New Palms Browning

[NickJames]

My left row of dypsis lutescens and a couple royal palms appear to be browning more quickly than usual. They were just planted a week ago. Do you think it’s just a result of the unusually hot, dry weather we are experiencing? I am watering extensively. 

[Reeverse]

 Prob transplant shock, they can take the heat especially if you have been watering extensively. Were the Arecas shade grown? That's a common problem from them grown down south unless they were Sungrown 

[Palmfarmer]

How much water are we talking and what type of soil do you have? If the lutescens where bought right of lets say home depot where they have been in a shaded area for long that is very normal. I have pretty much allways experienced a bit of yellowing and loss of some leafs some times, depending on the palm when transplanting myself.

[JLM]

I would say that yes, the heat has been a problem. Although, rain is on the way if it makes it to ya! It looks like you are just north of the Storm Prediction Center's Day 2 Fire Weather Outlook, which holds an Elevated Risk for the Atlantic side of South Florida. Don't worry, its been hot and dry here aswell! 

Drought Monitor--->https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?FL

Storm Prediction Center Day 2 Fire WX Outlook--->https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/fire_wx/fwdy2.html

NAM 12km Rainfall Forecast--->https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/?model=namconus&region=seus&pkg=apcpn&runtime=2020033018&fh=60

Edited March 31, 2020 by JLM

[kinzyjr]

I have had three straight days of 94.6F, 95.2F, 93.3F according to my weather station.  The day with 95.2F came with about 30% humidity.  The bulk of my plants are well established and some, mostly philodendrons, show some leaf burning.  Even a few of my Washingtonia filifera seedlings weren't thrilled about it and that's typical where they come from. 

Since your plantings are relatively new, it's probably that they spent a decent portion of their life in the shade as @Reeverse and @Palmfarmer alluded to in their posts. 

12 minutes ago, Palmfarmer said:

How much water are we talking and what type of soil do you have?

This is certainly a salient question.  I have to water less with loamy soil than the folks on the east side of the county with sandy soil.

We should get a decent shot of cool air coming in on Wednesday that will put us back into a more comfortable temperature range for a few days.  Unfortunately, no real solid chance of rain until next weekend from the look of it.

[NickJames]

It’s possible they were shade grown. I would say their location when I purchased them was in filtered sun with an oak canopy. They are very clearly now in blinding, full sun. 

My natural soil is supposed to be loamy sand. However, cannot be 100% certain of the fill source for my lot. While planting the dypsis, massive clay deposits were found. The clay layer appeared way too deep to be from the fill, so who knows. 

While removing the sod, I lost a lot of top soil. The sod was so footed it too almost four or five inches of soil with it. The holes for the dypsis were filled with the existing soil and the rest of the rectangular areas were filled with a mix of garden soil, black cow, and peat moss.

I'm hoping They’ll “recover” from the shock!?

Had a bit of a reprieve today. Stiff East wind this afternoon had me at 84 degrees. I noticed Sanford was simultaneously 94 degrees. 

[NickJames]

I’m Manually hand watering an unknown amount with filtered potable Water. And everything is also getting soaked with spray heads 3 times per week From reclaimed water irrigation.  

[branislav]

What is this fabric cover you put there? I would remove it: it's completely useless as a weed barrier and you're going to strangle the roots. I am not sure about the watering as it seems excessive. The roots can only take up so much, and if they were damaged during the transplant, they need to recover. If the palms were shade-grown, they are going to get sunburn, which means the leaves will not transpire (reducing the water needs) and won't produce food (slowing root recovery). If you overwater now, you will get fungus and kill them. If you want to know whether they are getting enough water, stick your finger in the soil: if it's dry an inch down, water. Otherwise, leave them be. If you want to suppress weeds, just mulch heavily around the plants (4-6 inches deep). This will also work as a fertilizer.

