Foxy Lady in Trouble!

[ChrisJordanDDS]

Hello, I'm a novice collector and bought a 15 gallon foxy lady from a seller in Temecula, CA about 2 and a half weeks ago. It had seen snow (!) in early January and so was a little beat up, but healthy. It had one healthy leaf and an emerging spear.

I had noticed it looking a little more droopy the last couple days and yesterday noticed that the one healthy leaf it had has "snapped" in the middle. I marked the spear the day it was delivered, and there has been zero growth (I wouldn't be concerned with that at this point, except that the leaf has now snapped)

I was advised by the seller to apply a kelp extract/ water mix, then heavy water every other day, with superthrive/ water every five days. Repeat the kelp extract/ water mix in 2 weeks. He thinks that the pot got over-heated and damaged the roots, causing the wilting, even though temperatures have been mostly in the 70's with a couple of days in the 80's, and the pot gets some afternoon sun protection from my adjacent pool fence.

Does anyone have any other ideas about what could be going on here? I'm really worried about losing this rare specimen... and have gone from super excited to super disappointed over the last two weeks.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Chris, First, welcome to the forum. Do you know if this palm was field grown, dug up, and then placed in its pot? Another possibility that could be of concern is, if it was pot grown and roots had exited the drain holes and anchored into the ground, they may have been severed when lifting the pot from the ground. Either way, it does look like some sort of root trauma. I'd water it well daily. These foxy lady palms are thirsty and it's nearly impossible to overwater them.

Good luck with her. Does the nursery have a guarantee?

[Pando]

If it had some sort of prior trauma, I'd move it to partial shade until it has recovered enough. The pool fence isn't nearly high enough for any shade for the entire plant, and it looks like the leaves are getting full sun most of the day, probably with low humidity. I have 2 smaller foxys, and they were sensitive to repotting; it stunted their growth for several months. It's a bad combination for the palm to deal with root trauma and to fight full scorching sun at the same time.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Pando

[Dypsisdean]

You said, "I marked the spear the day it was delivered, and there has been zero growth."

If you meant the spear has not moved at all, then your palm was in trouble from day one. Even in the slowest sickliest palm, you should notice some movement of the spear - even 1/8 of an inch in a week assures that your palm is still alive. But if there is actually "zero" movement, your palm is probably already dead. It just doesn't know it yet.

[Pete in Paradise Hills]

Hello, I'm a novice collector and bought a 15 gallon foxy lady from a seller in Temecula, CA about 2 and a half weeks ago. It had seen snow (!) in early January and so was a little beat up, but healthy. It had one healthy leaf and an emerging spear.

IMG_4048.JPG

I had noticed it looking a little more droopy the last couple days and yesterday noticed that the one healthy leaf it had has "snapped" in the middle. I marked the spear the day it was delivered, and there has been zero growth (I wouldn't be concerned with that at this point, except that the leaf has now snapped)

IMG_4189.JPG

I was advised by the seller to apply a kelp extract/ water mix, then heavy water every other day, with superthrive/ water every five days. Repeat the kelp extract/ water mix in 2 weeks. He thinks that the pot got over-heated and damaged the roots, causing the wilting, even though temperatures have been mostly in the 70's with a couple of days in the 80's, and the pot gets some afternoon sun protection from my adjacent pool fence.

Does anyone have any other ideas about what could be going on here? I'm really worried about losing this rare specimen... and have gone from super excited to super disappointed over the last two weeks.

you deserve a refund.

[LJG]

Most likely a resold Rancho Soledad plant or a Florida import from Sparkman. That thing is so root bound that you need to do slow drip like they do or just plant it. I highly recommend that you just plant this. A plant like this that makes tons of roots hates being in a pot made for Hawaii or FL.

[Matt in OC]

I'm with Len. It never ceases to amaze me how little water rootbound palms in pots get, even if you soak them everyday.

[ChrisJordanDDS]

By the looks of it, drying and wilting, what're the odds of a rebound if I get it in the ground with profuse water?

From what I understand, this tree has been in the pot all along and was not recently potted from a field grown specimen. I've always heard that Foxy Lady's like sun and are somewhat drought tolerant... for this amount of damage after just a couple of weeks at my place during a relatively mild stretch, weather-wise, and with a pretty large specimen, I'm shocked at how quickly it's deteriorated.

[Jim in Los Altos]

First off, Foxy Ladies aren't particularly drought tolerant. Secondly, drought tolerance is typically referring to in ground established plants. A potted palm, drought tolerant or not, needs watering much more often than one in the ground that's established. Foxy Lady palms are incredibly fast growing palms and I think yours has a fighting chance if you get it in the ground ASAP and keep it's rootball watered. Mine's established and I still water it almost daily.

