Let’s See Your Pritchardia Palms!

[Jim in Los Altos]

I wish the Pritchardia genus was common here in Northern California. At least in favorable climate areas. They seem to need not much more than some good soil and supplemental water in the warm season.  Below are: P. hillebrandii, schattaueri, minor, beccariana, schattauri, and thustonii (probably). 
 

Show yours please!

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Jim in Los Altos
punctuation

[Patrick]

Edited November 5, 2023 by Patrick

[kylecawazafla]

I don't have a garden, but here is a Pritchardia minor growing in a private garden in San Francisco. 
 

[kylecawazafla]

Pritchardia hillebrandii appreciating the reflected heat in the heart of San Francisco. 

[richnorm]

You should be able to grow any of the Hawaiian Pritchardia but very much doubt thurstonii or pacifica would make it. 

[kylecawazafla]

Also, I don't want to hijack the post, but I know Pritchardia can be difficult to identify, so I created this photo album of most Pritchardia species positively ID'd growing at McBryde Botanical Gardens in Kaui. 
 

https://www.flickr.com/gp/36838058@N03/24b4irR0qP

[tim_brissy_13]

I’ve got 4 species in the ground plus a couple of P minor seedlings in pots that aren’t really photo worthy. Can’t seem to find a pic of my P martii but it’s small anyway. Here’s my other three:

P hillebrandii

 

P maideniana

 

P napaliensis

 

Always on the hunt for other species. They seem to do really well here despite the general consensus being that they don’t grow here in Melbourne. Only the P maideniana got minor spotting damage at -1.5C/29F in the winter of 2022. No damage from any species this winter with 0C/32F minimum. 

[ruskinPalms]

I love this genus and I feel like they are some of then most tropical looking fan palms out there. I wish the Hawaiian varieties were more available here in Florida as I’d try some if I could find them. I had grown thurstonii (not an Hawaiian variety) and it grew well until I killed it with winter irrigation, my mistake for sure.  I now make sure my irrigation system is off when temps are forecasted below 60F.  

[Jim in Los Altos]

3 hours ago, richnorm said:

You should be able to grow any of the Hawaiian Pritchardia but very much doubt thurstonii or pacifica would make it. 

Thank you. I did some digging in my file and have a notation for a Pritchardia napaliensis purchased a few years ago and I misidentified the photo labeled thurstonii which undoubtably would not survive for long in my location. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Jim in Los Altos
Punctuation

[Tom in Tucson]

2 hours ago, kylecawazafla said:

Also, I don't want to hijack the post, but I know Pritchardia can be difficult to identify, so I created this photo album of most Pritchardia species positively ID'd growing at McBryde Botanical Gardens in Kaui. 
 

https://www.flickr.com/gp/36838058@N03/24b4irR0qP

That's a great image collection that you produced. @DoomsDaveshould use it to ID the Pritchardia he's having a hard time naming. I told him to thumb threw a copy of Loulu by Don Hodel, but he apparently ignored my suggestion. Your site may be more to his liking.

Hi 95°, Lo 55°

[Rivera]

Jim, I am giving Pritchardia hillebrandii a go near Ocean Beach, San Francisco.

I was worried about this plant, but now believe it was only adjusting to more sun exposure following a (very gentle) transplant to a sunnier area. 

New leaf appears to be totally sun-hardened and much more compact.

[sonoranfans]

Some sp prichardia I think from keith(zeeth)  I have no idea, fence is 7' tall.  5(?) years from a 4" pot in 90% shade.

[Zeeth]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

Some sp prichardia I think from keith(zeeth)  I have no idea, fence is 7' tall.  5(?) years from a 4" pot in 90% shade.

Looking good! That one is from a batch of seed I got from Bill Chang back in 2010.  At the time he sent me P. munroi, P. arecina, P. remota, and P. maideniana. I ended up getting the labels mixed up before giving it to you, but once it matures some more it should hopefully become more obvious. From the looks of things I'd lean more towards P. munroi at this point though. 

[quaman58]

Jim,

 

Great group of Pritchardia there! Most of the Hawaiin ones show little difference in temp requirements, the one exeption being what was purchased years ago as "lanaiensis". Definitely hates my winter, but then rallies every spring. The amount of water they need does vary a lot species to species, however. For what it's worth, the last one pictured looks an awful lot like my perlmanii from Floribunda. Smallish, crazy deep split leaves. 

