My sad box store Trachy palm

[WSimpson]

I bought this Trachy at a box store about 10 years ago and it has always been my least hardy Trachy and ugliest palm . I am going to do everything I can for it so that it looks decent soon . I've already fertilized it with palm fertilizer , and I've been watering it .   All the fronds were zapped after  quick 6F  shot of cold air came down around Christmas year before last , so all the green fronds on it now were  all grown during the warm season last year . With the exception of that 1 cold snap , the winter 2 winters ago was a mild winter . 

The worst part of it is that it is in the front yard and has a landscape  light that comes on it at sunset till about 12:00am , so every car that drives by gets to enjoy its beauty . It's the kind of ugly palm that gives growing palms in this area  a bad reputation .

I'm challenging myself to see if I can turn it into a swan from an ugly duckling ?

Will

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Poor thing. I'd try to give it a fighting chance. Also, it has been way over trimmed. Put the loppers away and let it grow a full crown of leaves. Every time you hack off a green leaf to make a fashion statement you are depriving the palm of vital nutrients it needs to grow.

[WSimpson]

1 hour ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Poor thing. I'd try to give it a fighting chance. Also, it has been way over trimmed. Put the loppers away and let it grow a full crown of leaves. Every time you hack off a green leaf to make a fashion statement you are depriving the palm of vital nutrients it needs to grow.

I only cut off the dead fronds that were zapped 2 winters ago . My other Trachys also had a similar zapping but they grew out faster and look respectable . I'm going to cut the dead skirt off of some of them and leave a skirt on others . 

Will

Below are examples of what that Christmas 6F did to my other Trachys . Still they are way healthier looking than that featured Trachy . Some of the Trachys in the pictures below will have the lower dead fronds cut off , and on a couple of them I'll leave the skirt   on to form a thicker skirt over the years . 

 

 

 

[WSimpson]

Just so people don't think I'm torturing that  poor Trachy , I wanted to show you that poor Trachy next to a Nainital close to it .  The only growth I cut off both those palms after that 6F two  winters ago  were  dead fronds   . The Nainital just took that cold snap a little better . 

Will

 

 

 

[Chester B]

It could be a weak specimen, just luck of the draw.  If it were me,  I would amend heavily on top of the existing soil, and add a nice generous layer of mulch and water frequently.   I would do a 6 foot diameter of compost/manure and then mulch to at least a 4" depth,  but not right against the trunk.  I can't see the base but it looks like its competing with grass and other plants.

Might I also add, I think trimming that trunk didn't do you any favors either.  That fiber is there for a reason.

[WSimpson]

I hear you Chester .

I haven't fertilized in many years and I just did a week ago , and I've been watering too ,  which I haven't done in years as well . That grass is dead and I will be making a natural area and I'll plant more stuff there .  As far as the fiber is concerned ,  I only cut totally dead tissue , and I only cut off totally dead fronds . 

That palm has looked decent and healthy in the past , but that 6F two  Christmases ago hit it pretty hard ,  and before it had hardened off . Last winter was mild with a lowest Low of 15F so I think that with some good growth this summer it should bounce back , but it has always been less hardy than my other Trachys . 

Will

[Leelanau Palms]

Please show us details of your resuscitation efforts and how the palm responds.