Growth rate of Silver Saw Palmetto and other palms

[PashkaTLT]

Hello everyone,

 

Can you please share your experience on the approximate growth rates of the following palms:

- Silver Saw Palmetto

- Mexican Fan Palm

- Windmill

- Pygmy date palm

- Sago palm (I know it's a cycad, but anyway)

 

I'm especially interested in Silver Saw Palmetto's growth rate. Is it really only up to 1-2" a year?

 

Thank you.

 

Kind regards,

Pavel

[Chester B]

- Silver Saw Palmetto - slow as far as I know, I'm growing one now - these need a lot of heat

- Mexican Fan Palm - Very Fast

- Windmill - Very fast but depends on climate

- Pygmy date palm - slow

- Sago palm (I know it's a cycad, but anyway)- slow.  I get two flushes per year in Texas

[Looking Glass]

4 hours ago, PashkaTLT said:

Hello everyone,

 

Can you please share your experience on the approximate growth rates of the following palms:

- Silver Saw Palmetto

- Mexican Fan Palm

- Windmill

- Pygmy date palm

- Sago palm (I know it's a cycad, but anyway)

 

I'm especially interested in Silver Saw Palmetto's growth rate. Is it really only up to 1-2" a year?

 

Thank you.

 

Kind regards,

Pavel

Here, Silver Saw Palmetto is a great understory palm, but a very slow palm, barely noticeable growth in a couple years.   In contrast, my fastest Pygmy Dates grew 6 feet of woody trunk in a few years, with a lot of water. 

[SeanK]

. . . also, most grown much faster in-ground than potted.

[PaPalmTrees]

 Mexican Fan Palm I don't grow them but i  know a guy that grows them in PA and they grow fast for him.

- Windmill.  Can be very fast growing but it depends on the conditions and the climate. 

 - Sago palm (I know it's a cycad, but anyway) grow slow for me but I do get 1 to 2 flushes per year in Pennsylvania.

 

[Allen]

Growth rate mainly depends on Sun/Water/Fertilizer in that order probably if the palm is in a suitable climate for that palm

[aabell]

Silver Serenoa can grow very fast in the right conditions, lots of sun and heat.

[Swolte]

Here are the growth stats for my SR. This is without any care other than replenishing some mulch to avoid weeds and an occasional handful of fertilizer. The palm is located in dappled shade on a slope in Central Texas. The last 5 years in my yard have seen almost all winters hit the teens or lower. The last 3 summers have had stretches of 3 months without a single drop of water in Summer/Fall. A real survivor. 

Height in inches (starting to have a trunk so will begin measuring that too).
2019 - 9
2020 - 13
2021 - 16
2022 - 17
2023 - 18
2024 - 20

Windmills have done better for me in terms of growth rate although I did have some die on me after extreme weather.  Unfortunately, my windmill (T Fortunei bought at Houston Garden Center) died last spring after the extreme heat&drought and harsh winter. It was the first palm I bought and it basically started my hobby!

Here are the stats for that one for comparison. Same conditions but not on a slope and possibly a bit more shaded.

Year - Height/Trunk diam
2018 32/4.25
2019 35/4.5
2020 59/6
2021 67/7.5
2022 65/8.5
2023 67/9
2024 69/9 

As for the W Robusta. They simply won't establish in my yard and have died after every winter (even w protection). Filifera or hybrid do better under my conditions. I have always gotten these from when they were young, though (I am cheap)

[PashkaTLT]

@Swolte Wow! Thank you so much for the detailed stats!

[edbrown_III]

I planted a 1 quart blue palmeto in 2000 in the front yard -----it has almost 5 feet of trunk now and is a huge clump --- but I fertilized about 1/year

[Chester B]

7 hours ago, edbrown_III said:

I planted a 1 quart blue palmeto in 2000 in the front yard -----it has almost 5 feet of trunk now and is a huge clump --- but I fertilized about 1/year

And you're in its native range, which for this palm seems to matter.

[ryjohn]

On 11/15/2024 at 9:05 AM, Chester B said:

And you're in its native range, which for this palm seems to matter.

Well I’m far outside the native range, 35 miles south of the Arkansas border in 8a north Louisiana, and Saw Palmetto is one of the fastest growing palms here… just explodes in growth and trunks quickly until knocked back by freezes.  This palm is far more leaf hardy than bud hardy, so trunks can die back anywhere between 7 degrees to 20 degrees. Still I can have 5’ trunks in 5 years in my mass plantings of them and they are constantly growing new trunks from suckers at the ground and mid-trunk levels.  If not for freeze-back of trunks I would have 15’ trunks all over by now, 17 years after planting from seed.  Of course this quick growth is all dependent on siting them in full sun and away from any root competition from grass or trees.  

[Looking Glass]

1 hour ago, ryjohn said:

Well I’m far outside the native range, 35 miles south of the Arkansas border in 8a north Louisiana, and Saw Palmetto is one of the fastest growing palms here… just explodes in growth and trunks quickly until knocked back by freezes.  This palm is far more leaf hardy than bud hardy, so trunks can die back anywhere between 7 degrees to 20 degrees. Still I can have 5’ trunks in 5 years in my mass plantings of them and they are constantly growing new trunks from suckers at the ground and mid-trunk levels.  If not for freeze-back of trunks I would have 15’ trunks all over by now, 17 years after planting from seed.  Of course this quick growth is all dependent on siting them in full sun and away from any root competition from grass or trees.  

Wow, that’s crazy growth for a slow palm.  We have a 12 month growing season here and only one species, of 25+ species of palms in my yard, grows that fast.  Here’s about 3 years of growth from seed for me in 11a….  6 inch tall leaves.   

[ryjohn]

Really the comparison is not fair, with you growing them in pots and me planting the seed directly in the ground.  Pot culture is a whole different animal, much slower, and much more challenging.  We do have short winters here and the growing season is ideal for native southeast palms.

[Looking Glass]

10 hours ago, ryjohn said:

Really the comparison is not fair, with you growing them in pots and me planting the seed directly in the ground.  Pot culture is a whole different animal, much slower, and much more challenging.  We do have short winters here and the growing season is ideal for native southeast palms.

Can’t say mine in the ground is much faster here.   Still I do like these a lot.  There are some very big and very old specimens scattered around here.  

[Brian M]

2022 to 2024 for comparison. Can't confirm, but since it's next to the pool i believe it's benefiting from exposure to magnificent triple lindys all summer long! 

[PashkaTLT]

13 hours ago, Brian M said:

2022 to 2024 for comparison. Can't confirm, but since it's next to the pool i believe it's benefiting from exposure to magnificent triple lindys all summer long! 

 

Wow, that's fast!

[RainforestCafe]

There seems to be alot of variation in this species in terms of growth rate, size, everything.... Same with the green saw palmetto. I have them all over my property growing wild (100s of them) and some will never get taller than 4ft, even though they seem to be very old, while I have some that are up into the live oak canopy, roughly 15ft high. They're a little unpredictable.

I also went to a native nursery years ago here in Florida, and the woman that owned the place showed me a silver saw palmetto she'd planted ~20 years prior, and it was only about 4 feet tall and not very wide at all. But then I've seen some planted as part of landscaping projects and I've watched them put on feet of growth quickly and become crazy and huge.

The same thing happens with another Florida native, wild coffee. I've seen impenetrable stands of it that are 10 feet tall, but then other bushes (not the dwarf variety) will never grow over 5 feet tall.

[PashkaTLT]

@RainforestCafe yeah, based on the replies in this thread, it seems the variation is very big.