Palm trees
Plants belonging to the palm family, they are ornamental because of the beautiful leaves. They are woody plants, usually single, an unbranched trunk called a log and ended in a bunch of leaves.
Palm trees have either feathery or fan-shaped leaves. Among the types most commonly cultivated with feathery leaves, Phoenix with short petioles and a steady leaf with narrow sections, and Howea are distinguished. (Kentia) with longer petioles and a triangular lamina with rather wide sections.
Fan-leaf palm trees, jak Chamaerops, Lutheran in Trachycorpus, They are mainly used to decorate large halls, or halls in apartments. They are grown less often, for they grow into powerful specimens.
Multiplication. We propagate palm trees by sowing seeds, which are covered with a hard shell. In order to damage or soften the shell and to facilitate water access, rub the seeds between two sheets of coarse sandpaper or through 24 do 48 Soak for hours in water at 45 °. In this way, we prepare the seeds as soon as we receive them and immediately sow them individually into pots with a diameter 4 cm or to bowls or boxes with a spacing of 4X6 cm. Decontaminated sand mixed with the same amount of peat is used as the substrate. We keep the temperature around 20 ° for Phoenix and 25-30 ° for other types, the substrate must be kept moderately moist. The seeds germinate unevenly after 10 days or later, even after 2-3 months. When the plants, apart from the cotyledon, form one leaf, it is most common in the next spring, we transplant them into pots with a diameter 7 cm, to a mixture consisting of 2 parts of the leaf ground, 1 parts of peat and 1 parts of sand. Be careful when planting, so as not to knock off the seed that is near the young seedling, for it still takes food from it, and not damage the root.
Further nursing. Because the palm trees form thick roots, fleshy, growing vertically inward, we choose higher pots for transplanting these plants, not very wide. With each transplanting, the roots are gently twisted and placed on the bottom of the pot on a layer of soil. Plants, whose roots were not twisted, after 2-3 years they are pushed above the pot and each time they replant, they require pots disproportionately large to their size.
We replant 2-4-year-old palm trees twice a year in February or March and at the end of July. Older plants are only transplanted once a year in spring, and the big ones every few years.
In the 2-3rd year we use cassette soil mixed with peat. In the following years, we provide compost soil with the addition of shredded cow. We get good results by cultivating palm trees in universal soil. For the first 2-3 years, the pots are kept on a warm substrate with a temperature of about 25 °, and the space between them is covered with peat or - better - manure. In the following years, plants are placed in a warm greenhouse only after transplanting for a period of 2-3 weeks.
In warm weather, sprinkle young plants 3-4 times a day, and in the case of strong sunlight, we shade for an hour 11 do 14. Older specimens should be sprinkled less frequently, but - if the plants are in too dry air - the tips of their leaves dry out.
We replant 2-4-year-old palm trees twice a year in February or March and at the end of July. Older plants are only transplanted once a year in spring, and the big ones every few years.
In the 2-3rd year we use cassette soil mixed with peat. In the following years, we provide compost soil with the addition of shredded cow. We get good results by cultivating palm trees in universal soil. For the first 2-3 years, the pots are kept on a warm substrate with a temperature of about 25 °, and the space between them is covered with peat or - better - manure. In the following years, plants are placed in a warm greenhouse only after transplanting for a period of 2-3 weeks.
In warm weather, sprinkle young plants 3-4 times a day, and in the case of strong sunlight, we shade for an hour 11 do 14. Older specimens should be sprinkled less frequently, but - if the plants are in too dry air - the tips of their leaves dry out.