I hear ya,(but I don't see ya,your pictures did not come up, just the photobucket homepage)my sabals have basically done nothing this year,if anything they have gone backwards!On the other hand my washys are doing great!

Hey there Jim! That's odd, I did nothing different, I did a 'preview' as always and it showed up, and I can see it now. Will have another go below. These darned Sabals are really annoying me!!! Think I've been spolit with the rapid growth of the WR's. The biggest SM leaf is around 4inches long at the very most. Nothing came up in the Butia Capitata pot or the Trachy F's either. Still have some seeds left of each so am going to try again, also have some Washy R seeds left but daren't plant those (as I'm sure every single one will germinate like last time) for fear of d/h booting me out 'cos I've got too many plants taking over the g/h that there's an ever decreasing area for his tomatoes and cucumbers LOL!!!
OK, let me try again with this pic...

Sabals ARE notorious slow even in tropical climates. I believe the fastest growing Sabal is S. mauritiiformis but it also the least cold hardy and most tropical. I have good growth on a Sabal texana. Also Sabal louisiana is decent. But
Sabals are generally slow, slow, slow.

I can see them. Looking good Gill. Give those sabals about 5 years and they'll be about 2 - 2 1/2 ft tall with nice size fronds. You wont even remember them being that small. Also to add to njoasis's post, you should try a sabal birmingham or sabal brazoria (sabal x texensis). My brazoria has really taken off in the past few weeks.

Jay

Thanks guys for the info. I guess this was one to put down to experience (or lack of it) as I obviously slipped up and didn't do enough homework before buying these seeds. I just saw on the eBayUK add that they were relatively easy to germinate (no!) and cold hardy for the UK (will have to see, they've sure got to grow a lot more yet!) so I went for it. Guess the thing I need here is patience, will have to get some, LOL!

My CIDP was slow to get away, but now after 4 yrs it's a lovely little potted palm of just over 1ft with many fronds. So, I will just have to sit this one out and wait and see what the Sabals can do.....*drums fingers on table loudly*. As I said, it's the rapid growth rate of the Washies that have spoilt me!
Cheers 'n all that, Gill.

I think my computer was acting fishy,anyway I see the pics now,all of them,sorry about that.My sabals are doing nothing above ground,actually one is starting to push up a leaf as of a few days ago,hopefully they are growing some nice healthy roots that will get them through the winter!I also tried growing some Trachycarpus seeds I bought off e-bay,supposed to be takil,I was later e-mailed from seller that he did not know what they are,I did some researce and discovered they are martianus or latisectus which is also cool,I should say it instead of they as only one has sprouted,(in 6 months)but it should be fun to see what it turns out to be!All your strapping young palms look great!I also have some washys-same age as Jay and yours,at least they are growing fast,they are growing faster than my larger washys.Here is a pic of my biggest little washy.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Jim....glad your computers back to it's usual self again!
But hey, what is it with you guys and these Washies, both you and Jay have some great looking divisions on those fronds...or have you secretly been doing some judicious snipping with the wifes dressmaking scissors just to make mine feel totally inadequate?? LOL!!!
Been sunny and hot here today with temps around 28c or so, (just what my palms are in need of) then it went rather windy and the usual thing happened....a torrential storm which bought in much fresher air. No doubt the garden will benefit from it. Thunderstorms are forecast for the next day or so...great! Think my next passion will have to be water gardening and bog plants!!!
Gill.

Of course, the other the other issue that Sabals have (aside from slow growth in general), is that they all want real summer heat to grow (despite the cold hardiness of many the species). I have the heat and the sun, and just transplanted all the palms so looking forward to seeing how the Sabals respond (Sabal collection so far includes S. palmetto, S. texana, S. louisiana, and S. mauritiiformis.

njoasis,I hope you have better luck with your sabals than I have had with mine,they are cool palms I just wish mine would grow!Gill maybe if you say 82F instead of 28c they will grow faster!it just sounds warmer lol,its funny,when I was in grade school 30+ years ago we all had to learn the metric system(which we did)because we were going to switch over,but I think our parents were the ones who could not learn it!hey,why have one system when you can have two for twice the price!

Thanks for explaining the needs of Sabals NJO, hadn't realised they were so fussy. Oh well, will just have to plod on with the conditions I'm stuck with and hope for the best.
Jim, I hear what you're saying about the temps, 82f does sound better, haha! Find the 2 systems a real pain in the butt personally. All I can recall is that 16 and 28 C transpose into 61 and 82 F for ease of comparison, then educated guesses fall somewhere inbetween the two values. Failing that, I have a temp conversion site bookmarked on my computer as maths was never my strong point!
Gill.

I have a sabal that I germinated in the summer of 2005. It's last full frond was split in two. it's about the size of the Washy seedlings. They are slow. especailly in a cooler climate.

I have news for you. They are slow in a HOT climate too. When I was last in South Florida and trying to buy one (a smaller one), I saw NONE. Eventually a woman at a nursery told me that they don't even bother with Sabals because they grow soooo slowly. Still, their ARE differences in rate of growth for different species and varieties. As I said, my Sabal texana is quite robust and showing signs of taking off. I purchased the texana from a gentleman in Texas on Ebay and received a very large specimen (considering the cost) that only continues to impress. Mauritiiformis is one of the fastest and I have several in the seedling stage. I lost a larger one a few years ago to cold (they are one of the least cold tolerant species unfortunately). Happy 4th!

Are they as agonizingly slow as young needles?

Plastic plants grows faster than some Sagos species. Needles are relatively fast in comparison. No joke!!

I have a small Sabal minor. It's not fussy, but it does grow ridiculously slowly.