[Ventura]

[Ventura]

I planted this bout 1996.  I bought it in a 5 gallon from jungle music.   Its never seeded as it should have long ago  just doesnt feel right to do that I guess.  Ive long forgotten which pritchardia it is,  

[Floribunda Palms]

 

P. gordonii

[Billeb]

Kind of a sad day today as I had to yank out one of my Pritchardia. It was bought as a 2G “Martii” a little over 2yrs ago and has absolutely exploded in growth. Im fairly confident its a Beccariana. It’s grown too large, too fast and if im correct in ID’ing, its going to be much too big for the location it was in.  I potted it up, marked the spear to monitor growth and moved it to the backyard.  I have no reason to believe it will die as it is a super healthy plant. It will go up for sale in Spring. I love Pritchardias though!! 
 

-dale 

[iDesign]

12 hours ago, Billeb said:

Kind of a sad day today as I had to yank out one of my Pritchardia. It was bought as a 2G “Martii” a little over 2yrs ago and has absolutely exploded in growth. Im fairly confident its a Beccariana. It’s grown too large, too fast and if im correct in ID’ing, its going to be much too big for the location it was in...

Sorry to hear the plant wasn't what you were expecting. Though I'm no Pritchardia expert, I can say that this appears to be a very different plant than my own "Martii", so one of us has something different.

My plant was bought at the 5G size from Joe at Discovery Palms almost THREE years ago, and has grown only a little bit (approx 30" from dirt to tip of tallest frond). In fairness, this one is still in a pot... but with mine only going from a 5G to 7G size in THREE years, the one I have does appear to be a much slower growing palm than the rocketship you own. 🚀

[knell]

P. tahuatana, one of the more recent Pritchardia plantings at Floribunda, love the leaf shape

 

P. beccariana because it feels sacrilegious for me to not include a Hawaiian species in a Pritchardia thread

[WaianaeCrider]

This is gonna take awhile.  All of the tall ones except the "martii" were bought around 2000 for a guy no longer is business.  Wouldn't swear to the names he gave them.

P. remota about 3 years in the ground from 1 gal pot.

Pretty sure this is P pacifica but was sold 20 + years ago as beccariana

Lost tag but planted around 2000

Sold as P martii but is NOT.  Planted around 2000

Sold as P minor in 2000

Sold as P hardii in 2000   fruit are about marble size

Sold as P monroii in 2000

Last but not least P. schattaueri

[mike in kurtistown]

Kyle,

That's an impressive accomplishment, thanks for sharing. Generally, most everything looks right to me, though there are some that I know nothing about.

I get a laugh out of the larger P. schattaueri, with the "collapsed leaf effect" of the older leaves. Also, none labeled P. glabrata, though I saw one labeled P. lanaiensis that looked like glabrata. Years ago there was a to do of some kind  about these species between the management of McBryde and the manager of Amy Greenwell Garden on the west coast of Hawaii Island who had a couple growing there. Don Hodel decided to combine the species, though I have both and they couldn't be different.

Another problem for me is how to tell the difference between P. minor and P. limahuliensis.

[DoomsDave]

18 hours ago, Billeb said:

Kind of a sad day today as I had to yank out one of my Pritchardia. It was bought as a 2G “Martii” a little over 2yrs ago and has absolutely exploded in growth. Im fairly confident its a Beccariana. It’s grown too large, too fast and if im correct in ID’ing, its going to be much too big for the location it was in.  I potted it up, marked the spear to monitor growth and moved it to the backyard.  I have no reason to believe it will die as it is a super healthy plant. It will go up for sale in Spring. I love Pritchardias though!! 
 

-dale 

Take heart! They dig and move easily.

 

[DoomsDave]

On 11/5/2023 at 8:44 PM, Tom in Tucson said:

That's a great image collection that you produced. @DoomsDaveshould use it to ID the Pritchardia he's having a hard time naming. I told him to thumb threw a copy of Loulu by Don Hodel, but he apparently ignored my suggestion. Your site may be more to his liking.

Hi 95°, Lo 55°

I'm remodeling and the books are buried.

But I'm pretty sure I've got at least six species.

[Phoenikakias]

On 11/7/2023 at 3:16 AM, Ventura said:

I planted this bout 1996.  I bought it in a 5 gallon from jungle music.   Its never seeded as it should have long ago  just doesnt feel right to do that I guess.  Ive long forgotten which pritchardia it is,  

It is a sp that needs desperately soil amendment.

[Phoenikakias]

On 11/6/2023 at 1:08 AM, Jim in Los Altos said:

I wish the Pritchardia genus was common here in Northern California. At least in favorable climate areas. They seem to need not much more than some good soil and supplemental water in the warm season.  Below are: P. hillebrandii, schattaueri, minor, beccariana, schattauri, and thustonii (probably). 
 

Show yours please!

