Backfilling with sand

[Palmfarmer]

As long as the bottom of your planting hole drains fairly well backfilling with sand might be a good idea? I would imagine to roots expanding out faster, avoiding transplant shock and getting established faster. 
 

Reason I got this Idea was from Gary from Laguna. He said that when they planted the palms at LAX they backfilled them with sand and it was supposedly very common to do when planting palms at mass. 

[Matt in OC]

Don Hodel has what I consider to be a relatively definitive study on this. Short answer: it depends.

[-2 brian]

It really depends on both your soil makeup and the palm you're planting.

Commercial wise; here in Southern California, sand is used as backfill when planting field grown palms like, Washingtonia, and Phoenix species.

Most other palms would benefit from a backfill mix with at least some organic matter mixed in. That's not to say that they couldn't survive a planting with sand only backfill; just that they would benefit more with a cactus/succulent/palm backfill which is available in bag or bulk. That type of mix will contain the required drainage while also providing organic matter.