Dypsis Pembana Question

[orlandozone9b]

Hello everyone!

 

I have heard countless members rave about the Pemba palm, especially for the central Florida area, so I decided to give it a shot.

from the size of mine, let’s say a year from now, what should I expect in size?

 

also can you divide these palms? 

[D. Morrowii]

I grew a bunch of these guys from seedling size but they were volunteers that were dug up so they might have been a little delayed. I would expect that palm to be 2-2 1/2 times that size and most of the fronds will be in the transitional stage. Pinnate but with fewer leaflets than a mature palm has. The following year it should start getting some height or at least longer fronds and looking like a palm. Thats just my experience, I’ve always heard they were super fast but so far not for me.  
 

Also as you may already know these have been renamed to Chrysalidocarpus pembana or maybe its pembanus? Not trying to be the name police just mentioning it.🙂

[TaylorPlantHunter]

They are a nice palm. Mine has grown fast from a smaller 3 gallon transplant and is now about 12 ft tall after 2 years or so. I’m south in southern Polk County. They are not all clumping or suckering. I thought they were at first although I see mine is solitary unfortunately. 

[DoomsDave]

@orlandozone9b Dypsis pembana rock! And get some size.

Gonna have to get some pictures.

 

[RiverCityRichard]

I have grown quite a few, and found them relatively slow as seedlings. Once they hit 3g size they take off like rockets, and I have two that are trunking a year after being stepped up from 3g. (4 year old plants) Every time I throw Palmgain on them they seem to respond very quickly and speed up.

 

As for Central Florida, mine were left out in the cold snap of Christmas 2022, where they saw 27f-28f, with no frost. The palms were unscathed. A few weeks later we hit 32f-33f with some light frost. The fronds exposed to frost were instantly torched. Otherwise, the foliage protected by shade cloth was unscathed and the palms never skipped a beat. Thus, I definitely recommend canopy.

[orlandozone9b]

Ok awesome. Yes, I saw the new name listed on the sale material. Alright, we will see how it all turns out. I am planning on planting in the ground sometime in 2026 once I get a good year under my belt of root growth and establishment.

[Fusca]

3 hours ago, RiverCityRichard said:

I have grown quite a few, and found them relatively slow as seedlings. Once they hit 3g size they take off like rockets, and I have two that are trunking a year after being stepped up from 3g. (4 year old plants) Every time I throw Palmgain on them they seem to respond very quickly and speed up.

I've noticed the same thing with seedlings - even with pembana x mahajanga hybrid seedlings.  I have one pembana in a 3-gal so hoping to get some speed once it's planted.

[Merlyn]

@Fusca and @RiverCityRichard I saw the same thing from seedlings.  They seem to grow slowly until they are about 2-3 feet tall (in ground or in pots) and then take off like rockets.  It's like they reach some "critical mass" and then start growing a couple of feet of trunk per year.

They are usually "sparsely clustering" from what I've seen.  So one seedling might start growing 1-3 offsets once it has gotten a few feet of solid trunk. 

I found them to be similar in hardiness to Lutescens/Areca palm.  They might be 1-2F hardier, but not by much.  I lost a 10-15' tall cluster to roughly 26F and frost, it killed all the tall trunks with crownshaft rot.  They did okay at 28-30F with frost the year before, with just some leaf burn.  If you are in the Orlando metro area they'll be fine exposed.  I'm in the NW edge and easily 3-5F colder on the cold fronts.  I currently have 8 smaller clusters in the ground, so it's still one of my favorite palms!

[Johnny Palmseed]

@orlandozone9b The clumping habit is random and unpredictable. I currently have 2 from the same batch of seeds. One has 5 large stems with 3 smaller offsets and the other has 3 large stems with a single small offset emerging. As far as I can see, the large ones are generally rooted and could possibly be separated. But this would be very traumatic for the plant and would likely not yield the results you want. The problem with trying to separate these is that the offsets are not like a plant which produces a bulb or tuber. They are more like branches with no roots. If you are looking for the solitary look, I would suggest a different palm. Although you could also trim off the offsets when young in order to keep your Pembana looking sharp. If you need more seedlings let me know. I have a bunch.

[RainforestCafe]

4 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@Fusca and @RiverCityRichard I saw the same thing from seedlings.  They seem to grow slowly until they are about 2-3 feet tall (in ground or in pots) and then take off like rockets.  It's like they reach some "critical mass" and then start growing a couple of feet of trunk per year.

They are usually "sparsely clustering" from what I've seen.  So one seedling might start growing 1-3 offsets once it has gotten a few feet of solid trunk. 

I found them to be similar in hardiness to Lutescens/Areca palm.  They might be 1-2F hardier, but not by much.  I lost a 10-15' tall cluster to roughly 26F and frost, it killed all the tall trunks with crownshaft rot.  They did okay at 28-30F with frost the year before, with just some leaf burn.  If you are in the Orlando metro area they'll be fine exposed.  I'm in the NW edge and easily 3-5F colder on the cold fronts.  I currently have 8 smaller clusters in the ground, so it's still one of my favorite palms!

@Merlyn The 26F that killed your palm..  was that under canopy or unprotected?

[Merlyn]

2 hours ago, RainforestCafe said:

@Merlyn The 26F that killed your palm..  was that under canopy or unprotected?

It took significant damage in the original ~26F front at the end of January 2022.  The Pembana and a nearby Caryota Mitis were somewhat protected by a taller Bambusa Asian Lemon next to them.  Here's the temp profile:

They were in a spot closer to the house so I am estimating somewhere between the 24-25F in the middle of the yard, but not as warm as the nursery at 27.7F.  Here's the positioning before the cold front, with some old damage visible from the year before.  The Mitis is just to the left of the photo on the other side of the Asian Lemon:

In that cold front it lost 1 trunk and was about 75% defoliated.  That summer I trashed the overgrown Asian Lemon bamboo, so then they were out in the open, and the tallest things in the area.  The Caryota Mitis cluster also lost all the tallest trunks.  Here's the temp profile of the killer weekend, Christmas 2023 with ~50 hours under freezing and not getting over 52F for two whole days:

And here's the D-E-D Pembana with 3 trunks already cut down:

And here's the Mitis about 15 feet away.  The Beccariophoenix Alfredii took a little tip burn but was fine:

[RainforestCafe]

@Merlyn yikes! 😬 That sucks. Thanks for the detailed info though. Super helpful

[DoomsDave]

Here’s a couple of mine aglow in the light of evening.

DON’T plant them under the wires!

[Brad52]

Mine has done this in a fat three years from a three gallon maybe?

[donalt]

I have four plantings of pembana for several years now;  three beneath a tall oak tree and one in direct exposed sun. Frost (even if above 32 degrees) will burn some of the top most exposed fronds. They are quite fast growing, much more so than dypsis lutescens .