Dactilifera Transplanting Advice - San Diego

[Acheron800 6]

Brought in 5 females and 2 machos. 

Holes were big, very little root ball on a couple had to trimmed to fit the actual holes.

The holes seemed to be a mix of clay and sand. It rained a few days prior to transplanting and water stood in a few of the holes. One had about 4 inches of water so drainage is a concern. I'm looking to avoid rot and over water.

Most of the holes I got (2) 4" perforated pipes in with gravel. A couple I could only fit 1. So I have that to work with.

Planted Thursday, backfilled with washed concrete sand and some of the existing soil as we were running low on sand. Watered to compact at time of planting. Yesterday we made wells and watered each tree with 2 capfuls of superthrive in the well. Not the tubes.

My biggest concern and what I need advice on is watering schedule, superthrive amounts and schedule and fertilizer if need be. 

I am leaving out of town for 2.5 weeks after Christmas and need to advise my guys what to watch out for.

 

A question I had, should I pull out the gravel out of a tube per tree to check for water and moisture levels?

How much should I water, how much superthrive and how often, should I introduce any magnesium or B12 at this point? What do I watch out for?

Also how long to leave the fronds tied up for. We are getting rain next week for a few days. 28mph wind gusts and about an inch total on the forecast. Soil this morning in the wells still looks moist. Location is San Diego CA.

 

Thank you for any and all advice, read through a few threads before joining and the community seems super informative. 

[AZ_Palm_Guy 54]

@Acheron800 Welcome to Palm Talk! You received some beautiful specimen date palms. Who did you end up purchasing them from?

How long was water sitting in the holes for? A few hours? A few days?

On watering schedule it's dependent on the weather. Now that we are entering "winter" palms require less watering during this time of the year. As spring and summer approach you will adjust and up your watering. For example here in AZ where I'm at we have wet winters. It has rained twice this month already. So I will not need to water my palms unless we dont receieve anymore rain this month, January or February. But in the summer where im at I water my palms once a week with deep/long waterings. I only do once a week in the summer because my soil is heavy clay and doesn't drain as well. I've had my palms for about 2 years now and they seem to enjoy my schedule I have for them. The most important thing is to spend time with your plants. It sounds crazy but the more you pay attention to them you can start to notice little changes.

I would wait to fertilize until next year(April/May), allow your palms to establish themselves a bit. You don't want to fertilize them now and seriously damage or kill your palms.

Clay soil is tricky, it may look dry on the surface but 1-2 feet down it could still be wet. But since yours is a mix the best thing to do is just test with your finger or screwdriver.

The outer fronds will dry up as the palm is putting effort into the roots. Don't be too concerned if that happens, but if the browning doesn't stop you could have a serious issue. As far as leaving them tied up, I would say leave them until spring. This will protect the growth point from the weather.

You can also pull out the gravel to check the moisture deep down if that helps. 

Hopefully someone else can jump in and answer some more of your questions or offer great advice! Here is a picture of my date palm that has been in the ground over a year and a half now. It was a transplant and has grown incredibly fast. Best of luck with your palms!

[Acheron800 6]

1 minute ago, AZ_Palm_Guy said:

@Acheron800 Welcome to Palm Talk! You received some beautiful specimen date palms. Who did you end up purchasing them from?

How long was water sitting in the holes for? A few hours? A few days?

On watering schedule it's dependent on the weather. Now that we are entering "winter" palms require less watering during this time of the year. As spring and summer approach you will adjust and up your watering. For example here in AZ where I'm at we have wet winters. It has rained twice this month already. So I will not need to water my palms unless we dont receieve anymore rain this month, January or February. But in the summer where im at I water my palms once a week with deep/long waterings. I only do once a week in the summer because my soil is heavy clay and doesn't drain as well. I've had my palms for about 2 years now and they seem to enjoy my schedule I have for them. The most important thing is to spend time with your plants. It sounds crazy but the more you pay attention to them you can start to notice little changes.

I would wait to fertilize until next year(April/May), allow your palms to establish themselves a bit. You don't want to fertilize them now and seriously damage or kill your palms.

Clay soil is tricky, it may look dry on the surface but 1-2 feet down it could still be wet. But since yours is a mix the best thing to do is just test with your finger or screwdriver.

The outer fronds will dry up as the palm is putting effort into the roots. Don't be too concerned if that happens, but if the browning doesn't stop you could have a serious issue. As far as leaving them tied up, I would say leave them until spring. This will protect the growth point from the weather.

You can also pull out the gravel to check the moisture deep down if that helps. 

Hopefully someone else can jump in and answer some more of your questions or offer great advice! Here is a picture of my date palm that has been in the ground over a year and a half now. It was a transplant and has grown incredibly fast. Best of luck with your palms!

Thanks for the post. 

Purchased from WD Young in Indio. My dad has purchased hundreds from them in the past. Great company and got free delivery.

We pumped the water out, we had a huge storm (by San Diego standards) on Tuesday. Wednesday we pumped out and prepped the holes a little better. Thursday we planted.

[AZ_Palm_Guy 54]

@Acheron800 I took a look at their website, and they definitely have some beautiful specimens! Gotta love that free shipping! 

That's good to hear you pumped out the water and prepped a bit more. I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy those palms for many years to come.

[Acheron800 6]

Revisiting this.

Trees look great, everything seems to be going well.

I do have an issue.

I pulled all the gravel out of the feeding tubes because I was curious if any of my root balls were sitting in water.

1 of my females has about 24" of water and another has 6". The rest have no standing water.

It is surely a drainage problem.

How do I go about this?

Tomorrow I was going to suck all the water out and keep doing that and hold off on watering those trees for a little while.

Any other advice? What to look for? Water schedule on those 2 trees?

Any input is much appreciated.

Edited to add..

Those winds, lol. Xmas eve, woke up and had to call my buddy with a jeep and a winch. Good times.

Edited February 8 by Acheron800