Nannorrhops ritchiana and basic soils

[tank]

Had given up on two very nice Nannorrhops ritchianas that I had picked up a couple of years ago at one of the Fairchild sales. They've been in a very slow decline since I've planted them. I've attributed their decline to nematodes and have be treating both plants for this but nothing seemed to stem the decline. During the summer I planted out some native columbine that I picked up at one of the local native plant sales and the fellow I picked it up from advised me to take some of the larger chunks of crumbling limerock from the road that leads to my house and some of the limey sand and mix it in as I installed the columbine. As I was doing this I remembered Merrill Wilcox had mentioned that he attributed the success of his large N. ritchiana in town to the fact that it was growing under the concrete slab of the house. Assuming that the slab had raised the PH of the soil to the liking of the plant, I added some of the limerock to the soil around my dying mazari palm.

This week I decide i was going to rip out the carcass of the dead or dying palm and replace it with something else. Walked by it this morning and noticed two new and very healthy sprouts. Not even close to calling it a success but these two new sprouts look 100% better than the rest of the plant has looked for about a year or so. Going to pick up some dolomite this week and see if it helps this plant to recover.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Dolomite lime is buffered so you won't get much of a pH change. Try finding hydrated lime at a construction supplier. Azomite also raises pH.

Edit: hydrated lime is extremely potent, use at the rate of 1tbs per gallon or less. PH is 10 compared to dolomite which has a pH of 7.

[tank]

Right,

Probably just go get more limerock from the road.

[buffy]

It's not your pH, amigo. I have the "silver" and "Kashmir" type growing in my truely acid soils here in East Texas. They're growing very well. My two Mazari's are sitting under a pine tree growing in sand soils dressed with iron ore pea gravel. Drainage is usually the problem with Mazari. I can't discern much from a picture, but I'm wondering if all that organic material around the palms is holding more water than desired.

[tank]

Thanks Buffy,

Drainage is definitely not the problem. They are sitting in nice white sand that is about as well drained as you will find in Florida. I posted a picture of my Kashmir in another thread and it looks perfect in a nearby mulched bed. Also, the bed the Kashmir is in is lined by limerock boulders, one of which is about a foot away from the palm. I'm not saying that this is why the Kashmir is doing well and the standard N. ritchianas struggled, but it should be noted.

I am open to suggestions.

[tank]

Also,

This palm is not under, but very near a few large pines, I think you can see some pine needles in the photo. Haven't tested the soil but I'd imagine its more on the acidic side.

[buffy]

I hear you on the soils, but there's plenty of organic on the top. I don't have a clue. Outside of the nematode guess, I'd be curious about that mulch holding water and funk. If its getting better at the end of the summer, that would go along with the driest period for the surface mulch. The rest of the year, I'm betting that mulch stay moist and moldy. I doubt Mazari would ever be found in the wild with organics piled all around it. But again, I'm just stabbing in the dark.

[_Keith]

Well, just check this out.

http://exoten.dyndns.org/cgi-bin/hardy.cgi?function=2&index=EBCC2D87C8897639