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bihai

Licuala grandis

bihai
17 years ago

I love this palm. Its looking better and better the larger it gets

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Comments (27)

  • greenlarry
    17 years ago

    yes this is a very attractive palm species!

  • garyfla_gw
    17 years ago

    hi
    Aren't they fantastic?? My neighbors have 3 planted by the swimming pool and they look so elegant. have yet to see them fruit and they over 25 years old.
    I have a L.obicularis that is over 7 and is still less than 2 feet tall!! i wish now I'd got the grandis
    Much faster and hardier gary

  • bihai
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    They are fantastic! I have a couple small L. orbicularis and a seedling L. cordata...in case they don't come to fruition before I die my second death, I still will have had the pleasure of the grandis and L. peltata!

  • birdinthepalm
    17 years ago

    Lovely specimen there, and it reminds me that I still find them one of the prettiest of fan palms, but I quickly learned how difficult they are in the average house environment , though I have better humidity than most homes.
    Meanwhile I'm still considering some perhaps "tougher" oens that might be easier as an indoor plant perhaps, though it's possible all are not the easiest of house plants regardless of the species. I also like the ones with the divided fronds and think some of those might be easier perhaps. Meanwhile it seems there's one I especially like with entire fronds, but it seems to do a disappearing act when looking it up from various sources, and one minute I see it and then the next , I don't. "Elegans" or something like that? Those "mapus" pictured in some sources are really something with the variegation or marbling on the fronds?

  • nucci60
    17 years ago

    super palm bihai(zone12b), makes me so jealous that when I m in florida, ican;t grow anything 'cause i am in a condo. Don't say sell the condo and buy a house 'cause you know the taxes and insurance will triple. goodluck with that palm.

  • bihai
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I have a L. mapu. Its one of the slowest growing plants I have ever, EVER had. I've had it for some years now so its not one of my "new" palms. I have also had the L. grandis for a few years, that's why its getting as big as it is LOL.
    You are thinking of Licuala peltata var Sumawangii, Bird, aka Licuala elegans. The other type is Licuala peltata var peltata. One has split leaves, one is entire.

    As a genus, so far, I think Licualas amy be my faves next to Pinangas. SO FAR. These 2 seem the most rewarding on speed of growth (in most cases).

    I have these Licualas, all are strong and healthy and I am certain I will see some good things from them:
    Licuala mapu
    L. grandis
    L. elegans
    L. peltata var peltata
    L. orbicularis
    L. distans
    L. lauterbachii
    L. ramsayi
    L. aurantiaca
    L. cordata
    L. filiformis
    L. parviflora
    L. poonsakii
    L. poonsakii var Ratee

  • greenlarry
    17 years ago

    bihai I just noticed youre in zone 9 like me! Surely these arent frost hardy?

  • bihai
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    larry,
    its ALWAYS zone 11-12 in the greenhouse LOL.

  • greenlarry
    17 years ago

    Wow nice full greenhouse! You got tree frogs and monkeys in thee too? ;)

  • trini1trini
    17 years ago

    Now that is a 'B' palm..............'B'eautiful.
    Good for you Bihai.

  • patusho25
    17 years ago

    Great looking L. grandis palm you got in your greenhouse, bihai.

    In here is warmer but we suffer of low humidity, I like to try most things though. Here`s mine, bought it 4 months ago for $28 dollars (here in Mexico).

  • bihai
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    BEAUTIFUL Patusho! That's about what I paid for mine, its been a while so I can't remember, I think it was about $20-25, but mine was not as large as yours when I got it, probably a gallon size

  • birdinthepalm
    17 years ago

    Patusho, I was wondering wherebouts you live in Mexico , since some areas are very humid yearound, except for lower humidities during the winter dry season, and as I recall Acapulco , even in mid January , many years ago seemed to be very humid even in winter, though the temperatures could be almost ninty F even then. I know some spots are much drier however, depending on where you live in the country, but I wonder if you don't have a microclime of sorts in your garden since you perhaps water things there when it's dry? I guess however, the drying problem is much worse of course when there's even a slight breeze and perhaps you have a sheltered spot that receives little in the way of wind? I guess it can get very dry in the desert areas, and you may even get some winter frosts and snow in the mountainous areas of northern Mexico?

  • patusho25
    17 years ago

    bird, I`m in Sinaloa (24.5ºN), in the Pacific Ocean Rim (although the city where I live is 60 km away from the coast). It`s semiarid in here, not desertic. Acapulco is very tropical and humid, here in Sinaloa also get winter rain (we get most in summer), although much less than Acapulco.

