PalmsNorth.com

Ok so I have this palm that I picked up from Home depot coming up 10 years ago as a 1 gallon "windmill" palm.

The trunk is about 2 foot now and its just over 4 foot total. It has South west exposure which means full sun from about 10 am still sundown. I am in zone 8a or b depending on which map I look at.
I guess my question is " is this amount of growth typical?" It seems really slow to mean but otherwise it seems healthy (for all I know).

Thanks in advance.
Nate

I'm no expert but I too have one about that size that also faces SW, but is partially blocked by extension of the garage on the South side. Throws spear after spear but doesn't seem to grow all that much in over all height. While I wish it was 4/5 ft taller..that would mean it would take more to protect in the winter.

As long as it's healthy....enjoy it! Like children it might surprise you with a growth spurt one year.

You dont need help!! lol Most people would love one that size.

Perhaps I could have used a different title. There was a post on another forum that got me thinking that this one was stunted or maybe not the variety (Trachycarpus fortunei) that I thought it was given its growth.

Thanks for the response.

Do you fertilize and if so what do you use? Does it experience leaf dieback?

So the good?,bad and the ugly. I get some brown tips through the winter and if we get a real hot stretch in the summer if I don't keep up on watering but I haven't ever had leaf die back. However it gets watered daily through the summer since there are animals planted around it. Any ferts that it gets are because of the annuals. Watering is only an issue if I need to travel for work through the summer. Finally it gets no winter protection at all.
The one and only year I tried to protect it and its sibling that I had at the time they both nearly rotted, Whether or not it was because of what I did or not I don't know. The Sibling rotted and this one was soft for most of that year That was the winter of 2008-09 since then it has seemed healthy but its growth seems slow.

Nate

They tend to grow thicker rather than higher in the first few years. Once they hit their max base diameter, up they go. Yours looks nice and wide at ground level so up she will go. With adequate water, you will soon see a foot of trunk growth a year. It's a nice looking Palm.

Brooklands wrote:They tend to grow thicker rather than higher in the first few years. Once they hit their max base diameter, up they go. Yours looks nice and wide at ground level so up she will go. With adequate water, you will soon see a foot of trunk growth a year. It's a nice looking Palm.

Nice to know since I have one too that doesn't seem to put on much height, but is nice and full looking. I assumed it was because the only sun it gets direct was from mid day on.