Another PALM NOB ->Dry or too much water?

[MaineBumpkin]

A few months back we finally had our yard landscaped and added 3 California Fan Palms to our back yard.  Some info on soil, climate, etc:

SW Utah Desert - Very hot and dry climate, 100-115F most days with humidity around 10-15% now through August
Direct sun 12 hours per day
Soil -hard to describe but I'd have to say it's predominantly red sandstone / clay.  When dry, extremely hard packed, when wet it globs to shoes like sticky oatmeal and the it holds moisture well.
Watering -20 min daily via drip irrigation.
Palms are bordered by black volcanic rock and are installed near cinder block wall.  

I've noticed extensive browning (see attached) and yellowing over the past few weeks, (as temps go up) even some of the newer fronds have yellowed tips already.  I've been tweaking the watering over the past few weeks, for a while several weeks back, I was watering 2 times per day for 20 minutes (due to a mistake in programming).  For the past 2 weeks I've been watering once per day for 15 minutes and I just adjusted today to 20 minutes once per day.  When I touch the soil under the rocks (1 hour after irrigation shuts off), it's damp but not soaked.

So, am I over-watering, under-watering or is the black rock and full sun just over heating the poor things?

Thanks in advance!

[aztropic]

Those are NOT California fan palms in the pictures. First you have to figure out what you really are growing to get an idea of how they are going to perform over time. Those look more like windmill palms to me. (Trachycarpus fortunei) Exposed to hot desert conditions,that is just how they are going to look,and there really isn't anything that you could do to change it.(other than change them out for real California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) 

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[ahosey01]

39 minutes ago, MaineBumpkin said:

A few months back we finally had our yard landscaped and added 3 California Fan Palms to our back yard.  Some info on soil, climate, etc:

SW Utah Desert - Very hot and dry climate, 100-115F most days with humidity around 10-15% now through August
Direct sun 12 hours per day
Soil -hard to describe but I'd have to say it's predominantly red sandstone / clay.  When dry, extremely hard packed, when wet it globs to shoes like sticky oatmeal and the it holds moisture well.
Watering -20 min daily via drip irrigation.
Palms are bordered by black volcanic rock and are installed near cinder block wall.  

I've noticed extensive browning (see attached) and yellowing over the past few weeks, (as temps go up) even some of the newer fronds have yellowed tips already.  I've been tweaking the watering over the past few weeks, for a while several weeks back, I was watering 2 times per day for 20 minutes (due to a mistake in programming).  For the past 2 weeks I've been watering once per day for 15 minutes and I just adjusted today to 20 minutes once per day.  When I touch the soil under the rocks (1 hour after irrigation shuts off), it's damp but not soaked.

So, am I over-watering, under-watering or is the black rock and full sun just over heating the poor things?

Thanks in advance!

Scott is right, these are Trachycarpus fortunei - windmill palm.  These are native to extremely high elevations in tropical moist forests in China.  Essentially the polar opposite of your climate (never underestimating how unscrupulous the big box stores can be with the stuff they sell)! 

Since your nights cool off and your winters are chilly, you could possibly make these happy in the perfect conditions.  I can all but assure you, however, that in your soil, with rock mulch, against a dark painted block wall, these are not anywhere close to the perfect conditions.  You could, however, make real California fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) very happy in your conditions.  You might also try Brahea armata - kind of like a California fan palm, but blue.

If I had to guess about the watering regimen - aside from the fact you're almost certainly never going to have happy windmill palms in this planting setting - you're probably watering about 1/8th or less of the amount you should.  I don't know the rate your emitters are running, but assuming they're 2GPH and you have two per palm, that's 4 GPH.  I'd be giving these - even at this size - at least 8 gallons per day in this setting, and even that seems light.

Like I said, I'd replace these with an actual palm from the desert.

[rprimbs]

Maybe a Chamaerops humilis,  ("Mediterranean fan palm", "European fan palm"), would be a better choice.

[Silas_Sancona]

@MaineBumpkin Welcome to the forum


  Best advise, ..Since it sounds like you may be in the St. George area / nearby at least,  take a look over threads / discussions related to S.W. Utah palm growing experiences shared by / advise created by @RyManUtah

This one in particular:
 

Pictured specimen( s ? ) are definitely not CA fans..  While they are extremely hard to grow here ( ...wayyy too hot )  growing Trachycarpus -what the pictured palm looks like-  may be easier where you are located ( you cool off better at night / faster in the fall than we do ) ..


Regarding watering, remember, it isn't how moist / dry the surface  of the soil is, but how moist the soil is  ..6" - 2ft  below the soil surface is   ..so forget judging how moist the rootball might be getting based upon what the soil feels like right at / just below the surface..

Deep soakings,  where you run a hose ( on low ) on it / them  for 45 mins to an hour,  once  ..or twice..  a week  <  ..depending on the time of year / how long they have been planted >  is more ideal for making sure the root ball of the palm -or any other plant, trees esp..  is getting soaked properly, esp within the first year or so after being planted.

While it works for stuff like Turf Grasses / Annuals or Perennials, short, shallow applications of water may not effectively soak the rootball of a larger plant  as thoroughly,  esp. during the summer months,  esp. if the soil the nursery had grown it's plants in contains a lot of organics which can become hydrophobic if the plants had stayed too dry at the nursery / weren't soaked well before planting.

In those cases, you can apply all the water you want but, most of it may be running down the sides of the rootball, rather than soaking through it, leaving areas of the rootball completely dry.

While not palms,  i still occasionally deep soak stuff i have planted that are on 2gph emitters that i run for an hour 2X weekly this time of year..

 

[MaineBumpkin]

Thanks everyone!  I'll try some deeper watering 1-2 times per week and some slow release palm food to see if I can make them happier.