Kentia Palm

[amazonman]

I acquired an 16’ kentia palm with around a 10 foot trunk. The palm was removed from a front yard and was placed in a 36” box and transported to my driveway.  It’s probably been in the box for about a month since removed. It’s going through some stress with the frond leaves browning, thinning and yellowing. My question is how long can I leave in the box before transplanting it. It’s going in the backyard that I am remodeling and won’t be done till another 5-6 months. I am in SoCal in Corona California. 

[Harry’s Palms]

I would get it in the ground soon. Make sure it stays well watered . I have moved quite a few of them and only lost one. They are very forgiving and seem to love Southern California. There will be a transition period which can vary depending on the root damage that occurred from digging it up, but if treated right these palms can overcome in time. I was given 6 or 7 with about 3’ of clean trunk and they were not in the best of shape . They are beautiful , healthy palms now. Here are a couple of the ones that were given to me . Harry

[happypalms]

It needs vitamin B liquid seaweed emulsion when you water it that will help with the transplant shock 

[amazonman]

Thanks Harry for the advice. Wow must be nice to receive so many Kentia palms. I won’t be able to ground it anytime soon , just hoping it would be happy till then, just by keeping it well watered plus some vitamin B liquid seaweed emulsion.

[Tyrone]

Yes, I totally agree with giving it fish and seaweed emulsions and keep it constantly moist, don’t let it dry out. The seaweed has hormones that stimulate root growth. You are in the cool time of year but soon it will be warming up considerably as you hit summer. When in the ground it would have had a bigger root system but now you have contained it. To deal with hot dry weather it will need quite a bit of soil moisture as it warms up or it may stress and drop leaves, burn etc. 

[happypalms]

Also to relieve a bit more stress remove the seeds and a couple of the lower more unsightly leaves that appear to be on the way out or desiccating that will help with the stress load Tyrone and Harry are correct after all the Howea species is an Australian palm with thousands up and down the coast line of the subtropical temperate coast of Australia the first job I had was in a kentia nursery supplying the indoor plant hire business the landscaping industry and export industry to holland with many a crane loads of palms semi trailers coming and going to and from the nursery with large palms the size of your one 

[Harry’s Palms]

5 hours ago, happypalms said:

Also to relieve a bit more stress remove the seeds and a couple of the lower more unsightly leaves that appear to be on the way out or desiccating that will help with the stress load Tyrone and Harry are correct after all the Howea species is an Australian palm with thousands up and down the coast line of the subtropical temperate coast of Australia the first job I had was in a kentia nursery supplying the indoor plant hire business the landscaping industry and export industry to holland with many a crane loads of palms semi trailers coming and going to and from the nursery with large palms the size of your one 

That’s interesting . We had a huge Kentia nursery here , perhaps the largest in North America. I sold them seeds @ .05 each. They had many acres of field growing palms and huge greenhouses for the houseplant industries. They shipped out mass quantities of palms all over the U.S. They taught me quite a bit when I would visit them . Unfortunately they are gone now but some of the field grown trees are still there….and very large! Harry

[amazonman]

Here is a recent photo of the kentia palm , I removed the seed pods and a couple of dried up palm fronds, looks like the other palm fronds are turning brown pretty fast too. I ve added the vitamin B with seaweed infused . How often should I add the vitamin B?  Instructions says every 10 days. The palm leaves definitely don’t look as green as when i first got it .

[happypalms]

6 minutes ago, amazonman said:

Here is a recent photo of the kentia palm , I removed the seed pods and a couple of dried up palm fronds, looks like the other palm fronds are turning brown pretty fast too. I ve added the vitamin B with seaweed infused . How often should I add the vitamin B?  Instructions says every 10 days. The palm leaves definitely don’t look as green as when i first got it .

Keep an eye on the water level in a container that size it will vary by wind and temperature drying the soil out iam not familiar with the temperature in your area where you live one would think a good watering once a week in summer but remember more damage is done by overwatering than underwatering don’t panic or fuss over it they are quite tough it basically has just had open heart surgery being ripped out of the ground so transplant shock is on its mind a couple of vitamin B waterings will help every month just remember keep an eye on the moisture level in the container the topsoil will dry out a houseplant rule for watering is let the top inch of soil dry out I would say the let the top two inches dry out between watering if any more leaves start to desiccate remove them prior to transplant I would have removed at least one quarter of the leaves to help with transplant shock good luck 

[peachy]

It looks like it is in a hot position. I would try to give it some kind of shade if possible. Also the roots might cooking in that box. Could you cover it with old carpet underlay or something to keep them cool ? Reflected heat from the wall, the concrete and the cars must get intense during the day.

Peachy

[MoPalm]

On 3/28/2024 at 3:19 PM, amazonman said:

Here is a recent photo of the kentia palm , I removed the seed pods and a couple of dried up palm fronds, looks like the other palm fronds are turning brown pretty fast too. I ve added the vitamin B with seaweed infused . How often should I add the vitamin B?  Instructions says every 10 days. The palm leaves definitely don’t look as green as when i first got it .

How is your kentia doing now? Did you plant it in the ground? 

 

[Darold Petty]

Harry, what happened to the Keeline-Wilcox property ??

[Harry’s Palms]

@Darold Petty  The owners (Rick and Sarah)retired and may have passed but I’m not sure. The Kentia palms that were in the ground are still there but not as many and not well cared for . The rest were probably sold off. The property sold to a corporation that had no interest in growing palms . I’m not sure what is in the greenhouses , there was no sign that I could see. I know the Sullivans used to sell bunches of seeds there , I only had a few shopping bags full from when my daughter and I would find mature Kentia and gather seeds. I never took cash , instead traded for palms. Sarah (if memory serves me well) would examine the fruit , weigh them , and tell me what I had . They paid 5 cents a seed. . An era gone by. Harry

[Harry’s Palms]

There is an excellent article in the Ventura Star archives that explains what happened if you search” Keeline Wilcox”  on the web . Harry

[Darold Petty]

Thanks very much, Harry