Hardy Tropicals UK

What a stunning looking palm when its formed even a small trunk. Are they worth a go in the ground at about a 7litre pot size, with some fleece wrapped round or would this size need bringing indoors?. karl.

weve seen a few good ones crop up Karl.do you have a sunny spot close to the house? the main disadvantage of these is the need for heat to grow well so say you bought one and it got damaged overwinter,would take a really good summer to look well again.ive got two now,planted one outside the lounge window this year,its got the sulks so not doing much,the other is in a pot doing well which gets dragged into the garage on coldest nights.
they hate root disturbance so plan carefully if thinking about planting one

redsquirrel wrote:weve seen a few good ones crop up Karl.do you have a sunny spot close to the house? the main disadvantage of these is the need for heat to grow well so say you bought one and it got damaged overwinter,would take a really good summer to look well again.ive got two now,planted one outside the lounge window this year,its got the sulks so not doing much,the other is in a pot doing well which gets dragged into the garage on coldest nights.
they hate root disturbance so plan carefully if thinking about planting one

Red, i've a few sunny spots to put pots, but not really much for stuff in the ground. Akamba have some cracker's for about £70 but if these are put in there sale i might get one half price. I've also looked at what people are selling on the European palm society site, some interesting stuff m8. karl.

i saw those at amulree,look excellent vfm at half price ,was good at full price

I had a couple of these planted out for a quite a time and at one point considered them to be nailed on hardy but unfortunately I have been proved wrong in recent winters.

redsquirrel wrote:weve seen a few good ones crop up Karl.do you have a sunny spot close to the house? [b] the main disadvantage of these is the need for heat to grow [/b]well so say you bought one and it got damaged overwinter,would take a really good summer to look well again.ive got two now,planted one outside the lounge window this year,its got the sulks so not doing much,the other is in a pot doing well which gets dragged into the garage on coldest nights.
they hate root disturbance so plan carefully if thinking about planting one

I have to disagree with needing heat. They grow as many leaves as most of my other palms of similar size. armata and edulis have grown 5 each this year for me and it ain't been hot.

I agree with Kris, I think water is the important factor.

Armata need a very free draining soil due to tempramental roots but during the peak growing season it helps to stand them in water for 8-12 hours 3 times a week.

Adding Miracle Grow to the water every 2-3 weeks also gives them a good boost.

i stand corrected guys but they could grow faster,up to 12 leaves a year in habitat which is a fair bit warmer in mexico etc
couldnt agree more about the water though. between us,i think a few have found we have been underwatering a lot of palms

My armata is surrounded by hard materials but in deep soil. It does brilliantly with all the radiated heat and it gets 30c water in summer.

Ten years ago I had the loading wall it was growing against knocked down and rebuilt. I saw the roots go down a lonnnnngggg way when the soil was exposed. Thankfully, the palm didn't suffer any root damage as it grew away unchecked.

Seeing this made me understand why they hate root disturbance. If you can't plant it out near the house, you might need a very deep tub along the lines of a dustbin. You might still need some sort of dry protection in winter or else it would be consigned to the dustbin you planted it in

Adrian wrote:I had a couple of these planted out for a quite a time and at one point considered them to be nailed on hardy but unfortunately I have been proved wrong in recent winters.

I am unanimous with you Adrian! we live and learn!

I just got mine from Amulree. I`m debating whether to repot now or wait till Spring. It will be overwintered in my conservatory. What do you think?

Leave it, no point repotting now as you'll only cause problems.

That;s a good size Diddy, how many leaves does it have?

Very nice Diddy, got a soft spot for the blue's myself

pdid wrote:I just got mine from Amulree. I`m debating whether to repot now or wait till Spring. It will be overwintered in my conservatory. What do you think?

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Very nice m8, what did you give for it. Got one very similar, mines a bit more stocky trunkwise but not as tall & not as many fronds. karl.