It sure it getting a trunk, you must be doing something right~that is looking great! I wish I could grow one here but I'm in Zn 9 now and they get huge. I love the symetrical look of that too.

Hi
I'm in 10 florida so growing them is no problem at all but wow are they tough to manage as a landscape plant, They get gigantic, if the trunk is damaged they pup constantly shredded by the wind. and of course the old leaves must be removed making them look incomplete.
The best I've seen is to remove all pups encouage the trunk to obtain that fantastic fan shape. Boy does that take a LOT of room though. My entire grow area is only 25x75 feet so I gave up and had it removed , Still have a 3 foot hole from the removal.
I'm curious as to what you management plan will be ??
Single trunk?? gary

calgary,congrats!!
i got a 15 gallon,6 feet a few years ago,which put out 2-3 leaves a year,which were huge!,but after our freak freeze,it got zapped,cut away all damaged new growth,and it regrew from the old stalk,but now only manages to form 1 leaf a year.
i guess the plant got weakened?
do you think that it will regain strength?,or is a plant that is weakened from cold,just going to get weaker?
noticed,that in the same area,my delonix,which is fine,but has not grown the 2-3 feet it always does this year,only 6- 12 inches.
also,my travellers had 2 side shoots,which i "just removed ",would this be a reason for slower growth?
gary

In California to get these to grow lush is going to take alot of constant warm season fertilizer.Temps are not warm enough,long enough to just rely on water and time. I say that based on growing similar tropicals that can crawl if given routine care-or thrive if give special care.
I think Gaza,that from spring on,if you had dosed every two -three weeks with a good mild fertilizer it would have done your Traveler's a world of good by now. Now still is not too late to give a good color and then get you off to a good start early in 09.

Gary, thanks for the reminder that this plant, despite its spectacular form, has 'management' problems for those of us with smaller gardens. The reminder was timely as i am getting ready to landscape the new pool this week and have one of these growing in a pot i was thinking of liberating!

Geo
About the best management I've seen is to allow only one trunk to grow ,religiously remove all pups, This will allow the fantastic Fan shape to develop to greatest advantage. Of course this requires lots of space not only to contain the plant but for optimum viewing . Even here in florida they easily get 40/50 feet with equal spead and that's being severly managed lol. A wind sheltered location
would be best as the leaves are constantly shredded. Underplanting is very difficult as old leaves must constantly be removed so you need to get underneath it.
Don't plant it anywhere near a structure, mine actually lifted the shadehouse lol. Not anywhere near a pool(roots) lol.
Do you have any examples of them in Guatemala??
Find out how they are maintaining them??
Another problem worth mentioning is ANTS they love this plant. When it flowers they will come for miles around lol
Would think this would be even more of a problem in your area?? The best example I've seen is in the Singapore Bo gardens Single trunk, growing in a mulched circle.WOW gary

Now it has started to put out its first seed pod.

Personally I prefer the plant to form it's natural multitrunked clump--you need a hell of a lot of space but 5 or 6 trunks rising in a group with the fans spiraling up at different angles is a powerful sight. For small gardens I would stick with a giant bird of paridise for a similar structure, chris