Looking for Weevil-Resistant Palm to Replace a 20-30 Year Old Canary Island Palm

[pennstump]

I'm in San Diego, CA and even with the locally-prescribed treatments (Fertilome), I lost a beautiful Canary Island Palm tree to the palm weevil. The trunk was about 16' tall and the fronds used to create a shade canopy that totaled about 40' tall and 30' wide. We loved the look of the tree and designed our backyard around it. Once it died and was removed, we also noticed how it provided privacy from the neighbors and even completely hid a 40' tall telephone pole. Now, we want to replace it with something that looks similar, will grow to about a similar size, is "weevil-resistant," and that provides a similar amount of canopy size. The only palm trees I have found that look similar are other date palms are all on the palm weevil's diet. I've looked at bunched king palms, but their fronds and trunks are smaller.

Are there any palms look like the Canary Island palm tree (large fronds, darker green color, don't get too tall) and aren't susceptible to palm weevils? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[Tracy]

25 minutes ago, pennstump said:

I'm in San Diego, to even with the locally-prescribed treatments (Fertilome), I lost a beautiful Canary Island Palm tree to the palm weevil. The trunk was about 16' tall and the fronds used to create a shade canopy that totaled about 40' tall and 30' wide. We loved the look of the tree and designed our backyard around it. Once it died and was removed, we also noticed how it provided privacy from the neighbors and even completely hid a 40' tall telephone pole. Now, we want to replace it with something that looks similar, will grow to about a similar size, is "weevil-resistant," and that provides a similar amount of canopy size. The only palm trees I have found that look similar are other date palms are all on the palm weevil's diet. I've looked at bunched king palms, but their fronds and trunks are smaller.

Are there any palms look like the Canary Island palm tree (large fronds, darker green color, don't get too tall) and aren't susceptible to palm weevils? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Others may suggest different palms but the prime candidates are also susceptible to the SAPW.   I am thinking of Bismarckia nobilis and Jubea chlilensis. Both would take many years to establish. Depending on what part of San Diego you are in,  there are some other options, but they too will take time and not provide the same canopy you had from your CIDP. 

I was just discussing the merits of large cycads with a grower friend as an alternative anchor plant to CIDP.   It requires a bigger wallet and patience as they grow slowly, measured better in decades than years to establish significant trunk.  With money, you buy time and get a head start.my roughly 20 year from seed Encephalartos laurentianus has erect leaves that are now about 14 to 16 feet long and maybe a little over a foot of trunk above the soil.  Granted, my granddaughter in diapers now will be most likely to walk under the trunks of many of my cycads, others, such as my Cycas thouarsii and hybrids ard getting close now.  Options which you can grow will depend on your locations specific climate.  Climate zones for growing plants here can change rapidly due to elevation differences where cold air settles. In the low spots.  Knowing what part of town you are in would be helpful to recommending any species.

 

 

[SeanK]

I don't know which palms these vectors favor, but if you need 40-ft, maybe a Royal. If 20- ft is OK, maybe Butia or Brahea. Of course, nothing will have the canopy of the CIDP. Perhaps a grouping of Livistonas?

[96720]

I don’t know if it’s save but Beccariophoenix alfredia might be a good choice!!

[pennstump]

2 hours ago, Tracy said:

Others may suggest different palms but the prime candidates are also susceptible to the SAPW.   I am thinking of Bismarckia nobilis and Jubea chlilensis. Both would take many years to establish. Depending on what part of San Diego you are in,  there are some other options, but they too will take time and not provide the same canopy you had from your CIDP. 

I was just discussing the merits of large cycads with a grower friend as an alternative anchor plant to CIDP.   It requires a bigger wallet and patience as they grow slowly, measured better in decades than years to establish significant trunk.  With money, you buy time and get a head start.my roughly 20 year from seed Encephalartos laurentianus has erect leaves that are now about 14 to 16 feet long and maybe a little over a foot of trunk above the soil.  Granted, my granddaughter in diapers now will be most likely to walk under the trunks of many of my cycads, others, such as my Cycas thouarsii and hybrids ard getting close now.  Options which you can grow will depend on your locations specific climate.  Climate zones for growing plants here can change rapidly due to elevation differences where cold air settles. In the low spots.  Knowing what part of town you are in would be helpful to recommending any species.

 

 

I'm coastal, near Mission Bay.

[TropicsEnjoyer]

Maybe instead of looking for one single palm to do what a giant canary did, because similar magnitude replacements are hard to find, maybe go for a set of smaller palms that will grow tall and when grouped together provide a similar effect? Just an idea…

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, pennstump said:

I'm coastal, near Mission Bay.

Options are much wider for you in the coastal zones.  While Brahea, Pritchardia, Sabal and other fan palms might be attractive, they are also lower tier items on SAPW diet list.  One of the faster growing large Chrysalidocarpus (Dypsis) is prestonianus.  You can look up photos here.  If you can find a large one, they do well and start getting vertical height once they form trunk.

Any of the cycads i mentioned will grow well in Bay Park area.  They will require more patience to gain height but you won't have worries about palm weevils.   Buy time $$$ with cycads by buying larger specimens or save $$$ and get smaller if you have time.

[Merlyn]

Getting something that looks just like a CIDP is not particularly easy.  There are a bunch of palms and cycads that look similar, and might fit the bill.  As others already mentioned:

• Royals are fairly fast growing with a similar canopy size, dark green and with a moderately large trunk.  The downside is they tend to drop full size & weight fronds randomly, and can squash stuff under them.  I have none because of the risk of BOOM as fronds fall.
• Butia have thick trunks and are slow to gain height, but the canopy is smaller diameter and they tend to be more silvery-blue than deep green.  They are still some of my favorite palms in my yard, I have 7 of them.
• Encephalartos Laurentianus is the biggest cycad, and is sometimes mistaken for a CIDP at a distance.  They would take decades to get 40 feet of trunk height.  A good photo example is here:
• Encephalartos Whitelockii and Ituriensis are (for me) faster growing and similar looking, with slightly shorter fronds.
• Attalea species might fit the bill for dark green, huge trunk diameter, and huge crown.  They tend to grow a little bit more "shuttlecock" shaped.  I call them a "fountain of fronds" shape.  Cohune, Speciosa, Butyracea and Brejinhoensis all have similar semi-draping frond shapes that could work in your yard.  I don't know if they are on the SAPW meal ticket.  Here's a photo from Kyle Wicomb:

• Beccariophoenix Alfredii - monster 20' or bigger draping fronds, faster growing than CIDP or Attalea species, sort of a coconut-lookalike but on a bigger scale, with a huge trunk diameter.  I have 13 in my yard and a few more in pots.

[Phoenikakias]

Phoenix hybrids are not preferred by rpw. I have several of them and I have never recorded for over a decade an attack on them. Choose a hybrid like canary x sylvestris or canary x dactylifera. I have additionally a canary of the porphyrocarpa variety, which seems also immune. Other palm growers in Europe have reported however fatal attacks also on porphyrocarpa. It's all about what is housed under this term (porphyrocarpa). Imo in the market it is used indiscriminately as a pure descriptive term for all cidp looking alike specimens with red fruit. cidp alike means solitary habit with green, not plumose foliage. Some porphyrocarpa specimens had been subjected to dna analysis and been found to be just a strain of canary. If such specimens are susceptible to rpw infestation, it is not surprising but neither an evidence about the relevant hardiness of similar hybrids.