Newish windmill palm not looking great

[lonestar94]

I recent bought this windmill palm from a local nursery. Iv had it for about a month now, it’s mostly declined since I brought it home unfortunate since these guys are pretty pricey. It’s planted in a pot that seems to drain pretty well i see water coming out of the pot within 30ish minutes. Watered it a couple time the first week we planted it then once a week after that. Iv been reading this site a lot. a lot of the post seem to think it’s root rot, I just have a hard time believing that since it’s most definitely not in overly wet soil. Any ideas or is it just bad luck? 
 

I live in zone 8 and it gets 4-6 hours of sun.

Thanks!

[JohnAndSancho]

30 minutes for water to drain isn't fast at all. What kind of soil did you use? How many drainage holes are in that pot and how big is it? Where are you specifically? Climate zones only describe average low temperatures and are really vague and ambiguous, but Trachys are pretty cold tolerant. Could be sunburn if it was in a greenhouse or under shade cloth too, but 30 minutes for water to drain out of a pot is an eternity. Even my biggest pots have water coming out the bottom almost immediately. 

[lonestar94]

21 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

30 minutes for water to drain isn't fast at all. What kind of soil did you use? How many drainage holes are in that pot and how big is it? Where are you specifically? Climate zones only describe average low temperatures and are really vague and ambiguous, but Trachys are pretty cold tolerant. Could be sunburn if it was in a greenhouse or under shade cloth too, but 30 minutes for water to drain out of a pot is an eternity. Even my biggest pots have water coming out the bottom almost immediately. 

Hey thanks for the response next time I water it I’ll pay more attention to the time, 30 minutes was an absolute guess. never the less there’s a lot of water that comes out. I believe there are 3-4 maybe 3/8” holes. I live in central Texas which for the last week or 2 has been kind of cold not below freezing though. This is the soil I used https://www.989rock.com/professional-mix.html

[JohnAndSancho]

7 hours ago, lonestar94 said:

Hey thanks for the response next time I water it I’ll pay more attention to the time, 30 minutes was an absolute guess. never the less there’s a lot of water that comes out. I believe there are 3-4 maybe 3/8” holes. I live in central Texas which for the last week or 2 has been kind of cold not below freezing though. This is the soil I used https://www.989rock.com/professional-mix.html

I dunno how serious you are about palms, but a lot of us are palm dorks mix our own soils because palms need stuff that drains stupid fast in pots. Personally my mix is roughly 1 part each garden soil, Repti Bark from Petco, and Turface MVP (a clay product available from irrigation stores) with some LECA clay pebbles thrown in the bottom of the pot for extra drainage. If you've only got one or 2 plants, Bonsai Jack sells something similar, but you're going to pay the same price for enough to fill one pot as you'd pay to fill a dozen pots. I've got 3 or 4 plants using only bark and clay (for palms that need it) and as soon as I start pouring water into them, it's flowing into their saucers. As we're into colder weather I'd water less but based on what you've said I'm _guessing_ root rot from poor draining soil. I dunno what you paid for this palm but they're readily available mail order from big box stores and should be relatively cheap. 

 

If worst comes to worst, chalk it up to the game and try again in the spring. The homey @DoomsDaveonce said 'if you ain't killing, you ain't gardening' or words to that effect. We've all learned lessons the hard way. I've got about 35 plants between my apartment, patio, and office and I've probably killed at least that many. Fortunately most of them were small and cheap. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Root rot. I’ve read Trachies like water but I’d wager not sitting in mucky soil. You could try repotting it in freer draining mix and I’m not sure it would survive then but at present it’s likely a goner.

[DoomsDave]

13 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I dunno how serious you are about palms, but a lot of us are palm dorks mix our own soils because palms need stuff that drains stupid fast in pots. Personally my mix is roughly 1 part each garden soil, Repti Bark from Petco, and Turface MVP (a clay product available from irrigation stores) with some LECA clay pebbles thrown in the bottom of the pot for extra drainage. If you've only got one or 2 plants, Bonsai Jack sells something similar, but you're going to pay the same price for enough to fill one pot as you'd pay to fill a dozen pots. I've got 3 or 4 plants using only bark and clay (for palms that need it) and as soon as I start pouring water into them, it's flowing into their saucers. As we're into colder weather I'd water less but based on what you've said I'm _guessing_ root rot from poor draining soil. I dunno what you paid for this palm but they're readily available mail order from big box stores and should be relatively cheap. 

