Ensuring a queen palm looks it’s best in Florida?

[chad2468emr]

Hi everyone - 

I’ve always had an immense love / hate relationship with queen palms. When they look good, they look amazing! Those real thick trunks, long dark-green graceful fronds, and full crowns look great. But when they look bad, they look BAD. Spindly, skinny irregular trunks, yellowing, overall emaciated bean pole aesthetic. 

I’m finally interested enough to get a small potted specimen as my project of the weekend, but I’m unsure if I’m ready to make the leap if I can’t guarantee that I don’t end up with one of those spindly, ugly-looking things. 

Any tips to help ensure I end up with one of the thick, tall, massive crowns that I like? I briefly recall reading somewhere on here that Florida isn’t ideal for them, and can’t recall why. Nutrients lacking? Some type of pest? Is genetic variation at play too? Is there any sort of sign I should look for in a 5-7 gal specimen that indicates it will be thicker and fuller once it’s larger? 

[JLM]

Loads of water a fertilizer is the trick.

[Bill H2DB]

15 minutes ago, JLM said:

Loads of water a fertilizer is the trick.

   Water and fertilizer as JLM said . They like a lot of both . Neutral to acid side soil is best .

 When buying , it is better to get one that is not even close to being root bound . Size at purchase is way less important than the

plant never having been restricted .   They are very fast growers , and will quickly make up the diff.

   The range of appearance etc seen in Queens is mostly siting and lack of care .

The old neighborhoods in central Florida that are on high well drained soil , always have horror shows in many yards , with unwatered Queens .

Usually , close by , lush ones can be seen , and those yards also are much better overall , due to better care .

Frizzy Top also shows up often in the bad yards .

   Chances are , you can scrounge up some seeds , and sometimes sprouts in parks , or along sidewalks here and there .

The same thing can be seen in Canary Island Date palms in the same locations . There's a few around here ,  that I have been seeing for 40+ yrs in

yards , as above , that are basically Bonsai , and have changed very little since I first saw them . Those yards are usually Sandspur filled as well .

[PalmatierMeg]

Agree with @JLM. They are water and fertilizer hogs. Also, mulch well all around them esp if you have the calcareous, alkaline, sandy dreck that passes for soil in much of FL. Queens really hate that. Regular mulch will gradually amend that to an extent. Queens are a Class II invasive in FL but as most people don't take care of them they don't have as much opportunity to wreak havoc. Be aware they are prime targets for fusarium will - as are mules - so don't let tree trimmers touch them with unsterilized equipment.

[sonoranfans]

Because they are fertilizer pigs without peer, high drainage soil is a curse and rain just rinses it away.  they also dont ike alkaline soil.  I have never seen a florida queen that came close to my well fed arizona queens planted in mostly clay.  Sometimes its best to take what mother nature gives you, use what you have and give up what is not supported by the conditions around you.  In the desert, archies dont look so good, too much leaf transpiration.  In the humid florida climate, desert palms are sickly looking, IMO.  Brahea armata, washie filifera, p. dactylifera, CIPD can be grown here but after seeing them out west all I can think is they are unhappy, tortured.  If you have clay soil, you might do OK here in florida with queens, but sand or limestone rock soil and they will look like crap.

[Philly J]

In this terracotta I am getting 2 inches of spear push a week.  Also, indoors as I am in zone 3b  don’t worry everyone! She was just in that spot for photographic purposes!  

Edited April 17, 2021 by Philly J

[Philly J]

[PalmatierMeg]

I got my first queen palm back in the 80s when I lived in Fairfax County, VA. The owner of the stand where I bought it called it, "Princess Palm" (aaawwww) and it totally fascinated me. In those pre-internet years I had little access to info or support so I treated it like a coconut - outdoors in its pot from April to October, then indoors over the winter to my front Florida room (really). A bit extreme for a queen perhaps worked well overall. I had a terrible time with mites though.

[chad2468emr]

Thanks everyone! You encouraged me to make the leap, haha. 

I spent a good six hours driving around on Sunday looking for a 1 gal queen palm. Wanted one so small to avoid any type of initial root bound situation like @Bill H2DB mentioned was important. Typically I see them EVERYWHERE when I’m not looking for them, (and then throw my internal tantrums over everyone only selling the same 4-7 palm species) but all I was able to find were 7 ish gal ones that were beyond root bound. Figures as soon as I’m LOOKING for something, it’s gone missing. I will keep trying though and I’m sure I’ll post a pic here once I’ve found one!  

[chad2468emr]

On 4/17/2021 at 2:37 PM, PalmatierMeg said:

I got my first queen palm back in the 80s when I lived in Fairfax County, VA. The owner of the stand where I bought it called it, "Princess Palm" (aaawwww) and it totally fascinated me. In those pre-internet years I had little access to info or support so I treated it like a coconut - outdoors in its pot from April to October, then indoors over the winter to my front Florida room (really). A bit extreme for a queen perhaps worked well overall. I had a terrible time with mites though.

When I was a teenager living in upstate NY, I did the same with a queen. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept it alive for years until my mom “accidentally” left it outside until December when I was away in college down here in FL, haha. Mites were pretty bad on it as well! Pretty much never went away from October - April when it was put back outside. 

[donalt]

queen palms that are watered, fertilized and overall well maintained can and do look amazing. unforturnately, so many people take them so for granted that they do nothing to take care of them and hence, they have earned a bad reputation.  i have a gorgeous queen palm and will defend them always.

[Palmfarmer]

Soil is obviously number 1. I would try this in the areas you plan to put in clay loving palms. 2 feed it with a good palm fertlizer and water.

 

[Dartolution]

Sounds like you've got some solid advice here. Agree on all points mentioned with one addition. 

Since you are likely dealing with fairly sandy soil, the addition of compost and organic mater helps tremendously as well as using a product from Espoma called Soil Acidifier. 

That in combination with the above mentioned, and regular maintenance (additions of compost regularly) helps. 

Use anything you can, homemade compost, used coffee grounds, bark chips, aged manures, etc....