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It seems like the time of year for the Chamaedoreas to bloom, starting to notice the inflorescence's appearing
Has anyone been successful at hand pollination?
My Bamboo palm, which flowered 3-4 times this winter, just developed a very serious case of spider mites.
Other palms next to it (triangle, cat, chinese fan, spindle) are all unaffected thank goodness.
Hi Steve,
Frequent heavy misting (bottom up) seems to keep it from getting worse.
The misting shows how bad the webbing really is
Also a couple of blasts from Safers insecticidal soap.
I should have noticed it sooner!
As soon as weather warms for more than just a few hours each day, it's going outside.
I know nothing about hybridizing; it'll be interesting to read what happens Steve.
Keep us informed please.
Barb
I'll have to enjoy your flowers, Steve.
My parlour palm croaked in the winds and heat this summer.
Never again a clay pot for a Chamaedorea!
Those topmost roots on the Cat are cool.
Probably an adaptation to prevent being washed away during flooding.
My cat palm isn't in water, so no need for those roots.
Nice adaptation from a great palm.
Barb, Sorry to hear about your Parlour Palm............
Have a couple neglected ones in a dark corner near the back of the GH, noticed a flash of red today, checked it out and found they have been setting seed all this time
Barb, Those are the fish, maybe I need to put them on a diet I'm not heating the water at all this winter, the Chamaedoreas are still growing in 45F-50F temps.
Steve,
thanks for the Chameadora photos. My only one is a C. radicalis that grows great. I'd like to get some more, and generally learn more about this genus.
--Erik
Tough is what I need, as I get busy or travel and my plants have to take care of themselves.
My C. radicalis lives in a put. It is outdoors April to October in afternoon shade and thrives despite being ignored. The rest of the year it is indoors in a rather cold room.
I'd like to try more Chameadora. Do you start from seed? Buy them?
I've started Chamaedorea tepejilote and C. seifrizii from seed.
The C. metallica came from eBay, in my opinion, these are one of the hardiest & most under rated of the genus.
The Cat & Parlour Palms all came from the local WalMart
You can usually find 10-20 Parlour Palm seedlings in a 3" pot. The Cat Palms are larger, and usually rootbound in 2-3 gallon containers.
I sometimes feel as if my palm purchases from HD and Walmart are "rescues." The local HD, for example, left their Washies, Ch. humilis and Rhaphis palms outdoors during the January cold, with lows in the lower single digits and highs in the teens(oF) for a few days. Not just a few but a LOT of them. I politely asked the dept. manager about this and she said they didn't have room for them indoors, "But it was a protected microclimate here so we thought they'd be alright. Guess they weren't."
Back to Chameadora metallica, how "hardy" do you think it is? I try to only keep plants in pots for the patio that are hardy into USDA zone 9 (lows in the 20s oF) as we get that weather on occasion even in October and April, interspersed with much warmer temps. My C. radicalis is so tough it can deal with that.
--Erik
That's a shame, most of these store personnel seem to have no clue as the cultural requirements of anything they sell.
(The "Tropical Foliage", and other generic tags aren't much help either
How did those Palms look after that? Any survivors?
Here's some info on C. mettalica,
Hardiness: USDA Zones 9 - 12. Mature and established plants have been reported to tolerate temperatures down to 28ºF (-2.2ºC) for four days with no leaf damage. They will not survive temperatures below about 20ºF (-6.7ºC), though.