Triangle Palm issues

[Andrea M]

Hi there, can anyone help me with my 2 triangle palms in Southern Calif? I have had them in the ground for over 3 years with the same new palm frond spears not opening. Can anyone recommend what supplement or what else I should be doing. They are  planted in good palm /cactus soil with good drainage.

 

Thanks, Andrea

[Fishinsteeg234]

Are you able to post a photo of your palms to better help diagnose? 

[Tracy]

On 6/7/2022 at 2:34 PM, Andrea M said:

can anyone help me with my 2 triangle palms in Southern Calif? I have had them in the ground for over 3 years with the same new palm frond spears not opening. Can anyone recommend what supplement or what else I should be doing. They are  planted in good palm /cactus soil with good drainage.

In addition to requesting photos of the palms, it would also be helpful to understand what part of Southern California.  There are a lot of different climate zones from the desert areas to inland valleys and coastal zones.  Recommendations on light exposure, watering and soil types all come into play and start with where you are located.  What type of exposure to sun do they get (am/pm, full day, full sun vs filtered vs shade)?  When you mentioned planted in good palm/cactus soil and well drained, is this in reference to the amended soil used to backfill your hole when planted or is it in reference to the native soil?

When grown in a more clay soil, you can get by with less water, but a native soil that is well drained may require more frequent deep watering.  Some mulch is always helpful but not too close to the trunk with this species as they are prone to rot (I've killed a couple that way in clay soil with insufficient drainage).  Relative to fertilizers, a palm specific, slow release with micro nutrients is preferred. 

Welcome to Palmtalk Andrea and I hope we can help you with your plants.  Looking forward to seeing the palms, as 3 years without a spear opening is a long time and signals that something is wrong particularly with this species.  They are actually pretty fast growing palms if given the right light, soil and water.

[Tracy]

On 6/7/2022 at 2:34 PM, Andrea M said:

what else I should be doing.

What sort of watering schedule and method are you using too?  Drip, spray, hand watering and frequency?

I thought I would visually share why I say these can be fast growing palms.  Below are photos of two I'm growing at a 3 year interval (current photos and from spring 2019).  These were sibling plants and were the same size in the pot when acquired.  The larger one in photos 2 & 4 is in a sandy soil and gets almost full day sun, some shade in the morning.  The one in the planter in photos 1 & 3 is in a heavy clay soil, but the soil was amended to about 3' down with a better draining mix of pumice and typical palm/cactus bag mix blended with about 20% of the native clay soil.  The smaller one gets filtered light most of the day with some overhead sun mid-day during summer.  Clearly the one in the better draining soil and more sun is growing faster, but even the other one isn't doing too bad for Southern California palm speed in 3 years.  Both are in the North San Diego County coastal zone, so not as intense sun or heat as further inland and both are irrigated via drip irrigation. 

Hearing yours have not opened the spears in 3 years when compared with growth of even the smaller specimen in the clay soil indicates they need some attention... hopefully your feedback on what they are getting now and the photos of yours will help determine some good recommendations.