King palm indoor

[Chavy87]

I have a triple trunk King Palm in a wine barrel, I brought it into the garage under LED grow lights for the winter. It's looking pretty poor. I'm thinking it may need more water? Some of the fronds are nice and green others are brown.

[BayAndroid]

How often are you watering it? It wont need as much in the  garage, but still. 

[Chavy87]

About twice a week.

[Jim in Los Altos]

They are water hogs. Keep ‘em wet! We’re they subjected to frost or subfreezing temperatures before you moved them into your garage?

[Chavy87]

No not at all. In fact my king palm that is outside looks better than the one pictured aside from a little yellowing probably due to lack of nutrients. I'll attach a picture of the one outside tomorrow in the light.

[Jim in Los Altos]

7 hours ago, Chavy87 said:

No not at all. In fact my king palm that is outside looks better than the one pictured aside from a little yellowing probably due to lack of nutrients. I'll attach a picture of the one outside tomorrow in the light.

I notice your forecast in Plumas Lake, CA is calling for nighttime lows in the upper 20s for the next few days. That coupled with frost will damage King Palms. I hope your outdoor ones are protected by overhead tree canopy. 

[Chavy87]

I have Christmas lights on my outdoor king palm, the heat they put off has worked so far to keep it from the frost.

[Chavy87]

I have Christmas lights on my outdoor king palm, the heat they put off has worked so far to keep it from the frost.

[Chavy87]

Jim I stand correct, I checked the outdoor king this morning and it was covered in frost. The lights were not enough. Hopefully this was the only time frost has accumulated and it will survive.  Any tricks anyone knows to keep the frost off?

[BayAndroid]

19 minutes ago, Chavy87 said:

Jim I stand correct, I checked the outdoor king this morning and it was covered in frost. The lights were not enough. Hopefully this was the only time frost has accumulated and it will survive.  Any tricks anyone knows to keep the frost off?

Get a frost cloth and maybe some stakes to keep the cloth suspended over the palm. I have this setup for some of mine right now. The frost will sit on the cloth, not the fronds. My kings have been through the ringer this year... it's just been a bitter cold fall.... not even winter yet. I had actual ice on my kings (unprotected) a couple weeks ago. They did fine, but you may want to make sure there's some protection for these going forward. Cumulative effects can do them in. 

[Chavy87]

1 hour ago, Chavy87 said:

Jim I stand corrected, I checked the outdoor king this morning and it was covered in frost. The lights were not enough. Hopefully this was the only time frost has accumulated and it will survive.  Any tricks anyone knows to keep the frost off?

 

[Fusca]

On 12/11/2022 at 11:27 PM, Chavy87 said:

I have a triple trunk King Palm in a wine barrel, I brought it into the garage under LED grow lights for the winter. It's looking pretty poor. I'm thinking it may need more water? Some of the fronds are nice and green others are brown.

Like Jim said, they're water hogs.  But even in a container the roots can sufficate in mucky soil.  Make sure your soil drains well and then water, water, water... 

Even Miracle Gro potting mix becomes mucky after a couple of years.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Fusca

[Jim in Los Altos]

4 hours ago, Fusca said:

Like Jim said, they're water hogs.  But even in a container the roots can sufficate in mucky soil.  Make sure your soil drains well and then water, water, water... 

Even Miracle Gro potting mix becomes mucky after a couple of years.

I have several growing well in stagnant muck 365 days per year in an in-ground fiberglass pond (no drain holes). Stinky water is right up to their trunks. A gravel layer hides the muck and any smell. The palms are doing exceptionally well after several years there. King palms are truly aquatic. 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Jim in Los Altos

[Jim in Los Altos]

6 hours ago, Chavy87 said:

Jim I stand correct, I checked the outdoor king this morning and it was covered in frost. The lights were not enough. Hopefully this was the only time frost has accumulated and it will survive.  Any tricks anyone knows to keep the frost off?

If you have a large beach umbrella or similar to place over the palm, frost won’t form. It will also help trap heat from the string of lights. 

[Fusca]

2 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

I have several growing well in stagnant muck 365 days per year in an in-ground fiberglass pond (no drain holes). Stinky water is right up to their trunks. A gravel layer hides the muck and any smell. The palms are doing exceptionally well after several years there. King palms are truly aquatic. 

Jim, I believe it!  This past summer I put several seedling containers with different Archontophoenix species in buckets so that they would have steady access to water during several days of 100°+ temps.  All did great except I noticed one really struggling and I figured that it needed potting up.  I was horrified at the sludge it was growing in!  The roots had started to turn brown.  I rinsed off the roots and put it in a completely new mix.  Now it is improving in the better draining mix.  For some reason a container presents problems that wouldn't be an issue in the ground in similar conditions.  Root rot with Ravenea rivularis in containers doesn't make sense either but it seems to happen a lot.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Fusca

[Jim in Los Altos]

3 hours ago, Fusca said:

Jim, I believe it!  This past summer I put several seedling containers with different Archontophoenix species in buckets so that they would have steady access to water during several days of 100°+ temps.  All did great except I noticed one really struggling and I figured that it needed potting up.  I was horrified at the sludge it was growing in!  The roots had started to turn brown.  I rinsed off the roots and put it in a completely new mix.  Now it is improving in the better draining mix.  For some reason a container presents problems that wouldn't be an issue in the ground in similar conditions.  Root rot with Ravenea rivularis in containers doesn't make sense either but it seems to happen a lot.

Well Jon, the Archotophoenix I have in stagnant water ARE containerized since the 500 gallon former pond contains all of these three particular palm’s roots. There were seven palms there until I thinned them out to just three. No roots have escaped this big “planter.” I have several water elements throughout my landscape and routinely have Archontophoenix seeds sprout and grow up out of the water for months before I remove them. Before I demolished a 22,000 gallon pond, I let King palms in the water mature to up to 20 feet tall. Their roots were anchored to piles of boulders at the bottom of the pond. 

[Chavy87]

So here's an update on the king palm in the garage. The fronds on the largest trunk definitely are brown and crispy, the new spear appears to be healthy and the smallest two trunks are healthy as shown in the pictures. Any thoughts on what could have caused the decline in appearance/health?

[James B]

Anthony the exciting thing is you may be growing Archontophoenix farther North than anyone on Palmtalk. Especially considering how far inland you are. 

Which is awesome. Kings may get cold damage if they are exposed to below 30. A variety of factors come into play from there. In my old garden several of mine showed frost damage at between 29-31 degrees. This was the last time they had any damage as they grew larger and IMO acclimated as well as I continued to plant more creating a jungle canopy that protected even more cold sensitive palms.

If you can keep your outside double alive through the winter I’d bet if it sees similar temps next winter and beyond it will show less damage each year as it gets bigger. I would also plant more around it to create more protection. 
 

As for your palms in the pot, it’s a different game. A number of different challenges can impact palms in pots as they aren’t designed for that especially King Palms. It could be cold, it could be fungal, or it could be insect related. 
 

I’d inspect each leaf closely to see evidence of spider mites or other pests that could damage the palm.

[Lucy Davis]

Hi,

I have king palms in whiskey barrels.   One is triple a the other is a quad.   The frawns begin bright green the turn crispy brown. There appears to be black specks on the frawns.