UF/IFAS
Okeechobee County Extension Service
458 Highway 98 North
Okeechobee, FL 34972-2578
Phone: (863) 763-6469
E- mail: dfculbert@ifas.ufl.edu
December 6, 2006
Quick Links: Names & Description Landscape Use LY Disease References & Links
Feature Article - for release the week of December 10, 2006
Dan Culbert - Extension Horticulture Agent
A Palm for Christmas
Last
week this column talked about REAL Christmas Trees for
your indoor holiday decorations.
Some may prefer the look smell and feel of an
old-fashioned evergreen tree all decked out with lights
ornaments and loaded with lots of presents stacked under
the tree.
Other Floridians may want to break with tradition and use a more tropical symbol for their Christmas tree. To celebrate the end of the year in Florida-style, what could be more tropical than a palm tree?
Many palms can be brought indoors for the holidays and returned to the patio or even added to the landscape after the New Year. A look around local nurseries will find a plant called the Christmas Palm, which can be beautifully decorated as a holiday tree.
But if the Christmas Palm is to be added to the Florida Yard, be aware this tropical palm is sensitive to cold temperatures and is susceptible to a incurable disease. It’s a good subject for this week’s column.
|
|
Christmas Palms with red, ripe fruit are ready for the holidays without any
more decorations! Photo: Dan
Culbert, UF/IFAS |
Below the spreading
fronds of the Christmas Palm, a flower
cluster produces numerous white to pale green fruit
that will ripen to a crimson red color in the
winter. Photo:
The Christmas Palm has a cluster of deep crimson red fruit which appear in winter. These berries give this palm the traditional red and green color combination and yet have the tropical appeal. Fruit appear like magic on a smooth ringed trunk.
Other names may be used with this palm:
* Manila Palm hints at its origin in the Philippines.
* Dwarf Royal Palm suggests that it small version of the tall, smooth-trunked street palms seen on tropical south Florida streets and parks.
* Adonidia Palm refers to its former scientific name, which is now Veitchia merrilli.
For smaller homes, its 20-30 feet in height will not be too tall. Slender trunks, elegantly feathery arching leaves, and the clusters of large, red fruit make these palms particularly attractive when planted in informal groups. Recent hurricanes have also shown they can withstand the high winds that come with tropical storms.
Christmas Palms have single trunks, but may be seen in the nursery as doubles or triples. If growers place a couple of seedlings together in the container, they will form a more attractive clump. This palm is noted for its “self-cleaning” fronds, so as older leaves drop off without the need for pruning, they will not leave a 'boot’ on the trunk.
These nursery grown Christmas Palms have three individual plants growing together to make them look like a nice, full clump. Pictured is the column's author at Tree Locators in Okeechobee. Photo: UF/IFAS |
In Florida landscapes, Veitchia are just the right size for residential use.
Photo: Dan
Culbert, UF/IFAS |
These are Foxtail Palms,
which look a little like the Christmas Palm.
They will get larger than Veitchia.
(They are dressed up not with fruit but with a red
ribbon for the holidays!) Photo:
Dan Culbert, UF/IFAS |
Perfect Places for Delightful Dwarfs
They can be kept in the container for some time, and could then be brought indoors in case of cold weather. And this is problem number one with the Christmas Palm in our area. When temperatures reach into the low 30's, this palm may develop leaf spots that only become apparent several weeks afterwards. It will survive short durations of temperatures in the mid 20's.
The small size and ability to adapt to a variety of landscape situations make this a possible Florida Yard choice. Christmas palms should receive some shade while young but will grow better in full sun when older. There is a yellow variety of this palm that is sometimes available called "Manila Gold". It is said to handle less light and it grows a bit slower, making it easier to keep it in a container.
They can grow in almost any soil that is well-drained, and they only need a moderate amount of water once established. As with all palms, give them special palm fertilizers several times each year. Surface roots are not a problem.
Remember those picture postcards of Miami Beach covered with coconut Palms? Several years ago, a disease spread by a small planthopper insect and killed off many of these palms. It turns out that the Christmas palm is even more sensitive to this disease than the Coconut.
So - problem number two is that this Veitchia is highly susceptible to the deadly Lethal Yellowing (LY) disease. Over the years we have discovered some expensive antibiotic treatments and have used some insecticides to slow the spread of the insect that carries LY. However, some recent outbreaks of LY have come back and are again affecting Coconuts and Christmas Palms.
|
Lethal Yellowing (LY) is caused by a microscopic virus-like organism called a phytoplasma. It is spread by a this vector, a planthopper, Myndus crudus, that sucks the sap from an infected plant and then travels to another. There is no cure for an infected palm. Prevention and sanitation are the only ways to deal with LY. Photo: James V. De Filippis |
|
|
Nursery customers may want to avoid Christmas Palms grown in areas with recent outbreaks. There is no "cure" unless the disease is caught before symptoms are noticeable. Once infected, LY diseased palms need to be removed as soon as possible. Leaving the dying palms in the landscape will increase the odds of spreading the disease to nearby susceptible palms. Check with our office if you need more details on LY symptoms and management ideas.
The best use of this Tropical beauty may be to keep it as a patio plant where it may be protected from cold and inside a screen to hold off the disease carrying insects. If you keep up with the fertilizers, you ma be rewarded with a taste of the tropics that is fit for a tropical Christmas Tree.
I’ve placed more information on our Okeechobee web page, http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu. If you need additional information on Christmas Palms, please email us at okeechobee@ifas.ufl.edu or call us at 863-763-6469. Local residents can stop by our office at 458 Hwy 98 North in Okeechobee, and visit our Okeechobee County Master Gardeners from 1 to 3 PM on Tuesday afternoons. Happy Holly-Days!
-30-
Trade names, where used, are given for the purpose of providing specific information. They do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of products named, nor does it imply criticism of products not named. The Florida Cooperative Extension Service - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. Florida Cooperative Extension Service / IFAS / University of Florida. Larry A. Arrington, Dean Last update: 12/20/2006 . This page is maintained by Dan Culbert
References & Links
Brown,
Stephen. Horticulture Archives. Fort Myers: UF/IFAS
Lee County Extension Service, 1/15/05 and
Caldwell, Doug. Palm Lethal Yellowing Disease. Naples: UF/IFAS Collier County Extension Service, 2004. http://collier.ifas.ufl.edu/Horticulture/palm_yellowing.htm
Culbert,
Daniel F. Palms for Zone 10. Vero Beach: UF/IFAS
Extension Service, March, 2002.
http://indian.ifas.ufl.edu/News/2002%20news/Palmszone10news.htm
Gilman, Edward F. and Watson, Dennis G. Christmas Palm Veitchia merrillii [Fact Sheet ST-658]. Gainesville: UF/IFAS Extension Service, October 1994 http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/VEIMERA.pdf
Harrison, Nigel A. and Elliott, Monica L. Lethal Yellowing (LY) of Palm [Fact Sheet PP-222]. Gainesville: Florida Cooperative Extension Service, January 2006. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PP146
Scheper, Jack. Veitchia merrillii. Floridata Plant encyclopedia webpage, 10/16/03 http://www.floridata.com/ref/V/veit_mer.cfm