Lipstick experiment

junglegal

junglegal

Esteemed Member
3,135
30/03/08
65
108
St. Pete FL
Let's see how long she lives.
Potted and exposed to low 40s in 2014/2015. Underwatered by me because it was in my pool cage & it needed to be mobile & not muddy up my deck. It got too big for me to handle bringing inside or hardly move.

Planted mid Feb 2015
The only thing going for it is..it is planted 9' from my heated pool & the neighbors pool is 4' beyond the fence. I am also within blocks of the bay so here we go...updated yearly till it expires. I know this is dumb & I should be selling it but I just want to try.
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AAAAHHHHH!!!! It is looking good Bren. So far so good with the summer type temps we have been seeing this winter. I have a friend in Snell Island (St Pete) that has had one in the ground for over 3 years. He lost the main trunk, but its alive and growing. He does protect it when extra cold. Good luck with yours. Keep us posted on how cold it can take, it will be good info.
 
Mike, nice to see you posting. I know you have a vested interest in this plant! Curious if this seed was from our Costa Rica trip? The palm is doing more than looking pretty. She is starting to spead like crazy & even flower
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Bren, this palm originally came from Redland nursery many years ago. I have had it or parts of it for probably 17 years +. When ever it gets above 8' tall I split it and sell part of it and keep the smaller parts to grow out. That is great to see it flowering. Keep us apprised of the status.
 
Thanks for the history Mike. No plans to protect it. If the larger trunk (s) die back I will just attempt to re-pot some & grow in the pool cage again & leave some inground.
 
I have a dried and polished 6ft staff made from this palm, I found it washed up on the beach 8 years ago, still hard as nails and has a great patina.
 
Sorry to hear that. what a shame, I hope I'm able to find one for myself in the forest. I have areas where my coconut palms sit in good soil but over clay which has been slowing down growth due to lack of drainage. I raised them up a bit creating mounds and seems to have done the job.
 
Free space for a new plant! I've learned not to get attached to true tropicals in the garden. Overall was a mild winter though.
 
Too bad you lost it. It did not get below 40 around here, probably warmer where you are. That is why I SCREAMED in the earlier post. My buddies lipstick in Snell Isle bit it too, this year. He had it in-ground over 3 years. I did not think they would have died this year. Lesson learned, they really do not like below 45. I actually try to bring them in below 50, but pushed it a few night this year. I had about 4 in pots outside , but brought in during the spells below 45. They look good and healthy. I also have about 25 in 3 gal containers now, if you are interested to start small again. Plant something longer term in its place. You got a good climate at the point!
 
On garden webs Palms Forum, a person is going to try a 3meter Lipstick in ground,in Brisbane Oz. Now,I mentioned they don't grow in Miami Beach and that- Brisbane seems tropical to most of the world,but its not even as winter warm as soufla. I was told that Brisbane IS warmer than Miami Beach by someguy. Miami Beach in January has an average low of 63f. Brisbane according to Wiki is 49f. That's not much warmer than San Francisco's 43f!
Those types of ultra tropicals must need very warm low temperature climates. I'm not sure if anything over 80f as a high temp is needed..its those very warm low temps that matter. I've seen Lipsticks growing in an atrium of a skyscraper where of course the temps never went below 72f. It looked ok to me.
I ran across a mention of them growing in the warmest Islands of the Canary Islands. I'm not sure if thats true,or somebody is doing it with lots of help for the palm.
 
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