Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

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Dave Brown
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Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Dave Brown »

Interesting site Adam, www.canarius.com Seems at last we have the equivelent of Florida within the EU icon_thumright
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Dave
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cai williams

Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by cai williams »

Dave, you were talking about hardiness zones earlier on, and you mentioned that you were in zone 8b, same as me. The thing i am curious about is this; you have grown dates and washies, both of which are zone 9a or 9b plants. Does this mean that what they say about this or that being hardy to zone...say, 9a totally useless?


PS: are those Trachycarpus seedlings trom trudy in that pot with the nikau?
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Yorkshire Kris
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Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Yorkshire Kris »

Dave, Any updated pics of this palm?
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Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Dave Brown »

It is under the covered bit so has not suffered any damage, but has not grown much either. I'll see if I can get a pic this weekend.

Basically cai, I have come to the conclusion it is too cold here for a Nikau and probably a Washingtonia without any protection. They need canape cover at least :wink:
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Rod

Re: Chatham Island Nikau

Post by Rod »

Dave Brown wrote:It has survived unscathed under the porch as shelter and come through temps as low as -5.1C. I have done some digging into the conditions on the Chatham Islands and found.

The Chatham Island climate may be described as “windy, damp, and cool”, with the mean annual air temperature around 51.6°F (July average, 45.4°F and January average 57.6°F). Mean annual rainfall ranges between 20–40 in. over most of the area with 50 in. in the higher south-west. Skies are often overcast, humidity is high, and the winds blow mainly from the south-west. Dry spells, however, are fairly common and may last throughout a month.

The Chatham Islands seem to be far cooler that NZ North Island. I have had difficulty getting climatic data as virtually no-one keeps weather data. I Have come across one set of records but these are not averaged over years, so to get a long term average would take some time. What I have done is taken a sample year 1990 and these are the temps for that year.

Also I can say that in January 2008 (Summer Month) no day exceeded 20C. Mine does not grow in months with an average max of more than 21C. Making this a palm for cool places without much frost. Dyls this is the one for you :wink:

Month Max Min
Jan 16.0 11.9
Feb 17.3 13.0
Mar 16.9 12.8
Apr 13.9 9.2
May 13.3 8.7
Jun 10.7 6.8
Jul 10.2 5.1
Aug 10.7 6.6
Sep 10.9 5.8
Oct 13.1 7.6
Nov 15.1 10.5
Dec 17.0 12.4

Coldest for year was 0.5C

I can now see why my Oceana grows best in Autumn as it almost replicates its natural growing conditions.

Picture shows the leaf bases with the silvery down which identifies the 'Oceana'
The attachment 210208 Chatham Nikau Petioles.jpg is no longer available
This shows the underside of a leaf. The leaflet are quite widely spaced along the midrib, but touch where the leaflets are at their widest.
The attachment 210208 Chatham Nikau leaf underside.jpg is no longer available
Hi Dave ~ Here's climate data for the Chatham Islands
Attachments
CHATHAM ISLANDS CLIMATE DATA.jpg
Rod

Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Rod »

Hi Dave,
The most cold hardy Nikau Palm is:
Rhopalostylis sapida var. banks peninsula or
Rhopalostylis sapida var. akaroa

These varieties experience the lowest temperatures in their native habitat in New Zealand, and the best bet for the U.K
Troppoz

Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Troppoz »

They need canape cover at least
Dave you think hors d'oevres will make the difference?? :lol:

I tried some nikau palms in Darwin for some seed I got hold of. They germinated well and grew quickly, I potted them up inot tubes and sat them by the pond where it was coolest and they were doing well.....until they were knocked into the pond possibly by the dogs and by the time I realised they had dies and rotted away.

Id be keen to try them again to see if they are a long term survival option for the tropics as I think they are a handsome small palm.

Sean
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Dave Brown
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Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Dave Brown »

Rod, that Chatham Island weather data shows it is much cooler in their summer, but much, much milder in their winter. Rainfall is about 50% more than here but comparable to wetter parts of the UK. Sunshine levels are about the same as London, but approx 200 hours less than here per year.

Thanks for the advice on which are the hardiest, but we have trouble getting any Nikau at all. I looked on trademe.co.nz, your equivalent of ebay, and 100 Nikau seedlings were about £43, but registration was only for NZ email addresses. I would have thought making foreign emails buyer only would have been a boost for your economy, but it was not allowed. I looked around and wanted to buy loads of stuff but could not :(

How would we get seed/plants of the hardier variants :?:
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TroyDonovan

Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by TroyDonovan »

Hello Dave

Do you have any current pictures of your Chatham Island Rhopalostylis to put up !

Would like to see how she is going now . :D


Troy
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Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by Dave Brown »

TroyDonovan wrote:Hello Dave

Do you have any current pictures of your Chatham Island Rhopalostylis to put up !

Would like to see how she is going now . :D


Troy
It has finally started to grow normally again, although is still only about half the height it was before being defoliated 3 winters ago. It is being grow in more sun than it used to, which may account for some of the small size.

Here back in September (Early Autumn)
Attachments
2012-09-05-16-37-28 Nikau Oceana.jpg
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Dave
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TroyDonovan

Re: Chatham Island Nikau 'Oceana'

Post by TroyDonovan »

Thanks for posting Dave . Looks good having grown back a few more fronds .

A fella i know in Southern California has a fully grown one of these and it is massive esecially in the crownshaft and has the lovely snow white petioles .


Troy
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