 

If worst comes to worst, chalk it up to the game and try again in the spring. The homey @DoomsDaveonce said 'if you ain't killing, you ain't gardening' or words to that effect. We've all learned lessons the hard way. I've got about 35 plants between my apartment, patio, and office and I've probably killed at least that many. Fortunately most of them were small and cheap. 

 

Yo Yo Yo!

I have affectionately referred to my home and garden as the Death Camp. Alas, still true sometimes.

[lonestar94]

13 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I dunno how serious you are about palms, but a lot of us are palm dorks mix our own soils because palms need stuff that drains stupid fast in pots. Personally my mix is roughly 1 part each garden soil, Repti Bark from Petco, and Turface MVP (a clay product available from irrigation stores) with some LECA clay pebbles thrown in the bottom of the pot for extra drainage. If you've only got one or 2 plants, Bonsai Jack sells something similar, but you're going to pay the same price for enough to fill one pot as you'd pay to fill a dozen pots. I've got 3 or 4 plants using only bark and clay (for palms that need it) and as soon as I start pouring water into them, it's flowing into their saucers. As we're into colder weather I'd water less but based on what you've said I'm _guessing_ root rot from poor draining soil. I dunno what you paid for this palm but they're readily available mail order from big box stores and should be relatively cheap. 

 

If worst comes to worst, chalk it up to the game and try again in the spring. The homey @DoomsDaveonce said 'if you ain't killing, you ain't gardening' or words to that effect. We've all learned lessons the hard way. I've got about 35 plants between my apartment, patio, and office and I've probably killed at least that many. Fortunately most of them were small and cheap. 

I’m probably not gonna go buy a bunch of stuff for a plant everyone thinks is dead. I can get some perlite and mix it 50/50 with the soil if that would potentially give it a chance?
 

this plant was pretty expensive $200… and this is that is the soil the nursery recommended. 

[DoomsDave]

@lonestar94 I'm with @PalmatierMegI think your plant has rot of some kind, and I don't think it can be saved.

Hate to say this, but I think it might have been infected at the time you bought it. Maybe you can prevail on your vendor to give you a new one? I grow them too, along with other palms, and they get that, alas.

[lonestar94]

8 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

@lonestar94 I'm with @PalmatierMegI think your plant has rot of some kind, and I don't think it can be saved.

Hate to say this, but I think it might have been infected at the time you bought it. Maybe you can prevail on your vendor to give you a new one? I grow them too, along with other palms, and they get that, alas.

I’ll call them, been a month though doubt they’ll do anything. Thanks for the information everyone probably gonna steer away from palms in the future. 

[JohnAndSancho]

9 minutes ago, lonestar94 said:

I’m probably not gonna go buy a bunch of stuff for a plant everyone thinks is dead. I can get some perlite and mix it 50/50 with the soil if that would potentially give it a chance?
 

this plant was pretty expensive $200… and this is that is the soil the nursery recommended. 

They can revive. There's another thread on here where a user literally took one out of a trash pile and had to trunk cut it, but it recovered. It ain't pretty right now but it's alive. 

[DoomsDave]

Just now, lonestar94 said:

I’ll call them, been a month though doubt they’ll do anything. Thanks for the information everyone probably gonna steer away from palms in the future. 

See my PM (private message).

[lonestar94]

One more thing would covering it at night with some colder weather give it a a better chance? 

[DoomsDave]

1 hour ago, lonestar94 said:

One more thing would covering it at night with some colder weather give it a a better chance? 

It wouldn’t hurt, since winter is coming.

Best of luck, let us know how it goes one way or the other.

[Enar]

Does your pot not have drainage holes