Syagrus romanzoffiana
A quick-growing, tropical tree graced with gently arching fronds, the queen palm is an aesthetic deal with.
With a crown of foliage that’s not fairly uniform, the queen palm has the identical pleasant asymmetry as a right-to-left hair half, the leaning tower of Pisa, and even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s trademark Samoan tattoos.
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Syragrus romanzoffiana additionally has a reasonable tolerance of drought and salt spray, making the tree greater than only a fairly face.
And identical to the queen piece in chess, the queen palm is a really highly effective asset to the tropical panorama.
Our information to rising palm bushes has all the main points about different members of the Arecaceae household. On this article we’ll zero in on tips on how to take care of queen palms.
Right here’s what we’ll be discussing:
What Are Queen Palms?
The queen palm – aka Syragrus romanzoffiana – is a member of the Arecaceae household, alongside associated crops resembling parlor, fishtail, and girl palms.
The queen palm has had fairly just a few botanical title modifications over time.
First scientifically described in a French publication as Cocos romanzoffiana in 1822, the queen palm was additionally dubbed Cocos plumosa by England’s Loddiges nursery round 1825.
When a queen palm seedling discovered it’s manner from the Loddiges nursery to England’s Kew gardens in 1840, Kew botanists thought that it was Cocos coronata as an alternative.
However when the specimen reached maturity and produced fruit, the backyard’s director Joseph Dalton Hooker formally revealed the botanical title as C. plumosa in 1860.
Destined to develop into a well-liked decorative, queen palms had been bought beneath the C. plumosa title nicely into the 2000s.
Nonetheless, there was nonetheless nomenclature disagreements amongst big-brained plantspeople.
By 1912, C. plumosa had been diminished to C. romanzoffiana var. plumosa by the German Botanist Alwin Berger. Later, the Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari designated it as considered one of many types of Arecastrum romanzoffianum.
It wasn’t till 1968 that queen palms had been formally designated Syragus romanzoffianum. To at the present time, there’s nonetheless confusion within the commerce… however now you realize the true reality!
Originating from the tropics and subtropics of South America, the queen palm has additionally been launched in america – California and Florida specifically.
Within the Sunshine State, the College of Florida has assessed the plant’s potential invasiveness and slapped it with a “Warning” warning, urging growers to handle S. romanzoffiana in order that it doesn’t escape from its meant planting websites.
With a USDA Hardiness Zone vary of 9 to 11, S. romanzoffiana is definitely fairly hardy for a tropical plant, as it may survive in temperatures as little as 25oF with out taking harm from the chilly.
These bushes attain mature heights of 30 to 50 ft, with spreads of about half that. S. romanzoffiana sports activities a slim grey trunk that’s one to 2 ft broad, ringed with leaf scars.
In typical palm tree vogue, the trunk doesn’t considerably improve its girth like these of true bushes – it solely grows upwards.
On the prime of the trunk is a crown of feathery inexperienced fronds, which are inclined to droop with age.
On full-size specimens, every frond can develop as much as 15 ft lengthy, whereas every particular person leaflet can measure three ft in size!
In spring to summer season, queen palms will bloom with massive, long-stemmed clusters of pale yellow to white flowers.
After pollination, the blooms will give strategy to brownish-orange fruits that flip brilliant orange when ripe. These are inclined to drop and gather en masse on the base of bushes.
Queen Palm Propagation
Whereas it’s attainable to develop these crops from seed, it’s a really gradual course of. You’re higher off buying a plant from a nursery for transplanting.
However when you do fancy a seed-starting challenge, listed below are the main points:
From Seed
Rising this species from seed generally is a bit irritating, because it takes six weeks to 6 months earlier than germination happens.
You’ll additionally have to maintain the sown seeds at excessive temperatures the complete time, whether or not in a greenhouse or a pure surroundings that’s constantly sizzling.
In distinction to most palm seeds, S. romanzoffiana seeds truly germinate higher after they’re taken from unripe inexperienced fruits, quite than half-ripe or totally ripe ones.
However when you lack a bucket truck or monkey-like climbing expertise, then amassing seeds from freshly fallen fruits works, too. You’ll be able to even keep away from all that work and purchase some seeds from a good vendor as an alternative.
To gather your personal seeds, collect the fallen fruits, take away their fleshy pulp, and soak the seeds in water for 2 days. Change the water every day, and permit them to air-dry for a day or so after soaking.
As soon as they’re soaked, dried, and able to go, fill four-inch containers with a half-and-half mixture of moisture-retaining and well-draining elements, resembling peat moss and perlite.
Then, sow your seeds just under the media’s floor – one per container, ideally.
Since germination might be so erratic, you’ll have to prep and sow a number of seeds in a bunch of containers.
Place your containers someplace they obtain full solar publicity, in an surroundings that’s constantly saved at temperatures of 90 to 95oF.
Moisten the rising media, and maintain it moist as seeds germinate and seedlings seem.
As soon as the seeds germinate and one to 2 leaves have fashioned, you can begin hardening them off in preparation for planting outdoors.
