What is your palm tree hot take?

[Slifer00]

I'll start: I think Jubeaea chilensis is an extremely ugly palm

[flplantguy]

Heres mine: im not a huge fan of coconuts and think the obsession with them, and growing them in strange places, is a bit much. But I also know that others feel the same way about ones i obsess over so its all good to me. To each their own!

[Slifer00]

35 minutes ago, flplantguy said:

Heres mine: im not a huge fan of coconuts and think the obsession with them, and growing them in strange places, is a bit much. But I also know that others feel the same way about ones i obsess over so its all good to me. To each their own!

Agreed. I personally love the obsession, but like you said to each their own! We are all humans here with different opinions, united by our core hobby; palm trees

Edit: Nice profile picture, I love ensettes!

[Jonathan]

1 hour ago, Slifer00 said:

I'll start: I think Jubeaea chilensis is an extremely ugly palm

I guess you wouldn't want these in your garden then?

The pointlessness of subjective criticism.

[Slifer00]

10 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

I guess you wouldn't want these in your garden then?

The pointlessness of subjective criticism.

From afar they may look nice, but up close I am not a fan of their irregular, bulging trunks. I'd rather stick with my CIDPs 

But that is just my opinion! No need for negativity here

 

[Jonathan]

The premise of the whole thread is negative.

[realarch]

Then why even start this thread?

Tim

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Washingtonias and most Phoenix species aren't ugly but look boring.

[hbernstein]

I'm sure that most palm lovers have a species that doesn't thrill them, and that's fine. Not sure why we'd want an entire sh*t on palms thread, although I'd be happy to name a few, if I must!

[SeanK]

Queens et robustas

although I understand folks growing them in marginal areas.

[Jdash]

i will say, there was a time i only liked certain groups of palms more than others, but as time goes on, the appreciation builds for all the palm species and their uniqueness.  if i had infinite space and perfect environments every species would be planted!

[PalmatierMeg]

I’ve been impressed no end by large Jubaea chiliensis. Impressive palm. If I could grow them, I would, but I can’t.

[Slifer00]

2 hours ago, realarch said:

Then why even start this thread?

Tim

Should I delete it?

[Tyrone]

Overpruned Phoenix canariensis. 
 

Leave ‘em alone.

[Josue Diaz]

4 hours ago, Slifer00 said:

I'll start: I think Jubeaea chilensis is an extremely ugly palm

starting off strong! lol Jubaea go through an awkward juvenile stage with that thick, short trunk. But once they've outgrown that, wow. A million times more impressive than a phoenix will ever be. BIG crown (bigger than canariensis), and big, heavy, droopy fronds with a silver sheen to them. Canariensis can only dream of looking that good. Add to that a trunk twice the thickness of canariensis, and smooth, almost cement-like look and you'll ditch a canariensis in a heartbeat. Looking at them side by side, It's not even a competetion. Just look at how nice jubaea (right) is next to canariensis (left)... the phoenix is just a spiny, rigid mess. Like someone with wiry hair. Jubaea? nothing but beauty and grace. No spines, a clean, organized set of fronds from petiole to top of the leaflets. 

 

Add to that dead leaves that hang on phoenix,  and rough, textured bark that often flares open at the base... hold up, I'm about to barf....

[Josue Diaz]

You'll never catch me hugging a phoenix

[Banana Belt]

Some may think Jubaea are ugly, but to me they are magnificent like a Giant Sequoia or Redwood.  Beautiful palms to me are Coconut and Queens.  But in reality any palm that is healthy, growing well and reaching out to display its best are favorites.

[tim_brissy_13]

I echo Jonathan’s sentiment above. I don’t really understand the point in such a strong negative statement on something so subjective. I will say though that as soon as I read it I knew it would generate a lot of interest in the topic, so I suppose in some convoluted way it has contributed to the positive discussion of palms. 
 

My hot take: Palms are one of the most (the most IMO) useful, horticulturally and botanically diverse and interesting plant groups.

You’ve got Elaeis which is the world’s most efficient generator of food energy to the point where it is infamous (not the palm’s fault), Cocos which in used for food, shelter and even potting mix and countless others which produce edible fruit or palm heart and countless others grown for edible fruit, palm heart, sugar, building materials etc etc. 
 

You’ve got Lodoicea for the largest seed in the world, Corypha for the largest inflorescence, Raphia the longest frond, Ceroxylon the tallest monocot…all this in a plant family that also contains species that you could accidentally step on at maturity if not careful. 
 

I’ll admit I’m a palm nut almost to the exclusion of all other plant families so I’m biased, but to me not many plant families have species which can fit so well into different landscape types; tropical style gardens, cool cloudforest, arid style gardens, large lawn landscape specimen gardens and even more formal style gardens and everything in between. 
 

Hopefully that’s enough positivity to counter anything else thrown out there in this thread 😆. I’ll just leave these photos here. 
 

 

[ahosey01]

Most palms can be air layered.

Clay soil is awesome.

Freezes build character.

I can go on.

[awkonradi]

12 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

You’ve got Elaeis which is the world’s most efficient generator of food energy...

