Bismarckia seedling tips turning brown?

[CTho]

I have some year-old Bismarckia seedlings that have been growing outdoors in 14” deep treepots, mostly in coco coir with various mixes (some compost, some worm castings, some nothing else).  I did fertilize months ago with some Palm Gain but haven’t re-fertilized.  Any idea what would cause the leaves to start turning brown from the tips?  They’re being mostly watered by rain right now, and other plants have been lush all spring from the rain...although these pots drain much better than local clay soil.

Oh, and I have had squirrel trouble with some digging in the top inch or two of soil of some of the containers.

[Rickybobby]

Are the roots sitting in water. Bismarks are very hardy but I lost one to root rot. It’s too browned like yours. Water was never an issue 

[Hillizard]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:34 AM, CTho said:

I have some year-old Bismarckia seedlings that have been growing outdoors in 14” deep treepots, mostly in coco coir with various mixes (some compost, some worm castings, some nothing else).  I did fertilize months ago with some Palm Gain but haven’t re-fertilized.  Any idea what would cause the leaves to start turning brown from the tips?  They’re being mostly watered by rain right now, and other plants have been lush all spring from the rain...although these pots drain much better than local clay soil.

Oh, and I have had squirrel trouble with some digging in the top inch or two of soil of some of the containers.

To deter squirrels and scrub jays from digging in your pots, you could place small stones around each plant in the containers. Works for me. I also leave out decoy pots with just soil and no plants, to lure the critters to mess with them and leave my plants alone. 

[CTho]

19 hours ago, Rasta Rob said:

Are the roots sitting in water. Bismarks are very hardy but I lost one to root rot. It’s too browned like yours. Water was never an issue 

Nope, I’ve been careful about that - these are slightly elevated on a little cookie cooling-rack type thing. I have others that might have experienced wet roots, but definitely not these four in the box. I hope it’s not root damage!

[Steve Mac]

I can see that you are aware that they do need deep pots but they still may not deep enough. You could also carefully tap off one of those tall pots and check the root condition.

Here are some pots that I have used successfully.