Is it okay to transplant a young palm tree in 10a full sun during the summer, or should I wait?

[Debb]

Hi everyone. We bought a healthy 10 gallon bottle palm that was in full shade at the nursery, surrounded by taller palms. We want to plant this palm in full afternoon sun, noon until sunset. I'm in 10a Southern Florida, in a new neighborhood with no shade from trees.  We planted our young Christmas palms in full afternoon sun and they did fine, but we planted them in September. Other palms, like a young majestic palm, were planted in all day sun recently, but suffered severe burns until newer fronds sprouted.  We're afraid of burning the leaves on this palm because of how slow growing it is. 

Should we acclimate our bottle palm for a month or so, and plant it in July?

Should we wait and plant this palm in the fall when the weather cools down?

Are bottle palms better able to handle full sun, so it would be silly not to plant it now?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this. My husband wants to wait until Fall/Winter to plant this palm. I'm willing to place it in our front entryway and acclimate it for a few weeks to see how it would handle the afternoon sun, but my husband thinks this is a silly idea. I want to plant it sooner because our plants behind the bottle palm's designated spot are getting torched and the large agave that's there is providing absolutely no shade. We planted the Agave and surrounding plants in late fall, so wasn't expecting this conundrum. If you need pictures to see our planting spot to understand our situation, please let me know. 

[aabell]

If it was in shade at the nursery then no, you need to acclimate it to the sun slowly. Even in the winter and with lots of water it would probably burn. Planting it in that situation right now would possibly kill it. 

Put it in the pot under another palm or an part of the house that blocks mid day sun and slowly move it into a more exposures area every few weeks, watching closely for signs of burned leaves. Then plant it in the Fall. 

[rizla023]

I agree with @aabell and you should definitely acclimate it. Even if it could handle full sun, acclimated plants will look a lot better. I think you easily plant it during the summer after 4 -5 weeks of acclimating, which would include a week or two of full sun exposure in the pot. When I get new sun tolerant palms, I usually do one week of shade in my yard (shade in your yard vs. nursery will be different), 1-2 week of partial sun, 1-2 weeks of it’s full time spot. Of course, watching to make sure it doesn’t burn and if so, move accordingly. As long as it’s acclimated and you provide enough water during the summer, you shouldn’t have issues planting in summer/fall. 

[Debb]

Thank you so much! I'll be patient and do the due diligence. it's a really gorgeous bottle palm and we didn't want to hinder it. Right now it's on our back porch, so we'll acclimate it to morning sun. Then, a few weeks from now, we'll move it to our front entryway and acclimate to afternoon sun. Worth the work! Appreciate the advice!

[ahosey01]

People will tell you to acclimate and they’re probably right more often than not.  I can’t speak to Hyophorbe in particular, but I have thrown Phoenix, Sabals and Livistonas straight from shade to sun without ill effect.  I’ve also done the same thing with palms that weren’t quite so tough and had them burn to death.  Depends on the toughness of your palm, the darkness of your shade, and the strength of your sun.  A palm springs full sun planting is way different than a florida full sun planting.

[rizla023]

@ahosey01 you definitely make a good point. I’ve also thrown some into full sun with success, but I’ve also lost a handful 😩