That is just awesome!!

Out of curiousity, what does the epsom salt do? Do you have any other palms growing in our state than the trachys? Such a beautiful sight to see walking in your door!!

Epsom salts are a great source of Magnesium.

4) Epsom salts in spring and fall.

You're probably aware that Jim adds Potassium to the epsom salt application for early Fall application, helping with winter hardiness.

Gorgeous Trachy!
It'll hit your roof next year 😉

Barb

it's getting some size! Looks great.

Your trachy looks great wxman! My in ground trachies have really been growing this season too. This year I've used Arizona's Best palm fertilizer and recently started giving them the stinky fish fertilizer about every third watering. They have noticeably responded. Pushing spears like crazy!

wxman, that trachy is great! Your post is a really good one for tracking t. fortunei growth in colder zones!

Friggin' Lovely!

Thanks guys. It's pushed out another frond since the pic. 😯

That's some good growth. 😀

What is your process to cover and heat it? I bought one about that same size and have it like yours in rock next to one of my ponds by the front door.

Mine though I transplanted into a little bit larger pot than it came in, and put the entire pot into the ground to make it look like it's in the ground there. My thought was the first two years I would simply pull the pot out of the ground to bring in the garage for the winter (insulated, sometimes heated). I wanted to get the palm used to the location, and soil. Then I would plant it in the ground. I wanted too, to learn about how others over winter their palms about the same size.

If you have any pictures of it covered, and what you do that would be a great help.

Scott/Omaha

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Also, what is the difference between palm fertilizer and miracle grow? I've been looking all over for Palm specific fertilizer around Omaha and can't find any anywhere.

Hi Scott,

Welcome aboard PN! 😀

Nice palm, gorgeous front entrance.
Good idea to plant the pot and take it in for the first couple of winters.
Once you decide to overwinter your palm, it's close enough to the house that electrical connection is likely nearby.

Re winter protection, you could use PN "search" facility (at top of page), enter the topic "winter protection" and/or "Trachy winter protection" (and related terms), and topics will pop up that you can click on.

As to fertilizers, palm special fertilizer is known to be "one of the last good fertilizers available out there".
This is an excellent explanation: http://mgonline.com/articles/fertilize.aspx

One tip I've received over the years is to NOT use prepacked potting soil mix that has fertilizer already added to it.

Other members here will hopefully chime in with their MG experience. My general plant fertilizer preference was Peters 20-20-20, but it's not available here anymore.

Barb

Lucky.

🙁 great. I did get some nice potting soil that I like (not miricle grow) that I think has some nutrients in it. I then mixed it with some of the dirt I dug out of the hole along with some pea gravel. We live in Loess soil so it's "granular" my nature. The tree came in a 5 gallon bucket and I bought a little bigger one from the nursery that is plastic but with a lot of drainage holes in the bottom and side of it. I wanted the tree to keep the dirt it grew in along with the stuff I added so it wouldn't be such a shock to it. Did the same with other tree of same size I bought at the same time and transplanted it also into a bigger pot but with just the addition of potting soil and pea gravel again.

I have read countless over wintering examples, but try to find examples closer to my area.

I do have electrical outlets near this tree in the pic. I've thought about burying heat tape in the ground around the hole when I plant it, keeping the root ball warmer, and then another one up the trunk to the crown. I do have the book "Palms won't grow here" on order as it seems like people thing his advice is sound.

THANKS for your advice though, it's much appreciated. I get the raised eyebrows around here when I tell people I have 5 palm trees I'm growing.

You can usually find Carl Pools palm fertilizer on e-bay as well.

Well so far I've been fertilizing with Miracle Grow and I see that it has "metals" in it. Is the fertilizer ok to use? I will still try and find some palm specific fertilizer locally.

And will look for magnesium Sufate as well.