This implies leaving the seedlings out of their eventual surroundings for a half to a full hour, then including 30 to 60 minutes of publicity every successive day. After they’re hardened off, they’re prepared for transplanting!
Transplanting
Whether or not you’ve got began your personal seedlings or bought a plant on the nursery, earlier than you transplant, it is best to choose and put together the suitable planting websites.
Select spots within the backyard with sandy to sandy loam soil and a pH of 6.0 to six.5, with full solar to partial shade publicity.
House your planting websites as far aside as you count on your crops to unfold as soon as they’re mature. Or just area them 12 ft aside, if you wish to maintain them extra contained.
Alternatively, you possibly can develop your queen palm in a pot which can naturally limit how massive the specimen will develop into. Put together the pot with a half and half combination of peat moss and perlite or use a palm-specific potting combine.
Dig holes about the identical depth and a little bit bit wider than the basis programs of the crops. The holes must be roughly the identical measurement because the container the plant is at the moment rising in.
Fastidiously take away the plant from its container, decrease it into the opening earlier than backfilling with soil. Water in nicely, and add extra soil if it settles.
How one can Develop Queen Palms
A plant such because the queen palm deserves nothing lower than the royal remedy. Right here’s tips on how to present it:
Local weather and Publicity Wants
As talked about earlier, S. romanzoffiana must be in USDA Zones 9 to 11 if it’s to outlive for the long run.
Temperatures constantly beneath 25oF will harm the fronds, though the plant has been identified to bounce again after transient publicity to temperatures within the mid-teens.
Sizzling and humid is greatest, although.
Full solar is good, though a little bit of shade can be acceptable.
Soil Wants
The optimum soil for a queen palm is both sand or a sandy loam. Ideally with a barely acidic pH of 6.0 to six.5, as alkaline soils could cause extreme dietary deficiencies.
In the event you go along with both of these sandy textures, then the “well-draining” requirement is taken care of by default. These crops completely will need to have well-draining soil.
Water and Fertilizer Wants
As a reasonably drought-tolerant plant, S. romanzoffiana will admire supplemental irrigation when the highest three inches of soil dries out – however it may make do with much less water.
Remember to keep watch over it throughout sizzling or dry spells.
Common functions of a palm-specific fertilizer in the course of the rising season will assist to shore up any nutrient deficiencies.
Jobe’s Organics Fertilizer
Jobe’s Organics makes a granular palm meals with a 4-2-4 NPK ratio that’s out there by way of Amazon.
As with every fertilizer, you’ll want to comply with the producer’s instructions for utility.
Rising Ideas
Full solar publicity is greatest.
Ensure that the soil pH is 6.0 to six.5.
Water when the highest three inches of soil dries out.
Pruning and Upkeep
One side of S. romanzoffiana that’s a little bit of a bummer: they don’t self-clean, which suggests lifeless fronds will keep up on a tree for some time in the event that they aren’t pruned away.
Lifeless, diseased, and broken fronds ought to all be promptly pruned, whether or not by way of a ladder, a bucket truck, and/or an extended pole noticed.
You may also take away the floral inflorescences earlier than they set seed, when you’re not a fan of copious quantities of fruit falling to the bottom and making a large number.
A two- to four-inch layer of mulch, when utilized a number of inches away from the trunk, can do wonders for moisture retention and assist defend the roots throughout chilly spells.
Ought to any fallen seeds germinate and develop volunteer crops, you’ll need to pull these shortly.
In the event you’re rising your queen palm in a container, the plant will want repotting each couple of years because it turns into root sure.
For logistical functions, you would possibly need to cap your most container measurement at 15 gallons to forestall the plant from changing into too massive and unruly.
The place to Purchase Queen Palms
So that you’ve determined to purchase a queen palm or two… or ten. What now?
In the event you occur to reside close to a tropical plant nursery – Florida’s stuffed with ’em – you need to be set. Whether or not you purchase seeds or begins, companies specializing in heat- and humidity-loving crops are your greatest wager.
After all, you possibly can additionally purchase your S. romanzoffiana specimens on-line.
Queen Palm
Quick Rising Timber carries queen palm specimens in a wide range of totally different sizes to fit your wants.
Managing Pests and Illness
The queen palm isn’t susceptible to infestation or illness if it’s grown in optimum situations, however typically points can come up regardless of your greatest efforts.
Because you’re coping with tremendous tall crops, you might want some vertical help whenever you apply any controls.
Pests
There are a variety of pests that may goal palms, together with S. romanzoffiana.
Palm Leaf Skeletonizer
What a cool, intimidating title – kinda like “Skeletor” or “Dr. Doom.”
Homaledra sabalella, the palm leaf skeletonizer, is a potent menace. After rising from eggs laid on the plant, the translucent, brown-headed caterpillars assemble silky, frass-flecked tubes, which mix into massive silk mats that cowl the higher and decrease surfaces of the foliage.
In massive teams, the caterpillars actually go to city, shortly consuming leaf tissue till all that continues to be are leafy “skeletons” of limply-hanging veins and midribs.
As you possibly can think about, photosynthesis is diminished, whereas the plant’s well being and aesthetics shortly undergo.
