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Rhopalostylis baueri yellowing leaves


thallo

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Hello - Trey here. longtime lurker, first time posting. I purchased a home last year and finally have a very small garden I can plant without HOA hassles! I planted a Rhopalostylis baueri var Cheesemanii from Flora Grubb 1/4/19. There are three separate trunks and each has put out two new leaves since planting. New spikes are coming up as well. The leaves have gradually gotten more yellow this summer. I can see the leaf shape has changed due to brighter light. I applied palmgain in April and it greened up a bit. Should I be applying more frequently or is this just the color of the leaves? I’m in the Hayes Valley/Lower Haight neighborhood of San Francisco. The palm faces southeast and gets a good deal of morning and mid-day sun but afternoon shade. Thanks!

PS: I’ve included pics in order from planting in Jan 2019 up to yesterday. 

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Palm looks fine.  Coming out of winter, they can get a little yellow.  You need to fertilize it.  It needs time to acclimate to it’s location as well.

Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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I agree, they look quite yellow. Is your soil very sandy? If so, nutrients may be leaching out. Also, how do you irrigate? These like moist soil and never drying out. None of mine get any more than a touch of morning sun and some dappled afternoon sun. Full sun, even just a few hours per day can yellow them but you may have lots more coastal overcast than I do. 

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Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

Las Palmas Design

Facebook Page

Las Palmas Design & Associates

Elegant Homes and Gardens

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If your soil PH is high (alkaline), you will need to add EDDH chelated iron.  Plants will be able to absorb it.

Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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As already mentioned these just love water. Also it’s on a concrete walled area, so it likely will drain extremely easily and may be on the alkaline side with the concrete wall and possibly mortar being in the soil. These like to be on the acid side I find. They also love pelletised poultry manure. So more water, maybe iron Sulfate to drop the pH and pelletised poultry manure should get them greened up and cranking along. When happy these are dark dark green.

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Thallo,  Welcome to Palmtalk !  Rhopalostylis is a forest palm, and usually grows up into a full sky exposure as it matures.  Perhaps your palm has no more issue than the light level.  However, all the previous suggestions are good ideas!

  Send me a PM to invite yourself over for a visit.  I live in the Parkside, two blocks south of the L Taraval.  :) 

San Francisco, California

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Thanks for all the feedback! The soil is a bit sandy in the upper layer but light clay down a foot or two. It was severely compacted after years of neglect. I removed a large dietes bicolor before planting the palm. I’ll test the pH and give an iron treatment. I hand water the palm twice a week. I’ll increase the water. I’m on the edge of the Mission/fog belt divide, 4.5 miles from the beach. I usually get afternoon fog this time of year. We recently had an unprecedented heat wave and none of the normal coastal stratus to mitigate the sun and 95f+ temps. This was right after a very long, wet, and cold winter. This little palm is pretty tough!

I’m also on a band of serpentine that goes under the SF Mint nearby. Not sure these raised/walled beds were filled with local soil but I did find a couple large chunks of green rock while digging another hole adjacent to this one. 

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Hi Trey,

Darold has some amazing palms at his place.  I haven't had the privilege of visiting personally but would love to some day - I'd recommend seeing it.   :)  Jim in Los Altos has posted some amazing photos here as well.  I've learned a lot from their posts.

Jon

Jon Sunder

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Thanks for the invite, Darold! I pm’d you. 

Love all the great advice. Thanks again everyone!

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Hi Trey,

Welcome.  I have a cheesmanii in San Francisco, Eureka Valley.  I'm on the breaking line of the fog belt.  When my cheesmanii was young it was in bright shade and it was very dark green.  The shade source was cut down years ago and now it gets half-day sun.  During the Summer months it is yellowish like yours but still quite healthy.  It now has about a foot of trunk and I consider it one of my finer palms.  I agree with Darold that the yellow is both a light issue, and all of the other suggestions are good as well for the general health of the palm.

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Thom -- San Francisco, CA -- Eastern Slope of Twin Peaks

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  • 9 months later...

Palms look good.  They are easy once established.  

Huntington Beach, CA

USDA Zone 10a/10b

Sunset Zone 24

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  • 10 months later...

Update Feb 2021

applied some chelated iron, upped the irrigation and they are looking good! they still got some leaf burn around the summer solstice and I think next year I’ll further increase the irrigation when days are longest  

Thanks for the advice!

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Looking good. It will turn into a stocky sunhardened specimen. Could flower with a ft of trunk too. 

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Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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On 2/12/2021 at 4:40 PM, Tyrone said:

. Could flower with a ft of trunk too. 

Thanks! They’re really picking up some speed after two years in the ground 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/13/2021 at 11:44 PM, thallo said:

Thanks! They’re really picking up some speed after two years in the ground 

I just planted a Baueri about 5 months ago from a 10 gallon (terrible time of year I know). Mine looks the same or worse than yours but it’s growing well. I chalked it up to a bit of transplant shock. Your trees are gonna be massive! Love Rhopalostylis multi’s

 

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On 2/25/2021 at 5:51 PM, Billeb said:

I chalked it up to a bit of transplant shock. Your trees are gonna be massive! Love Rhopalostylis multi’s

Nice palm you chose! I think you’re right about the shock. They are pushing leaves faster after two years in the ground. I love how the spikes get a nice arch

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20 hours ago, thallo said:

Nice palm you chose! I think you’re right about the shock. They are pushing leaves faster after two years in the ground. I love how the spikes get a nice arch

I love the look of the Baueri when mature. Marked the spike about 1 month after putting it in and it hasn’t skipped a beat. Grown 8” and it’s getting ready to break open shortly.  I’ve heard grumblings they grow well in the winter too so that could explain it.  I’m sure it’ll take off this year when it gets hot. 

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