[NickJames]

57 minutes ago, branislav said:

What is this fabric cover you put there? I would remove it: it's completely useless as a weed barrier and you're going to strangle the roots. I am not sure about the watering as it seems excessive. The roots can only take up so much, and if they were damaged during the transplant, they need to recover. If the palms were shade-grown, they are going to get sunburn, which means the leaves will not transpire (reducing the water needs) and won't produce food (slowing root recovery). If you overwater now, you will get fungus and kill them. If you want to know whether they are getting enough water, stick your finger in the soil: if it's dry an inch down, water. Otherwise, leave them be. If you want to suppress weeds, just mulch heavily around the plants (4-6 inches deep). This will also work as a fertilizer.

The landscape fabric/weed mat is for the rocks I’m putting down (pictured below is the completed other side of the yard)...definitely have to use something under the rocks or they disappear into the Earth. I’ll remove some from around the base of the plants. 

[buffy]

Dude. They're fine. Watch the new growth over the next month. You'll see it looks fine. I've found that the shade grown growth on D. lutescens tends to burn when I pull it out of the greenhouse. No biggie. Don't worry about the watering. Your grass is obviously getting plenty. It's just sunburned. I can't tell on the royal, but I'm not seeing anything that concerns me. 

[NOT A TA]

I suspect windburn from the ride to their new home hanging out the back of a pickup truck.

[NickJames]

2 minutes ago, NOT A TA said:

I suspect windburn from the ride to their new home hanging out the back of a pickup truck.

Just like what happened with my bottle palm. 
 

Hilariously, the coconut palm had the longest and coldest drive home yet looks AMAZING right now. Maybe she’s a long-term survivor!?

[NOT A TA]

26 minutes ago, NickJames said:

coldest

^^^ Key word.

[sonoranfans]

shouldnt be a problem lutecens will adapt as they grow in.  I prefer the way they look in shade but they can be a pretty good screen.  I am of the opinion that in sandy soil rock is a bad idea because the organics in the soil will be consumed but then how to you replace it as cation xchange medium?  With rock you dont put mulch down to replace organics that are eaten up by the soil microbiome.  IF you have significant clay, that will serve as a good cation exchange but if its sand and organics the organcics will disappear in a coule years of summer heat.  Soil with a poor cation exchange will end up causing microntrient deficiencies.

[NickJames]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

shouldnt be a problem lutecens will adapt as they grow in.  I prefer the way they look in shade but they can be a pretty good screen.  I am of the opinion that in sandy soil rock is a bad idea because the organics in the soil will be consumed but then how to you replace it as cation xchange medium?  With rock you dont put mulch down to replace organics that are eaten up by the soil microbiome.  IF you have significant clay, that will serve as a good cation exchange but if its sand and organics the organcics will disappear in a coule years of summer heat.  Soil with a poor cation exchange will end up causing microntrient deficiencies.

Thanks. The soil appeared to be clay in these locations. It was very difficult to dig. I was astounded. I was too deep to be fill they brought in. 

[NickJames]

The soil was bone dry so I watered this afternoon. 
 

PLUS just got a very heavy line of storms through that finally brought some relief. I’m sure everything will like the nice even soaking. 

[sonoranfans]

Nick,

If you have heavy clay, slow watering is more important.  Basically the water travels vertically down into the soil via gravity and sideways via runoff and capillary action.  This means it takes a long time to penetrate in depth.  As you make the flow higher it is mostly runoff.  If you look up drip irrigation websites this is explained. for example a dripper 2 gallons per hour for 5 hours will penetrate clay deeper than a 10 gallon dripper for one hour.   erming can help a little but the penetration depth is more effected by duration of the water event than any berming function.  This was why I was saying use the hose or soaker hose at a slower rate for a 3-5x longer period of time so you get deep penetration of the dry cycle.  I learned this in arizona where the clay was a very difficult dig and it worked like a charm..

[Allen]

Sunburn I'd guess.

https://www.junglemusic.net/palmadvice/palms-acclimation1.htm