Parajubaea torallyi torallyi

[Lance Carbuncle]

I recently acquired a few of this palm because it seems like a great species for complimenting a Xeric Landscape. Does anyone have experience growing this plant... I can't figure out when it wants to grow. It doesn't seem to like a lot of water in summer.. Anone have tips on feeding, soil requirements and such. I think I killed one already from giving it too much attention....

Lance

[palmbob]

Originally Posted by Lance Carbuncle

I recently acquired a few of this palm because it seems like a great species for complimenting a Xeric Landscape. Does anyone have experience growing this plant... I can't figure out when it wants to grow. It doesn't seem to like a lot of water in summer.. Anone have tips on feeding, soil requirements and such. I think I killed one already from giving it too much attention....

Hmmm... I have grown about 15 of these so far and they are uniformly easy... I water the hell out of mine in the summer.. and winter. They like water it seems. Never rotted one at least (and we have fairly clayey soils here in LA county). I did nearly kill one with fertililzer, though, so I would be very stingy with that stuff. At least where you live you won't have to worry about cold.. .the freeze two years ago fried all of mine pretty badly (24F for 7 straight hours)... still, none died. Mine grow year round. Admittedly I haven't lived in as perfect a climate as La Jolla, but can't imagine it would be a worse climate for these palms... perhaps yours don't like the salty air?

[STEVE IN SOCAL]

I grow a lot of these in my nursery.
My worst experience was too much overhead water one summer, killing about 10% of them from rot. I now only water with drip, about 6 " from the trunk.
I'm in Fallbrook, and we can get hot here. They are susceptible to pythium rot at the base. Treat as a cycad in my opinion. The plants at HBG look crappy all the time, and they get overhead water. The plant in the ground by my pool gets less than two gallons a week(8' overall hieght) and looks great. I think this plant is more drought tolerent than people think.

[palmbob]

Originally Posted by STEVE IN SOCAL

I grow a lot of these in my nursery.
My worst experience was too much overhead water one summer, killing about 10% of them from rot. I now only water with drip, about 6 " from the trunk.
I'm in Fallbrook, and we can get hot here. They are susceptible to pythium rot at the base. Treat as a cycad in my opinion. The plants at HBG look crappy all the time, and they get overhead water. The plant in the ground by my pool gets less than two gallons a week(8' overall hieght) and looks great. I think this plant is more drought tolerent than people think.

I agree about the overhead watering totally, though I certainly don't find this genus unique in its intolerance of this habit... in fact, I think nearly all pinnate non-crownshaft palms in California (can't speak for the tropical species that can't grow here) are highly intolerant of overhead watering.. .this includes all Saygrus, Phoenix, Raveneas, Butias, Jubaeas etc... I have rotted dozens of many of these and learned the hard way. Interestingly I have hardly ever rotted any crownshafted palms this way (a few, but not many) or too many fan palms either (except for Braheas).

[STEVE IN SOCAL]

Geoff...have you found that rot occurs in the other varieties from the crown (EG pulling spears) or from the basal portion of the trunk?
PTVT seems to rot from the bottom, like an overwatered cycad or cactus.

[palmbob]

Originally Posted by STEVE IN SOCAL

Geoff...have you found that rot occurs in the other varieties from the crown (EG pulling spears) or from the basal portion of the trunk?
PTVT seems to rot from the bottom, like an overwatered cycad or cactus.

Pretty much all the same- from rotting spears. Not had any rot any other way (yet). Rotted about 3 Parajubaeas, 2 Jubaeas, countless Phoenix, several Syagrus (coronata, yungensis, pseudococos and several romanzoffianas), Butias capitatas and paraguayensis, Ravenea rivularis (about 5), Ravenea juliette, Lytocaryum hoenhii, countless Howeas.... you'd think by now I'd know better. Interestingly enough never rotted a Ravenea xerophila that way (hardy buggers!). Also rotted a Chamaerops cerifera 4x (the same plant!)... still alive and kicking, though.

[STEVE IN SOCAL]

My theory is that palms from different continents have trouble combating pathogens that aren't common in their native habitat. Like Native Americans being felled by European disease (smallpox, etc), PTVT can't handle pythium.
Gary Levine had a HUGE one that got the trunk wet with avocado spray emitters. This thing was healthy one year, dead the next from pythium. Rotted from the bottom up. Pythium needs 2 things....heat and moisture. Keep the 2 away from the trunk, and you'll be fine.
I also lost a bunch of 8' plants last year moving them from 25 gallon felt grow bags to the ground. I moved them in the heat of mid-summer, and I think that the feeder roots that were torn away with the felt allowed pythium to get into the roots. Keep waiting for an extended cooling trend to try a cold weather move(with Subdue included), but these Santa Ana conditions are making for a weird winter. My Rav Glaucas and Dyp Fine Leaf are opening leaves in January.

[Fred, SC]

WEll, I am glad to hear about not overhead watering. I grow several Butia varieties here in upstate SC zone 7b/8a. I overhead water always and lots in the summer. I have not had rot yet, but this is good to know.I also have Brahea armata(yes in this northerly zone). I grow Trachycarpus , Sabal palmetto and a few Butias from seed for sale. I have a few thousand Trachycarpus. They are becoming very prolific around here now, being sold in box stores, so I can really not compete. Not fair lol.