Zone 5b Trachy Progress

wxman · Post by **wxman** » Mon Jul 11, 2011 5:46 pm

My oldest trachy went from this on 7/25/2008 ...

to this on 7/8/2011 !!! Almost three years in the ground in zone 5b.

Here is what I do:

1) Water the heck out of it in the warm season (May through September). I water it 2 to 3 times per week.
2) Miracle-Gro every week Memorial Day through Labor Day ... yes ... EVERY WEEK!
3) Palm fertilizer twice per year. May and July.
4) Epsom salts in spring and fall.
5) It never sees below 20F in the fall or spring. All winter it's heated to 35F to 40F at night and it gets up to 60F on sunny days. It's usually covered Thanksgiving to mid March.

How tall will it be three years from now??

Trailgaiter · Post by **Trailgaiter** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:50 am

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!!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:13 am

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

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:56 pm

it's getting some size! Looks great.

mnpalms · Post by **mnpalms** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:13 am

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!

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 5:57 pm

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

sidpook · Post by **sidpook** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:14 pm

Friggin' Lovely!

wxman · Post by **wxman** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 9:20 pm

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

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jul 14, 2011 6:21 am

That's some good growth.

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:50 am

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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sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:56 am

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.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:17 pm

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

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:08 pm

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.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:39 pm

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

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 4:18 am

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.

JackLord · Post by **JackLord** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:56 am

I would do as Jim advises and just grab some Carl Pool off of eBay. I had been using Palm Tone, which actually is available around here. But I wanted to try something different and I found the CP on the Bay.

As for protection, there are numerous good ideas around here. Or you could go to GardenWeb and look for a guy named arctictropical. He grows Palms in Zone 4 Utah and grows them quite well. He builds a tall hut made out of wood and styrofoam insulation panels. Maybe he posts here too. I do not recall.

I have to build one for my Butia as it outgrew the small greenhouse I bought for it. HardyJim's efforts are impressive- kind of like a biodome in his front yard. Lucky has a good hut as well. Most everybody here has a boastworthy effort evidenced by the fact that there palms are alive and often look better than some I have seen in Dixie.

If that is too much, the path of least resistance is to heavily mulch, build a cage around the Trachy, fill it with leaves, and then cover it with a tarp. They are a bit "hungover" when Spring arrives, but quite green and alive.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 8:44 am

Totally agree.

MG is fine for palms but the nice thing about Carl Pool
and any good palm fertilizer is the ratio..................
I believe CP is 12-4-12 but the 12(N) in the first number
(if I recall correctly)is at least partially slow release.

zomble · Post by **zomble** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:58 am

Here is link as well as making your own mixes up....if you do that is

He probably ships worldwide. you may even know of the site.

http://palmbooster.com/

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

Agree, a great help to the novice -- thanks wxman!!