when if i should transplant windmill palm

Discussion in 'Outdoor Tropicals' started by Unregistered, Dec 13, 2003.

  1. HI Just got a 4 1/2 windmill palm from a friend He just wanted his pot back about 20inch wide at brim.

    The whole palm just lifted out and is a huge white root ball
    The palm is happy green with new growth coming I just set it in a same size pot as was given.

    Question should i now put it in the ground with all the roots? or is it root bound?
    I would like to keep it in a pot should i go bigger?

    Help And Thanks
     
  2. Den_Vic

    Den_Vic Member

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    Plant your palm

    It's a little late but late is better than never. If the palm stays in the pot, it will grow at a slower rate and then it may get too root bound to continue growing at one point in time.

    Planting a 5 gal (or under) Windmill palm is easy. Anything larger may not prove as easy.

    When mid April comes around, plant your palm in the ground. It likes rich soil and 20-20-20 fertilizer. Regular watering in summer is good. Fair soil drainage in winter. Do not plant in areas that pool with rain water in winter for extended periods of time. If you plant it in a sandy mix or poor soil, you’ll slow growth. Unlike Trachycarpus wagnerianus, your Trachycarpus fortunei should be planted in an area sheltered by high winds for a better appearance. Don’t plant closer to 1m of your home. It needs a little room.
    Roots will not damage your basement. It’s good to have soil 3 feet deep or more.

    The city of Victoria planted 3 street palms on Douglas Street in September. That is usually a bad idea as you want the palms to establish all summer before winter. Since Victoria is zone 8b, then the parks people can get away with tardiness but it’s not advisable.

    It’s a good thing that the palm lifted in a big root ball. Root damage on a Trachycarpus palm can stunt growth for a few years. Be careful that you do not damage the roots when you plant it. Actually, Trachycarpus wagnerianus usually recovers better than T. fortunei after root damage.

    Going bigger will make it more difficult to plant later on. The operation is more “touchy†with greater size. Leaving it a pot will eventually hinder health.

    If you live in USDA zone 8a (Vancouver or Nanaimo) or above (Victoria , Tofino: USDA zone 8b) then I strongly suggest that you plant it.

    If your palm produces a yellow cluster of flowers that leave pollen on your hand, then it’s a male. If it’s a female, the inflorescence will show as more greenish (not as yellow).
    Females tend to grow wider crowns. The “fattest†Trachys are usually females.
    Seeds are usually ready in mid winter.

    Good luck.
     
  3. hrandolph

    hrandolph Member

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    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    I live in Richmond, Virginia (Zone 7 ) Last spring I set out a Windmill Palm in a protected area. It sat there all growing season and in the early fall began to put out a new leaf. Now that spring in beginning that leaf is opening up.The older leaves are dying off. I have a friend that has a ~30 foot tall windmill palm that bloomed last year. He is also in Zone7.He lives in Raleigh, NC.
    I have another windmill palm that I have had in my greenhouse since last fall. It is ~32 inches tall. In reading your artical you said to use rich soil. I have a compost pile where I put all of my leaves in the fall and put ground lime stone between the layers of leaves. During the winter I put wood ashes from a wood stove where I burn only oak. My question is would this decayed conpost be sutiable to plant my new windmill palm ? Should I add some sand ? Should I find an acid compost ?
    Your help will be most welcomed
    Henry Randolph
    hrandolph@comcast.net
     
  4. FuegerJ

    FuegerJ Member

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    Location:
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    I agree with mid-April. I live in Albuq., NM, and I planted two, about one foot high ones, last year. I added some fertilizer to the holes, and watered them about once a
    week throughout the summer. They grew about 6" with wonderful fronds.
    I forgot that they should have been somewhat sheltered from wind.
    I accidentally neglected that fact, and they have been beaten badly by our SE Canyon
    winds, and cool weather this fall. They looked bad. I knew that they needed water, so I put the hose on them last week, and there was green fronds coming out of the
    middle of the trunks! Gave them the hose again tonight. Would like to get another one foot, to put between them if I can find one at a descent price (under $100). was
    wondering though, 2 things. Is it wise to add fertilizer to the dry (cleche) soil that we
    have here in NM when putting in a new tree, and if so or not, when to add fertilizer?
     
  5. hrandolph

    hrandolph Member

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    Location:
    Richmond, Virginia
    My windmill palms have been growing all winter. The winter has been basicly pretty mild; however when the temperature dropped below 28º F or below. That is when I plug in the heating tapes in between the wrappings of burlap.There has not been any winter damage. The one near the greenhouse is about 10 feet now.
    This is in Richmond, Virginia.
     
  6. Amorytropicals

    Amorytropicals Member

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    Location:
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    I have a Windmill palm that I planted in a corner of the house on the south side of the house about 5 years ago.It is about 10 foot tall now and needs to be transplanted as it is now rubbing on the gutters and side of the house.It also had some yellow infloresence this year and looks great.These things are easy as weeds to grow and I get many people that admire it and are amazed that it will grow here in zone 7.
     
  7. DC United Palm Fan

    DC United Palm Fan Member

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    Location:
    Alexandria, VA Z7B-8A
    Hello everyone! Kinda new here, just joined, great site!

    Im not new to gardening though, nor to Palms though. I only currently have 1 small T. Fortunei. It is about 1 foot tall total, and is likely less than 3 years old. I will post a picture of it in here if I can.

    I got it in may at a local nursery, however I am unsure of its history, and weather or not it was green house grown. I suspect it was greenhouse grown as where it was purchased it was in a green house. It was in a small one gallon pot, but I have transplanted it to a 3 gallon container. I would imagine that it is too l ate to set it out in the ground this year. I live in Northern Virginia, right along the Potomac River, just across from downtown Washington D.C. There are in fact quite a few mature T. fortunei in this area, (in DC, NoVA, and SoMD) and also quite a few mature Needle Palms (Rphidophyllum Hystrix), as well as Sabal Minor.

    Ill try and pot some pics of them when I can. Our Immediate area is a zone 8a, inside the urban heat island here in down town and the very close in cities of Arlington (county) and Alexandria, VA. Its probably a 5-10sq mile area that is within the urban heat island here. The rest of our area is a very sold zone 7B. There are numerous micro climates here due to such dense urban build up, and rivers/ other bodies of water. The rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay, and even Atlantic Ocean help to keep our area tempered from severe cold snaps most of the time. I have a fantastic microclimate here where the building I live in (ground floor unit here) is rather large, 3 floors up, and is red brick, and we face due south, with some smaller walls of the building facing east and west, so essentially protected from cold north winds. On the rare occasions it does snow here anymore(it used to snow fairly regularly here 10 years go), or on nights when there is frost ( even those have gone down in number now too in town) the snow/ frosts never stick to the ground within 8-10 feet of the backside of our building. I have had many "annuals" live through the entire winter only to regrow to thier previous years glory. I would like to put my T. Fortunei in the ground here, at least the larger one. Would anyone here recommend I wait until next April to do so? If so, should I even leave the potted palms out over the winter? If I do this, I will definately be using small christmas lights and heating cables. Anyone else use these methods for keeping palms in pots outdoors over winter? Also any advice for "hardening off" Trachy's is greatly appreciated! Thanks for any help!

    Here is a pic of my T. Fortunei I purchased last may:
     

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