Mauritia flexuosa

[Peter Pacific]

The Mauritia seeds were planted last year and started growing like a rocket. Then I started to notice one with yellowing leaves so I moved it to the shadehouse, even though I thought these palms liked the sun as long as they received plenty of water. It has since declined and now I noticed two others in another pot with the same problem. The get watered everyday and get fertilized periodically. I have not dug them up to see what's happening with the roots. Can anybody help me? Thanks, Peter

[Kris]

Dear Peter

Here also i see that this palm is getting over dosage of fert.And do you use chemical based fertz or organic ?

So the formula is the same here too,never fertz this palm for a year.It should recover fully.Then switch to organic mannure.And are you watching when fertz are administred to your plants.If not then from now on try to supervise..since some of your palms are exhibiting signs of burn due to over dosage.Since mulch & top dressing of the soil is sufficinet for your soil conditions.

Love,

kris

[Peter Pacific]

oh my gosh....Kris I was just about to respond to this post when we had a tremor and earth tremor so strong I am still shaking...the water in the pool is swelling back and forth and my legs have gone limp...after living in Guatemala for so long I am used to tremors but, wow, that was a strong one and right after what happened in Haiti.

Breathe deeply...and about that post...I will follow your suggestion here too. thanks, Peter

[Kris]

Dear Peter

I hope that is not a serious one...and my prayers are with you.

Keeps us updated as to what is happening in your country.

I think the palate or the rift below are moving to adjust it self.

Few years back that happened in south asia.India,maldives,srilanka,

malaysia,indonesia,parts of andaman nicobar islands was severely affected by tremmors leading to tsunani attck in south india.

kris.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Peter,

My three Mauritia look exactly like that too. I can't figure out what is going on. They didn't start to decline until I repotted them into bigger pots. I noticed when I transplanted them that the roots had not filled the old container. In fact, there was not much of a rootball at all. Have you repotted yours in the last few months?

[Really full garden]

I am happy to report mine are flawless.

These need to be kept pots with saucers filled with water - not just watered well. I also suspect the incredibly strong winds we had last week.The salt air blew much farther inland than normal.

The earthquake was 6.0 and the epicenter was just 60kms to the east - and yes it was a strong jolt,all is well here - my dogs are still spooked.

Scott

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks Scott, I will try putting them in a saucer of water. They are currently in pots that are too big for their root system and the soil stays wet all the time so I am not sure if that is the problem. We don't get high winds here, yet my plants look exactly like Peter's. Mine were flawless until I repotted them. If they survive until May, they will go in the ground as soon as the rainy season starts.

[Peter Pacific]

Hi Jeff, No the mauritias have not been replanted recently, and, mine too, are always moist and the worst of the three do have a plate underneath them. I will follow Kris and Scott's suggestions and see whats happens.

We had an aftershock about a half an hour ago. The volcanoes have been quite active too, thank God, it releases the pressure but plate shifting always makes one pause! Peter

[amazondk]

I don´t know if this helps. But the Mauritias here mostly grow in sandy soil which stays moist all year long. And, is flooded seasonally.

And, in healthy stands the water circulates and does not become stagnate.

dk

[Peter Pacific]

Thanks, Don, the buritis are beautiful, I hope mine makes it! Peter

[Gileno Machado]

I've killed many Mauritias in my first attempts and I guess they don't like clay mix added to the soil. After some months they stop growing and start browning the leaflet tips, for no reason...Maybe it's a pH matter...these are not easy palms in cultivation, at least not in pots...Good luck Peter, and hopefully the earthquake didn't result in much damage for Guatemala.

[basilios]

My two cents : I have never tried to grow mauritias, but the plants in the photos look EXACTLY like a number of my palms used to look a couple of years back - chlorotic leaves with necrotic spots on them and every new leaf looking worse than the others. I looked in my books and I found that this was most likely "iron deficiency", caused not by the lack of iron but by the fact that the constantly wet heavy, or poor quality, soil didn't let the roots breath and absorb nutrients. What I did was that I immediatley changed the soil of all the affected palms, put them in a better draining one, and cut down the watering to about half. As a result, all the surviving palms (cause I did loose a good number of them from this problem) recovered within the next couple of months and they're fine now.

This is a photo of my sabal mauritiformis and you can see that some of the older leaves show a very similar to your mauritias' kind of damage. In fact this palm is still recovering after almost a year...

[ariscott]

It hasn't happened to mine (touch wood), but I heard that they don't like root disturbance. A guy in Cairns lost a few by repoting and disturbing the roots. Mine are in 200mm pots, and as soon as they fill up the pots, I will plant them in the ground... with irrigation during the dry season...

I will take photos when I do that, Don :).

Regards, Ari

[Kris]

The earthquake was 6.0 and the epicenter was just 60kms to the east - and yes it was a strong jolt,all is well here - "my dogs are still spooked".

Scott

I had that experience with our pets too !

[amazondk]

Here is the perfect environment for Mauritias, the grove in the stream bed at my place in the country up the Negro River.

dk

[Jose Maria]

Hi Peter,

I was just watching the Guatemalan television( one of the cable-channels here) when they interrupted the program to anounce the tremors...Good thing in Central America we kind of expect these earthquakes to happen sooner or later.

As to the Mauritias, mine did not make it in a flowerpot( with stagnant water...)...instead a friend that planted them at the same time in his yard in soil, (during the rainy season) and those are just fine.

I guess we should heed the recomendation of amazondk, lots of water but not stagnant.

[redant]

I don´t know if this helps. But the Mauritias here mostly grow in sandy soil which stays moist all year long. And, is flooded seasonally.

And, in healthy stands the water circulates and does not become stagnate.

dk

Mine is planted in wet sand that never dries out and floods frequently in the summer, it looks marvelous even after all this cold.

[amazondk]

Since we are on the subject and I live in the Mauritia mother load of the world I took a few pictures in a vacant lot near my office after lunch. The soil here is sandy and moist all year. But, it is not flooded to any exent during the year normally. You can see some seedlings in full sun.

dk

And, there was a little Euterpe olearcea growing in the grove.

[Lowey]

Nice pics Don,I wish they would grow like that for me.

Also some of the posts about an iron deficiency are correct I think, muddy clay soils instead of sandy.

[Kris]

Dear Don

Lovely visuals..

thanks & love,

kris

[_Keith]

Yes, lovely, thank you.

[Peter Pacific]

Well, after reading everybody´s posts I think the best thing is to put the Mauritias in the ground. I am trying not to move things once there in the ground (it has been a problem for me) so I will find a spot and plant them.

Peter

(There was no damage from the earthquake, whose epicenter was directly east of me in the Pacific, but last night I went to see Avatar, which was great, and just about the time when the big tanks were knocking down some beautiful trees we had another tremor...at first I thought it was part of the special effects!)

[Z4Devil]

Hi, Peter -

I am not sure if this is correct but in my humble opinion it looks like a combination of too much water and too cold soil. The Mauritia seems to has sick roots ... a typical sign of root rot ... your Mauritia seems to have lack of nutrition, chlorosis definitely.

Did you ever try to put a single plant in the pot, not three together? Try this first before you put them in the ground.

Much luck for you.

Best regards, Verena

Edited January 22, 2010 by Z4Devil

[Jose Maria]

Hi Peter,

Plant a nice grove of them in a humid area, they are dioecious, so you need males and females in a few years from now to get seeds!They are big palms!

In Costa Rica they do fine on the South-Pacific coast.