Brahea Armata Roots?

pdid

Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by pdid »

In the September sales I bought a Brahea Armata which is fine, however I know these plants to be very finicky with regards to their roots.

The plant I bought there are a few roots growing through the holes on the bottom of the pots see pic.
Armata Root
Armata Root
Will this be detrimental to the plant in any way, especially when I re-pot next Spring?
Should I limit movement of the palm, It will be coming inside subject to Weather conditions?

As long as the palm will recover once potted on and it will not gradually decline over the next year i`m happy.

Cheers
Phil
GoggleboxUK

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by GoggleboxUK »

You could always carefully cut the pot off and repot it now. If it's coming inside for winter then it most likely won't make any difference when you repot.

I repotted mine a few weeks ago as it was coming into the house and I didn't want compost flies indoors. I cut off the base of the pot then slit the side to remove before snipping away pieces of the base until it was all gone.

It has done really well and pushed out a new spear since.

Another alyernative is to leave the old pot base in place and let the roots grow through but as there aren't masses coming through I'd say remove it.

;)
Nigel

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Nigel »

Or come spring you can put it outside and put it onto something to raise it off the ground so the roots coming out of bottom of pot are air pruned , ie the living bits coming out dry up and die naturally without harming the plant when the pot comes off
pdid

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by pdid »

Thanks for the tips.

So damage to these roots (a few may have been damaged moving in and out of the greenhouse) is not going to cause the palm to die?

Cheers
Nigel

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Nigel »

Damage to a few roots probably wont hurt too much but it can set the palm back , depends how many you break really.
pdid

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by pdid »

Thanks Nigel, i`ve not broken any they have been crushed by the weight and movement of the palm icon_thumleft
Ste

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Ste »

Sorry for hijacking your thread but ive been wondering for a while now......... I bought my brahea armata back in March from the palm centre and its not a bad size. I re-potted straight away into a much larger 110ltr pot. There was 2 new speares when it arrived and still to this minute, the same 2 speares are exactley the same - have not done anything at all. I knew they diddnt like to have their roots messed about with and luckily for me, it slid out of the origonal pot really easy so the rootball was untouched. Im wondering does this sound dead or have I put it in too big of a pot and set it back? Cheers.
GoggleboxUK

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by GoggleboxUK »

How are you feeding and watering Ste? These are thirsty palms. I have mine stood in water for 12 hrs 3 times a week and feed with Miracle Gro fortnightly.

It could just be building a root system for the new pot.
Ste

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Ste »

Not watered anything for a while now as don't want to chance anything with possible frosts. Everything has just had whatever rain we have had for the last month or so. Even during the summer, I only dragged the hose pipe down once a week and gave everything a good soaking
Nigel

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Nigel »

Ste, even if it was making new roots it would still grow a bit so it doesnt sound right that.
Maybe it has taken a dislike to your potting mix. I think you need to do a bit of investigating to see whats happening, it should be full of new roots by now if all is well.
Ste

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Ste »

I dont know if this is a coincidence or not but when I bought my brahea in March, I also bought my jubea at the same time and this too, done nothing all summer. The new spear which had been there since March just started opening around 3-4 weeks ago. This was also re-potted into a 110ltr pot so im wondering if re-potting them has set them back a little icon_scratch
I dont want to disturb the brahea really if I can help it as ive heard this is the worst one for sulking if the roots are disturbed but really, if I want to check then I have no choice. I used the same potting mixes for everything - had a mad mixing frenzy one Saturday. Brought the cement mixer home from work as I had a lot to mix. The size of all my pots I done that day added to more than 2000 litres :ahhh!: So I diddnt fancy using a shovel. I mixed it in the mixer at 1x50ltr bag of MP compost, 1x25kg 10mm chippings, 3 shovel fulls of sharp sand, couple handfulls of bone meal and a handfull of chicken pellets. Thats what I used in each mix. Everything seems to be doing well, washy has grown at rapid speed, just the jubea took all summer before it decided to do anything and the brahea has still done nothing.
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redsquirrel
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Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by redsquirrel »

i sent one to a friend bare-root the other day and was amazed what i found underneath the plant.it was only in an 8inch deep anderson,top half of compost contained 4/5 big white roots like sinkers which then split into masses of thick white roots much lower down.this could explain why they suffer so much when dug up??? not just severing a few big roots,but loads lower down.
sorry the pics not very clear but you should get the gist of what im on about.
as for your plant Phil,Nige is spot on,let them air prune themselves next year,you can re-pot or plant easily
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GoggleboxUK

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by GoggleboxUK »

I've seen Braheas sending down roots through soil and out into an underground cave 30ft high to tap into a river running through it at the bottom.

In a documentary, not in real life.
Andy P

Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by Andy P »

I bought a Brahea in the Amulree sale a few months back. When it arrived it looked like some Idiot in the delivery chain had been throwing it around as it had hardly any soil at all in it`s pot. Was quite annoyed about it at the time but i didn`t make any complaints.( Should have done really). Anyway, i had no option really but to re-pot it.
Since i`ve had it, it`s shown no growth at all and now the 2 oldest fronds are starting to look dead. It`s in sick bay at the moment but not really sure what to do to help it. If it was spring i`d give it lots of food or bonemeal or something. I`m sure, even if it survives, then it`s journey has probably knocked it back a few years. :twisted: :twisted:
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karl66
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Re: Brahea Armata Roots?

Post by karl66 »

Andy P wrote:I bought a Brahea in the Amulree sale a few months back. When it arrived it looked like some Idiot in the delivery chain had been throwing it around as it had hardly any soil at all in it`s pot. Was quite annoyed about it at the time but i didn`t make any complaints.( Should have done really). Anyway, i had no option really but to re-pot it.
Since i`ve had it, it`s shown no growth at all and now the 2 oldest fronds are starting to look dead. It`s in sick bay at the moment but not really sure what to do to help it. If it was spring i`d give it lots of food or bonemeal or something. I`m sure, even if it survives, then it`s journey has probably knocked it back a few years. :twisted: :twisted:
Andy, there seems to be a bit of a pattern developing with theses. I bought one a couple of months back, its a nice specimen with a little fat trunk about 10 inches high. I also repotted mine & despite being outside in glorious sunshine its done nothing at all :( . Its a really upright palm & looks a picture of health but its like the spear is glued together :lol: . karl.
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