flowering trachycarpus.

[billdango]

in that case i will grow some baby trachys from my seeds and keep them for any future forum members who end up here in southampton?
billdango.

[Nathan]

Why not scatter some seeds about all around Southampton, could look very good in a number of years if they survive

[billdango]

why not come up to southampton nathan and collect a bagfull,grow a few thousand and give them to all the forum members so there will be untold numbers of trachys all over uk?.
there are already over 100 trachys about in southampton grown by me and given away as tiny 12 inch plants over the last twenty years ,some of these are now nearly 20 feet tall in some gardens .
one day i will photograth some of these so that forum members can see for themselves.
rgds billdango

[Nathan]

I meant more literally scattering them about, rather than giving them to people. In areas at sides of roads etc where they wont get trampled on or cut by council mowers, let them "escape" into the wild

[Mr List]

i have said that to him before.

[Conifers]

Very hard to find places that don't get cut by council mowers, despite the spending cuts!

And in the few places that does apply, the weeds will be so thick, the seedlings won't survive.

[Nathan]

Very hard to find places that don't get cut by council mowers, despite the spending cuts!

And in the few places that does apply, the weeds will be so thick, the seedlings won't survive.

You would be surprised at how tough Trachycarpus seedlings are, weeds may actually help to shelter them...

[RogerBacardy]

Just saw multiple flower spathes on my Trachycarpus F, except it's not that big. The trunk is maybe 2ft tall. total plant height to tallest leaf perhaps 6ft. So an early bonus!

I know the flower spathes could be cut off to accelerate growth of the palm, but they grow so tall and are juvenile for such a short time relative to their life spans, that I'm happy to not rush mine and to let it flower, as I'm enjoying it the size it is at the moment.

[Dave Brown]

Chalk has been populated by my self sown seedlings dug up and given away over the last 15 years. The oldest that were planted out straight away, are now around 10 feet (3m) tall. Several hundred were taken to NE Scotland, and some now live a few miles from Penzance.

The seed germinate and grow anywhere where watered regularly, or in dense shade where the ground does not dry out. I'm with Nathan on this, they will grow away slowly amongst weeds providing it doesn't get too dry in the first year. Once they have their roots down they are pretty drought tolerant.

[multim]

Crikey, mine are only in bud, they never flower before May.

[Dave Brown]

Crikey, mine are only in bud, they never flower before May.

Think it is about last years seed are now ripe, rather than in flower right now.

Just checked and none of mine are even starting to show a spathe yet, but there again it was full blown winter only 3 weeks ago.

[redsquirrel]

a good few years ago,we bought 2 4ft trunks from nigel to plant either side of our bigger one. one never did anything except turn brown and die,the other slowly established itself and started growing but has been disappointing as it has the softest droopiest ,tattiest leaves ive seen on one,however,this year,now at least 5ft,it has started to put out 6 flower spikes, a real bonus for me as its a few weeks behind the flowering female with 4 or 5,maybe more bigger spikes already.hopefully being a tad later,its a male and will produce totally home grown seeds for me and save borrowing waggy flowers from any where i can

[Rob S]

a good few years ago,we bought 2 4ft trunks from nigel to plant either side of our bigger one. one never did anything except turn brown and die,the other slowly established itself and started growing but has been disappointing as it has the softest droopiest ,tattiest leaves ive seen on one,however,this year,now at least 5ft,it has started to put out 6 flower spikes, a real bonus for me as its a few weeks behind the flowering female with 4 or 5,maybe more bigger spikes already.hopefully being a tad later,its a male and will produce totally home grown seeds for me and save borrowing waggy flowers from any where i can

I would suggest that if your plant with the 'softest, droopiest, tattiest leaves you've ever seen' on a Trachycarpus does indeed turn out to be a male and you are looking to produce quality seed from your female tree then you remove the flowers before they pass on their unsuitable genes and i highly recommend that you do indeed source some Waggy pollen that will give you seeds that will be worth growing on! Also it should be remembered that there is little demand for regular Trachycarpus Fortunei seed and in my experience you can't give them away!

[redsquirrel]

indeed you cant Rob but it would be nice to do it one year just to say its happened with no help from me.hopefully my waggy out front will turn out male,if it does,i will dig the scruffy one up and pass it on. it does have one good feature,the leaves are very glossy and lush green,on a stiffer leaf would look great