    Indeed, when I water and stablish a canopy then I can grow anthuriums, heliconias, bananas (bananas can thrive and still look good in full sun with lots of water), guess you can call that a microclimate. My house blocks most strong winds in the frontyard (what you see in the picture), the backyard is a little less protected, but there are 2 facts that protect my plant/trees from strong winds (disecation): one is that there are only tough fruit trees/plants (mango, avocado, guava, etc) and the other one is that my zone is not that dry (usually), i.e. is more humid than California, the lowest RH in here is 20%, but most of the time is 40-60%, and during the summer goes up since is the rainy season (sticky t-shirt time).

    You can find snow in the Sierra Madre Occidental (it`s only 1-2hr drive trip to see snow during winter), and in the valley there can be 30-32ºC.

    Hope I understood correctly your thoughts about northwest Mexico.

  • cfkingfish
    17 years ago

    How often does a seed come up like this?

  • bihai
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I don't know but I want one JUST LIKE THAT ONE

  • patusho25
    17 years ago

    Ditto.

    Chris, it`s amazing.

  • patusho25
    17 years ago

    bird, you can see what does flourish in here. This is the local botanical garden.

    http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=12;t=2143

  • barbcoleus
    17 years ago

    How rare is that variegate and what's the likelihood of seeds from that particular plant reproducing variegates.
    I have to add the green one to the list of plants I get.

    Barb

  • birdinthepalm
    17 years ago

    I would guess that's a very rare palm? Unfortunate they're not propagated from cuttings to get many more of them , and I'd guess there's no way to tell which seeds will produce the variegation perhaps, even from a variegated parent?

  • barbcoleus
    17 years ago

    Could they do something like meristem culture - like they do with orchids?
    Barb

  • birdinthepalm
    17 years ago

    It seems to me as far as we've gone in trying new techniques in growing and propagating plants, it's still evident that we sometimes don't actually understand the exact mechanisms in the meristem culturing process perhaps to explain why it works for some types of plants, but not others in many cases, and I'm not aware if it's been used for propagating palms or even been tried. Sure would be helpful most likely, and in the case of some very endangered but very difficult to grow species , it could be a life saver for that species. There are a few plants , I guess that rarely produce vialble seeds, nor which can be rooted from cuttings, but only can be grafted to related species to keep them going and increase numbers, though I can't remember the name for the plant I have in mind. A Hawaiian native!

  • nucci60
    17 years ago

    cfkingfish. That is fantastic.looks like across of a palm with a AE AE banana LOL!

  • cfkingfish
    17 years ago

    I will admit, it really is an eye catcher. I have seen a few palms come up variegated at my nursery, but nothing like this. I can tell you that this plant grows in Australia.

  • hatemajestypalms
    10 years ago

    Hi guys. Do you know if I could grow 2 Licuala Grandis indoors from Nov-May starting next year? My new humidifier Im getting in October will be ultra sonic mist. It will usually run during the night up to 8am, but is that enough humidity for these needy persnickety palms? Would I need to run it more often? Are they highly sensitive to low humidity, cause without a humidifier my house usually has 40% RH which I think wouldnt be enough. Do they like direct sun? Like the "Up north direct sun"? Do they like everyday once a day waterings?

  • tropicbreezent
    10 years ago

    I wouldn't call them "highly sensitive to low humidity", but they do prefer higher humidity. If they're not going to be out in full sun then it's not so critical. They are slow growers though.

    In habitat they happily grow in full sun but that's on islands in the tropics where they're surrounded by warm seas and humidity stays high. And you'd need to keep them moist but not soggy.

  • lzrddr
    10 years ago

    I have seen these grown indoors 'successfully' (successfully means they survived a few years only and always looked brown-tipped) in rooms that have had pools or other large open water sources (fountains, etc.). Indoors you definitely do NOT want any direct sun, but they really like a lot of bright light (like what you would have in a greenhouse). My limited experience with most Licualas indoors is they definitely like it humid (75% or more ideally) and they all suffer immensely from tap water (prefer reverse osmosis water so salts to not build up in the soil). Some other species are easier that L grandis indoor, but look similar (most notably Licuala 'elegans'), but even this species requires a lot of care to keep happy indoors. I think you will discover it's a lot harder than it sounds. Best thing to do is save your money and annex a greenhouse onto your home... THEN you will have success with all these tropical indoor plants you want to grow (be sure you get a greenhouse that has a high ceiling as many of the species you have asked about in the past grow rather tall).

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