New Windmill palm question

[Guy Paul]

Hi, I'm new to this site and there may be a discussion on this topic but I couldn't find what I was looking for. I live in Boise Idaho where I'm from and for whatever reason I've always been obsessed with palm trees. After some research I discovered there are quite a number of people growing palms in Washington, Canada, etc., cold climates. So I thought I'd try one in Idaho. I'm prepared to take the measures during the winter to ensure it's survival. Anyway, I planted this windmill palm about 3 weeks ago. We have clay soil that I mixed with a little compost. I know it's going through transplant shock and I did over water it, but it's been very hot here and my moisture/ph meter is reading sufficient levels now. Almost all the fronds are dark brown, dry and dead looking. The main spear and a couple others on top look good. Should I do anything different or just sit and wait? I really appreciate any help, this tree is a new hobby of mine now and I want my buddy to thrive

[Jim in Los Altos]

Paul, palms don't like their roots disturbed when planting. Did you, by any chance, rough up the palm's rootball before putting it in the ground? Also, did you soak the ground around the palm really well right after planting to force air pockets out of the soil? 

Either way, your palms leaves are a bit desiccated so water it well every other day especially if it's hot since windmill palms thrive in places where summers are cooler.

[yabazid]

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/48003-took-them-a-year-to-recover/#comment-763015  

my experience 

 

[Guy Paul]

Thank you both for the responses, it's good to hear some feedback. Jim, I had the hole ready, unwrapped the plastic around the root ball and planted. I didn't disturb the root ball at all. I think it was over watered the first week so I haven't watered it for a while. I've been wanting to give it water but my moisture meter still reads high moisture. Should I water more? I don't want to over water again. The place I ordered from told me it sounds like it's doing what it's supposed to, taking all the nutrients from the older fronds for new growth, but it looks rough to me. Thanks again

[Jim in Los Altos]

Paul, That's classic desiccation. The green fronds are clamped up trying to conserve moisture. Watering too often wouldn't look like that unless there was significant root rot which wouldn't occur so soon. Did the palm look good before you planted it or was it already looking stressed?

[Guy Paul]

Thanks Jim. No it looked really good when I planted it. I gave it a good amount of water yesterday (Tuesday). It's supposed to be 100 here today, but in the 60s just through the weekend. Maybe another watering tonight and every other day while it's cooler the next couple days? I really appreciate your input

[Patrick]

Jim has some good points about the dessication. One thought I had is that the wholesale grower and then nursery where you got the palm from grew the palm in a shadier location than where you have it planted now. The fronds do look stretched to me. Since you now have the palm in a sunny spot, and with the hot/ sunny weather from a couple weeks ago those fronds that were accustomed to the shade got sunburnt. I think it will recover- but it will be in the form of new fronds. Those 5 newer fronds look pretty good to me.

 

Perhaps a combination of the transplant shock and the exceedingly hot weather was a bit hard on your little buddy. I suppose the best you can do is to just wait it out and make sure it gets enough moisture in the root zone so that it can recover.

 

One thing I might advise against is adding fertilizer right away. Adding fertilizer creates more demand for water and it could lead to perhaps more dessication. Of course others might say to add a little bit as the palm needs a little food to recover. But I'd give it a few more weeks. Maybe wait until July sometime? Others may have better input on the fertilizer. My buddy across the street just planted a Pigmy Date in a sunny spot from a shady spot and it really dried out too. He wanted to borrow some of my fertilizer but once I looked at it I had to tell him to hold off as the plant was clearly having some dessication issues. I advised to keep it well watered. You may have the same situation with this palm.

 

Be patient, it's so easy to love your palms to death

 

 

 

[dmalysh]

On 6/5/2017 at 10:07 PM, Guy Paul said:

Hi, I'm new to this site and there may be a discussion on this topic but I couldn't find what I was looking for. I live in Boise Idaho where I'm from and for whatever reason I've always been obsessed with palm trees. After some research I discovered there are quite a number of people growing palms in Washington, Canada, etc., cold climates. So I thought I'd try one in Idaho. I'm prepared to take the measures during the winter to ensure it's survival. Anyway, I planted this windmill palm about 3 weeks ago. We have clay soil that I mixed with a little compost. I know it's going through transplant shock and I did over water it, but it's been very hot here and my moisture/ph meter is reading sufficient levels now. Almost all the fronds are dark brown, dry and dead looking. The main spear and a couple others on top look good. Should I do anything different or just sit and wait? I really appreciate any help, this tree is a new hobby of mine now and I want my buddy to thrive

Hi there! It's been a while since you planted your trachy. How is doing now? Did it recover from transplant shock? I just planted mine and they aren't looking good either.

[Cikas]

6 hours ago, dmalysh said:

Hi there! It's been a while since you planted your trachy. How is doing now? Did it recover from transplant shock? I just planted mine and they aren't looking good either.

Your Trachycarpus specimens look just fine. I do not see anything wrong with them. 

[dmalysh]

On 3/26/2019 at 5:06 AM, Cikas said:

Your Trachycarpus specimens look just fine. I do not see anything wrong with them. 

Thanks. Fingers crossed! Actually, they are showing some growth, but I can not figure out how much water they need and how often. They are planted in clay and now the weather is around 90 degrees.. the fronds look wilted even more than before! Moisture meter says the soil is wet, but I water them just once a week. Should I water even less than that or do I underwater them? My head is spinning..

Any tips would be so much appreciated.

[Cikas]

They like moist soil. They are not desert palms.