Trachy petioles not extending out from crown

[Allen]

I have a 7' trachy fortunei that I planted in March this year.  It was Balled and burlapped.  The pal petioles do not seem to extend out of the crown area.  it has about 4 that are not extended but bunched around the crown.   Will it grow out of this or is there any thing I can do to help it.  It has been watered well and new spears are coming in.   It has also had osmocote & Epson salt.

[Jimhardy]

My guess would be they have clustered because

the roots are getting priority.

[quaman58]

 Yeah, give as bit of time. I agree about the root growth coming first. 

[JT in Japan]

I'm just guessing here, but if the tree was in shade before you bought it, and now is suddenly in full sun, the petioles could be trying to stay out of the sun...? Trachies grown in deep shade really reach far with their petioles, so would the inverse be true in sun? 

JT

[Allen]

It was in a greenhouse under 50% shade cloth till 1st of March.   Now in all day sun.  Petioles just come up enough to open then 'stem' of petiole doesn't grow they are like 1-2" from crown.

[cm05]

A few years ago I saw a similarly-sized Trachy growing this way in NYC, I don't think those fronds ever grew out completely. The palm wasn't a new planting either, it was in its 2nd or 3rd growing season.

[Allen]

Should I cut any of the short fronds?  They are making a crowded mess in the middle.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Allen

[Patrick]

No don't cut them. You're just going to have to be patient and let the plant grow out of it, It will take time. Growing palms is not an impatient man's game. Cutting the fronds would be detrimental to the palm and set back the recovery efforts.

[Allen]

Just asking because the inside crown is getting so thick with fronds it is staying wet in there.  The newest spear has some rot on the leaves.  It is so thick you can't part them all to find the new spear barely.  There have been 2 more come out since my 1st post.   All have almost no distance from crown.  Maybe 1 inch of 'stem' 

[Steve Mac]

I still would not cut it and rob the plant of it's means of growth.

I had one like that that sulked for two years before it recovered from the move and grew properly.

We thought that ours would die for quite a while too. But now it looks good.

[Jimhardy]

Yeah....give it sometime...whats happening above may be

going on below too and it just needs to bust the roots out more.....

 

If its still doing it next year and your sick of it, you could behead it

and see if the new crown is any better but even doing this it will

put out stunted fronds for a while....maybe the palm will figure it out....

I usually don't mess with the growth point unless it is somehow

choked off by its own growth like sometimes happens with Banana plants.