Help my transplanted tree!

[taaronbennett]

Hi all,

I have a newly transplanted Canary Island Date Palm (been in for 2 months now). About 2 weeks ago, we noticed the leaves in it’s center were starting to die. Now, they are brown and crispy. The outer leaves still look ok, but I’m very concerned about this.

The tree was transplanted from someone else’s property and placed by a “professional.” It’s planted  in almost entirely sand with a root stimulator added at the time of planting. It’s been flooded 1-2 times per day, drainage working well. Everything seemed to be going great until we started having some really hot days. The leaves remained bound for about 3 weeks until we could get a retainer wall set up for it.

Is this just normal shock that it will bounce back from, or is there something more we should do? (Also, if it matters, we are in the Las Vegas area)

Thanks!

Tim

[SeanK]

Try watering the crown

[Merlyn]

The older fronds drying up on the outside is pretty normal for a transplant like that.  The new spears dying could be a sign of a fungal infection, or could be some kind of mechanical shock/torque/impact during the transplant process.  It's possible that the new spears just got bent enough to damage them near the "heart" of the palm.  I'd do three things:

• Pour a little household hydrogen peroxide into the crown.  If it bubbles up then there's a fungal infection.  If it does not...no fungal infection!
• Mark the center fronds/spears horizontally with a sharpie and extend that sharpie line onto a nearby older frond that looks okay.  Just don't stab yourself on the thorns!  If the center spears are still alive in the heart, they'll slowly keep growing upwards.  Given a small rootball transplant in the summer in Vegas, they might not move much for a while.  If they do not move at all after a week it's possible those spears are D-E-D. 
• Contact the professional who did the transplant and tell them the new spears are dead and crispy.  Reputable businesses will give you a guarantee on the transplant success, and there's a chance this one won't make it.  It doesn't have much in the way of a rootball, and might have taken a big hit sometime during the transplant.  I had a smaller Pindo that got whacked in the center crown & spears by a falling tree, and the new spears quickly died...and the rest of it died a few weeks later.

[BigFrond]

Love the rock work.  The sickly palm in the back is too close to the house.

[Las Palmas Norte]

I'm no expert, but that root ball seems too small to support the continued health of the recently emerged fronds. You may find that it will recover, but it will take some time to re-establish and grow new roots. 100°F plus temps aren't doing it any favors either.

[taaronbennett]

Thanks all for your input!

@Merlyn - tried pouring some hydrogen peroxide in the core and didn’t see any foaming. I marked the branches, so we’ll see if they grow. As for the professional, he turned out to not quite be so professional. He ended up getting fired from the job, so I think warranties are out.

We read somewhere that we should pour Epsom salts around it to help transplant shock. Should we do that? Is there any other tricks that could help maximize it’s potential?

-Tim

[Fusca]

34 minutes ago, taaronbennett said:

We read somewhere that we should pour Epsom salts around it to help transplant shock. Should we do that? Is there any other tricks that could help maximize it’s potential?

-Tim

Tim, I wish you success with these palms!  I've heard from actual professionals that large CIDP can be difficult to transplant (at least in Texas) so it's not so surprising to see some issues.  I transplanted a much smaller Copernicia alba back in April which showed signs of decline fairly quickly including damage to the newest spears.  I kept watering it expecting it to eventually recover and it did after almost 4 months of no movement.  They are tough palms so don't give up on them too soon in spite of the ugly!  Mine went from about 10 healthy fronds down to 4 hardly-healthy-at-all fronds but it's pushing 3 or 4 new fronds now.  Below is a photo from mid-August.

  

One week later:

[taaronbennett]

Congrats @Fusca!

@All - should I prune off the dead branches in the core? Or leave them?

[Merlyn]

45 minutes ago, taaronbennett said:

@All - should I prune off the dead branches in the core? Or leave them?

I would leave the existing dead spears.  They will be a good indicator of growth.  Sometimes the top dies but the base of that frond is still alive inside the heart.  If so then it'll push out over a couple of months.  Also, give them a small tug...very light!  If they pull out with almost no force then usually there's a fungus attacking down in the base.  That frequently happens after severe freezes, and the bottom of the new spear turns to a disgusting smelling mush.  I (and many others) have had good luck with saving palms after "spear pull," usually with hydrogen peroxide to the rescue!  So the no-bubbles is a good sign that there's not a major fungal infection, but it's always a risk with dead spears.

