Chamaerops humilis

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

I've have a multi trunk c.humilis in a pot, very healthy and throwing out lots of new spears covered in like a talcum powder like substance. I had a good look inside the plant today and noticed several juvenile leaves. My question is, when a c.humilis starts growing new trunks, will it start with juvenile leaf shoots or with "adult" leaf shoots. I had a little dig around and the juvenile shoots are solid and i can't find any remains of a seed.

Rgds
Mark

[Andrew In Bracknell]

They sucker naturally, but might be sold as several individual palms grown from seed (obviously) and then planted in the same pot. A picture would help.

[simon]

The offset start with juvenile leaves, just like a seedling.

They will almost certainly be offsets. Especially if it is already a multi-trunked specimen.

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

If i have time tomorrow i'll take some closeup photo's. Would i be right in saying that an offset / sucker grows from the main plant to form its own trunk as part of the main plant which can then be seperated from it with enough root to form a seperate plant.

[kentgardener]

Hi All

I have noticed both juvenile and mature leaves on the pups - not sure if that means I was a bit slow and have missed them as young'uns.

I have also successfully separated them form the parent - but be prepared to wait a couple of years for the babe to get established and do anything other than just sit there!

cheers

John

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

trying to add photo's now

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

didn't work, trying again

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Oh yes, i'm on a roll

The two trunks stems are about 1 foot high and the girth a good size wine bottle, an empty one in our house is normaly the case. I've had a little dig around and all the shoots big and small are solid, no trace of seed cases. There are approx 12 shoots inc the two main one's. Obviously its going into a new pot but while its on the hoist i thought i'd take photo's and dig around. Would it be better to remove some of the smaller stems or leave the whole plant as is. Its very healthy, loads of new spears and no effect from the winter months at all

[Dave Brown]

Mark, The choice as to whether to remove the suckers or not is entirely up to how you want the palm to look. If you leave them you get a more bushy, full appearance to the palm, but it will not put on much height, just suckering and re suckering. This is the way they grow naturally, reaching no more than 5ft (1.5M) tall.

If you remove the suckers, all the energy is put into one trunk and they grow taller. In the Mediterranean, they are managed to form tall multi-headed clumps but these are incredibly old, and would cost a small fortune to buy. I have one where the suckers have been removed over the last 15 years.

This is the result

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Thanks for the info Dave.
I'm inclined to remove most as i have often seen pics of taller multi trunk C.Humilis , 2 or 3 trunks and thats the look i think i prefer. If i cut the suckers back as far as poss, would i then need to treat the "open wound" to stop any infection.

Rgds
Mark

[Mick C]

Mark, The choice as to whether to remove the suckers or not is entirely up to how you want the palm to look. If you leave them you get a more bushy, full appearance to the palm, but it will not put on much height, just suckering and re suckering. This is the way they grow naturally, reaching no more than 5ft (1.5M) tall.

If you remove the suckers, all the energy is put into one trunk and they grow taller. In the Mediterranean, they are managed to form tall multi-headed clumps but these are incredibly old, and would cost a small fortune to buy. I have one where the suckers have been removed over the last 15 years.

This is the result

02112008 garden 004.jpg

I really like the look of this palm Dave . I got one of those little £3 /£4 jobs from Wilkos last year, now I know what I'm going to do with it. At the very least it will be interesting to watch it's growth rate.

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Andrew wrote

Why do you chain up the palm?

There are some palm types which actually creep, so by tieing them or in the case of a larger palm, a chain, it stops them wandering.

[Jo A P]

Those pics really show things so clearly, I think I'm going to have a go at mine now.
Dave is that a fuchsia under your palm?

[Arlon Tishmarsh]

Andrew,
if you look at the pictures, the palm is actually hoisted up in the air so i can tap the pot off and repot into a bigger container. I recently repotted a 10 ft Trachycarpus and a 11ft Phoenix canariensis_CIDP, both easily a ton + in weight each. To do those i put 2 lifts of tower scaffold around them, attach the hoist at the top and then lift them up about 3ft, tap the old pot off and then lower them into the new container. Takes about 3/4 hrs to do both.

Rgds
Mark

[trachy1973]

I think your Humilis Dave is one of the best I have ever seen. I have one planted out which I bought last year and I trim the suckers off. Main reason being is because the plants location is limited for space so I do not want it spreading out. Prefer it to grow up.

Does yours flower Dave? The one I have from last year was in flower when I bought it and then a small number of seeds appeared not long afterwards. This year no sign of flowers at all, why might this be?

Thanks

Keith