Pritchardia woes

[Darold Petty]

I purchased a 25 gallon pot of Pritchardia minor about 2.5 years ago.  It was in very poor condition but I bought it anyway.  I am a hopeless optimist, and I assumed that I would be able to restore this palm to health over a period of time.  This has Not occurred.  The palm showed signs of severe potassium deficiency when purchased and I have applied large doses of glauconite (greensand), kelp extract, and fish emulsion.  The palm is essentially in the same condition as when purchased.  It holds about 3 to 5 good fronds, and the older ones show the same K deficiency.  It  wants to grow (see third photo), and grows new fronds at an acceptable rate, but loses the older ones at the same rate, so it does not increase the number of healthy fronds.  The newest frond seems smaller in surface area also.

  My next thought was that there is a pH imbalance in the medium.  I have only a very cheap pH meter, (< $20) which indicates 7.5, so no obvious answer there.  As I mentioned in other threads, the older I get the more ruthless I have become.  I am seriously considering to tip this palm out of the pot, wash off the old medium and re-pot with my known, very high quality potting medium.

  Has any one tried such a drastic therapy ?     I welcome all comments,  thanks !

[CodyORB]

7.5 pH isn't an obvious issue but could be improved in my eyes. According to this map by the Hawaiian CTAHR the higher elevations of Kauai (where P. minor is native) are below 5.8 pH.

Edited November 29, 2020 by CodyORB
Apparently the SF climate isn't the issue but the soil still is

[gurugu]

I am at 43ºN and this is my Pr. Minor. It´s been in the ground for 5 years now, with no problems. I dug a hole and the first 20 cm. is loamy soil, but then it is just sand. I don´t take care of it much, just water once a week in winter and twice in summer. Some fertilizer once a year and that´s all.

I also have Arecina in the ground and the same age.

And Martii and Munroi (I think, I´ll have to check it)

Also. This Hillebrandii has been in the ground for 13 years now. First 7 on the north side of the house, where it would  only grow 1 leaf a year,  and then, 5 years  in the sunniest place, where it sets 2/3 leaves a year. I also have half a dozen of them in the ground and they are happy. I think it is the best pritchardia for this kind of climate.

[Jan Jo]

Those are nice Pritchardias, congratulations! 

What type of climate do you have? Mediterranean? 

 

9 minutes ago, gurugu said:

I am at 43ºN and this is my Pr. Minor. It´s been in the ground for 5 years now, with no problems. I dug a hole and the first 20 cm. is loamy soil, but then it is just sand. I don´t take care of it much, just water once a week in winter and twice in summer. Some fertilizer once a year and that´s all.

I also have Arecina in the ground and the same age.

And Martii and Munroi (I think, I´ll have to check it)

Also. This Hillebrandii has been in the ground for 13 years now. First 7 on the north side of the house, where it would  only grow 1 leaf a year,  and then, 5 years  in the sunniest place, where it sets 2/3 leaves a year. I also have half a dozen of them in the ground and they are happy. I think it is the best pritchardia for this kind of climate.

 

[Jan Jo]

I've never tried something quite so drastic, but I do have a Pritchardia Minor seedling in the garden which I've dug up and moved twice, and it withstood that stress both times without any issues.. So it's resilient in that sense. Hope that helps (a little).. 

[gurugu]

Hi Jan Jo. Thanks.

I live just "opposite" from you, in northern Spain , on the northen coast.

As you already know, climate here is Atlantic temperate. Very mild all through the year, very rainy too: 1200 litres a year , and not enough sunny 1800 hours of sunshine a year. The place I have the garden is in a 10A zone.

Yours is real mediterranean and very easy for many palms.

Un saludo

[Palm Tree Jim]

Darold,

I say go for it. My minor was never happy and finally met the compost bin.

[Jan Jo]

2 hours ago, gurugu said:

Hi Jan Jo. Thanks.

I live just "opposite" from you, in northern Spain , on the northen coast.

As you already know, climate here is Atlantic temperate. Very mild all through the year, very rainy too: 1200 litres a year , and not enough sunny 1800 hours of sunshine a year. The place I have the garden is in a 10A zone.

Yours is real mediterranean and very easy for many palms.

Un saludo

Have sent you a PM so as not to hijack the thread...

 

[quaman58]

Darold, I have the same version of "minor" in my garden. It too was a pain when it was smaller, always needing (or lacking) some micronutrient or another. But after a few years in the ground it does seem to be growing out of those problems. More often than not, most of my Pritchardias show micro- deficiencies in the older leaves; certain species more than others. Here's a picture from this afternoon, notice the older leaf..I believe yours may be from the same seed batch, no? 

[Darold Petty]

Wow, that really does look like a sibling.  I have decided to change the medium and downsize back to a 15 gallon pot.  My yard is so tiny and so congested that I can't really ground plant unless a palm grows well first,  while still potted.       Photos to follow.  Thanks !

[Steve Mac]

My P. hillebrandii in Sydney always looks bad, Full sun/wind, Easterly aspect, a minute walk to the Pacific Ocean may be half of its problems. The other half being 6" of soil over building site rubbish. We just had two days of heatwave conditions too. It happens about once a year, it always surprises me, all year full sun then one day is a scorcher and a quarter of my plants are burnt. Some can only acclimatize up to a certain point I guess. 

 

And this is from underneath a 'good' leaf.

[akamu]

I use this stuff on all my pritchardia and it works very well it might help yours as well. Plus it has the added benefit of sulfur

[Darold Petty]

Thanks Adam.  I still plan to downsize this palm back to a 15 gallon pot, since that is the largest size gopher basket I use. I plan to leave the palm in the smaller pot for a year to observe any improvement. The yards around my perimeter are not cared for, and gophers live there with no controls.  I trapped one yesterday that was the Arnold Schwarzenegger of gophers, took me a week to get him. 

 (He killed entirely an adult plant of Polymnia maculata.)

[Darold Petty]

Ok, the deed is done;  Here are images of the downsized re-pot effort.  There were a lot of dead roots down near the bottom of the original 25 gallon pot,  see photo with spade beneath grey-black roots. The pH there was about 8.5.  I knocked off nearly all the original medium, trimmed off the dead roots, and re-potted back down to a 15 gallon pot with a very high quality potting mix, one that I have used for many years.   I took Akamu's advice and added Sul-Po-Mag to the new pot also. 

(3 tablespoons for the 15 gallon pot,  is this enough??).

   I moved the smaller pot to a slightly more sunny location as well.
  This is sort of a problem, because now I have three variables, new medium, increased light, and Sul-Po-Mag additive,  so I won't be able to determine the controlling factor should this palm increase its vigor and healthfulness.

 I will bookmark this operation on my desktop calendar and update this thread in December, 2021.