Chamaerops tidy up

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Dave Brown
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Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Dave Brown »

After seeing pics of Amulree's stand at the Hampton Court Flower show, I remarked on the well groomed appearance of the large Chamaerops in the display. It put mine to shame so decided it needed a tidy :wink:

This evening after work, I decided to tackle the unkept trunk
2013-07-26 17-13-20 Chamaerops pre tidy.jpg
I got the hacksaw from the garage and prepared for a couple of hours of hard graft, but to my astonishment the leaf bases just pulled out with no effort . In 10 minutes it looked like this :lol:
2013-07-26 18-26-34 Chamaerops post tidy.jpg
Then as it was warm and humid, had a pint of ice cold Cider and it looked like this. :lol: :lol:
2013-07-26 18-26-44 Chamaerops illustrated.jpg
Best regards
Dave
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fern Rob

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by fern Rob »

It looks much better, how old is the palm?
cordyman

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by cordyman »

Looks a million times better. That's one thing I don't like about chammys the left over leaf bases, some are cut off leaving them way too long and it just looks scruffy.

Yours are quite short compared to some I've seen, but never the less finishes it off beautifully

Then after a cider it looks better again lol
Delboy

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Delboy »

Mmm may do mine after seeing that.
Trunk on mine is scruffy, I did pull a few out recently but wasn't sure.

Yours looks better Dave.
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Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Dave Brown »

Delboy wrote:Mmm may do mine after seeing that.
Trunk on mine is scruffy, I did pull a few out recently but wasn't sure.

Yours looks better Dave.
Seems that the bases cut over 2 years ago pull out easily, the latest ones being very much still attached so I have left those (the top 18 inches of trunk ;) I'll see if they have loosened next spring.
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Dave
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bordersboy

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by bordersboy »

Nice palm but I like my palms to be hairy ,strippem em seems to remove their character somewhat . :wink:
cordyman

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by cordyman »

bordersboy wrote:Nice palm but I like my palms to be hairy ,strippem em seems to remove their character somewhat :shock:
In this case do what I do with my trachys and cut as close as possible to the trunk with secateurs.

Its the scraggy left over sticking out leaf bases which give them such a messy look, not the hair.
bordersboy

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by bordersboy »

Yep thats what I do. I like to see the lumps`n`bumps on a trunk especially on large specimens.But each to their own and all that.
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Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Dave Brown »

bordersboy wrote:Nice palm but I like my palms to be hairy ,strippem em seems to remove their character somewhat . :wink:
I haven't removed the fibre, just pulled the leaf bases out.

Stripping changes the character, rather than removes it, so some of my Trachies are stripped, some not :wink: I won't purposefully strip the fibre from a Chammy, as they are not completely hardy and any reduction in hardiness may be a problem in bad winters.

Chammy trunk with fibre
Attachments
2013-07-27 15-39-56 Chamaerops fibre.jpg
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Dave
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Jo A P

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Jo A P »

I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to palms, terrible admission to make in here! I have 2 of these palms, I thought that's what they were anyway, only small and smaller, but they both grow as a clump whereas Dave's is a single stem. Enlightenment please and sorry if I've changed the subject I do prefer the tidied up version and I wouldn't pull any hairy bits off mine either.
greendragon

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by greendragon »

Jo A P wrote:I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to palms, terrible admission to make in here! I have 2 of these palms, I thought that's what they were anyway, only small and smaller, but they both grow as a clump whereas Dave's is a single stem. Enlightenment please and sorry if I've changed the subject I do prefer the tidied up version and I wouldn't pull any hairy bits off mine either.
Dave chops the suckers off and the plant then devotes most of it's growing energy into the main trunk.

However there are Chamaerops in California that grow up to 20feet tall with 4 different stems.
cordyman

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by cordyman »

greendragon wrote:
Jo A P wrote:I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to palms, terrible admission to make in here! I have 2 of these palms, I thought that's what they were anyway, only small and smaller, but they both grow as a clump whereas Dave's is a single stem. Enlightenment please and sorry if I've changed the subject I do prefer the tidied up version and I wouldn't pull any hairy bits off mine either.
Dave chops the suckers off and the plant then devotes most of it's growing energy into the main trunk.

However there are Chamaerops in California that grow up to 20feet tall with 4 different stems.

I think daves is an aborescense (sp?) which is a single trunk variety.
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Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Dave Brown »

Not 100% sure if an arborescens, as was sold to me in a batch of Trachycarpus :lol: and everything was just Chamaerops humilis back then. However, it does have far fewer suckers, and these have been removed. Unlike the standard type, it had a single main trunk about 18 inches tall before any suckers appeared. The standard form has suckers before any noticeable trunk forms :wink:
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Jo A P

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Jo A P »

I get it. Thanks for the explanation :D
Jo A P

Re: Chamaerops tidy up

Post by Jo A P »

Thinking about it, could the suckers you chop off be used as extra plants or are they without roots?
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