Hi all,

 

I planted a 30 gallon Bismarck palm in my front yard a week ago. Some of the fonds are turning brown. What can this be a sign of? I have read that the tree needs a lot of water the first week, and that’s what I’ve been doing. Every day about 30 gallons. Any input would be great!

thanks

Let’s see a pic 

 

30 gallons a day seems like a bit much.  Is your sandy soil draining fast?  If not I would cut back on the water.  Even in the heat of summer I wouldn't be giving it that much.  I don't have sand but my soil drains pretty well.

Would you still recommend the daily watering? It’s only been planted a week. The soil is a little sandy but not much, seems to be draining pretty well.

Since you've been watering daily for a week I'd cut back to twice a week.  I can't imagine it needing 30 gallons each time you water it either.  I doubt that you are in drought conditions as I am here!

Down here in southwest Florida. It’s been getting pretty warm during the day. I’ll give it a shot and see how it does. Thanks!

I planted one in N Florida Zone 8b May 2019.  It began to look stressed similar to yours a month later. I poured peroxide down the crown and it fizzled like crazy.  After that it looked great until winter.  I overprotected it one time when it dipped to 20’s in Dec with a frost jacket - burned the tips on a few fronds. We had many 20 degree nights (no more protection) but usually up to 60,70 the next day.  One frond did turn purple. In feb it was 80+ 3 consecutive days and began to open a spear but stopped once it dipped to 21 at night. It just opened a beautiful spear with these great March temps (after another peroxide treat I gave due to really wet winter).  Once established, Bismarck’s don’t need supplemental watering in Florida. I think the wet winter was more brutal to it than the cold temps.  Look up some photos of them growing naturally in Madagascar.

The one totally dead frond looks like it might have gotten bumped, twisted or cracked in travel or during planting.  I'd try the peroxide in the crown as a preventative, and cut back on the watering a lot!  I have three Bismarcks in the ground, two were planted at about the size of yours.  One was getting overhead drenching every morning in my "tropical area." and the other was planted in my agave bed with only two drippers from my dripline setup.  The agave bed I think has two 1 gal/hour drippers running for about 30 minutes on that zone = roughly 1 gallon of water each morning.  30 gallons is crazy!  Palms like moist soil, but they don't want to drown.  Huge amounts of water will promote root rot, which is a real concern with Bismarcks.

Hopefully you didn't disturb the root ball when planting it, since Bismarcks are notorious for not liking root disturbances.  Some palms you are better off hacking up the root ball to spread out the rootbound part, but don't do that with a Bismarck.

Thanks for your feedback. I’m hoping I did not disturb the root ball. It seemed a little loose to me when planting. I will most definitely cut back on the watering. When you say peroxide, how much should I put in the crown, and will any peroxide do? Thank you so much, I really hope my tree is still alive!

I get the peroxide at Walmart, brown bottle. Pour some, let it fizzle, repeat a couple of times until no more fizz.  Then I usually do about a gallon of miracle grow to rinse off any excess peroxide from the crown/trunk.  Try doing it morning/mid day to allow trunk to dry before nightfall.

So a follow up...5 months later now. It lost all but 2 fronds. I was able to pull a spear out. After waiting another month, I see 2 new growths coming out of the crown. However they are already opening in the crown and look weird at the tips. The trunk looks like it’s growing at least. Can anyone explain what’s happening? 

1 hour ago, rchris13 said:

what’s happening?

Good sign that it is growing.  Those fronds will come out looking very strange but ones that follow will look normal again.  Those are just damaged fronds from the internal rot/fungus.

2 hours ago, Fusca said:

Good sign that it is growing.  Those fronds will come out looking very strange but ones that follow will look normal again.  Those are just damaged fronds from the internal rot/fungus.

Yep.  Once those grow out new undamaged fronds will start to appear.  It may take a year to look good again but well worth it.

Thanks for responding everyone. Is there anything I could be doing to help it out? Or should I just let it do its thing?! Thanks!

32 minutes ago, rchris13 said:

Thanks for responding everyone. Is there anything I could be doing to help it out? Or should I just let it do its thing?! Thanks!

It looks like it's in full sun which is good.  I think it's been in the ground long enough (almost 6 months) you could give it some palm fertilizer (Florikan or PalmGain, etc.) and that should do it for the year until spring.   Maybe put some mulch around it to help keep grass/weeds from growing too close to it.  When the mulch breaks down it will amend the soil as well.

Hello everyone, thanks again for all the feedback to help out. Here are some pictures after over a year of trying to bring it back to life. Let me know your thoughts!!??

Looks fantastic! Beautiful palm

Full sun, fertilizer, and frequent water during the summer assuming you have sandy soil, it should take off. 

How often should I be watering? It’s currently 90’s here in Florida with sun all day.

In sandy soil I would drench it once a week now. As long as it’s very fast draining soil, drip irrigation daily would be fine. 
 

Some or most growers use fertigation. They use water soluble fertilizer each time they water potted plants. Then leach it once a week with clear water. 

Edited May 3, 20215 yr by Collectorpalms

Follow up question here...the tree looks as if it may be starting to lean just a tad forward, almost like it’s not growing straight up. Is there anything I should do or is it still to new to tell? My gut tells me to just let it be, but I also would like to correct it if this is something I can control. Thanks everyone!

Awesome recovery! From the pics i dont see any lean, but even if there is some sort of lean it will grow out of it and begin growing upright again. 

Thanks for the quick reply! Good looking out. I’m excited to see it continue to grow and do well. Long worth the wait!

It really has made a nice recovery...they say they don't like having

their roots disturbed (I know I don't) ....just glad to see it did come back.

I do believe that anything growing out of where a head used to be will

look strange-at first- at the very least....water under the roots at this point.

That's a great recovery from a pretty bad fungal infection! 

As others said, don't mess with the roots to correct a lean.  On something like a Butia (Pindo) it would be no big deal, but generally unnecessary.  Palms will generally correct themselves to grow straight up, as long as there isn't something pushing or pulling them off to the side.  I didn't see anything that looked like a significant lean.  One of my Bismarcks has a leaf that opened up with a sort of backward flare to it.  In my case I think the leaf opened and hardened up during a really windy time.

Posting again for the progress updates! Still growing strong! I think it’s made a full recovery! 

13 hours ago, rchris13 said:

Posting again for the progress updates! Still growing strong! I think it’s made a full recovery! 

Fully recovered and then some! Thats awesome!!

Beautiful Bizzie! It’s come back very well.

On 9/28/2021 at 9:22 AM, rchris13 said:

Posting again for the progress updates! Still growing strong! I think it’s made a full recovery! 

That is a beautiful palm...the color is truly awesome...nice job! Will only enjoy them in pictures for my zone though, so trying to not be too envious...