Is overwatering my royal palm causing ground around it to never dry out?

[Coasta]

Hello everyone! For the last few months I have noticed that the ground around my royal and sago palms seems to always be wet. I pulled the rock back and tried to determine if maybe its a lwak in the irrigation and I don't believe it is as i found the main irrigation line and there is no leak. 

Could this be caused by the amount of water I give my royal and Sago? It just seems odd that it is always wet, and even after leaving the soil uncovered from the rocks, its still pretty damp. 

Any ideas?

[palmsOrl]

I will say that royal palms like soil that stays moist to wet, even soggy (look at R. regia in habitat in many cases).  If the palm appears to be healthy and is growing and the wetness is not causing any other problems, I don't see any reason to change what you are currently doing.

As for the sago, does it appear to be healthy and is it putting out normal, healthy growth as expected?  I have seen sagos here in Florida growing in quite consistently moist soil without any issue but truly soggy, wet soil for prolonged periods would probably cause a sago to decline.

[Coasta]

Thanks Palms0rl, both the royal and Sago look pretty happy! Last flush I got from my sago was 31 leaves for my 31st birthday:). 

As far as the ground, is there a downside, especially in the winter from having the surrounding soil never drying out? Mold etc

[NickJames]

42 minutes ago, Coasta said:

Thanks Palms0rl, both the royal and Sago look pretty happy! Last flush I got from my sago was 31 leaves for my 31st birthday:). 

As far as the ground, is there a downside, especially in the winter from having the surrounding soil never drying out? Mold etc

I think it depends how cold the soil gets. You are in a much different climate than me, as we have extremely dry winters and extremely moist summers. My soil will not dry out until December on this lot. As someone mentioned, when you look at R. Regia in natural habitat in Florida, it sits in swamp and the native ones in Collier County have experienced foliage burn before from cold. 

[NickJames]

I think in your climate, it’s definitely going to prefer having moist soil to keep the roots cooler. My royals were absolutely scorched from planting in 90 degrees during late winter/early spring with zero rain from above. 

[Coasta]

Thanks NickJames!! I love how awesome this community is and how everyone is willing to help each other out.