature. 

I thought a bit rare of a palm the Livistona. That’s why I got 50 being a slow palm to grow. See how they go in the future garden iam working on. You’re a real seed hunter Jonathan very dedicated.

[happypalms]

9 hours ago, Jeff zone 8 N.C. said:

That's quite a haul! Good luck with them all. Thanks for the tip on the long thin roots wanting the square containers. I will try that. 

A bit of haul in the palm department for sure. A bit like fishing you gotta match the bait for what you want to catch. The same for palms I’ve noticed the difference between different styles of containers. The plastic grow bags also grow a nice palm for small scale growers. But for my scale it’s to difficult to stop so many falling over. And watering large amounts of palms is  difficult. But small backyard growers for sure planter bags.

[SunnyCoast]

Great post Richard. Thanks for putting in the effort to help us amateurs to lessen the disappointment on the occasional propagation journey. 

[happypalms]

22 hours ago, SunnyCoast said:

Great post Richard. Thanks for putting in the effort to help us amateurs to lessen the disappointment on the occasional propagation journey. 

No worries I have learned a trick or two over the years. They say you learn by your mistakes trust me I have made plenty of mistakes. It’s not rocket science as they say but ……

[Tyrone]

On 9/24/2024 at 5:58 PM, happypalms said:

They are fun and the person propagating them used to be Rich’s main propagation man. So he knows his stuff well. A bit like the old days I would say but just as fun as the good days past.

That is cool. It all looks packaged the same way. Do they sell to WA?

[happypalms]

11 hours ago, Tyrone said:

That is cool. It all looks packaged the same way. Do they sell to WA?

I certainly hope he does. For the love of palms sell to WA.