Queen Palms - what am I doing wrong?!

[Tahoma]

Tree: Queen palms 

Location: central valley, california 

Soil type: clay

Trees (13 of them) planted about 2 weeks ago. 
Many if the  outer fronds are wilting, turning yellow/brown. Some have black spots. They’re getting really unpleasant. 

I have water basins built around them that hole about 7-10 gallons of water. I do this about every other day. By that 2nd day, the top 1inch of soil is dry/crumbly, which tells me it’s ready for more water. 
Our soil seems to be clay. There are times I add water in the basin, and it literally takes HOURS to drain. 
I backfilled with maybe 25% top soil, and 75% native soil. 
 

Are these trees dying? What can I do to make them pretty again? 
 

I’m new to planting. I’m fascinated by it. Eager to learn more.

 

thank you in advance!! 
 

YouTube Link of the queen palms:

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Tahoma

[aztropic]

Trees are not dying - just adapting to different growing conditions than what they've been in until you bought them.

These are imported from humid Florida,growing under shade cloth to make them extra green for sale. Now that they are planted in full sun,in dry air,what you are seeing is actually sunburn. There is no way to fix it on the leaves that get burned now, but newly produced fronds will be adapted to your area,and will not burn so much. You can cut off the oldest bottom frond of each tree now without hurting the trees,to get rid of the worst looking burnt leaves. Don't fertilize for at least 3 months to let everything get established. These are fast growing palms,so by the late summer,they will look perfect.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[Tahoma]

11 hours ago, aztropic said:

Trees are not dying - just adapting to different growing conditions than what they've been in until you bought them.

These are imported from humid Florida,growing under shade cloth to make them extra green for sale. Now that they are planted in full sun,in dry air,what you are seeing is actually sunburn. There is no way to fix it on the leaves that get burned now, but newly produced fronds will be adapted to your area,and will not burn so much. You can cut off the oldest bottom frond of each tree now without hurting the trees,to get rid of the worst looking burnt leaves. Don't fertilize for at least 3 months to let everything get established. These are fast growing palms,so by the late summer,they will look perfect.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

Very reassuring to hear. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. Appreciate you. 

[hbernstein]

Not to be a complete ass, but many floridians would say that the biggest mistake, to begin with, is growing them!😉

[Merlyn]

Just now, hbernstein said:

Not to be a complete ass, but many floridians would say that the biggest mistake, to begin with, is growing them!😉

Too true!  But I think that's just because there are so many of them in Floriduh, and most of them were planted and then never fertilized.  Probably 2/3 of them look scraggly and half-dead.  But then you see a nice robust big green one and it's just really impressive!  That's why I have 9 of them in my yard out of ~320 palms in the ground.

The other accidental duplicate thread is here:

 

[sonoranfans]

yep one of the most maintenance intensive palms out there.  I have zero and there are zero healthy ones in my area.  In sandy soil they are impossible to grow, clay does help a lot.  I grew 8 healthy dark green ones in the arizona desert, bunched them and they did fine in clay soil.   My arizona queens put to shame any I have seen in florida, big crowns, but water usage was high. It was also a constant battle with fertilizer, specifically Mn deficiency.  If your soil pH is over 7.7 they will need to have  the pH of the soil adjusted as Mn is not bioavailable enough at that pH for needs of the queen.  If your Ca is too high(limestone soils) you will not eve be able to adjust soil pH.