Pesticides aren’t efficient in opposition to these pests, as they typically can’t get via the silk.
Predatory bugs resembling tachinid flies and parasitic wasps can present delicate management, whereas high-velocity sprays of water from the backyard hose can bodily knock the pests from infested areas.
Scale Bugs
Belonging to the Coccoidea superfamily, scale bugs are the spherical, flattened bugs that congregate in conspicuous lots on crops like fish or reptile scales, or maybe a dermatologist’s nightmare.
Whether or not soft-bodied or armored, these pests extract sap from leaves with their piercing-sucking mouthparts, which might weaken and stunt progress, and trigger yellow leaves.
Spider Mites
These arachnids are robust to see with the bare eye, however you might discover their webs.
In a similar way to scale bugs, spider mites extract sap from leaves like juice from a juice field.
Stippled leaf tissue is the preliminary symptom, which might progress into chlorosis, bronzing, and even defoliation. Including insult to damage, the troubled leaves will exhibit conspicuously ugly webbing.
Sturdy sprays of water present handbook management, whereas making use of insecticidal soaps will kill the pests outright.
Bonide Insecticidal Cleaning soap
Want insecticidal cleaning soap? You’ll find ready-to-use spray bottles of Bonide Insecticidal Cleaning soap out there from Arbico Organics.
Illness
There are two fundamental illnesses that may threaten the lifetime of your queen palm, fusarium wilt and ganoderma butt rot. Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at each of those:
Fusarium Wilt
A gnarly illness, Fusarium wilt is attributable to the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Palmarum (say that 5 instances quick!), which might keep dormant in soil for a few years.
Spreading by way of spores, the pathogen clogs up the water-conducting xylems of contaminated crops.
Signs begin within the petioles of outdated leaves first, leaving a single aspect of contaminated fronds with leaflets which are functionally lifeless, but held up of their petrified place like they had been taxidermied.
Finally, the complete frond dies, and the signs unfold to youthful and youthful leaves till the complete crown perishes.
There isn’t any identified treatment for Fusarium wilt. All you are able to do is stop its unfold, by swiftly eradicating contaminated crops, and keep away from planting new palms in contaminated soils.
Eliminated specimens and their detritus must be burned or buried.
Ganoderma Butt Rot
I’ll attempt to maintain this transient – I’m scripting this bit in a quiet library, and I can solely kind “butt rot” so many instances earlier than I begin to giggle.
Brought on by the fungus Ganoderma zonatum, ganoderma butt rot is often confined to the underside three to 4 ft of a palm’s trunk, therefore the title. This illness causes the within of the trunk to decay, leaving it discolored with a gnarly brown stain.
By the point the tree exhibits decline and signs of wilting, 85 p.c of the trunk shall be destroyed.
Earlier than the plant dies, fruiting our bodies – or conks – can type on the decrease a part of the trunk and produce billions of dusty, reddish-brown spores that unfold the illness far and broad.
Sadly, it’s robust to diagnose butt rot till a palm dies or develops the conks, so my recommendation is solely reactionary.
In case your tree comes down with ganoderma butt rot, utterly take away it and grind down the stump – you don’t need conks to develop on a lifeless, but intact stump!
You’ll additionally need to keep away from planting a palm in the identical contaminated spot, lest you cope with this affliction as soon as once more.
Greatest Makes use of for Queen Palms
As any royalty is aware of, the place you place the throne is necessary. And this queen doesn’t thoughts sharing the throne – S. romanzoffiana seems implausible when grown in a gaggle in addition to solo.
When planning your queen palm placement, think about planting them close to curbsides, or maybe on median strips within the street.
Possibly even an island within the cul-de-sac, when you’ve received that type of pull together with your HOA. Simply be sure to clear up the fallen fruits at season’s finish!
Fast Reference Rising Information
Plant Kind:Evergreen monocotyledonous perennialFlower/Foliage Shade:Cream/inexperienced
Native to:South AmericaMaintenance:Reasonable
Hardiness (USDA Zones):9-11Tolerance:Reasonable drought, reasonable salt spray
Bloom Time:Spring, summerSoil Kind:Free, sandy to loamy
Publicity:Full solar to partial shadeSoil pH:6.0-6.5
Time to Maturity:5-10 yearsSoil Drainage:Effectively-draining
Spacing:12+ feetAttracts:Birds
Planting Depth:Just under floor (seeds), depth of root system (transplants)Makes use of:Curbside enchantment, groupings, patio plantings, specimens
Top:30-50 feetOrder:Arecales
Unfold:15-25 feetFamily:Arecaceae
Water Wants:ModerateGenera:Syagrus
Frequent Pests and Illness:Palm leaf skeletonizer, scale bugs, spider mites; Fusarium wilt, Ganoderma butt rotSpeciesRomanzoffiana
All Hail the Queen
Regal and proud-looking, S. romanzoffiana is a lovely addition to any tropical panorama.
Are you rising queen palms in your panorama? Have any questions? The feedback part beneath is ready so that you can share no matter’s in your thoughts.
And for extra details about rising different sorts of palms, add these guides to your studying listing subsequent:
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