# dwarf palms?



## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

iv'e seen people use these in their vivs. they seem amazing but i have never seen them for sale. so i was wondering where you buy these.


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## Dizzle21 (Aug 11, 2009)

ICS523 said:


> iv'e seen people use these in their vivs. they seem amazing but i have never seen them for sale. so i was wondering where you buy these.


I think Hydrophyte always has them for sale. send him a Pm


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## grantska (Apr 12, 2012)

Are you talking about Parlor Palms? 

You can get those at Home Depot, Lowes, even large grocery stores. Very common, atleast in Michigan they are...


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

I probably sold most of the ones that you saw. I bought them pretty cheap from a grower in Hawaii, but I had to spend a hundred and fifty bucks minimum per order. I sold off most of the ones that I had, but I might be able to scrounge for a couple more if you want them.

The dwarf and miniature palms make really nice viv plants. Almost all of the ones that I tried established well and they look really classy. The major constraint for palms is of course that they start to grow big, but there are some true miniatures and you can also use slow-growing seedlings for other species that will stay small for a long time. I put them in undersized pots too to restrain the root spread and keep them smaller. 

A viv with palms could be especially nice for tree frogs. I have seen a lot of pictures of wild tree frogs using palm fronds as perches. 

I have a few nice palms in my 37G setup...


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## Wim van den Berg (Mar 5, 2012)

I also have found many glassfrogs in most of the Cyclanthaceae in Panama and Costa Rica ,were they grow along streams , they are really hard to get,so i am lucky to have one in my terrarium


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Wim van den Berg said:


> I also have found many glassfrogs in most of the Cyclanthaceae in Panama and Costa Rica ,were they grow along streams , they are really hard to get,so i am lucky to have one in my terrarium


Did you see that _C. palmata_ in my picture above? I was really happy to find that plant because you don't often see it for sale. It is one of my favorites in my collection.

There is one really common horticultural cyclanth here, _Carludovica_ 'Jungle Drum' that's often offered for sale as a houseplant.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

Chamaedorea elegans is the common one used in vivs. it grows VERY slowly and works pretty well imo.

james


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## nonliteral (Mar 26, 2012)

james67 said:


> Chamaedorea elegans is the common one used in vivs. it grows VERY slowly and works pretty well imo.


+1 -- I've got it in several of mine, and expected to have to do a lot of trimming, but so far it's not been a problem at all. Seems to like vivarium conditions real well, also.


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## SmallScaleDan (Nov 16, 2008)

I have grown and sold many parlor palm seedlings over the years, and I have found them wonderful terrarium subjects. However, they do eventually outgrow most normally sized terraria. It takes a couple of years, but they will eventually reach the top and spread to block out the light. At which point, all your other plants are dead.  

In a LARGE tank they would make awesome permanent specimens, but in the smaller tank, you'll end up transplanting them and keeping them as housplants. 

Dan


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Parlor palm (_Chamaedorea elegans_) is a real good plant. You can usually find it for sale as a houseplant cheap with many seedlings all planted in one pot. This kind of planting makes a nice full potted plant, but it looks much better long-term if you grow it as a single specimen in one pot. It takes a long time, but it will eventually grow a nice trunk if you grow it like that. It can work well as a viv plant and once it starts to grow too large you can just take it out of the enclosure and pot to grow it in that manner as a houseplant.

There are much more interesting palms that you can try as viv plants too. Some of them are smaller dwarf palms that may eventually grow to 10' or so tall, but can be maintained as seedling-size plants for quite a while. There are other true miniature palms that might only grow to about 12" tall.

I put a good deal of effort into researching palms for use as viv plants. I link here a few photos along with notes.

_Pinanga_ palms are Southeast Asia species and most are true rainforest plants. Most of them are probably not adaptable as houseplants and instead require the warm and humid conditions of a greenhouse or terrarium enclosure.. I had several plants of _Pinanga_ sp. "Thai mottled", which is an apparently undescribed dwarf species. A really cool feature of some Pinanga is the foliage mottling, which you can see here as many lighter-colored splotches on the leaves. 










This is _Pinanga_ sp. "blue seed" which has even more striking mottled foliage with the new leaves having this wine-colored flush. 










There are several very small Dypsis palms, which include what may be the smallest palm of all, _D. minuta_, a plant that grows to only about 8" tall. This is the similar _Dypsis poivreana_, which grows (very slow!) to about 24" tall.










I had a couple of species of _Calyptrocalyx_. Several members of this genus also have leaf mottling while they are still small. This plant is a seedling _C. hollrungii_. _Calyptrocalyx_ are apparently more-or-less adaptable as houseplants, so this is another one that you might be able to remove from a planted viv and repot to grow in your home. 










There are various other small-growing palms too. _Chamaedorea_ is a large genus that includes a number of dwarf or miniature species and a wide variety of foliage shapes and growth habits. _Licuala_ spp. palms have beautiful fan-shaped foliage that creates a distinctive tropical appearance. Look at the amazing mottled foliage of _Licuala matensis_ "Mapu"...

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&q=licuala+mapu&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1085&bih=611&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Z91AULn3GIHUygHLp4CIDQ


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

now that's what im talking about! that dypsis is really nice who did you buy these from.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

I get them from a grower in Hawaii. Last fall I got a couple of orders and I sold off some of them pretty well. I should see if there might be interest and maybe get another box of mini palms. 

Here quick are a few more that I tried with good results. These are all pretty cool collector plants. 


_Licuala triphylla_ - another true miniature growing to only about 12" tall
_Licuala dasyantha_ - mottled leaves, growing now in my tarantula viv
_Pinanga disticha_ - really cool mottled leaves
_Iguanura tenius_ - distinctive round leaves flushing copper-colored with new growth


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## skanderson (Aug 25, 2011)

count me in as someone wanting more dwarf palms. i would need to check and see what all i have. i will be starting at least 2 new vivs this winter, i hope, so should have the room for a few.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

skanderson said:


> count me in as someone wanting more dwarf palms. i would need to check and see what all i have. i will be starting at least 2 new vivs this winter, i hope, so should have the room for a few.


Hey sure thing Steve,

I still have those larger plants for you here if you can find space in your _mondo vivario_. I have a larger _Chamaedorea ernesti-angusti_ palm with really broad bifid leaves and it would look great in there.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

These little palms look fantastic too if you nestle them down in some leaf litter for contrast and a natural forest floor habitat appearance. This is the _Pinanga_ sp. "Thai mottled"...










...and here's another view of that amazing _Pinanga_ sp. "blue seed"...


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## ICS523 (Mar 10, 2012)

would these do well in ABG mix?
also how long would they take to fill a foot of vertical space?


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

They will thrive in ABG mix!

Both of those _Pinanga_ spp. grow somewhat faster if you give them light and space, so they could fill 12" of vertical space fairly quickly. 

A really cool one if you want a more upright plant is _Pinanga disticha_. Look at the amazing leaf mottling that it has...

Google Images: _Pinanga disticha_


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