Washingtonia robusta

[B19bst]

I bought a young one not long ago and it's a 4 stem one but I would love to separate it into individuals. Is this possible without killing it and if so what's the best way. As its only 2-3 foot high I don't want to leave it much longer before doing it.

[jezza]

I did it with a triple trunk one that i paid £2 for in a diy shed sale. Two survived and the third died. I kept the biggest of the three and it's now romping away.

However i was really brutal with dividing them and simply used a hack saw through the roots. Took about 6 or so months to resume growth.

[Andy P]

Same as Jezza.... I bought a triple trunked one from B&Q last year and separated them. I was pretty brutal with them too and just used a knife to cut through the roots. They`ve all survived and are doing well. I think as long as you manage to keep a few decent roots on each plant they should be ok. Washies seem to be fairly un-phased by root disturbance, un-like other Palms like Brahea for example.

[Dave Brown]

If you want a single, buy a single. Hacking through roots just loses you time in nearly killing them

[kohwoz]

I separated lots of multi stem robustas, and they are all going strong. I just hosed the soil off the rootballs and then untangled the mass of interlocked root system. It is a easy and cheaper way in my opinion to get a single robusta. Although from seed they are also very quick growers. Single stem washingtonia in Germany are expensive, compared to the uk. And in America they are cheap as chips.

[jezza]

If you want a single, buy a single. Hacking through roots just loses you time in nearly killing them

If i was paying £15 or so then yes i would be more sympathetic, but for me it was only £2 so if i lost them all i wouldn't have cared. The one i kept is really going for it now, doubling in size since dividing it this time last year.

I was contemplating dividing up my large triple trunker but i've had it for three years now and it's tripled in size over that time and is putting out 2 foot wide fronds this year, so i've been putting it off.

[Kerinsian]

Although from seed they are also very quick growers.

When you say very quick, what kind of growth rate do you mean? (I've just bought some germinated seed and it would be nice to know what to expect from them.)

[Adam r]

I bought a triple trunk washie from homebase at the beginning of may and divided it into three pots. The biggest one is doing well and has almost pushed out a whole leaf. The middle sized one is also growing well but the smallest one hasn't moved. I put them in the ground and they were battered by strong winds which killed their strap leaves but the adult leaves were unaffected.