Growth Rate - When will it start producing Mature Fronds?

10 years ago

hi, im new to the forums. i have been growing this Cocos Palm (Syagrus Romanzoffiana) for the past 3-4 years when it sprouted in my garden from my large Cocos Palm in the backyard. Anyways, my questions are:
* How can i speed up the growth rate? (i have been fertilising it regarly with Slow release fertiliser)
* When will it start looking like a Palm Tree? (as in having Mature fronds and not Seedling leaves)

Regards Anthony :)

PS - The plant is about 20-25cm tall from the top of the soil

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Comments (7)

acaryofyllis
Original Author
10 years ago
This is the Parent Tree
garyfla_gw
10 years ago
Hi
Have grown many of these from seed for my dwarfing experiments and find they vary widely in growth rate particularly in pots . Also they seem to really speed up at
around two meters.. The fastest I've gone from seed to seeding was 7 years though some siblings of this batch are still not seeding By far the fastest growth was always when planted directly in the ground.
Palm growers are always VERY patient lol good luck gary
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tropicbreezent
10 years ago
It'll depend a lot on your climate, how long your growing season is. In some places they're considered a weed and are banned. If your seedling is only 20 to 25 cms after 3 to 4 years, that's a very slow growth rate.
acaryofyllis
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi, thanks for your replies. I have been growing it within a pot since I found it in the garden when it had 1 leaf on it. The pot is pretty massive for it and I want to refrain from planting it in the ground as they grow to large and require a lot of maintenance (personal experience from the parent tree of the seedling). Is there anything that I can purchase from the garden centre in order to make it grow quicker?

Regards, Anthony
tropicalzone7
10 years ago
Usually they are a lot taller than that when they have that many juvenile leaves on it! Not much you can really do to speed up the growth rate. At that age you don't want to over fertilize, especially when they are in pots and the fertilizer can really stay there for a while. They like neglect to a certain extent. I raised mine from a seeding and when I got it in 2004 it had 2 small leaves and was under a foot tall. It did not make it's first adult front until 2007-2008 and it was surprisingly tall at that point. They seem to take longer than other palms to start making adult fronds. They start to spit at about the same height as the tall coconut varieties do which is around 5 feet tall.
Good luck, sometimes they definitely take a little patience to grow. They are fast growers once they get past the juvenile stage.
-Alex
acaryofyllis
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks. And No Worries, I will keep that in mind. Maybe another couple of years until it produces Mature Fronds. Quite recently, it had other leaves on the lower part on the palm that were a shorter length and had a rough tip on the end of the leaf so I pruned the older leaves off, and ever since it has pushed up new leaves (seen in the pic).
acaryofyllis
Original Author
10 years ago
This is what it looked like about 4 months ago before I pruned the old leaves.