Top Soil over palm root

[Chris J]

Hello, I’ve had my Sylvester palms for a month now. I just bought some topsoil and I applied it over the top portion of the expose root of my Sylvester. I just want to know from anyone is it OK to apply topsoil over the exposed root of a palm tree? I noticed that the top soil soaks up water pretty good, and I want to make sure that it doesn’t prevent water from reaching the palm root. 

[Darold Petty]

Welcome to Palmtalk !  

Palm roots should not be exposed to air and sunlight.  Please read this,

http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

 

[Merlyn]

@Chris Jalso keep in mind that Sylvesters grow "adventitious roots," sometimes from part way up the trunk.  There's one near me with roots coming out 6 or so feet up the trunk, so burying those roots is obviously a bad choice.  Getting a good balance of planting depth and dirt/mulch coverage is important for long term growth.  Darold's link has some great photos and info.  If you post some pictures of your palms here, that would help the group provide some advice.  Slightly less dirt/mulch coverage is better to avoid winter rot problems, but too much of the RIZ exposed means air girdling, instability, and slow growth rate.

[Patrick]

5 hours ago, Chris J said:

Hello, I’ve had my Sylvester palms for a month now. I just bought some topsoil and I applied it over the top portion of the expose root of my Sylvester. I just want to know from anyone is it OK to apply topsoil over the exposed root of a palm tree? I noticed that the top soil soaks up water pretty good, and I want to make sure that it doesn’t prevent water from reaching the palm root. 

I'm guessing these are pretty small palms since you've only had them for a month? I didn't catch what size they are. Anyways, yeah, you'll want to keep the roots covered; but once/ if/ when they get so big like Merlyn's pictures, there's not a whole lot you can do about those- and it's kind of a different animal at that point. I actually just had to build up a little rock wall and put topsoil on top of a Chamaedorea tepejilote just the other day. I've noticed if the palms are too high they don't grow as well as something planted at the correct height; so adding the topsoil is a good idea. 

 

There was a good thread a few months back with some big date palms in Sacramento CA that came down in a bad storm. Destroyed a couple of cars. Upon further inspection it looked like the adventitious roots had been trimmed repeatedly over the years and the base of the palm was restricted by the trimming. This ultimately led to the failure of the trunks of these palms. Long story short, the adventitious roots are a good thing...