mkbenn

It's tempting to pull those suckers off isn't it? Unless you have a heated green house in zone 10 (I own a palm tree nursery in Newport Beach, CA), I would hold off until March 15. Areca vestiara coming from Florida may have a hard time getting through the winter anyway so I wouldn't mess with it. Besides, the odds of a little guy making it without controlled temperatures over the winter aren't too high. I wish you the best of luck!

Johnny

if you give it a shot, pleae let me know your methodology. I'd like to know how you do it.

BTW, if you have a picture of the A. vestiara it will you post it? I love those!

Thanks,

Johnny

Thank you for your advice. My Wife got to it! It was very over grown and bug infested, and in shock. It is a nice size plant. My wife trimmed it way back, removed small suckers and treated it for bugs. We put it under an alcove against a corner wall that is well protected and stays fairly warm through the winter with good morning sun. I also have a large roll of row cover and will use this if I have to. I wish I had a before picture, but I will post an after picture. All I can do is hope now. Thanks again.

When I lived in Miami, I used to remove small suckers from clustering palms with a high level of success. There were probably more but I remember working with Arenga, Chamaedorea, Cyrtostachys, Ptychosperma and Rhapis. It is easiest to work with potted plants because you can move them around for the best angles. It is best with shoots just large enough to have some small roots developing. Rooting hormone did not seem to help but wrapping moss around a large, unrooted sucker (an air-layer) was sometimes helpful. Keeping the newly removed shoot in a humid, windless, shady spot in a greenhouse until they established a new root system did help tremendously. Generally, my first concern was to keep the parent plant alive and healthy so I kept the cuts as small as possible.