That is interesting!  Now I will thread-jack this (negative) thread.  ChatGPT provided the following comparison of calories per acre per year for certain crops.

Crop	Yield (kg/acre/year)	Calories per kg	Total Calories (Million kcal/acre/year)

Oil Palm (Palm Oil)

1,600–2,400

~8,900 kcal/kg

14.2 – 21.4

Sugarcane (Sucrose)

36,000 – 50,000

~3,870 kcal/kg (sugar)

14.0 – 19.4

Cassava (Roots)

10,000 – 20,000

~1,600 kcal/kg

16.0 – 32.0

Potatoes

20,000 – 30,000

~770 kcal/kg

15.4 – 23.1

Maize (Corn)

3,000 – 5,500

~3,650 kcal/kg

11.0 – 20.1

Rice

1,200 – 3,200

~3,600 kcal/kg

4.3 – 11.5

Soybeans (Oil & Meal)

2,700 – 3,000

~4,100 kcal/kg (oil)

4.4 – 5.2

Wheat

1,000 – 2,500

~3,400 kcal/kg

3.4 – 8.5

[SeanK]

16 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Overpruned Phoenix canariensis. 
 

Leave ‘em alone.

Could say this for any palm trimmed to less than 50% of full canopy. Palms with 3 leaves 

[PaPalmTrees]

alright mine is Coccothrinax crinita aka old man palm they are so ugly it's a wanna be Trachycarpus I hate how the fronds grow like this.

[PaPalmTrees]

16 hours ago, Slifer00 said:

Should I delete it?

Noo

[Slifer00]

2 hours ago, PaPalmTrees said:

alright mine is Coccothrinax crinita aka old man palm they are so ugly it's a wanna be Trachycarpus I hate how the fronds grow like this.

Agreed, I didn't realise how awful they looked until I saw one in person. Personally, I found the trunk more irritating. It was still cool to see if for the first time, though!

[Slifer00]

3 hours ago, SeanK said:

Could say this for any palm trimmed to less than 50% of full canopy. Palms with 3 leaves 

Oh yeah, I do understand saving money by keeping only a few fronds, but the overpruning is horrendous!! They should keep at least 7-8 fronds on washingtonia, imo.

[Slifer00]

16 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I echo Jonathan’s sentiment above. I don’t really understand the point in such a strong negative statement on something so subjective. I will say though that as soon as I read it I knew it would generate a lot of interest in the topic, so I suppose in some convoluted way it has contributed to the positive discussion of palms. 
 

My hot take: Palms are one of the most (the most IMO) useful, horticulturally and botanically diverse and interesting plant groups.

You’ve got Elaeis which is the world’s most efficient generator of food energy to the point where it is infamous (not the palm’s fault), Cocos which in used for food, shelter and even potting mix and countless others which produce edible fruit or palm heart and countless others grown for edible fruit, palm heart, sugar, building materials etc etc. 
 

You’ve got Lodoicea for the largest seed in the world, Corypha for the largest inflorescence, Raphia the longest frond, Ceroxylon the tallest monocot…all this in a plant family that also contains species that you could accidentally step on at maturity if not careful. 
 

I’ll admit I’m a palm nut almost to the exclusion of all other plant families so I’m biased, but to me not many plant families have species which can fit so well into different landscape types; tropical style gardens, cool cloudforest, arid style gardens, large lawn landscape specimen gardens and even more formal style gardens and everything in between. 
 

Hopefully that’s enough positivity to counter anything else thrown out there in this thread 😆. I’ll just leave these photos here. 
 

 

I fully agree with you on everything!

[Slifer00]

18 hours ago, Josue Diaz said:

You'll never catch me hugging a phoenix

Beautiful!!!

 

21 hours ago, hbernstein said:

I'm sure that most palm lovers have a species that doesn't thrill them, and that's fine. Not sure why we'd want an entire sh*t on palms thread, although I'd be happy to name a few, if I must!

I'd be happy to hear your opinions, even if I completely don't agree with them

[PaPalmTrees]

5 minutes ago, Slifer00 said:

Agreed, I didn't realise how awful they looked until I saw one in person. Personally, I found the trunk more irritating. It was still cool to see if for the first time, though!

its a Very unique looking plant

[Slifer00]

Just now, PaPalmTrees said:

its a Very unique looking plant

Oh yeah, indeed. I love seeing and learning about unique/exotic palms, even if they are not the most visually pleasing!

[5am]

Does over-pruning a palm into a paintbrush hurt the palm as much as I imagine?

3 hours ago, SeanK said:

Could say this for any palm trimmed to less than 50% of full canopy. Palms with 3 leaves 

[Slifer00]

23 minutes ago, 5am said:

Does over-pruning a palm into a paintbrush hurt the palm as much as I imagine?

An established palm should recover all its lost fronds, albeit slowly. It would not produce seeds that year, and maybe somewhat reduce its long-term life expectancy by a couple of years (which is not that much in plant terms)

[flplantguy]

Over pruning is a path to penciling of the growth point as well. Like digesting food with half your stomach gone, its harder to get the energy needed.  Best to only remove whats dead for that and disease spread prevention but most business places trim for convenience first, not realizing they could cost themselves down the road with a dead palm (or many).