It hardly seems fair

sidpook · Post by **sidpook** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:17 am

It hardly seems fair that we spend all this time trying to help our palms thrive and down here in Miami, they freakin' grow through the tiniest crackinteh sidewalk and thrive like crazy! Pisses me off!!!!!

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:21 am

I know what you mean, robusta is a weed in the south. Even filifera can be weedy in some places. Crazy.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:23 am

After looking at that palm, it might be filifera.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:25 am

It looks better than any palm I spend half my days tending...misting, fussing, fertilizing, heating, lighting/air circulation.

Definitely not fair.

Barb

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:14 am

So true.

I remember seeing the same thing in Phoenix...
growing in the cracks in the sidewalk.

What I wouldn't(10 bucks at least!) give to have one of those weeds!

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:38 pm

nice find......I recall seeing Washingtonia seedlings growing along the highways in the Arizona desert......how.....it seems so dry.

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 5:24 am

Great photo, Mike.
I think of Washy as really hard to grow. And to see them as a weed!
Reminds me of the Manila palm (Veithcia merrillii) seeds I gathered from a hotel in Belize last month. I asked the owner how to germinate them. She laughed and said, "Just leave them on the ground! They are weeds. I have to sweep up the seeds so they don't take over."
Needless to say, mine have not popped yet in an expensive plant growth chamber at work.

--Erik

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:17 am

Aaron, so robusta don't have ANY filaments at all?
That would be a surefire way to distinguish between them if that's certain.
Mind you, once they're 80 feet tall, kinda hard to see filaments...

Erik, I'm anxious to see those Christmas palm seeds pop too.
Do seeds appear to be swelling/softening even a bit? Generally that's the first sign on some of mine.
Has it been about 4 or 5 weeks?
Fresh seed--which yours were--should be popping, or could cold travel temps induce a dormancy? Hope not.

Patience...I don't have any either.

I've been STARING at my seeds, willing them to pop...
and Princeps seeds are on the way from Garry ... more torture coming

Barb

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:42 pm

Erik

You are probably killing them with kindness,err or something-

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:54 pm

Gertraud down in Belize always douses Veitchia in 2,4 D; must be a rooting hormone? Anyway, I used a lot.

Speaking of not fair, read this P.S. I got from my friend Roni this afternoon after I whined about how I was taking so long to reply to his email as taking care of my palms took so much time:

"Best wishes,

Roni

P.S. – The wind is blowing some warm air which swirls around the lazy coconut fronds in front of my office. I think it is 94*F out there but just feels warm here in the office with fresh pineapple juice!"

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:01 pm

lucky1 wrote:Aaron, so robusta don't have ANY filaments at all?
That would be a surefire way to distinguish between them if that's certain.
Mind you, once they're 80 feet tall, kinda hard to see filaments...

Barb

Robustas do have hair, just not as much.

Four things make me think this is filifera or a hybrid, the amount of hair, the color of the leaf (robusta is green) shows some blue, it has long petoiles (filifera petoiles are twice as long as robusta), and I don't see red at the base of the petoiles (robusta has red at the base of the petoiles near the trunk.
Tall ones get easy to spot, because robusta have a smaller crown, greener in color, most of the time are thinner, and the leaves are closer to the trunk. Hybrids are some times hard to tell apart, but they will have more of one or the other.

Filiferas

robustas

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:04 pm

Robustas and filiferas

three robustas infront of the water tower and filiferas on the right

filifera on the left and robusta on the right

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:24 pm

Aaron,
Even when I exclude hybrids (which I'll never figure out), I had trouble telling apart younger specimens.
But seeing both varieties in the same photo, I think I could nail it 50/50 now thanks to your explanation.
I didn't realize filifera trunks were so much thicker than robusta...hefty trunk somewhat looking oversized (like Jubaea.)

Robustas are the typical "skydusters" along Pacific Hwy in So CAL...
Yet a couple pics I've seen elsewhere of robustas had those long stringy things hanging down like the filifera on your last photo.
Then my friends' pic near Anaheim that I posted the other day...I think I got IDs backwards again.

So Mike's original posting picture (growing in the concrete crack) is definitely filifera because it's green, not bluish, and has more hair.

Heck, we'll just call you next time...

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 6:58 pm

lucky1 wrote:Aaron,

Robustas are the typical "skydusters" along Pacific Hwy in So CAL...
Yet a couple pics I've seen elsewhere of robustas had those long stringy things hanging down like the filifera on your last photo.
Then my friends' pic near Anaheim that I posted the other day...I think I got IDs backwards again.

So Mike's original posting picture (growing in the concrete crack) is definitely filifera because it's green, not bluish, and has more hair.

Heck, we'll just call you next time...
Barb

Yes... the "skydusters" are robustas. They can grow over 100ft tall. Sometimes filiferas can get 80ft and when they are that big they look like robusta, but filifers are more blue and the crown is almost twice as big.
The long stringy things are the spent flower stalks left over from the seeds. Filifers long stringy things seem to hang on longer.

Filifera are more blue, robusta is green.

When I take my parents to the SW they could not tell them apart either, but now my 83 year old Dad can tell the difference.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:07 pm

oops, blue/green

my 83 year old Dad can tell the difference

By 83, I'll have mastered it too.

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 7:08 am

lucky1 wrote:
my 83 year old Dad can tell the difference
By 83, I'll have mastered it too.

Barb

He will get a kick from reading this, he thinks he is very smart becuase of his age.

To my Mom they all look the same.

PalmsNorth.com

It hardly seems fair

It hardly seems fair

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