trachycarpus fortunei starting to look bad

[The3ngineer]

Planted this 8’ trachycarpus fortunei about 3 months ago and now it’s starting to look bad. I’ve been watering it every couple to every few days. Does it look like I might be under/over watering or something else? It’s my favorite palm and I hate to lose it. 

[Rickybobby]

In my experience trachys are sensitive to soggy soils. Watering daily may be too much 

[The3ngineer]

22 minutes ago, Rickybobby said:

In my experience trachys are sensitive to soggy soils. Watering daily may be too much 

Does it look like it’s too late to recover? 

[Chester B]

What's the issue here??  I don't see anything wrong with this palm.  Nice green leaves, nice looking spears.  

Trachys may not like wet pots, but the ones I have planted in wet muck grow the fastest and look the best.  The ones I have in more sandy free draining soil are my worst looking slowest growing ones.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Chester B

[Chester B]

This is a stressed out trachy that I’ve been trying to revive. Basically got it for free and it’s been in the ground 1 year. 

[Chester B]

Average trachy. Looks similar to yours. 3 years in the ground  

Edited October 2, 2019 by Chester B

[Chester B]

Primo trachys. Growing in slop. Heavy wet clay. They grow at a pace that puts the others to shame. 

[Allen]

Give it a year to start growing well.  Looks ok to me though.  

[The3ngineer]

Thanks for all the responses. Here’s some better (albeit night) pictures showing some of my issues. 

[Chester B]

Older fronds looking a little ratty is totally fine. As long as the new Spears are green and healthy looking you should be good. I imagine the hot dry weather in Dallas isn’t the ideal climate for trachys as they come from a climate similar to where I live. Depending on how windy it is where you live this can dry them out too. Again I don’t see anything too concerning. 

[The3ngineer]

10 minutes ago, Chester B said:

Older fronds looking a little ratty is totally fine. As long as the new Spears are green and healthy looking you should be good. I imagine the hot dry weather in Dallas isn’t the ideal climate for trachys as they come from a climate similar to where I live. Depending on how windy it is where you live this can dry them out too. Again I don’t see anything too concerning. 

Thank you for the pictures and taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it. I think I’ll cut back on the watering and see if it turns around. I think some of the ratty-ness is from transport and planting but the brown is what’s scaring me. I’ll update the thread as to my progress. Thanks!

[Pip]

Your trachy looks great, lovely new leaves developing, older leaves showing some heat damage. Igarden in a hot dry summer climate here are two of my trachys growing in my old garden. They are growing in deep clay loam that I kept moist.

[Merlyn]

Generally you'll see some die-off of the older fronds not too long after transplanting.  This is caused by the plant regenerating a new root system, and is pretty normal.  On most of my transplants I'll lose the bottom 2 or 3 leaves as "transplant shock."  Most people recommend cutting off a few of the older leaves to lessen the transpiration loss, since the palm doesn't have the root structure to absorb enough water to keep a full crown of leaves after transplant.  There's a balancing act there, because the palm will also pull nutrients from older fronds to fuel root growth.  Your older fronds look pretty consistent with the plant "eating them" for nutrients to power new growth.

Regarding watering, usually underwatering = brown at the edges and tips first, followed by yellowing of the whole leaf.  Overwatering = drooping leaf tips / fronds turning yellowish and losing color.  I see some droopy tips, so it might be overwatered.

The only thing I noticed a bit odd in the first pics is that the spears are a little bit distorted and not "straight."  This could be from bouncing around in transplant, or it could be an early indication of a boron deficiency.  If they open up into a sort of "accordion" shape and are not normal looking, then you might want to add some extra boron along with your normal fertilization.  Here's a page on boron:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep264