THE "OTHER" FILES

[ahayastani]

I finally was able to score galangal plants (Alpinia galanga). The stems look miserable after the transport, but new shoots are already developing. I've placed the container at the N-side (rain + shade) for now, together with turmeric (Curcuma longa) and beehive ginger (Zingiber spectabile).

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[thoroughburro]

Ooh, I can almost smell those pink shoots! I love galangal… will be interested to see how much you can harvest from a container.

 

[ahayastani]

Ooh, I can almost smell those pink shoots! I love galangal… will be interested to see how much you can harvest from a container.

A container full, I guess . Personally, I'm more interested in how long it will take to fill the container.

It was a busy weekend: transplanting, rearranging places, sowing, ... Some -pr0n from the weekend.

For palms, I check once every 2 weeks whether new sprouts have appeared. For Licuala parviflora, a dwarf palm from Papua New Guinea, this is the second sprout that has appeared.

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Wodyetia bifurcata is a good looking palm with Down-under origins. It has very good looking seeds as well. I harvested the seeds locally from a tree growing in a public park. So far, 2 out of 7 have germinated. I place a plastic container over the germinating seeds to control humidity.

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Alloschmidia Basselinia glabrata, a species that is endemic to New Caledonia. Three up, 100 more to go .

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[Ratatouille]

I've never really seen palm sprouts. It's an interesting growth.

 

[ahayastani]

I've never really seen palm sprouts. It's an interesting growth.

Very different worlds, really. Germination and sprouting can be a few weeks apart. A "seedling root" (radicale) is sent into the soil, and only afterwards the seed sends a shoot to the surface. Read here about different palm germination types.

 

[ahayastani]

I bought two pakus, and new fronds are already emerging from one of them.

I also sowed some basil. I will transplant them when they're ready. Basil "Marseille" is a personal favourite and germinated at 2d (normal for fresh seeds). The other basil (lemon basil) germinated at 4d. Krishna Tulsi hasn't germinated yet...

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[ahayastani]

I bought two small plants of katuk (Sauropus androgynus), but both plants suffered during transport. One plant was transplanted upon arrival and seems to have recuperated. The second plant had snapped just above the surface, so I used what was left of the stem as a cutting. This cutting seems do be doing well and has formed roots and even new shoots and leaves. I was hoping the roots of the snapped plant would send out new growth, but so far nothing...

I don't know this plant, it's an experiment. I paid M$60 per plant (currently U$1 ~ M$20), but here locally they dare to ask M$900 per plant (no typos).

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[Grass Snake]

@ahayastani
So can I grow a palm from these berries that I collected. This is the last palm tree standing at Taco Cabana. Not sure how old it is but it survived at least a couple of historic freezes we had here in North Texas. I noticed it had some dingle berries and thought it would be cool to try and grow one.

 

[ahayastani]

So can I grow a palm from these berries that I collected. This is the last palm tree standing at Taco Cabana. Not sure how old it is but it survived at least a couple of historic freezes we had here in North Texas. I noticed it had some dingle berries and thought it would be cool to try and grow one.

I'm not a specialist at ID-ing, but it looks like Sabal mexicana (Sabal texana is sometimes used in the US). Its natural habitat stretches from Texas to Central America. I can't comment on its cold hardiness (palmpedia states 16-18F for established palms), but it's a very robust species here in our region. Takes any temperature from warm to brutally hot and has a very decent drought tolerance. I encountered this species even at the edge of mangroves, so it can take some salt as well (photo below).

I'm growing two specimens in large containers (they have large taproots). I can guarantee you that they can take a lot of abuse... They do best in full sun and with regular watering, but they won't die if you forget about them for a while (months...). Germination was easy for me: I picked up seeds from a beautiful speciment I spotted in the streets and removed the flesh (put a day in water and you can rub it off easily). Seeds were placed on the surface of moist peat and pressed halfway in. I covered the container with a plastic bag to control humidity. After 4-5 weeks, the seeds began to germinate.

The panoramic image below is taken at the edge of La Encrucijada biosphere reserve. It shows the palm in its native habitat here in Chiapas. They have colonized open spaces around mangrove canals.

 

[Grass Snake]

I'm not a specialist at ID-ing, but it looks like Sabal mexicana (Sabal texana is sometimes used in the US). Its natural habitat stretches from Texas to Central America. I can't comment on its cold hardiness (palmpedia states 16-18F for established palms), but it's a very robust species here in our region. Takes any temperature from warm to brutally hot and has a very decent drought tolerance. I encountered this species even at the edge of mangroves, so it can take some salt as well (photo below).

I'm growing two specimens in large containers (they have large taproots). I can guarantee you that they can take a lot of abuse... They do best in full sun and with regular watering, but they won't die if you forget about them for a while (months...). Germination was easy for me: I picked up seeds from a beautiful speciment I spotted in the streets and removed the flesh (put a day in water and you can rub it off easily). Seeds were placed on the surface of moist peat and pressed halfway in. I covered the container with a plastic bag to control humidity. After 4-5 weeks, the seeds began to germinate.

The panoramic image below is taken at the edge of La Encrucijada biosphere reserve. It shows the palm in its native habitat here in Chiapas. They have colonized open spaces around mangrove canals.

Thanks for sharing that info. It sure looks like the same tree. I’ll try and figure out what palms are commonly sold here to see if I can make an identification. In the meantime I’ll work on trying to germinate these seeds.

 

[ahayastani]

Thanks for sharing that info. It sure looks like the same tree. I’ll try and figure out what palms are commonly sold here to see if I can make an identification. In the meantime I’ll work on trying to germinate these seeds.

It may take a few years before they develop a visible trunk though... But once established, they speed up.

 

[ahayastani]

I bought a few seed packets... I've never grown pápalo, and I've often had bad luck with thyme (it doesn't seem to like the wet period of my climate). Thyme germinated after 2d and I noticed that oregano is sprouting as well (4d).

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I bought ornamental turmeric on the market. I bought one for M$30, but 3 would have been M$100

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[Tinkerbelle]

that ornamental turmeric is really pretty

 

[Ratatouille]

Nice. Never knew turmeric came as an ornamental. Does this version taste good as well?

 

[ahayastani]

Nice. Never knew turmeric came as an ornamental. Does this version taste good as well?

I haven't tried them yet. I first need more rhizome material Many plants from the ginger family are popular tropical ornamentals.

 

[ahayastani]

*DRUM* *DRUM* *DRUM*

Alpinia caerulea is growing its second shoot (germinated in Oct/Nov last year). I'm moving it from deep shade to a brighter area.

 

[ahayastani]

Time for some updates Things haven't been great for a variety of reasons, many of which were outside of my control. There have been many casualties Most of my tender plants (including peppers) died after using bad coco coir. I think it was contaminated with (residual) herbicide, because many plants looked as if they were sprayed with glyphosate. Anyway, life goes on... Luckily I've got some other plants as well.

I've transplanted a few palm seedlings. I'm particularly excited about Masoala madagascariensis, a very slow growing species from Madagascar that should do well here (indeed, seeds were sown 1/1/2023, to celebrate the new year ). Pholidostachys pulchra is an understory palm from Central America that is difficult in cultivation (it likes continuously humid conditions and doesn't tolerate fluctuations). Caryota monostachya is a small fishtail palm (should not >3m) from China-Vietnam that is still somewhat rare in cultivation.

 

[Nulle]

How is your beautifyl turmeric doing?

 

[ahayastani]

How is your beautifyl turmeric doing?

It's doing OK, I think, although its growth habit is not what I expected. I snapped some photos from the N side of the house this morning. From right (front) to left, you can see a peach palm (Bactris gasipaes var. gasipaes), Australian ginger (Alpinia caerulea), katuk, and galangal. The turmeric is hidden somewhere between the large galangal stems and the Australian ginger.

When I planted the rhizome of the turmeric, I expected to see a few small stalks followed by larger ones as the plant grew and adapted. However, it has developed only one large stalk, and only recently has sent out a second shoot.

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The Australian ginger has been exploding... Some Aussie sites suggest it should receive direct sun, so I placed it where it'd receive a few hours every day. Not a good idea for my locality and climate conditions... Dappled sun will be perfect, I think. They can produce berries in their second year of growing, although I hope they won't wait that long

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[Pr0digal_son]

Areca catechu

I know growing in the tropics has it's issues but so does growing in a region with 130 frost free days. Would be nice to not have to jump through hoops and butcher beautiful plants in order to grow them.

I'm focused on a relocation myself. Five years if things go as planned. Subtropics in the Andes though.