Sun hardening palms, are there any general rules?

[Dave Bayside]

Hi all

I am wanting to know the best way to sun harden palms and when is the best time? 

I live in a small block so it’s either full shade or full sun for varying times of the day, nothing dappled. It faces directly north south. I want to move some of my palms currently in full shade into the sun around my pool. 

Imagine in the pic below that the right side faces exactly north so gets a lot of sun, but the left side is shaded until the plants get taller. 

The palms I would like to move into sun onto the right hand side of the pic are my Veitchias (winin, metiti, subdidistchia, arecina) which are all around a meter tall.

On the left hand side I would like to move there my Ptychospermas (schefferi and microcarpum). 

So how do I do it without burning my palms to death? I was hoping leading into the winter sun in Brisbane I could move them out. 

 

[Dave Bayside]

[mike in kurtistown]

Full sun in east Hawaii Island is modified by high humidity, frequent cloudiness, and lots of rain showers. Subject to this proviso, I have Veitchias, including subdisticha  and arecina, in our full sun, as well as Ptychosperma schefferi (growing well and looking great).

[DoomsDave]

@Dave BaysideWelcome to Palm Talk!

Yike a Rooney, that's a HELLUVA place you got there. Very nice.

By Redlands I assume you mean Redlands, California, in San Bernardino County?

If so, I know a bit about it. If you're somewhere else, kindly advise.

 

[Dave Bayside]

7 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

@Dave BaysideWelcome to Palm Talk!

Yike a Rooney, that's a HELLUVA place you got there. Very nice.

By Redlands I assume you mean Redlands, California, in San Bernardino County?

If so, I know a bit about it. If you're somewhere else, kindly advise.

 

Redlands in Queensland Australia.

[Tracy]

8 hours ago, Dave Bayside said:

Redlands in Queensland Australia.

Your mates in Brisbane can probably offer the best advice.  You may want to add the Queensland to your location in your profile to avoid confusion.  I was initially confused as Dave was but caught your reference to the winter sun in Brisbane.  I like to transition into full sun during winter as well, to take advantage of the less intense sun.  Spring also works well here due to often persistent marine layers we experience when in close proximity to the Pacific Ocean (May Gray and June Gloom are the regional terms for it).  Don't know if you get the same type of spring marine layers down in your area but I do see you are "bayside" so very well may.  Good luck on the transition and I'll defer to local advice on moving those palms.

[DoomsDave]

10 hours ago, Dave Bayside said:

Redlands in Queensland Australia.

Concur noisily with @Tracy! Redlands CA and Redlands QL are likely very very different places.

 

[Rivera]

As someone with a bunch of sunburned plants, I would say you can't acclimate too slowly. 

@Darold Petty told me to take advantage of the winter solstice, which has been mentioned here. 

I have moved potted palms in winter and still burned them when they started getting more sun, but I moved them too quickly, even for a frequently foggy/overcast neighborhood such as mine.

In the future, I would also consider a temporary shade structure when I plant out young howeas in the sunnier parts of the yard. 

I think I've finally burned enough palms, aloes, and agaves to have absorbed the lesson. Good luck 🤙

Chris

[sonoranfans]

A few general rules: 1) its better to increase direct sunlight slowly in terms of hours of exposure.  2) better to do it in the cool or wet season so water uptake can keep pace with evapotranspiration that is caused by the sun heating the plant.  Ive used shade netting in Arizona for some small full sun palms that otherwise just burned in 6+ hrs full sun.  Most intense sun in the US is in Arizona, only a few species take full AZ sun at a small size(<15 gallon),  Rapid introduction to full sun from shade will stress the plant and cause a growth setback.  Yeah it may grow through it eventually but the plant lost hard earned energy.  For this reason, consider the species and its sun tolerance before rapid changes.  Take a look at the cultural requirements of palms in PalmPedia before you decide.  The   fadt that you have consistently high humidity  means it will be easier than in the desert.

One more comment, plants will suffer dessication and burn faster in a smaller pot size, all else equal.  Burn happens when the plant no longer has the ability to cool itself and that frequently happens when the plant loses too much water.  Leaf transpiration(water loss) rate can exceed root water uptake rate and the plant will burn.