[ChrisJordanDDS]

I moved the pot to a shadier spot in my yard and applied copious water this morning, and went home at lunch and gave it another soaking. Since the broken frond is still green, I decided to try to splint it and hope that with enough water and TLC the frond will stay alive and be able to help provide photosynthesis for the struggling tree. I used a 4 foot bamboo stick I bought at Home Depot and tied it to the broken leaf. Hopefully my Macgyver trick helps...

[Ben in Norcal]

I had a Foxy Lady decline in a similar way, due to root disturbance. They really don't like that...

[ChrisJordanDDS]

I had a Foxy Lady decline in a similar way, due to root disturbance. They really don't like that...

Did it recover??? (fingers crossed...)

[mnorell]

Do you have a FULL shade spot under some trees or overhang? If I were in your position I would find a very large container and fill it with water and place this palm straight into that pool for at least 24 hours to restore turgor throughout the plant and to rehydrate the medium in the pot. That should happen in shade and then it should be shifted up and placed gradually into more and more sun over the course of a month or two until it is hardened and can go in the ground. You have hot dry conditions all day long in far inland SoCal summers and a humidity loving tropical will not take kindly to an abrupt introduction to same, even though it wants warmth in general. And keep watching that spear. As Dean says, if it doesn't budge after a week or two of this shock, you may have a dead palm and one day the crownshaft will just collapse on you along with any green material that remains. This would happen far more quickly for you than it does for those of us in the humid tropics where the plant tissues survive on atmospheric moisture for ages before the final collapse.

[Tyrone]

If you do the 24hr soak thing, put a weak solution of seaweed extract in the water too.

[Ben in Norcal]

I had a Foxy Lady decline in a similar way, due to root disturbance. They really don't like that...

Did it recover??? (fingers crossed...)

No...I got another one...

[MMerville]

Chris,

did you talk to the seller about this and did he or she have any advice ?

Michel

[DoomsDave]

Dr. Jordan!

So nice to meet you!

There are more palms than Foxy Lady. If you lose yours, DON'T GIVE UP. If it grows, treat yourself to a good, righteous gloat.

There are many other wonderful palms to grow where you are.

If you're in OC near Whittier on a weekend, come visit my place and see.

Or, go down to San Diego . . .

Let us know how your palm grows.

[Vari805]

Chris, great advise from the other members. I have done the splint thing before, and it does work, as long as it's not in a windy location. I've had the frond even harden off, and did not require the splint. My scenario was from a huge 1 gal D. Lanceolata from JM in Hawaii. I agree with Len, yours is most likely a RSN Hawaiian grown, or Sparksman Florida import that has been resold. Both are superbly grown, just needs to planted to adapt to So Cal conditions and watering.

[ChrisJordanDDS]

Thanks for all the advice here. So today is my 24 hour soak, I added some super thrive to the water at 1 tsp per gallon and am hoping that my plant drinks it up!

[ChrisJordanDDS]

Dr. Jordan!

So nice to meet you!

There are more palms than Foxy Lady. If you lose yours, DON'T GIVE UP. If it grows, treat yourself to a good, righteous gloat.

There are many other wonderful palms to grow where you are.

If you're in OC near Whittier on a weekend, come visit my place and see.

Or, go down to San Diego . . .

Let us know how your palm grows.

Thanks Dave. Good to meet you too! I caught the "Palm tree bug" a few years ago when my wife and I wanted to add some planters to our yard, and I've been turned into a palm-tree nerd, as i call myself, ever since. I'd love to visit your garden someday. My biggest problem has been dealing with the hot late summers, and we get some Santa ana winds here as well.

I've got several foxtails (probably too many, but it was the first "exotic" tree that I really liked), some common King palms, and some Kentias. Last year I added three Beccariophoenix alfredii, which I'm really liking so far due to their hardiness, and some Areca palms. This year I bought a Pritchardia, a Teddy Bear, a small A. myolensis triple and the (now infamous) foxy lady...

[ChrisJordanDDS]

So after a couple weeks of treatment, the remaining leaves are browning but I have noticed some minimal growth (a couple millimeters) of the spear. I know its a longshot that the plant recovers, but I've decided to keep it in a less prominent place in my garden, keep treating with seaweed extract and superthrive, and place some occasional hydrogen peroxide in the crown, just to see how it does. I'm encouraged to see some growth of the spear, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And the seller did provide me with a nicer specimen that he got from Rancho Soledad, at a very discounted rate... so I have at least one Foxy Lady. Time will tell with my original plant...

[Ben in Norcal]

Good news on the replacement!

If the spear is pushing, there is hope...