 

 

 

Do the big specimens bloom and set fruit in your garden? Your so LUCKY   not having to cope with those palm eating beetles. They seem to love the Pritchardia genus. What impresses me a lot however is the regeneration ability of many sp. My climate is marginal for any sp,  so they do get scorched almost every winter but they bounce back more vigorous in the following warm season, no setback or shock state of any kind. Quite susceptible to rhizoctonia though.

[Phoenikakias]

ALL three specimens in my garden had been plagued severely by spider mites this summer, so not in their best condition. Additionally I am trying intensively to save the largest one from an rpw infestation...

The largest one should be hillebrandii

The second one is supposed to be macrocarpa

The smallest and youngest one is supposed to be minor

[Jim in Los Altos]

10 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Do the big specimens bloom and set fruit in your garden? Your so LUCKY   not having to cope with those palm eating beetles. They seem to love the Pritchardia genus. What impresses me a lot however is the regeneration ability of many sp. My climate is marginal for any sp,  so they do get scorched almost every winter but they bounce back more vigorous in the following warm season, no setback or shock state of any kind. Quite susceptible to rhizoctonia though.

Konstantinos, My largest are still too young to flower. If any of mine eventually do, it likely will be years from now. 

[Billeb]

On 11/7/2023 at 12:48 PM, iDesign said:

Sorry to hear the plant wasn't what you were expecting. Though I'm no Pritchardia expert, I can say that this appears to be a very different plant than my own "Martii", so one of us has something different.

My plant was bought at the 5G size from Joe at Discovery Palms almost THREE years ago, and has grown only a little bit (approx 30" from dirt to tip of tallest frond). In fairness, this one is still in a pot... but with mine only going from a 5G to 7G size in THREE years, the one I have does appear to be a much slower growing palm than the rocketship you own. 🚀

Stacey, for sure our plants are different. Easily the most misidentified palm out there I think. I’ve got 5 total but here is the other one I got at the exact same time and planted out maybe 6 months later max. It’s not even 1/4 the size. I’m not super confident this is Martii either but this one can get big where it’s at so I won’t be yanking it. HD bucket for scale. 

The one I have that actually may be the real McCoy is my smallest and not in the ground yet. But it does have all the characteristics of Martii like a ton of speckling on the underside of the leafs even at a young age.  I’ve only had it for 3 months or so. Looks a little beat up but it’s acclimating as you can tell by the newest leaf. 
 

-dale 

[T in Vista]

Hillebrandii

[Matt in OC]

Minor, Napaliensis, and Schattauerii (?)

[Darold Petty]

1 hour ago, Matt in OC said:

Minor, Napaliensis, and Schattauerii (?)

 

 

Matt, someone told me that napaliensis is more difficult to grow than minor.  What do you say?  thanks !

[Matt in OC]

@Darold PettyI've posted on here before about this plant. It's definitely slower. These palms where the same 1 gal. size when planted. It's responded well to more watering but is still lagging, as you can see. 

For reference, the Schattauerii was planted at the same time as a small 5 gallon!

[Harry’s Palms]

In 2007 or so I brought one back from Maui and planted it on the west side of my house here in Santa Paula California. The trunk is about 4.5" tall . The overall height is about 7". It is a P. Hillebrandii . I keep it trimmed tight as it is right next to a pathway.

[Tom in Tucson]

On 11/8/2023 at 8:53 PM, Billeb said:

Stacey, for sure our plants are different. Easily the most misidentified palm out there I think. I’ve got 5 total but here is the other one I got at the exact same time and planted out maybe 6 months later max. It’s not even 1/4 the size. I’m not super confident this is Martii either but this one can get big where it’s at so I won’t be yanking it. HD bucket for scale. 

The one I have that actually may be the real McCoy is my smallest and not in the ground yet. But it does have all the characteristics of Martii like a ton of speckling on the underside of the leafs even at a young age.  I’ve only had it for 3 months or so. Looks a little beat up but it’s acclimating as you can tell by the newest leaf. 
 

-dale 

If the 2 larger ones aren't P. martii. they would "fit the bill" in IMHO. Whatever they are, those wide leaves look great.

Hi 73°, Lo 45°

[DoomsDave]

Here’s my P remota; about ten feet overall with 18” (.5 M) of trunk.

 

[Frond-friend42]

Left to right,  about the same age: P. martii, P. pacifica, P. thurstonii. Pacifica is popping a lot faster than the other two, but also getting more sun where she's at.

[Frond-friend42]

These ones starting to look like actual palms.  Featured here are some forbesianas and some maidenianas.

I fertilize and am careful not to overwater in response to spotting in the older leaves. These seem to help but I haven't figured out how to eliminate spotting completely.

[Tomas]

Here is one from Italy, I suppose it to be hillebrandii

[DoomsDave]

Here’s my Pritchardtia minor, about six feet or 2 m overall.