Mule palm damage

[GinaJ]

Hi! I’m in central Florida near Ocala. We purchased 3 mule palms in September and they have been doing great until just recently. A lot of browning and even looks like pest damage. I know nothing about palms other than that these are cold hardy. We planted them ourselves and followed the nursery’s instructions to a T. We tried to make sure there were no air pockets, however we did not use water as we planted. That was not instructed by them. They got palm fertilizer as we planted and watered every day for a month. We have a few cold nights, but nothing below 35 degrees. I have not pruned them yet so I don’t think they have that disease caused by contaminated pruning tools. Also, we have a water softener attachment on our well. We’ve used both straight well water and softened water. 
 

Any help/suggestions are greatly appreciated! I don’t want these guys to die!
 

 

 

 

[Scott W]

Probably just some transplant shock.  Were these potted or field grown?  How's the new spear growth looking?  

[GinaJ]

These were pot grown and the new growth seems to be ok. It looks like maybe the tips have a tiny bit of brown but other than that it’s ok.

So, even though it’s been a couple months since we planted them, the brown leaves could just start showing up now?

 

Thank you! 

[Dwarf Fan]

Scott knows Mules he is probably correct.

 Can we see some more pics? I would guess maybe a little too much water? How much water were they given each day?

[MarcusH]

2 hours ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Scott knows Mules he is probably correct.

 Can we see some more pics? I would guess maybe a little too much water? How much water were they given each day?

That's what I was thinking too. Usually the rule is water the newly planted palm once a day for the first 2 weeks than cut it down to every other day for another 2 weeks. After that keep the soil moist but not soggy especially in the warmer months, depending on the type of palm . 

[Allen]

18 hours ago, GinaJ said:

Also, we have a water softener attachment on our well. We’ve used both straight well water and softened water. 

No personal experience with this but watering plants with salt water?  Sounds like a bad idea

[Scott W]

16 hours ago, GinaJ said:

These were pot grown and the new growth seems to be ok. It looks like maybe the tips have a tiny bit of brown but other than that it’s ok.

So, even though it’s been a couple months since we planted them, the brown leaves could just start showing up now?

 

Thank you! 

It's quite normal to see the older fronds start to brown as the palm pulls energy from old growth for new growth.  

Looks like it's planted in good ole Florida sand, and if it were me I'd mulch a good foot or two around the trunk, keeping the mulch just off the base of the palm.  Personally I like to use large pine bark nuggets. 

Butia are also known to not like to be in mucky, water logged soil, but just a quick glance it doesn't look like that's the case here.  I've read other posts here on PT of people growing mules in really wet land....but I've never tried it....maybe I need to experiment...

With that, this time of year growth can slow down, and mine get watered whenever it rains, so it'd be okay to back off the water for sure.   Also, no more fertilizer until early Spring.

 

[GinaJ]

Thank you! We were going to put more fertilizer down, so I’m glad you mentioned not too. We haven’t watered them for awhile, just letting the rain take care of it. Does it have to be mulch? We initially bought stone to put around them, but if that is bad we’ll do the mulch instead.

[MarcusH]

1 hour ago, GinaJ said:

Thank you! We were going to put more fertilizer down, so I’m glad you mentioned not too. We haven’t watered them for awhile, just letting the rain take care of it. Does it have to be mulch? We initially bought stone to put around them, but if that is bad we’ll do the mulch instead.

Not required but if you care for nutrients ph level ,keeping the roots cool in the summer and warm in the winter Mulch is the way to go. 

Water less in winter it doesn't hurt to let the soil dry out then go back to watering . 

If the soil temperature is under 65°F Fertilizer won't be really beneficial.  It's recommended not to fertilize during the cold season.