Watering Canary Palms in Arizona Need Help!

[drini76]

I live in Phoenix where the summers are super hot, I have 6 Canary Island Palms and 19 Mediterranean Date Palms and everyone has a different opinion on watering them. I can use some help, they are 14ft tall and this year the new fronds where browning at the tips.. What can this be caused from? One person said sun burnt and another said under watering. The average temp now is in the 100s, at the beginning of summer it was 115-120. We've been watering 2 hours at every 14 days which was only 56 gallons every 2 weeks. I have 14 emitters on one and the other has 26. I was told I need to water them a minimum of 250 gallons every 10 days. one of the resorts waters theres 500 gallons a week, but not sure I want to go there. Any help would be appreciated! 

[Pip]

When it is hot they love water. They look better and grow taller with irrigation in drier climates.

Where I live CIDP have almost naturalised and the palms that have been allowed to grow in or along creeks look as good as any in well water gardens.

[drini76]

Yes ok but how do you know if they are getting overwatered?

 

 

[GeneAZ]

I suppose your concern is caused by the brown tips in your image -- which are just a tiny bit of fert deficiency that seems to be corrected now, by the look of the remainder of the foliage.

I have two of these in north Scottsdale and they are presently getting an hour of water on the bubblers four times a week, since it's been 110 or above for weeks now.  In these present temps, so long as the water you give has completely absorbed into the soil in a half hour's time,  you simply can't overwater.  The humidity is super low and sucking moisture out of the plant and the top 18 inches of soil. The surrounding soil beyond the root zone of your plant is also sucking that moisture from your plant into the drier surrounding soil mass.

I've not seen overwatering symptoms on this species in the low desert, but I would suspect the plant would lose turgidity and sag from the inability to take in oxygen.

There's a few of these CIDP plants at Encanto park growing in the canal banks in a constant wet state.  They've been just like that since I was a kid in 1962, and they continue to thrive up to today.  There's more near Yuma in the banks of the All American Canal  -- massive and robust plants continually standing in water.

 

 

 

[mcrawford]

You simple cannot overwater in these temps.

I can't imagine drip irrigation keeping up with

their needs.  My largest Phx sps. are two

12' C/T dactylifera (date palms)  I have a large

well around each and at 110F+ give them each

a long, slow soak for about 3-4 hrs twice a week.

The best way to know if you are watering enough

is a soil probe.  Built one from 1/4" steel dowel

from any hdwr store.  Weld a 6" T on one end

and round the other end.  If properly watered,

the probe should go 30-36" into the ground.