Salacca questions

[akimbo]

Would the spikes on the Salacca trees, in hedge form, deter an alligator?  How effective are the spikes from deterring raccoons and other animals from accessing the ripened fruit?

If anyone has any growing tips for these (some of mine are starting to brown and die in decent heat and humidity) it would be greatly appreciated!

[Finca La Isla]

The fruits are accessible since the salak palms stay low. I doubt an alligator could penetrate a dense, grown together clump/hedge of salak.
I don’t know how much heat you are talking about. It gets to 90 here and they’re unaffected.
Peter

[Jaboticaba45]

Yeah, once fully grown, it's basically impossible to go through them. I saw a giant probably 20ft diameter clump of a male plant in CR, and yep, nothing would ever try to touch it.
The problem is they don't like cold, and I assume you get occasional freezes.
Not many people have fruited them in FL.
They will deter any animal I would think
but to grow them into a hedge like you see in the tropics would probably not be feasible in central FL.
I would rather lean into finger lime or natal plum etc...

[akimbo]

Yeah, once fully grown, it's basically impossible to go through them. I saw a giant probably 20ft diameter clump of a male plant in CR, and yep, nothing would ever try to touch it.
The problem is they don't like cold, and I assume you get occasional freezes.
Not many people have fruited them in FL.
They will deter any animal I would think
but to grow them into a hedge like you see in the tropics would probably not be feasible in central FL.
I would rather lean into finger lime or natal plum etc...

I would hope that I could get them to fruit… I’ve only been in central FL for a few years, and so far we haven’t had any temps below 40F.  I would provide cold/frost protection and heat if under 50F with caveat they could not be taller than the protective cover could provide, and hope they could produce fruit before they grew too tall.  They aren’t the only tropical trees I’m growing so they would all be grouped together and grow them in containers, and continue propagating new ones to take the place of the ones that get too big which I might either sell or use for mulch   What approximate size or age would they need to be to produce fruit at the earliest?

In Florida we have HOAs and one of the rules is no fences… so I was thinking maybe some Salacca might be a compromise!

[growinginphoenix]

Maybe kei apple would serve the purpose?

[Jaboticaba45]

Yeah, once fully grown, it's basically impossible to go through them. I saw a giant probably 20ft diameter clump of a male plant in CR, and yep, nothing would ever try to touch it.
The problem is they don't like cold, and I assume you get occasional freezes.
Not many people have fruited them in FL.
They will deter any animal I would think
but to grow them into a hedge like you see in the tropics would probably not be feasible in central FL.
I would rather lean into finger lime or natal plum etc...

I would hope that I could get them to fruit… I’ve only been in central FL for a few years, and so far we haven’t had any temps below 40F.  I would provide cold/frost protection and heat if under 50F with caveat they could not be taller than the protective cover could provide, and hope they could produce fruit before they grew too tall.  They aren’t the only tropical trees I’m growing so they would all be grouped together and grow them in containers, and continue propagating new ones to take the place of the ones that get too big which I might either sell or use for mulch   What approximate size or age would they need to be to produce fruit at the earliest?

In Florida we have HOAs and one of the rules is no fences… so I was thinking maybe some Salacca might be a compromise!

My friend has a few that are around 6ft tall and are flowering now...in S FL
Big problem is male/female...gotta have a monecious one like bali salak.
But Bill Whitman grew them for 28 years and never got fruits. So yeah, it's a luck of the draw.
I would grow it for fun; but not for a fence.

[Lumi-Ukko]

I have no issues growing them here in Yucatan, and at our hottest day of the year, we max out around 42-45c. I find as long as they're kept shaded and the humidity up, they do just fine. Mine haven't flowered yet as they're around 2-3ft and still containerized waiting to go up to the new land, but I have no reason to think they won't, as long as I get one of each sex.

[akimbo]

Will the different Salak types cross pollinate each other?