Brahea Armata - New Planting

[ahosey01]

Hello!

 

I am new to the forum.  I am also new to keeping palms but did a ton of research before I started.  I recently bought a home and had two Brahea Armata planted in the backyard.  They were delivered here in boxes, and were planted with the root ball and box soil intact.  I live in an area of Arizona that gets down into the mid-20s every couple years, so this seemed like a good species.

They were delivered to my yard about four days before they were planted.  One of them fell over while they were waiting.  In the photos below, it is the palm on the right.  The box came partially apart and some of the soil came out, although not all or even most of it.  The soil in the backyard is all over the place, some of it is nice and sandy and some of it is heavy clay - and sometimes these two soils are just feet apart.  Even in the clay areas, though, it still drains well.  A foot-deep hole filled and drained once will drain in about an hour to an hour and a half.  I think the land is probably silt since, at one point before the highway and flood control were built, this was a flood plain.

The palms were planted about two weeks ago.  I watered once very deeply when they were planted, and have watered once since then.    The soil still showed halfway between dry and wet on my soil probe at a depth of about 12".  During planting, some of the frond boots at the bottom of the trunk were ripped off, so I went ahead and skinned it up to where the frond boots aren't fully dried out (the orange stuff in the photo on the trunk) and stopped, being careful not to nick the trunk.  I also think that one may have had some roots growing out of the box and into the ground, and so may be suffering from a little shock that the other one didn't experience.

I noticed that one of the palms is turning brown on some of the lower leaves.  The other palm is just as it was when it was planted.  The brown palm is the one that fell over, and it was definitely a more difficult process for the landscapers to get it planted into the hole.  Is there anything I am doing wrong or should be doing different to keep the leaves from turning brown?  Is there anything wrong with this palm, or is this just natural after being planted in a new location or having the roots that were growing out of the box cut?

Let me know, thank you!

 

Both Palms

Palm that still has good color

Whole palm that has some browning

Close up of leaves that are browning

Edited June 24, 2020 by ahosey01

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

They look great. You'll probably lose more leaves from transplant. You can water a LOT more than you are. Armata dont mind water at all and will do significantly better with it.