Leaf Problems And Death

[jreich85]

As you can see in the pictures below, I am having difficulties with a couple of different palms. The first picture shows my Phoenix Sylvestris, which were potted up about a year ago. The leaves have had some spotting, but it has suddenly become worse and is leading to what is shown in the picture. Not much has changed in the care of these plants, other than it warming up here in NE Florida and me watering them a little more.

The second picture is of either a baby Alexander or Solitaire (I believe; I wasn't that diligent when I plucked the seeds from the Florida Keys last year). I have been trying hard to figure out why one by one the leaf tips begin to brown (something that has led to death in many of my seedlings).

Does anyone have insight, and countermeasures to these problems? Thanks from a newbie for any help.

Edited March 25, 2016 by jreich85

[Pal Meir]

Looks like insufficient drainage and too soggy soil (?). Maybe the pots of the seedlings are also too big. — Ph sylvestris likes arid climates: full sun & low humidity. Cut off the dried leaves and remove all the other organic matter on top of the soil.

[Pal Meir]

The arid habitat of Phoenix sylvestris looks like this:

[jreich85]

Thank you Pal! That could very well be it, as I'm sure their soil is wetter than it has been.

[Phoenikakias]

Yep you have to many seedlings and bigger potted palms and probably you follow out of lack of time a uniform watering regime. In such case you'd better use a lighter and faster drainind pot medium, provided of course that water is cheap there!

[jreich85]

12 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Yep you have to many seedlings and bigger potted palms and probably you follow out of lack of time a uniform watering regime. In such case you'd better use a lighter and faster drainind pot medium, provided of course that water is cheap there!

Thank you. I don't have anything smaller than the 1 gallon pots, so they get potted straight up to those once they get too big for their germination trays. I will invest in some smaller pots (or save more used water bottles) to not over pot them, as it appears that I'm doing.

Water isn't too expensive here, and I try to stick with light waterings every other day to keep consistency for the plants. The light, well draining aggregate is what seems more expensive but what I will also need more of to keep these palms happy. Again, thank you for helping me become a better palm grower.