Welp. Ol' Dirty Sanchez got a haircut and a beard trim today. I hope I didn't doom him, since he's gonna be awfully heavy to yeet into the dumpster. I went to check on Patio Squad after a heavy thunderstorm rolled through and cut off a brown frond - I don't know the scientific term here, but all the other petioles/spots where I cut dead fronds off previously felt like wet cardboard so I started snipping away until I got to dry tissue. He's already been declining from - I don't know, we guessed cold/frost damage in another thread. 

 

Open to suggestions to keep him alive, even though he repeatedly stabs me. I'm hesitant to try peroxide since there's already so much moisture in his grow hole and under the old growth. As a backstory, his once big and stabby new fronds have turned into short and stabby new fronds as well. He's been the stabby cornerstone of Patio Squad for almost 2 years now. 

If you're open to it and have the greenbacks to spare, you can pot it in bonsai mix.  That seems to be a good way to save palms that hate wet feet but need adequate moisture to recover.  I've used it on Hyphaene before and they perked right up.  Perhaps a bit less expensive would be to use a mix of Hydroballs and Hydroton with screen in the bottom of the pot to keep them from rolling out of the bottom.

This was the Bonsai mix I used: Superfly Bonsai Professional mix

This Bonsai mix for succulents might be a cheaper substitute for your use: Bonsai Succulent and Cactus Soil

Hydroton (I bought a 50L bag): 10L bag of Hydroton

Hydroballs: 2 packs 2.5lbs

@kinzyjr I honestly don't remember what he's potted in, but I think it's in "Good Dirt" brand - I tried so many different soils when I first got into palms in 2020. I know he needs a bigger pot - he's in a cheap little (I believe) 14" bottom watering pot from Target, and I know it's pushed roots into the water reservoir.

 

I do have a lot of leftover LECA which - correct me if I'm wrong is the same thing as Hydroton, right? Most of my newer plantings are in cheapie garden soil amended with LECA, orchid bark, and a Turface like product but this guy is in just regular old soil. He was doing great until a few months ago. 

 

 

Just now, JohnAndSancho said:

I do have a lot of leftover LECA which - correct me if I'm wrong is the same thing as Hydroton, right?

Yes, this is the same thing.  I'm not certain why they tend to start doing this at points, but hopefully mixing the LECA and some smaller Hydroballs will give you a substrate that will help it start recovering from whatever is bothering it.  Can't guarantee a "save" but it helped a few of mine come back from similar decline.

6 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Yes, this is the same thing.  I'm not certain why they tend to start doing this at points, but hopefully mixing the LECA and some smaller Hydroballs will give you a substrate that will help it start recovering from whatever is bothering it.  Can't guarantee a "save" but it helped a few of mine come back from similar decline.

Palms are funny. I realized I'd been under-watering most of my green homies, started watering everybody more, and all of them are a lot happier - except the Washy. I guess I'm blowing my quarterly bonus on soil, amendments, and big pots lol. Thanks again. 

Looks worse today. 

 

He stabbed me again when I checked to see if the spear would pull. 

 

Another possibility I didn't think of - I am absolutely surrounded by pine trees. I'm constantly picking pinestraw and - I don't know what they're called, but they look like little dried fuzzy worms - and the pine trees drop these too - but is it possible some of these fell into the growth point and caused issues? I picked a bunch of them out of him yesterday too. 

 

I'm still a newbie but it blows my mind that a plant can be ok one day, and the next day the whole thing just feels soggy. 

My patio and my cars are covered in these. My pots are full of them. 

2 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

My patio and my cars are covered in these. My pots are full of them. 

those are the pine flowers (or whatever the scientist word is for them), those shouldnt be an issue

https://www.gardenexperiments.com/what-are-all-these-trees-dropping-on-the-ground-in-spring/

Edited April 15, 20224 yr by spike

Even if they fall into whatever the scientist word is for Grow Hole? The rest of my patio squad is fine - my chamaedorea are consistently trying to flower. Fwiw most of my employees have called out with allergies and my dumb ass sits outside every night is fine even though prior to me being an outdoor palm dork I got crazy sick every year 

14 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Even if they fall into whatever the scientist word is for Grow Hole? The rest of my patio squad is fine - my chamaedorea are consistently trying to flower. Fwiw most of my employees have called out with allergies and my dumb ass sits outside every night is fine even though prior to me being an outdoor palm dork I got crazy sick every year 

I don't see any reason for them to affect the palm, they don't contain a lot of moisture but I might be wrong

Edited April 15, 20224 yr by spike

8 minutes ago, spike said:

I don't see any reason for them to affect the palm, they don't contain a lot of moisture but I might be wrong

They're really dry. Like, as in, they crumble into dust if I look at them let alone touch them. I'm still just trying to figure out how a palm goes from healthy to feeling like wet cereal overnight. 

