Hardy Tropicals UK

Hi all,

Just wondering how much trunk these beasts put on per year in an ideal sceanrio...

Cheers
Ben

Mine put out about 7 or 8 new fronds a year, not much in terms of trunk. perhaps an inch a year? They are slow growing palms compared to Trachycarpus.

Per year? These are slow growing and you won't notice much increase in trunk height after a year, perhaps an inch?

Mine is 7 to 8 feet tall after 10 years.

Steph, Do you mean the trunk height or overall? Were talking trunk height - Chamearops Humilis.
This one was planted around 20 years ago. It already had about 2 feet of trunk. It now measures 4 feet of trunk. Sure, if you add the leaf height it is 7 feet tall.

multim wrote:Steph, Do you mean the trunk height or overall? Were talking trunk height - Chamearops Humilis.
This one was planted around 20 years ago. It already had about 2 feet of trunk. It now measures 4 feet of trunk. Sure, if you add the leaf height it is 7 feet tall.

One of mine has also been planted out for around 20 years, was a small specimen with no trunk but has now around 5 feet of trunk! I have another that was planted out around 10 years ago already with about 3 feet of trunk now has between 6-7 feet of trunk, both in full sun so take from that what you will!

[/quote]One of mine has also been planted out for around 20 years, was a small specimen with no trunk but has now around 5 feet of trunk! I have another that was planted out around 10 years ago already with about 3 feet of trunk now has between 6-7 feet of trunk, both in full sun so take from that what you will![/quote]


Nothing really to add apart from 5 feet of trunk in 20 years is normal whilst 4 feet in 10 years is extraordinary!
How about some images of this monster?

I think DB has a Chamaerops Humilis 'Arborescens' that has grown more quickly than the average standard Humilis. Perhaps the single trunked variety has a faster rate of growth?

My multi-trunked beast has two main stems of equal length standing about three metres tall. It must be about thirty years old. (Planted about semi-mature 1991). Both stems are about two metres high. About four years ago I tied a piece of twine to the last open leaf of one stem at the end of the year. One year on I tied another piece of twine and counted eleven leaves in between.
I do encourage early growth by watering with warm water every week or two from April onwards giving me a long season.

That's a beauty Greville

Hope I stay alive long enough to see mine get that size!

multim wrote:Steph, Do you mean the trunk height or overall? Were talking trunk height - Chamearops Humilis.
This one was planted around 20 years ago. It already had about 2 feet of trunk. It now measures 4 feet of trunk. Sure, if you add the leaf height it is 7 feet tall.

I am talking overall height, the leaves have never dropped off, so the trunk is obscured.
Looks like the one Greville has shown.

My Chamaerops has 6ft trunk in about 25 years. Just over 9ft tall overall.

Dave - have you stopped it producing side shoots (ie removed) or is it the single trunk version?


Also what has caused it to bulk up thickness of the trunk? - lovely palm that

Cheers
Ben

benbaron wrote:Dave - have you stopped it producing side shoots (ie removed) or is it the single trunk version?


Also what has caused it to bulk up thickness of the trunk? - lovely palm that

Cheers
Ben

It has very few pups,unlike some which become a thicket with age, but yes, I have been removing the 2 or 3 it produces over 2 or 3 years.

The fibre thins with age so is thinnest at the bottom

Mine is slow lol but that's a good thing as I love the size it is right now.

When mine arrived it had 107cm's of trunk, however the soil in the pot was very low and a lot of roots were showing so I topped it up with soil/gravel (mostly gravel) and lost about 7cm of trunk. So it was really about 100cm, just been out and it's almost 103cms, there's about 2 n half cm's of new growth.
That's in about 10 months so an inch a year makes sense.