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at what size will a King palm split leaves

16 years ago

I have a baby king (archontophoenix Alexandrae) that I germinated two winters ago. It is now about 8 or nine inches tall (if you stretched the fronds strait up it would be over a foot. I only found out about 6 weeks ago that it's not a big fan of direct sun. I now give it filtered sun and the browning problem I had observed has stopped. Any idea when the fronds might split. It's really put on size this summer but no splitting yet.

thanx,

Andy

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Comments (11)

alex_7b
16 years ago
Andy,

It is probably slow due to low soil temps.
david_
16 years ago
They split in one year here but im not sure of your temps in the summer compared to ours.They like lots of heat and humidity.
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andyandy
Original Author
16 years ago
David-
Can you aproximate at what height they get to in a year down there. Maybe by the end of summer here I will see some splitting.

thanx,
Andy
xerophyte NYC
16 years ago
andy

I have some seedlings of similar species, some are growing reapidly and others are not, even though they are in the same conditions. My own [unfounded] theory is that perhaps seedlings are not constantly pushing leaf growth, some energy maybe is spent on root growth and starch accumulation for stem formation and other things; when an equilibrium is reached, speed of growth increases. Isn't it true that many palms don't pick up the pace until they begin to form a trunk?

The soil temp I'm sure has a big influence, but at the same time a seedling/ young plant in a pot warms up rather quickly. I wonder if watering with warm water helps, vs. cold water from a hose.
david_
16 years ago
This one is 1 and a half years old. I need to edit the info on the pic because its wrong. You can see one on the right side that still has the juvenile fronds.To answer your question is it can be at different sizes when the fronds change but it seems after about 5 to 7 fronds I think.

{{gwi:1116112}}
andyandy
Original Author
16 years ago
Dave-
I'm not seeing the one with the juvenile fronds. Maybe it was the high wind yesterday but one of the fronds on my king split a little. I guess I'll just wait and see.
david_
16 years ago
The first fronds on Archontophoenix palms are split so Im thinking by your description you are meaning going from a juvinile frond to what I call adult fronds. Is that right ? If so your palm is probably close to doing that because they do what you are decribing by spliting from the wind right before the change.
andyandy
Original Author
16 years ago
David-
You are correct. I should have been more specific. The fronds on my king have not split at all yet (except the one that split a little in the wind that I mentioned). The emerging spear is about 1/2 done and showing no signs of splitting. Of course I learned from my coconut that the splitting starts from the bottom part of the frond not the top. maybe when it fully emerges I will see the process starting.
andyandy
Original Author
16 years ago
I should have waited a few days. The new frond is definately splitting. the outside edges on both sides have split. The rest of the summer should be fun watching this palm.
topher2006
16 years ago
David
Those are realy nice do you ship ?
david_
16 years ago
I dont have any small ones anymore but my palm has seeds on it now so hopfully I will have more yo germinate soon.
{{gwi:1118126}}

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