T. Fortunei. Yellow leaves. Why?

[Peachs]

I water the palms weekly and fertilize every 3 months.

 

 

It has started 1 month ago, in all 7 T. Fortunei.

[Palmfarmer]

What climate do you live in? 

Tell me a bit about how you do the waterings as well please. 

If it was installed only one month ago perhaps its just shock. Avoid regular fertilizers for six months to a year with newly planted palms with he exception of ones spesified for root growth. Bonemeal is also good to use for root growth. 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Palmfarmer

[SeanK]

Hard to say given all the missing information.

I'll start by saying they WAY over trimmed. There are fortuneis on my street with 60 leaves, so maybe yours are extracting nutrient from the leaves to survive.

or, Maybe it's hot next to that wall. Which way does it face?

 

[Merlyn]

That looks like a potassium deficiency to me, maybe add some extra K to it?  Long term some SulPoMag or KMag or Langbeinite?

[Peachs]

7 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

What climate do you live in? 

Tell me a bit about how you do the waterings as well please. 

If it was installed only one month ago perhaps its just shock. Avoid regular fertilizers for six months to a year with newly planted palms with he exception of ones spesified for root growth. Bonemeal is also good to use for root growth. 

 

7 hours ago, SeanK said:

Hard to say given all the missing information.

I'll start by saying they WAY over trimmed. There are fortuneis on my street with 60 leaves, so maybe yours are extracting nutrient from the leaves to survive.

or, Maybe it's hot next to that wall. Which way does it face?

 

 

5 hours ago, Merlyn said:

That looks like a potassium deficiency to me, maybe add some extra K to it?  Long term some SulPoMag or KMag or Langbeinite?

Zone 8b, dry climate, autumn but not yet cold. Planted 2 years ago. In summer when it was warmer, they looked better!

[UK_Palms]

As others have mentioned, they are over-trimmed slightly but that alone wouldn’t cause the tips of the newer fronds to turn yellow. Trachycarpus can take a lot of drought stress too and my ones went months without any rain with 40C temperatures this year. The issue could be too much water and possible nute burn, which is causing the tips to yellow. Or there is a deficiency of some nutrient, like Potassium or Phosphorus.

Here are some Trachy’s that I planted about 4 years ago now when they were tiny. They’ve probably grown 8 foot in that time. The one on the right is a Nova. I haven’t cut off the lower fronds yet. These have only seen 9 inches of rain this year in 2022, with not a single drop in July and 40C heat. Maybe about 2 inches of fain from April - August. The tips never yellowed, so it can’t be under-watering. Likely a deficiency that can be corrected by feeding.

[Peachs]

Maybe too much watering, I think I fertilized enough!
 

Thanks.

[Allen]

2 hours ago, Peachs said:

Maybe too much watering, I think I fertilized enough!
 

Thanks.

In a dry climate once per week seems too little maybe.  Sometimes when they start getting less sun they can yellow some but it could be with the artificial turf all around them and the dry soil they are not uptaking enough nutrients from your soil.   Mine in clay are watered as much as every day to 2 days in hot summer 90F+ temps

[Darold Petty]

One alternate theory is that the yellow-brown tip die-back is caused by a deficiency of magnesium, rather than potassium.

[Peachs]

Thank you all. In spring I will try another fertilizer. Funny that it happens now, and in summer 100% green!   

[Chester B]

Personally I think its due to heat, abundant sunshine and lack of water.  My backyard is north facing, clay soil and all my Trachys are lush and green.  The ones I have in my front yard which is south facing and more sandy all have the yellow tips.  I only see yellowing on the tips occur in summer, but once it happens there is no way to reverse it.  New fronds that come out in winter when it rains are nice and green and by summer they exhibit this.

[Peachs]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

Personally I think its due to heat, abundant sunshine and lack of water.  My backyard is north facing, clay soil and all my Trachys are lush and green.  The ones I have in my front yard which is south facing and more sandy all have the yellow tips.  I only see yellowing on the tips occur in summer, but once it happens there is no way to reverse it.  New fronds that come out in winter when it rains are nice and green and by summer they exhibit this.

 

The soil is sandy and south facing, sun all day.

