Repotting Outdoor Dypsis Lutescens

[ewaforevah]

I'm a newb, looking to this wonderful forum for advice.  I picked up a bunch of 3gal and 7gal dypsis lutescens for outdoor privacy.   Since it's in a concrete area, they will remain in a pot of some sort.  Right now they're 4-5ft and I'll need them to reach the 6-8ft range.  Do I need to repot them? I'm perfectly content leaving them in the black nursery pots if repotting isn't necessary.  What are the potential issues if I do keep them in the original pots?  If I do repot them, any tips, advice or good resources on how to do it? How tricky is it to do and not kill the palm?  Thanks!

[Merlyn]

@ewaforevahLutescens are pretty tough in my experience, it's probably one reason they are so popular.  If you want to keep them in pots long-term, then stepping up to something in the 10g to 15g area is a good choice.  A 3g pot will definitely restrict growth rate.  Without seeing them I couldn't say for sure, but a good bet may be to move the 7g into 10-15g and then move the 3g into the old 7g pots.  Some additional weight at the bottom will also help keep them upright on windy days.

As far as repotting, just try to remove the entire rootball from the pot in one chunk.  Sometimes I end up slicing the pot with a razor knife, being careful to not cut too many roots.  There are a bunch of threads here on favorite soil mixes.  A loose, quick draining mix is ideal.  My current mix is (roughly) equal parts generic "topsoil," perlite, Turface MVP, Sakrete Paver Base, and sometimes I toss in some small pine bark nuggets.  You just want something that drains fast but retains some moisture.

Plant them with soil up to the base of the trunk, approximately at the "root initiation zone."  Some good photos and info are here: http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

[Robert D. Young]

My experience has been: these palms are weak when young but stronger when more mature. My oldest dypsis luteschens was bought in 2014 and is going strong...only reported once in 8+ years. Palms are easier to transfer to another pot because their roots tend to either double back and circle, or for some species they are fat stubs. Either way, you still need to be careful but you should be able to pull it out of the pot in one bunch. Try turning the pot sideways first. I would recommend upgrade to the next pot size up. These palms tend to get bigger if given a larger pot, within reason. Don't forget to water the roots with the transfer to encourage re-attachment to the new pot. Finally, these palms do not do well below freezing. May tolerate a light freeze but I wouldn't risk a hard freeze (27F or lower, 4+ hours of freezing temperatures, etc).