Those pine cone cheetos (I call them) have nothing to do with it. How cold did it get? And wind chill? If a plant can take 20ºF at the absolute lowest, it will sign off like a light switch at 19º sharp. Like a freezing point or melting point. Some plants bounce back (banana trees), some are toast. I lost an Australian tree fern with 3' of trunk this winter which was one of the toughest plants I had. Really surprised that it got bit this winter after surviving colder winters in the past.  

Not sure what the sudden decline could be. If the soil is too wet id venture to guess root rot, but i dont know. Ive not had much experience with root rot in anything besides a pygmy date of all things.

2 hours ago, JLM said:

If the soil is too wet id venture to guess root rot

This would be my guess.  It doesn't appear to be an issue in the crown to me.

Some hot temps and direct sun should help

I'm legit baffled. I know the fronds took a beating with all the wind we've had this year, but it stayed ok. It's pretty much dried out, and the soil stayed pretty dry except for a huge thunderstorm this week -  but it's drooping more and more. I brought it in during Palmageddon but left it outside this winter - according to the weatherunderground archives we hit a low of 22 in January. It was covered with a flannel sheet and moved up against the wall  every time we dropped below a freeze to keep frost and moisture out of the grow hole. I think I even left it on for an entire week straight at one point. 

Hot temps and sun won't be a problem here. I'll just have to scoot him to the stairs next to my queen and Butia x Lyto. 

One thing I've learned is that palms seem to react soooooo slowly to damage - I've seen that with the uh, 10 Kentias that have died in my apartment. 

I don't think it's root rot, since I've always kept it pretty dry - from what I've read, the general rule of thumb is to water palms in pots until the water comes out the bottom of the pot, and I've literally done that once - but that was pretty recent, maybe a month ago. 

 

I'll push him into the full sun tomorrow (if y'all have seen my videos, he's been in the corner of my patio since I bought it) The handful of Washies around town have survived, but they're also in the ground and I know that's a different ballgame. I'll also poke deep down into the soil to see how wet it is, since he's pretty deeply rooted. 

 

Thanks for the help! 

Looks even worse today.  Very, very yellow. 

 

At least today I put gloves on so he couldn't stab me again. 

This seems to be my daily response but he looks even worse today. The soil is dry, very dry - so I'm pretty sure it isn't root rot. Could it just be showing freeze damage on a very delayed timeline? C. Plumosa is now towering over it. Still no spear pull. 

Maybe he just needs a deep soak if it’s not root rot, If possible you could fill a tub up if you have one deep enough and mesh to cover the soil so things don’t float away and let it just sit and penetrate the soil

LOL idk any easier way to rehydrate soil in deeply rooted plants but that’s what I do if I suspect a pocket of soil that’s not hydrating

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by ZPalms

2 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

This seems to be my daily response but he looks even worse today. The soil is dry, very dry - so I'm pretty sure it isn't root rot. Could it just be showing freeze damage on a very delayed timeline? C. Plumosa is now towering over it. Still no spear pull. 

Like @ZPalms said, maybe it needs some water?

It's possible I guess. He's too big to pick up and plop in the tub and soak, plus I only give my plants filtered or distilled water. I could give him a couple gallons though. His soil drains so fast that it'll all end up in the bottom reservoir in a couple minutes. 

 

Do y'all think I should give him some Stink Water instead of just plain water to try and revive him? (Stink Water has a drop of SuperThrive and fish emulsion)

Hopefully the water is actually being absorbed and not just running down the inner sides of the pot and giving a false sense of a complete saturation  Idk anything about stink water 

3 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

Idk anything about stink water 

Fish emulsion stinks. And SuperThrive smells like super powerful vitamins. So I call it stink water. 

Green Juice for plants 

I gave it a gallon of water with SuperThrive. He'll either perk up or my Chamaedorea Benezeii gets a new home this weekend. 

I think he's gonna be ok. He still looks like absolute crap, but he doesn't look like dumpster food anymore. Too dark to take pics and he's a far cry from what he was last year, But - today on a Wednesday I think he'll live and I'm banking on him once again being a unit by the end of summer 

 

If not, I'm tired of my chamaedorea Benezeii being a literal turnstile

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I think he's gonna be ok. He still looks like absolute crap, but he doesn't look like dumpster food anymore. Too dark to take pics and he's a far cry from what he was last year, But - today on a Wednesday I think he'll live and I'm banking on him once again being a unit by the end of summer 

 

If not, I'm tired of my chamaedorea Benezeii being a literal turnstile

Keep us apprised!

1 minute ago, DoomsDave said:

Keep us apprised!

Will do. 2 fronds perked up and 2 fronds are obviously very, very dead. But still no spear pull so Dirty Sanchez lives another day.  