[sonoranfans]

Watering once a week is too little for a newly planted palm in a dry climate.   But that information was not given, it is probablya ssumed since the leaf crowns are small in number of leaves since container palms don't grow full crowns.  Looks to me like a combination of issues that may include fertilizer, watering regimen, and possibly soil issues.  Trachys generally dont like sandy soil, they prefer clay soils.  And the fact that its happening to newer leaves means this is not a minor issue.   Potassium deficiency happens from leaf tip in and is blotchy in color, Mg is smooth yellow but doesn't start at the leaf tip like potassium.  Its a good idea to get this understood and corrected before that damage extends inward and it looks like it will.  If these palms have been in ground for more than a year, its a whole different series of possibilities.  Not enough information has been supplied to know what is wrong.  

[Palmfarmer]

When its warm you can water everyday with your soil and species. Up the watering to 3x week at least. Like a really good soak so all the soil around saturates with water. 
here is my prescription. 
start applying a liquid fertilizer high in pottasium, start adding epson Salt as well.

get some organic fertilizer that will help the soil permanently. I used a Humus based one. You can also mix in some compost on top. 

Lastly mulch and up the watering to 3x per week.

 

[Peachs]

11 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Watering once a week is too little for a newly planted palm in a dry climate.   But that information was not given, it is probablya ssumed since the leaf crowns are small in number of leaves since container palms don't grow full crowns.  Looks to me like a combination of issues that may include fertilizer, watering regimen, and possibly soil issues.  Trachys generally dont like sandy soil, they prefer clay soils.  And the fact that its happening to newer leaves means this is not a minor issue.   Potassium deficiency happens from leaf tip in and is blotchy in color, Mg is smooth yellow but doesn't start at the leaf tip like potassium.  Its a good idea to get this understood and corrected before that damage extends inward and it looks like it will.  If these palms have been in ground for more than a year, its a whole different series of possibilities.  Not enough information has been supplied to know what is wrong.  

As I said, they have been planted for more than 2 years. The soil is sandy, but I have a neighbor with T. Fortunei with more than 30 years and they are perfect! Watering is only once a week, but I doubt my neighbor will water them more. However, the growth this year has been very good.

[SeanK]

3 hours ago, Peachs said:

As I said, they have been planted for more than 2 years. The soil is sandy, but I have a neighbor with T. Fortunei with more than 30 years and they are perfect! Watering is only once a week, but I doubt my neighbor will water them more. However, the growth this year has been very good.

I'm confused. "growth this year has been good". UK_Palms has about 2 dozen leaves in the crown of each trachie. If you're not watering enough, don't fertilize. 

[Peachs]

1 hour ago, SeanK said:

I'm confused. "growth this year has been good". UK_Palms has about 2 dozen leaves in the crown of each trachie. If you're not watering enough, don't fertilize. 

They have grown about 25cm of trunk, approximately. They have few leaves because I cut them too soon when I saw them dry, yes it is a mistake.

[sonoranfans]

Could be the depth of watering is not leading to a big root structure.  IN that case extra fertilization cannot be taken up by the plant anyway.  I still suspect underwatering as these grow great in clay soil but not in sandy soil which would need more water.  How many gallons does your neighbor use when watering?  How is that water applied, hopefully not by drip irrigation.  Drippers are terrible at wetting root zones in sandy soil.  These palms might be growing good for you but the feedback you are getting is all relative to what others know.  The dried leaflet tips on even newer leaves is consistent with not enough water.  If you are worried about watering cost, I would be ammending soil around these palms with clay in a dry climate.  I had one in shade in arizona(6-25% RH in spring at 100-110F) never saw that kind of dry tip extending through the crown.  If you are satisfied with the way they are now, do nothing of course.  When you ask questions on this board you will get answers from experienced growers, use it as you will.  One final thought, plants only uptake nutrients when the soil is wet, if you have intermittently dry soil the fertilizer will not be taken up in the dry period.  Plant rootzones that dont see a consistent water/dry cycle will not grow larger root systems and in turn the crowns will contain a relatively small number of leaves.  Under and over watering can also cause deficiencies since uptake is stopped when soil is not wetted.

[Peachs]

New photos to see the general state of the 7 palms. 

 

[Allen]

4 minutes ago, Peachs said:

New photos to see the general state of the 7 palms. 

 

My B&B palm grows horribly slow and it looks like you have a couple competing with each other as well.  I did a video on how much better a potted small one did than my B&B one.  Even if those larger ones were potted it stunted them a lot at that larger size double.  Those will be hard to keep happy in dry sand.