Awesome palm deals

[swords]

A local greenhouse near me is selling out all their old stock of large specimen sized palms, bannana plants, draceneas, etc. from $4.99 to $19.99. I got a six foot tall triangle palm for $4.99 (it was the only one which looked like I could fit it in my tiny Ford Focus car).

So now I have a six foot triangle palm with a 6-8" diameter trunk that is in too small of a pot. I would like to repot it ASAP. I'm thinking of using about 50% continous feed (0.5-0.5-0.5) peat moss and perlite mix and 50% orchid bark, I'll probably add some horticultral charcoal as well. Does this sound like a reasonable soil mix for a triangle palm? Should I put some time release balanced fertilizer (20-20-20) granules ontop as well or will palms do fine with minimal fertilizer?

Sorry for so many questions but my library is filled with Nep and orchid books, palms are new to me. I have no idea how fast or slow they grow. Thanks for any thoughts!  

 

[voodoolizard]

Hi Josh,

Repotting may not be necessary, most palms grow very well when under potted. If you do repot, your mix should work well. Palms are not fussy about soil mix or fert. but need good light and water. keep your palm moist, and avoid salts.

Can you tell me what Greenhouse, I'd like to go see what they got.

Chris

 

[swords]

Thanks Chris,  

I would like to repot simply because I figure they've been watering with hard water (I can see the sodium deposits on the old leaves) so I'd like to give it a "sterile" new mix and water with reverse osmosis water (I use r/o for all my neps and orchids). I'll PM you the name of the place, I am in Minnesota however, incase you don't know.

How touchy are palm roots to disturbance? I could simply transplant the ball or I could soak it, clean off the old soil and cut off any dead roots (give it the orchid repotting treatment). It only has a couple ratty/salty looking leaves anyway and I'm expecting them to drop off anyway since it's in a new environment. Is total repotting in all new media a good idea or could such "manhandling" of a palm kill it?

Have you ever grown a palm from seed? I've been looking at MTs palm seed selection and thinking of getting some seeds of the interesting smaller varieties but how long do palms generally take to become nice sized from seed? I know it would likely be several years to have a nice display plant, no problem there. But if it's a decade before you even have a 30 cm tall plant, I'm not that patient!

(I'm curious as to why there's an "x" next to the title of my post? Could someone please remove that for me?

)

 

[mikey]

Actually - long term - just get a bag of potting soil from the garden center and if available a little sand to add to it - palm will be just fine in that... palms arent picky but they do need something to grab on to and they need good soil drainage.


Michael
mmcgee@petflytrap.com

 

[voodoolizard]

LOL, yes I know you are in MN, that's why I asked.

I would not mess with the roots too much, but knock some of the old soil out before putting it in the new pot. If you plan to use OR water then you'll want to use the (20-20-20) time release fert you spoke of in your frist post.

Micky is correct, regular potting soil with a littel exta drainage will work find for all palms. But I like the idea of using a peat mix since (I may be wrong) triangle palms come from an area with a slightly acidic soil.

My frist atempt with seed was last winter with poor results. This year I'll be Ordering from rarepalms.com and hope I do better. As for how fast do they grow, it depends on specie. Which palm seeds were You thinking about getting?

Chris

 

[swords]

I see there is a lot of seed available on Ebay of many nice "exotic" varieties that I don't see in stores. Fan palms, spiny palms and other strange looking varieties. I'm not that into the regular "coconut palm tree" or "parlour palm" shape.

Is there a good book detailing the different palm families with good photos of each species? I see there are some on amazon but I don't know which book would be the best? The Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms looks like it might be good but some people say the photos in this book are not that good for IDing between similar species. Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[neilsingapore]

I'm don't know much about palms but they do grow very well here in Singapore.
I always thought they disliked too much root disturbance. The soil, as already stated, should be well draining.
As for seeds,....unless you are quite patient,...most grow quite slowly I believe.
Happy growing, Neil