Hello everyone I am Matt, this past weekend my wife jumped the gun and had two Palms planted in the back yard. The palm tree guy said one is a Sabal Palmetto, i think cabbage, and the other is a Pindo Palm (jelly). The Sabal is approx 15ft tall and the pindo is approx 12 feet at top of leaves. I am looking for a good link to review on water requirements, an estimate on age of both, fertilizer, general care, i live in Chesapeake, VA which is basically in North East NC. Zone 8A 7B. The soil is a dark rich soil with a little sandy loam.

The fence is a 7ft privacy fence for reference. Ill get a better photo of the pindo when it clears up here.

Pindo palm recieves about 8 hours direct sun rest is early morning shade

Sabal gets 10-12 hours of direct sun.

Edited June 4, 201313 yr by GoolsbyMD

Nice palms, I wish we could get such big sabals here in California.

Go to home depot and buy the palm fertilizer spikes and follow the instructions, they work like a charm. I also recommend getting some dolomite lime for the sabal. Water the sabal real well on a regular basis and it will grow well for you. The pindo doesn't require as much water, in fact, it will do better if you let it dry a little between waterings. The pindo will require some protection in the Winter, it's only hardy to about 19F. The sabal is supposed to take 10F but will get leaf damage below 10F.

The age or the palms isn't that relevant, depends on where they were grown. Your sabal looks taller than 15 feet.

A word of caution before buying soil additives. I've had some more experienced growers pound into my head...get a soil test before you buy soil amendments especially ones that start messing with the pH. Chances are, since you are on the East Coast you have more acidic soil than we do in the West. So the lime won't be a bad idea. But you never know. Always smart to test.

Ill swing my Home Depot and get the soil tester, been needing to do that anyways. As far as fertilizer i have a 50lb bag that came with the palms ill look at it i think its like 13-13-13 or around there, it is 5am here though so could be way off. Thanks, i have been watering both about the same, ill cut back on the pindo some. I also purchased two books on palms but they don't get here till Friday. Ill get more pictures if its clear today

I am with Hammer here-never change your PH without knowing what the PH is already and how much you want to change it (how many points or tenths of points).

I also think that the Butia will prove hardier than the S. palmetto. I have never been able to keep a S. palmetto alive through a winter here in Raleigh-even wrapping it on really cold nights, but Butias are no problem at all. You don't have to worry about 18 degrees with that Butia. The more years it has to get rooted in, the better the chances of surviving a really cold winter.

As to the fertilizer-triple 13 sounds like a quick release fert to me-but not sure of that. Always know exactly what the fert will do before you use it-i.e. release the entire load right away or is it a slow release, and if so-at what soil temps does it release at and how long will it continue to release at? Also how much of it should you use per plant? Obviously the amt that you use now will be less than when the palm has more roots (next year etc). You use much less of a quick release fert than a slow release fert (which doesn't release all at once), but you have to reapply a quick release more.. You should call the guy that installed them and see what he says about the triple fert and how much to use of it as he must be familiar with that fert if he gave it to you.

As to watering-I think that because they were both just transplanted, they both need watering the same this summer-but only when the ground has dried out some. Never water really wet soil. You can stick your finger down a few inches in the soil right next to the trunk (where all the roots are right now) and see how dry/wet it is down a few inches to determine if you need to water. The trick with newly transplanted plants is to not let the soil dry out all the way, but not water so much that there is no oxygen in the soil to aid the roots in growing and they start to rot.

Hello from Virginia Beach! For those of you who live far away, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach share borders. Welcome to Palmtalk.

The Southeastern Palm Society is another great resource and there is even a local IPS member who sells palms in her nursery when you are ready to add more. My husband tends our hardy palms and has plenty of Trachcarpus fortunei (Windmill palms) he's always glad to give away. PM me if you are interested. Trachs are certainly extremely hardy and care free for us.

Your new palms instantly turned your backyard into a tropical paradise and I know you are enjoying them!

Thank you for the advance, i hope the sabal lives, the farm we bought it from is based out in VA Beach. He guarntees them to last through the first winter and swore up and down they won't die if we wrap them, so we will see. Ok the fertilizer is Lesco Professional Palm Fertilizer its a 13-3-13 my eyes tricked me. I also checked out the SEpalm group however when I went on the forum it looks like there have only been a few posts since last year, i didn't want to spend some money on a random group that is dead, however i think there is more than just that one site so ill look into it more. Ill curb the watering some now, it was watered last three days in a row so ill let it dry up some. Below are some more pictures of the palms now that the weather is more photogenic.

Edited June 4, 201313 yr by GoolsbyMD