Under or Over watered Bismarck Palm?

[Cmuraco]

Planted 1.5 weeks ago. Fronds are breaking on leafy section / tips. How can I tell if they are under or over watered? I don’t want to cut back and make it worse, or give it more water and make it worse. It seems as Bismarck leaves are around for a while and I’m concerned with how bad they are looking. Sprinkler guy has rotary sprinkler heads on 50 min per day, and drips on 15 min a day - maybe that’s backwards and he’s under watered. We’re in 9a northern Florida. Sandy soil. Also quite a bit of rain recently but super hot temps as well in  90s and humid https://ibb.co/kQn3dxV 

https://ibb.co/0cynFwZ

https://ibb.co/gRPJM0h

 

[EPaul]

Relocation stress

Edited July 10, 2022 by EPaul

[PalmatierMeg]

Where are you? Bismarckia are extremely root sensitive and must be planted with great care.

[Merlyn]

I'd think that 3 full loops of emitter hose is pretty good for water, but there are several types.  It looks kind of like the Rainbird copper colored stuff, which is in 0.8gph emitters every 6 inches...or 0.9gph emitters every 18 inches...or maybe something else entirely.  The position of the loop is pretty good for a new planting, you want to make sure the rootball is watered while it grows roots into the surrounding soil.  A common mistake is to water "nearby" but not water the existing rootball.  Figure out (or ask) what hose is on there, and calculate the gallons per hour for the number of emitters in the 3 loops.  Then divide by 4 since it's currently on for 15 minutes at a time.  I'm not really sure how much a Bismarck of that size would need, but I'd probably end up at 2-5 gallons per day.

As Meg said, Bismarcks are *extremely* sensitive to root disturbance, and can die by being transplanted.  If it was from a pot then the installer just needs to not mess with the roots when planting it.  If it was field grown it needs to be "root pruned" over a period of weeks/months to allow it to be dug out without killing it.  Big Bismarcks are always a bit of a risk because of that, but the local highway installs have been mostly successful...and they are not very careful about planting or diligent about watering afterwards.

Cosmetically the cracked ends on some of the fans is probably transplant or transport damage.  It's unavoidable, since the palm has to be tied up, put on a truck, driven around at >65mph, so some cosmetic damage is inevitable.  I didn't see anything on the photos that looked unusual.  You can also post photos directly into the forum with drag-and-drop, many people don't like clicking on external links due to the risk of virus websites.

[Cmuraco]

thanks so much everyone - and noted on the photo uploads.

very new to the 9a climate zone and palms in general - I think I freaked myself out. I went back and looked at day of install pics and saw similar breakage (or start of it). Great news is it has 7 more new fronds in waiting. Sprinkler guy is coming out next week after a pindo goes in, and I’ll see if maybe the 50 min rotator and 15 min drips are in reverse, since I think I was told he should get 25 gallons a day to start. 
 

thanks again from a very very new newbie!

 

[Merlyn]

When your sprinkler guy comes back out, make sure that he arranges them so the sprinklers do NOT hit the trunks of the palms.  This can cause trunk rot over time.  A drip line, small pop-up fans, or the small fan sprayers-on-a-stick are a much better choice for near palms.  You just don't want any pressure sprays hitting the trunk.