The other reason I'd leave them is because I prefer the blood on the inside of my body... 

As far as roots go, typically you wait 1-2 months before dosing them with a timed release "palm special" fertilizer similar to PalmGain 8-2-12.  Osmocote is another good choice for new plantings.  Right now you could give it some root stimulating hormone, similar to the Fertilome Root Stimulator.  Some people advocate for "fish fertilizer" on new plantings, but I haven't used it myself. 

I think a lot of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) wouldn't be a good idea.  Too much of one mineral can make it tough for the palm to take up other minerals.  It's definitely a good idea after the palm has rooted in, but not right now.  Most "palm special" fertilizers contain 1-3% magnesium.  I've added granular magnesium sulfate and manganese sulfate to several of my Phoenix species because they tend to show deficiencies of both minerals. 

[taaronbennett]

Well, it’s been 11 months, and my tree has gotten worse 😢. The center fronds weren’t really changing, but we left them alone. Today we noticed a decent amount of red ants around the crown. I gently pulled, and everything in the middle slid right out. All mush and stinky in there. I sprayed some bug killer, and squirted a some hydrogen peroxide down the throat. Any other ideas? Is it just dead now?

[ZPalms]

Im not expert at all with these things at all but I feel maybe a trunk cut could be your last resort, though I wouldn't do that unless others agree with me

[aztropic]

Yes,it's most likely dead,but a trunk cut using a recip saw starting about a foot from the top,then slicing off 2" at a time until you hopefully see some unrotted white spear material is the last chance to save it. Doing nothing will allow water to stagnate in the hole and further rot anything that's left.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[taaronbennett]

I’d be worried about cutting into the heart, if it still exists. We’d also loose all that remains of living fronds. We are in Vegas with almost 0 rain fall now, and super dry air. I don’t think moisture build up would be an issue now. We did have a rather wet early spring, and I wonder if that contributed to where we are. I’ve read a lot that treatments with H2O2 about twice a week have a high success rate. That it kills fungal growth and helps to keep it dry. 

[JLM]

2 minutes ago, taaronbennett said:

I’d be worried about cutting into the heart, if it still exists. We’d also loose all that remains of living fronds. We are in Vegas with almost 0 rain fall now, and super dry air. I don’t think moisture build up would be an issue now. We did have a rather wet early spring, and I wonder if that contributed to where we are. I’ve read a lot that treatments with H2O2 about twice a week have a high success rate. That it kills fungal growth and helps to keep it dry. 

H2O2 is great, but once its done doing its thing it turns into water. You will need to dry that out once its done. 

Your palm looks pretty far gone, trunk cutting is a last resort and really your only option. 

[Merlyn]

I haven't tried trunk cutting myself, but I know a bunch of people have had luck saving palms on this forum.  Hydrogen peroxide turns from H2O2 into H20 + O2, so the water is left behind.  A forum member here suggested a Daconil + H202 mix, and that's what I've been doing for 2+ years.  Daconil leaves behind a sticky antifungal residue, theoretically it should help against bud rots.  Mancozeb is another good bud rot treatment. 

To be honest though, if you weren't seeing new frond growth since last September...the bud was probably damaged or killed during transplant.  It should have grown at least a couple of fronds since transplant, even if they were small and very slow to grow.  No spear growth in 2 months = dead bud.  No spear growth in 9 months = definitely dead bud.

[Billeb]

55 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

 

To be honest though, if you weren't seeing new frond growth since last September...the bud was probably damaged or killed during transplant.  It should have grown at least a couple of fronds since transplant, even if they were small and very slow to grow.  No spear growth in 2 months = dead bud.  No spear growth in 9 months = definitely dead bud.

This. 👆👆👆

Sorry. 
 

-dale 

[Johnny Palmseed]

I agree with the above comments. It’s dead and probably was well on its way when the job was completed. It looks like the root ball was way too small. And it probably wasn’t prepped well so it over shocked and over stressed the plant. Good root pruning requires more than just digging it out. It’s best accomplished over a period of time in order to allow the palm to acclimate.

[Las Palmas Norte]

On 6/1/2023 at 8:43 PM, taaronbennett said:

... Is it just dead now?

Unfortunately Yes.