First signs of flowering.

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 10:56 am

I noticed the first signs of flowering on one of my Trachycarpus fortunei today.
A very high likelyhood it'll be a male.

Cheers, Barrie.

Okanagan desert-palms · Wed Mar 31, 2010 4:17 pm

Barrie how can you tell if it`s male or female? Does the color of the seed pod dictate sex of the palm?

John

BILL MA · Post by **BILL MA** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 8:23 pm

Mine looks like that here in Massachusetts. Female palms flower much later then males.

Bill

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:18 am

That's really cool guys-can't wait to see on
on a Trachy in Iowa-that would be a first!

ROBRETI · Post by **ROBRETI** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 6:57 pm

Nice, Barrie!!!!! The palm looks really great, so it really enjoys life with you:-)
Rob

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:40 am

Okanagan desert-palms wrote:Barrie how can you tell if it`s male or female? Does the color of the seed pod dictate sex of the palm?

John

John ... this question comes up every spring. Here's a couple of photos I took about 10 years ago that best illustrate male and female differences.

Male (left) is a very pale yellow and releases pollen when touched. The pods droop or hang much lower than female.
Female (right) is more green in color and of course won't released pollen.
The last photo I took shows small snips of each detailing the differnce. Again male left, female right. Unmistakable which is which. As pointed out, male palms of this genus inevitably emerge first.

Hope this helped. Cheers, Barrie.