Enthusiasts are naive to believe that a 'sink or
swim' approach is best with palms at the time of planting. Consider
throwing children into the water, and allowing those unable to figure
out how to swim to drown. Ultimately, some of the smartest, strongest,
best looking and finest swimmers turn out to be children who would
have drowned. This same analogy is true for palms, not to mention
that palms are much more valuable (just kidding!). After planting
a substantially root bound five gallon palm, it is imperative to
provide some assistance. This can be in the form of a small temporary
shade house (shade cloth), or an individual cold frame (UV resistant
clear plastic). These methods meet with great resistance from growers,
but they shouldn t because they are easy to provide and they pay
off with big dividends. Shade cloth cover really prevents the shock
of direct sunlight after a palm is brought out from the greenhouse,
enabling is to establish quickly. It makes an unbelievable difference.
More importantly, there are some fine palm species that simply cannot
survive in cool climates because they require intense summer heat
which is lacking. Sabals and Braheas are examples, but if an individual
cold frame is installed they will bask in heat which is twenty or
thirty degrees F. warmer during the summer, and not only survive,
but flourish. In the case of the individual plastic cold frame,
leave a couple of inches between the bottom of the plastic and the
ground to allow the entry of fresh air. After a couple of years,
you can let them sink or swim after which time if they can t swim,
they deserve to sink. Standard four foot wooden construction stakes
can be used to quickly provide the structure for either and for
just a little money a valuable palm is ensured the appropriate opportunity
to survive and grow beautifully far beyond the lifetime of the grower
who planted it. A grower can quickly install shade or plastic for
the palm's most important first winter, making a monumental difference
in the palm's future performance and there is really no excuse for
failing to do so. Remember, laziness is a reason, not an excuse.
In conclusion, the most important aspect of developing
a magnificent, tropical looking collection of exotic and rare palms
is to attempt to grow as many different palm species as possible,
using the quickest and best methods of growing the palms from seedlings
to a perfect planting size and utilize some form of post planting
technique. Sound simple? It really is and as a matter of fact it
s one of those rare things that s even simpler than it sounds!
Zone 8: Growing pains and how to avoid them
