Rhapis in trouble...

[NorCalWill]

It may be doomed at this point.

It is in a sheltered, filtered sun location in a pot, growing medium is organic potting soil.

It is watered every other day in the summer, relies on rain in the winter.

Fed weekly with liquid 16-16-16.

Leaves don't look healthy, and all new leaf spears are shriveled up and brown.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Could be fertilizer burn, use a slow release fertilizer instead. Could also be fungus, watering every other day is rather excessive. I water my potted raphis only once a week at most. They don't seem to need super moist conditions.

Given all the palm woes you are having and many of them fertilizer related, i would highly recommend you read up on the best practices in palm care. Palms don't have the same fertilizer requirements that other plants have.

[Hammer]

I agree with Axel. I would cease fertilizers right away. Back off on the water too. Although I might consider a reall heavy watering to flush out the excess ferts. Is your palm in the ground or a pot? If in a pot you will be able to rinse faster.

[NorCalWill]

Given all my palm woes?

Other than the Rhapis issue and a yellow leaf on my Washingtonia, things seem do be doing pretty good here.

Unfortunately for me, I am trying to grow palms in an area where I'd be having better luck growing grape vines.

As for watering of the Rhapis, I have done reading on the subject, and most resources recommond heavy regular watering. For example...

Watering Rhapis (from an online source)

Rhapis should be thoroughly watered by soaking or drenching the entire root system. They like their soil to stay moist. Drying the soil severely can cause the foliage to turn gray, and tips to burn.

If the soil becomes too moist, the soil can encourage root rot and damage will eventually show up in the foliage with browning tips, or spotting on the new growth.

In container grown Rhapis, the roots will be predominately at the bottom of the container rather then throughout. Keep this in mind when checking your soil moisture. The top may be dry but the bottom still wet.

I don't think it is an overwatering issue. My palm is in a clay pot with good drainage and is watered sparingly every other day, not drenched.

Once a week I have been giving it a shot of liquid 16-16-16 fertilizer, and perhaps I should go back to using Osmocote.

What would be helpful to know is how often other people water their Rhapis palms, how often and what type of fertilizer they use, and the results they are getting. I'm sure everyone does things slightly different, just as there is varying information in books and online.

Here is a picture of R. multifida, which I treat the same as excelsa. It looks much healthier. I believe the brown leaf ends are from winter.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

The other possibility is that if you keep giving it weekly liquid fertilizer shots, what you are seeing could be salt burn from accumulation of too much fertilizer at the bottom of the pot where most of the roots are. 16-16-16 is pretty wicked strong fertilizer, you're definitely better off with slow release palm fertilizer. I find that most palms benefit more from a degree of neglect when it comes to fertilizer, meaning that less is more. I fertilize once every 6 months with palm spikes and leave them alone otherwise. On the potted palms I add a few granules of slow release once a month.

I was just trying to be helpful, when you said you are fertilizing with a generic 16-16-16, I didn't think that's appropriate for palms, and you would actually benefit to read some articles on palm fertilizing. Micro-nutrients are critical and so is the K/Mg balance. Other plants don't care about that so much. You said you had issues with your washie, your braheas and now your raphis. I was just suggesting that a good slow release palm fertilizer will go a long way to make your palms happy, whether or not they grow in vine country. And there's always my personal recipe for the palm elixir of life - lutz spikes or vigoro granules and dolomite lime for most average palms and Lilly Miller camelia and rhododendron fertilizer along with lutz spikes or vigoro granules for acid loving palms like licuala. Then there is Matty's concrete chunks for palms that thrive on Calcareous soil.

BTW, I've been trying to grow grapes for years and they taste so bad that my wife says to just rip them out. We've tried for several years now, and I am at the point of giving up. I've tried a dozen varieties. If you have any tips, I'll take them.

[Hammer]

Rhapis should be thoroughly watered by soaking or drenching the entire root system. They like their soil to stay moist. Drying the soil severely can cause the foliage to turn gray, and tips to burn.

I don't think it is an overwatering issue. My palm is in a clay pot with good drainage and is watered sparingly every other day, not drenched.

Once a week I have been giving it a shot of liquid 16-16-16 fertilizer, and perhaps I should go back to using Osmocote.

The comments from your last post I included above, seem like clues to me. The source you cite says to soak the entire root system. Yet you mention that you are watering sparingly. That, coupled with the frequency of synthetic fertilizer use suggests you are getting a build up of salts and fertilizer because they aren't being washed out of the pot by a once a week or twice a month drenching. Also, the frequency but sparing watering regimen may be creating a lot of dry pockets and channeling when you do water. Which means, you have actually created what you want to avoid. An essentially dry rootball.

If I were in your shoes, I would...

• reduce watering frequency but really up the amount. soak the pot till it drains out the bottom. I would do it once and then come back 20 minutes later and do it again...each time you water. each palm and soil type will require different frequencies. so you will want to eyeball it to see what works best.

• cease fertilizing immediately. I would look at using a palm specific fertilizer like a vigoro brand...down the road. I would also reduce the frequency of fertilization to 6 to 8 weeks at a minimum. the long and short is, your palm will tell you if it needs more fertilizer than that.

Hope these thoughts are helpful.

[kwtimo]

If it were my Rhapis, I would most definitely treat with fungicide. I've had simialr looking issues in the past, and with fungicidal treatments have ceased the problem. Hydrogen Peroxide is a great, inexpensive way to contact kill anything fungal. Something longer lasting or sysemic should be applied a couple of days later. Hope that helps.

[NorCalWill]

Hammer, I think you're on to something.

Sometimes it helps to have someone point out the obvious.

Fungicide might be a good idea too.

Axel, the triple lutz spikes are in the mail.

Thanks everyone.

[Hammer]

Anytime.