Pulled a Palm, can I leave the roots?

[PRO5OHHO]

Just pulled up a 6 foot California Fan Palm that had planted itself in my flower bed, and I've been digging out/pulling out it's roots for about 7 hours now. The big ones are 3 to 4 feet long. I'm pretty tired of trying to get them out. The ones I'm working on now are at least a foot below the soil surface or lower and are all exposed at this point. Not exposed enough to pull, but exposed enough for me to spray with weed killer. I plan to plant a Gardenia bush in it's place. I wanted to know, if I leave the remaining roots in the ground, will they continue to grow and sprout little seedlings that I constantly need to pull or will they eventually decay if left in the soil? Someone suggested salting the remaining roots and waiting at least a week to plant anything else in it's place, so that's an option too.

My soil is mostly clay, so digging them out has been time consuming since I insist on separating the clay from the sand and dirt and only refilling the hole with a portion of clay. If anyone can shed some light on this that will prevent me from blistering my hands again today pulling out these roots I'd be very appreciative. And yes, next time I will kill the palm before separating it from it's roots. That lesson has definitely been learned.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

If you have removed the palm, your job is done.  It will not regenerate from the roots.  There may be more seeds that sprout but they are easily removed when a few inches tall.  No need to use weed killer on the roots, and if you have already sprayed them you may or may not need to wash out the soil depending on which chemical you use.  Forget the salt.

 

If you are going to plant a gardenia try to amend the soil with lots of organics.

[DoomsDave]

Casey:

Welcome to Palmtalk!

Jerry is correct on all counts. Unlike many other plants, palms only generate roots from the end of the stem that's in the ground, except for a very few that have stolons. Washingtonias are a typical palm in every respect. You didn't have to kill it first; most palms just die outright when you behead them. The remaining roots will just rot into the soil. Save your weed killer for something else.

If your palm was mature, and it set seed, you'll likely have to deal with volunteer babies popping up no matter what happens with the roots. If you get right to them when they sprout, they usually pull up easily. (I don't have any washies in my yard and birds drop seeds, alas. I have to deal with that, too.)

Gardenias need good drainage as well as plenty of organics in the soil. I note you're in Houston, which can be very very wet. I'd recommend planting gardenias on a mound to avoid fatal flooding. I wouldn't throw away the clay; I'd go super-heavy on dead leaves (especially oak and pine needles) small twigs, wood chips, etc. I'd also add extra dirt to build a mound if you need one; adding gravel helps maintain "dimensional stability" so it won't tend to go flat over time.

Good luck, and feel free to ask further questions.

 

[PRO5OHHO]

great advice gentlemen, thank you very much!