Hardy Tropicals UK

I didnt realise the feathers have such a span on the catarinensis. I was shocked at how heavy it was, it had a solid rootball 16inches deep by 20 inches wide & the pot was almost welded to it and bursting open. This morning we have put it into a 60 litre pot & gave it palmbooster& palmfocus in the same 5litre watering can, i have also sprinkled a dusting of slow release pink fertiliser, the one from mike in southhampton. Nige, its now unbelievably heavy even for 2 people to carry, but it shall stay where it is till late febuary. If i put it up against the house wall next year will it see off normal winters ok or would i be better to stick it in the ground next feb/march?. Do they like more sunny parts of the garden or is part shade ok. karl.

Karl, you can leave it up against a wall but remember that first its not good to let the pot freeze, and secondly if there is severe cold wheel it indoors or in the garage.
They prefer sun to shade, but can grow in shade.
The leaves will only get a metre long , so the max span is around 2 meteres.

Ok, so planting out is a no no then. I thought hardiness wise it was on par with erispathia & the old name capitata. karl.

Personally I would plant it in spring, purely because it can be moved in the pot if need be, and a full season in th gound will make it more cold resistant and tougher.

Nigel wrote:Personally I would plant it in spring, purely because it can be moved in the pot if need be, and a full season in th gound will make it more cold resistant and tougher.

Do you mean plant it in the pot in the ground, or take it out & plant in ground. This thing is seriously heavy to maul in & out of the ground even for a roofer .

In spring I would take it out of the pot and plant it yes. But planting it in a pot is not such a terrible idea , you then always have that get out of jail option if a winter from hell like last year is happening again.

Ok thanks for making that clear. I think i'll do one or the other, but more likely to keep in a big pot , although if i do plant out it wont be coming up unless it dies, i shall fleece it & keep things crossed.Close of subject from me now nigel . karl.

karl66 wrote:Couple of pics of the much confused name, Odorata/Catarinensis;

Nigel, one major question i forgot to ask you about my catarinensis in the pics , is the trunk now fully grown?, if not how much bigger in the uk will it get, as i thought this was the dwarf version of odorata. karl.

Heres mine, might help with ID's, it was bought as Odorata but is now Catarinensis

Ade, is yours planted in the ground or in apot under the gravel?, mine has a 1.1metre trunk , i dont think the trunks get much bigger on these do they. I no your on the coast but do you protect it in any way . karl.

Mine is planted, I know Nige likes the idea of pot planting and lifting out if it gets really cold but take my word for it, at this size they dont come out too easily maybe if youre the size of Arlon and have a couple of mates to match then it could be lifted but mines in for as long as it lives.
You can see the damage on mine and that has been slow to get going this year, last year it was still in the pot and pulled up tight to the house with a fleece bag over it.

Just a quick one for Nigel, dont want to start a new topic as its only one question I have.
What do you think of the jubutia ? (jubea x butia)
There is some available next year from amulree. Simon emailed me and said that they are £30 and they are just starting to put out split leaves now. I didd'nt really want anything else that small but as they are still quite rare he says, not much chance of getting anything bigger, or it would be quite expensive.
Do you know if these are really slow growers or are they not too bad? I know jubea is slow but maybe as its a cross it might be quicker.
I wonder what butia these will be crossed with? Capitata, Odorata, Eriospatha etc............. ?

Ste, JxB is probably the best of all feather palms to grow.
Faster than Jubaea and hardy or maybe even a bit hardier because sometimes hybrids possess extra hardiness.

Nigel wrote:Ste, JxB is probably the best of all feather palms to grow.
Faster than Jubaea and hardy or maybe even a bit hardier because sometimes hybrids possess extra hardiness.

Thanks for that Nigel
Im still unsure weather to go for one or not as im quite impatient and a palm that is only just putting out split leaves now will take years to even get to a half decent size. I dont know what to do

Ste,i havent seen a mature one but i have one past the split leaf stage. i will get you a pic at the weekend. tbh,given we DONT know how tough this plant is yet,in your case,you could get a decent sized jubaea cheaper than youll ever get one of these and have that tough impact plant immediately. why not contact Simon at amulree and discuss his pre-prder list.Mike said there are some big jubs coming in with a whopping discount if you buy through this scheme. bigger butias will be tougher too.
one thing to remember with hybrids is any amount of either parentage could be carried through to your individual plant so from what i gather,you could pay stupid money for a plant that is 99% butia or jubaea anyway????
personally imo,for now, jubutia is more a collectors plant until proven (i only bought mine because it was going for dafty money on ebay with collection only,just up the road from me)