Watering Areca Palms - best practices

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I have a whole line of 10+ foot tall areca palms that I believe are starving of water. We are in a rainfall deficit and getting 2” or less per month. They don’t look good.

I want to run my irrigation system to them but have a few questions:

1) How often should they be watered? Our soil is straight sand, so the water is gone quickly. I assume this means they should be watered more often.

2) Pop-up sprayer aimed at the lower trunk/ground, or drip style? If drip, do you have a recommendation for gallons per hour or type of emitter? And how long to run the drip?

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Any thoughts?

[DoomsDave]

How about a picture?

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11 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

How about a picture?

[Harry’s Palms]

Irrigation varies with climate and season. I manually water , and it takes a lot of time, for this reason. In my experience with these they like the moist side of things. I water both of mine frequently here in Southern California with a hose. When I water , I water until there is a puddle around the palm and then on to the next. Then , on my water loving palms like the C. Lutescens, I give it another dose. My soil drains well as I have amended every year for over 20 years. Harry

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12 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Irrigation varies with climate and season. I manually water , and it takes a lot of time, for this reason. In my experience with these they like the moist side of things. I water both of mine frequently here in Southern California with a hose. When I water , I water until there is a puddle around the palm and then on to the next. Then , on my water loving palms like the C. Lutescens, I give it another dose. My soil drains well as I have amended every year for over 20 years. Harry

Thank you sir.

[Bkue]

I have nearly 300. Some get water some don’t other than rainfall. I’m super hydrophobic soil as well. While noticeable the ones with better irrigation it is not drastic. Pushing 3.5yrs from 3gal and now most are 15ft+ overall and many with 3-5ft of trunk. N,e,s facing. 

[sonoranfans]

in sand go sprinklers for a spray and run them after sundown for 30-40 mins.   It late in our dry season so I would hand water mor now and move the sprinkler.  Generally irrigation issues should be fixed before the dry spring.  I would water by hand till rains come then look into extending the irrigation system.  Drippers are for lower drainage soils where water moves laterally before it drains.not ultra fast drainage sand.  With sand the drippers just produce a small wet column, you want all the roots wetted.

[ahosey01]

38 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

in sand go sprinklers for a spray and run them after sundown for 30-40 mins.   It late in our dry season so I would hand water mor now and move the sprinkler.  Generally irrigation issues should be fixed before the dry spring.  I would water by hand till rains come then look into extending the irrigation system.  Drippers are for lower drainage soils where water moves laterally before it drains.not ultra fast drainage sand.  With sand the drippers just produce a small wet column, you want all the roots wetted.

Having never lived in Florida, reading this got me like “oh that’s super obvious” but I would never have thought of it before.  Only ever lived with heavy soil.

[3 Milesfrom Gulf of Mexico]

Looks like Pinellas should be getting some good rain on June 15th.  

[sonoranfans]

17 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Having never lived in Florida, reading this got me like “oh that’s super obvious” but I would never have thought of it before.  Only ever lived with heavy soil.

they give instruction at irrigation sites in line that sell drippers and micro sprayers.  You can also look up peer reviewed literature on the subject.  I was shocked coming from arizona clay to florida sandy soil, it dries out fast.  Some areas of my yard are 3' deep of almost pure sand.  I started with drippers then abandoned them after I killed a few palms.  Clay is great for holding water and for cation exchange but can have poor drainage.  Sand has zero water retention and zero cation exchange.  Sandy soil exacerbates deficiencies two ways:  there is no nutrient uptake in dry soil and fertilizer is brought to the roots by water consumed and then needs more water to bring more(dissolved) the fertilizer to the roots.  If water channels and/or drains rapidly in the soil the bioavailable fertilizer goes with the water, gone.  In sand, broadcast fertilization using controlled release really helps with sprayers, liquid fertilizers or spikes dont work well at all.   K is the most soluble nutrient so it washes out first in high drainage soil unless trapped by cation exchange sites in the soil.  You really need to amend the sand because frequent watering required also washes away the soluble nutrients like potassium even more quickly.  This is where controlled osmotic release comes in as a first step but you should amend the soil upon planting and top mulch every year 3" for 5 years then maybe every other year.  I am luck I guess parts of my yard have clay*near to stabilize the house and drainage paths.  Then there are parts where I had a 35" box 5oyal planted and there was nothing but whitish grey sand to over 3 deep.  

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On 6/5/2024 at 12:51 AM, Bkue said:

I have nearly 300. Some get water some don’t other than rainfall. I’m super hydrophobic soil as well. While noticeable the ones with better irrigation it is not drastic. Pushing 3.5yrs from 3gal and now most are 15ft+ overall and many with 3-5ft of trunk. N,e,s facing. 

Sounds like you’re the person to talk to! I assume the crispy brown leaves are due to lack of water? I’ve given them pounds of nutrients over the past year but that hasn’t helped the condition at all.

[Bkue]

The browns are a natural cycle. They come they go. I just did a full pickup truck load clean out yesterday. Should be good for a while. The ones that partially brown and don’t come off easy are usually from cold. I wouldn’t say I have more from the less watered but they are noticeably smaller at this point.