Fertilizing NOW or wait South Texas?

[MarcusH]

According to the weather forecast we're in our warm season now.  Daytime temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s and  mid 50s to mid 60s at night for the entire week and next . Growing season for palms is from March to October ,dates vary .  A lot out there in the nature is already blooming and the palm fronds already grow faster.  Soil temperature is above 65 for the next few days even if it would drop in the upper 50s in the morning I don't see a problem.  Am I good to start my fertilizing with a slow release fertilizer now  since it's already February 21st and I don't expect the temperature to drop significantly anymore.  What are your experiences with fertilizing palms a few weeks earlier in South Texas?  

[ChicagoPalma]

I’m in Chicago, but I fertilize only during a plants growing season, and even though you guys have warmer temps and an earlier growing season, it’s still better to fertilize in the growing season of a plant. 

Edited February 21, 2023 by ChicagoPalma

[MarcusH]

Some folks fertilize their palms year around especially in South Florida.  Well I'm not in SoFla but our weather is pretty much summer like and won't really change until the end of the year. As I mentioned before the temperatures are all for fertilizing so what would can go wrong if the soil temperature are mainly in the mid 50s to upper 60s in the morning and go up significantly at lunch time ?

[ZPalms]

It's been above average here, I wonder if I can fertilize now?

[Xenon]

I fertilize whenever it's warm for more than a few days, and that includes week long stretches of 70s and 80s in December and January. I do half dose-ish of soluble fertilizer year round. My palms are always growing. 

Solid fertilizer, sulfur and K-mag gets applied March-December depending on temps and how often it rains. 

[RJ]

Mid 70’s to low 80’s here, I fertilized yesterday 😎

[Sabal King]

Depending on what you have, but I am in NTX (DFW area) and I fertilize year round, and plant my sabals year round.  Have never lost a single palm even when planting just weeks before ice storms, freezes, etc.  If you are in South Texas, yes absolutely, get to fertilizing!  You would have been good to fertilize weeks ago after our Christmas freeze.

[MarcusH]

Well guys I'm glad I asked because you gave me the answers I wished to hear 😅.  I knew I could count on you.  

I'm going to fertilize right now and get them out the bed. Time to work and push up some fronds ladies.  

But seriously how is a palm dormant if it still pushes out fronds during winter even at a lot slower growth rate?  Isn't dormant like our St Augustine grass that's not growing during winter time at all ? And what's against the rule to give them some light breakfast once temperatures go up in the mid 60s and up ? It's not like we live in a cold climate where it stays cold for weeks and months.  

[Sabal King]

2 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

Well guys I'm glad I asked because you gave me the answers I wished to hear 😅.  I knew I could count on you.  

I'm going to fertilize right now and get them out the bed. Time to work and push up some fronds ladies.  

But seriously how is a palm dormant if it still pushes out fronds during winter even at a lot slower growth rate?  Isn't dormant like our St Augustine grass that's not growing during winter time at all ? And what's against the rule to give them some light breakfast once temperatures go up in the mid 60s and up ? It's not like we live in a cold climate where it stays cold for weeks and months.  

They aren't dormant, even for here in DFW.  I get growth on every single Sabal minus the +/- 3-4 days around an ice, snow, or cold event.  Once it passes, they continue right on.  In zone 7 and below, they do get dormancy where the palms just don't move.  We do not experience that here.  I've documented fertilizing year round on my YT as I know there are folks who will say I'm wrong but it is hard to argue with evidence.  Fertilize year round down by you for sure as I do here in DFW.  Let them grow!!!

[Xenon]

3 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Well guys I'm glad I asked because you gave me the answers I wished to hear 😅.  I knew I could count on you.  

I'm going to fertilize right now and get them out the bed. Time to work and push up some fronds ladies.  

But seriously how is a palm dormant if it still pushes out fronds during winter even at a lot slower growth rate?  Isn't dormant like our St Augustine grass that's not growing during winter time at all ? And what's against the rule to give them some light breakfast once temperatures go up in the mid 60s and up ? It's not like we live in a cold climate where it stays cold for weeks and months.  

No dormancy here...I have tropical palms (Chambeyronia, Euterpe edulis, Cyphophoenix elegans, and a few more) in the ground and they grow straight through "winter" so I fertilize accordingly. 

[Wakreeh]

I would personally wait until March or April just to be safe but if the lows stay above 50 than its a good time

[MarcusH]

Fertilized them all. Hey Jonathan, what kind of fertilizer do you use for your palms ? 

[Xenon]

21 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

Fertilized them all. Hey Jonathan, what kind of fertilizer do you use for your palms ? 

Jack's Palm Food 16-5-25 (winter/ early spring/ late fall) and Jack's Petunia FeED 20-6-22 (summer/hot season) for liquid fertilizer. For granular I use Carl Pool Hibiscus Food 10-4-12 (good price at HEB) and Dynamite 18-6-8 for some smaller stuff and pots. I also rotate ammonium sulfate 21-0-0 as a liquid feed during the summer and apply K-mag (aka langbeinite aka sul-po-mag) 0-0-22. I also add elemental sulfur a few times a year to combat my soil's high pH and high pH tap water (I'm sure you have a similar issue), the lower pH helps with nutrient availability and absorption.

I don't have a huge collection so I can baby/spoon-feed everything somewhat. For larger palms, some sort of palm fertilizer (Palm Gain or Carl Pool works, even MG), K-mag, and elemental sulfur is probably all you need. Queen palms are a lot more hungry than some other things that can do fine with minimal fertilizer like Washies, Livistona chinensis, Sabal, etc. 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Xenon

[FMG]

DFW here. I fertilized everything this week and rolled the dice on planting Pygmy date, Areca, Christmas, Foxtail, Bottle, Travelers, Bismarck and Coconut (annuals most likely, but I’m hoping to get lucky with weather and protection for a couple seasons).

Looking at the long term forecast and we’re well into growing season it appears (knock on wood). The Rye is obviously going crazy and the Bermuda and St. Augustine are already poking their heads up. Bananas and Cana are pushing 2-3in new spears from the ground. Even have some small buds on the post oak. 

[PalmatierMeg]

We fertilized here several weeks ago, earliest ever. Palms had gone almost a year with no fertilizer because of Ian last year. And after the cold week of Dec. 2022 we haven’t had any bitter cold fronts. But we could find almost no fertilizer for palms/shrubs and what we did find at Lowe’s was almost $60 for a 50-lb bag. We chose Sunniland  6-4-6 citrus/mango/avocado (orange bag) for $23 a 40lb bag. The Sunniland palm blend was sold out. We plan to do a second fertilization in May before rainy season fertilizer blackout. The good news is that we needed fewer bags after all the hurricane carnage.

I would say fertilize when lows are reliably above 50F when most palms are revving up metabolism for the coming growing season. Fertilizer is too expensive to sit unused on cold ground.