Windmill Palm Taking A Turn For The Worst - Any Ideas

[Nascar360]

I have a Windmill palm that I have grown from seed. It is an indoor palm and has been doing fine the last 4 or 5 years. The leaves started to turn brown from the tips of the leaves and worked its way down the leaf. From the older leafs to the new ones. I thought it might be because it was root bound. I transplanted it and filled in the dirt with Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm & Citrus Soil. I soaked it good. That was two weeks ago. I purchased a Moisture meter which stated that it was still most. I don't know what to do? Am I hurting the plant by poking the meter in and out around the pot? The PH is different levels around the pot. 3.5 - 7. Should I remove the soil and mix in a little sand and repot it? The main leaves have started to get spots on them.

[John Case]

My guess is that it needs to get out of the pot and into ewither a larger pot or into the ground. If you live in a mild enough climate, this plant belongs outside.

If you have grown it in the pot for all of this time, these conditions probably exist:

1) The roots have grown as far as they can

2) Salts have accumulated and are causing your browning

3) Either the plant is getting too much or too little water (I would guess too much)

4) The plant needs sunlight, it should thrive in full sun

I hope this helps, but palms do better outside than inside as a rule (as I look at my H. belmoreana in pot across from my chair).

Good luck.

[PalmatierMeg]

The 3.5 pH sounds awfully acidic but I don't know what Trachycarpus requires. I can't grow them here (too hot). But I concur that you should plant it outdoors. It should survive outdoors in South Carolina. I have seen them in nurseries as far north as Virginia and I believe one of our forum members grows them in MD. This is not a palm that does well potted. It probably has an aggressive root system that wants to grow in the ground. Set it free.

[Mark_NoVA]

That looks very small for a Trachycarpus that age. Looks like it hasn't grown due to lack of sun and/or too small of a pot. I've had a couple of potted Trachycarpus that didn't grow too well, and they took up very little water--had problems with the soil staying too wet. So if you don't plant it out, my recommendation would be: more sun; water less until it starts growing better; larger pot. Seaweed fertilizer is a nice gentle fertilizer to try on a weak-looking plant like that.

You might want to just throw it away and start with a stronger palm before putting in much effort though--that plant might die anyway.

[peachy]

I have a Windmill palm that I have grown from seed. It is an indoor palm and has been doing fine the last 4 or 5 years. The leaves started to turn brown from the tips of the leaves and worked its way down the leaf. From the older leafs to the new ones. I thought it might be because it was root bound. I transplanted it and filled in the dirt with Miracle-Gro Cactus Palm & Citrus Soil. I soaked it good. That was two weeks ago. I purchased a Moisture meter which stated that it was still most. I don't know what to do? Am I hurting the plant by poking the meter in and out around the pot? The PH is different levels around the pot. 3.5 - 7. Should I remove the soil and mix in a little sand and repot it? The main leaves have started to get spots on them.

I don't know where you live but please put that poor little tree outside, they are a full sun palm and I am amazed it has lasted this long. They can survive frosts and even some snow and will survive temperatures of minus 10 C once established. Remember they come from way up in the Himalayas where it get extemely cold. A regular dose of seaweed liquid will increase a plants cold tolerance too.

Hope this helped,

Peachy

[kristof p]

i think the main cause of the damage on this palm is the very acidic ph of 3.5...they do grow good in acid soils but 3.5 is very very acidic!

they can be grown in the same small pot for many years but growth is very slow in such conditions but they wil stay healthy...

these T. fortuneis are growing in this sort of very small pot for over 5 years. they are small for their age but look healthy...

[DoomsDave]

Nascar!

Welcome to our merry band, and as you can see, we live to help with palm problems.

I note that you're in South Carolina. IF so, you have a good chance of getting your palm to thrive outdoors.

If you want to keep it inside, I'd repot it with some fresh soil, and "spell" it outside as much as you can.

If you 've had it in the pot as long as you have, that soil has probably lost all the humus and gotten very acid.

Where in SC are you?

[kahili]

Concerning the PH being 3.5, I have a hard time believing that. The only medium that has a PH that low is straight peatmoss (not the sterile soiless mix that contains peat, and has a lime charge) and I don't think that that was used. Also, you said that the readings were from 3.5 to 7, which tells me that it is the probe that is at fault here. I know that probes , even the most expensive ones, have been shown to be unreliable when you are looking for an accurate reading to the tenth of a point. This one sounds broken, so I wouldnt assume that the problem is acidity.

Since you said that you just repotted it, I would not repot it again, and cause more shock. I would try to stabilize it before you plant it , i.e. start to see a few new green leaves come up before you plant it as its easier to keep an eye on, and adjust the watering of a plant in a pot then one in the ground. But definitely this palm will do very well for you in the ground where you live. Because it is so small, it may need some protection during the coldest winter nights until it gets larger. You can plant it in the sun or shade-I have them in all types of sun/shade spots and they all will do fine. The ones that get more sun will grow faster and fuller.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

She needs to go outside , put a big wallop of cow or horse manure around it and watch it fly . A warm climate like South Carolina will be fine .

Welcome !

Troy

[Zayin]

My guess is lack of light. I have some wags that look like that if I have had them inside during the winter with less than adequate light. Usually they recover quite nicely.

[Ray]

Trachycarpus fortunei should grow outside anywhere in South Carolina. I can't think of a region in that state that doesn't have someone that I know growing them, so I vote for putting the palm outside. I would wait until the soil temperature rises a little, say around the first part of May, just to help it start. In all due respect to another post on this thread, I would plant it in an area where it receives filtered sun or even partial shade. Trachycarpus not only likes cooler climates, they seem to prefer them in most cases, and although they grow well in full sun, they also seem to do better in more shaded areas unless they are in more Northerly regions. They also thrive in the clay found in some parts of the Carolinas.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Ray

[kahili]

That would be me that said that they can go in full sun or shade. As I said before, I have them in full sun and they do fine-actually they grow fuller and faster than the ones that I have in shade or partial shade. I have one that I planted from a 3 gallon a few years ago-it was maybe 2.5' high from the pot to the top. Now it is over 7' high-thats 4.5' difference in under 3 yrs. To me, for here, thats fast growth. My oldest Trachy that is in quite a bit of shade, and is over 18 yrs old doesn't grow near that fast, and its because of the sun. I also did an experiment where I bought two exact same Trachys-same size and planted them on either side of my front door. The left side gets quite a bit more sun, and I was curious to see if there would be that much difference in growth. There is, so much so, that if I don't take down the magnolia that is shading the one on the right, then the difference is going to look pretty lopsided. The one in the sun is at least two feet higher and much fuller than the other one, and that is only from a few years.

I think the sun's strength is going to be pretty the same between here and SC. They both get extremely hot in the summer. All of the above Trachys went through a horrendous drought two summers ago-no rain and a lot of days in the hundreds. None of them blinked. I was fairly surprised that they did that well. So the point is-if you want faster growth and a fuller look, then give them more sun.

What I would be more concerned about is the small size of Nascars palm going in the ground and facing one of our winters that small in the ground. I would definitely protect it the first few winters when the temps go really low, at least until it gets some size to it. I am finally learning from experience to plant larger palms-to grow them out a few years before I get them in the ground.

[palmchap]

I think you need to plant it outside and add lime to get the ph up where it belongs. I live in arkansas and have one that is about 12 years old and several younger ones. I just don't think they do well in doors. However when Robert Fortune brought them to England in the mid 1800's they kept them in a green house because they assumed they were tropical. It is a wonder all of them didn't die off.

[Howeadypsis]

Trachycarpus,indoors?? They have them outdoors here in northern England,by the sea!