 

I'll hold off on repotting him for a while and see how it goes. Maybe he was low-key jealous on how much water everyone else gets? *shrugs*

Washies are like Special Forces; they don’t die, they just go to hell and regroup!

This palm looks like a pure Filifera to me green petiole bases with white at bottom.

Filiferas do not like moisture in the crown. Watch Filiferas in area after a few days of heavy rains and you will see lower fronds yellowing. on the other hand they love wet feet in summer when temps are in 90’s. 

Water could be flowing down the sides or it might not be absorbing right, tip him over on side and look at holes in bottom of pots and see if soil is damp or not. I’ve had that issue before where some wouldn’t absorb water. I would also use a tray and try bottom watering for awhile, that way you let palm roots suck up all the water they can take. If you repot then you’d have to wait awhile to fertilize so that should be option b

Edited April 21, 20224 yr by DreaminAboutPalms

On 4/20/2022 at 10:46 PM, DreaminAboutPalms said:

This palm looks like a pure Filifera to me green petiole bases with white at bottom.

Filiferas do not like moisture in the crown. Watch Filiferas in area after a few days of heavy rains and you will see lower fronds yellowing. on the other hand they love wet feet in summer when temps are in 90’s. 

Water could be flowing down the sides or it might not be absorbing right, tip him over on side and look at holes in bottom of pots and see if soil is damp or not. I’ve had that issue before where some wouldn’t absorb water. I would also use a tray and try bottom watering for awhile, that way you let palm roots suck up all the water they can take. If you repot then you’d have to wait awhile to fertilize so that should be option b

I'd be delighted if it was Filifera. I bought it off Plantvine as a Robusta almost 2 years ago but this would explain a lot of it's issues. You can see more at the end of this video today cross-posted to my Patio Squad thread in Palms In Pots. Lmk what you think @DreaminAboutPalms

 

 

13 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I'd be delighted if it was Filifera. I bought it off Plantvine as a Robusta almost 2 years ago but this would explain a lot of it's issues. You can see more at the end of this video today cross-posted to my Patio Squad thread in Palms In Pots. Lmk what you think @DreaminAboutPalms

 

 

Looks like the washie has another spear coming out. As long as that spear keeps moving and stays green that thing should be fine. 
 

 

6 hours ago, DreaminAboutPalms said:

Looks like the washie has another spear coming out. As long as that spear keeps moving and stays green that thing should be fine. 
 

 

It's kinda haggard compared to how it used to look but its firm and has some green in it. Maybe once it's healthier we can confirm if it's a Filibusta or a hybrid. 

On 4/20/2022 at 10:22 PM, DoomsDave said:

Washies are like Special Forces; they don’t die, they just go to hell and regroup!

Confirmed regrouping from the hell that is East Texas. New spear that wasn't here yesterday @DoomsDave @DreaminAboutPalms 

 

Y'all think I should fertilize or wait until it's darker green? I have Jobes 4-4-4, Carl Pool slow release, and my "Stink Water" (Alaska fish fertilizer and SuperThrive)

 

Viva Dirty Sanchez!

Using the first pic in this thread as best reference, it's a Robusta:

1. rusty colored spines all the way to the leaf

2. spines spaced somewhat evenly from left to right

3. hastate spear shape is blunt, not elongated

4. leaf cutouts less than 50%, though without full growth it can be too early to judge

http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/2017/07/05/how-to-recognize-the-difference-between-washingtonia-filifera-and-robusta/

40 minutes ago, HiwaKika said:

Using the first pic in this thread as best reference, it's a Robusta:

1. rusty colored spines all the way to the leaf

2. spines spaced somewhat evenly from left to right

3. hastate spear shape is blunt, not elongated

4. leaf cutouts less than 50%, though without full growth it can be too early to judge

http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/2017/07/05/how-to-recognize-the-difference-between-washingtonia-filifera-and-robusta/

5. It is sentient and enjoys stabbing me 

10 hours ago, HiwaKika said:

Using the first pic in this thread as best reference, it's a Robusta:

1. rusty colored spines all the way to the leaf

2. spines spaced somewhat evenly from left to right

3. hastate spear shape is blunt, not elongated

4. leaf cutouts less than 50%, though without full growth it can be too early to judge

http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/2017/07/05/how-to-recognize-the-difference-between-washingtonia-filifera-and-robusta/

hybrid of the 2...don't see any purple on the trunk

and the thorns are not quite as pronounced as Robusta ....looks like a cross to me with

a little bit of Filifera showing. That newest leaf coming out looks to be cut pretty deep too. Time will tell

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 20224 yr by DreaminAboutPalms

This is how it looked last May. 

¡Viva Dirty Sanchez! 

On 4/14/2022 at 7:04 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

My patio and my cars are covered in these. My pots are full of them. 

Everything on the southeastern side of my house is covered in these as well, they don't seem to be a problem