Hello,

 

Can anyone help me, we planted this Pinedo Palm about a month ago and it is dying off. At least it looks really bad now.

It looks like transplant adjustment to me . It can take a while for newly planted palms to look their best. Butia ( Pindo ) are on the slow side so give it time . Keep an eye on the new growth and that should tell you. Do not allow it to fully dry out , we are coming into Spring when palms go through a faster growth period for the next several months. Any fully brown fronds can be trimmed but only if they are totally brown . I think in time that will take up that area and give you some privacy from that new construction next to you . These get big ! Harry

‘This is about 25 years from a seedling . Mine is silver but not all of them are . Some are green.

@Berzon welcome to Palmtalk!  The Pindo llooks like it is really struggling, and might not survive.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like the new fronds in the center are very yellow.  That can be a sign of root rot or severe overwatering, causing a loss of iron in particular. If it is in clay soil it may be sitting in a pot-shaped bucket of water.

Can you advise if the soil was amended or mixed upwhen planting, or had fertilizer added to the hole, and how you are watering it?

Looks like too much water, causing the roots to rot. My advice would be to assess the situation, see if it's always wet in that location at the bottom of a slope, amend the area with lots of gravel if so,and start over. That pindo is not going to be happy for years,even if over watering is corrected. Starting fresh will save you a couple years of looking at a declining palm.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

22 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@Berzon welcome to Palmtalk!  The Pindo llooks like it is really struggling, and might not survive.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like the new fronds in the center are very yellow.  That can be a sign of root rot or severe overwatering, causing a loss of iron in particular. If it is in clay soil it may be sitting in a pot-shaped bucket of water.

Can you advise if the soil was amended or mixed upwhen planting, or had fertilizer added to the hole, and how you are watering it?

It is mix soil and the ground under the palm was actually dug out 8 feet and then backfilled, because of the pool. It was were the tractor entered and exited. I added new photos. Thanks for your help.

Closer photos show more damage . This appears to be more than transplant adjustment , this palm is not happy. I’ve seen worse pull through but it would take some time. First you need to find what caused the problem. A close inspection of the soil around the palm may reveal the cause . 

On 3/12/2025 at 5:15 PM, Berzon said:

Hello,

 

Can anyone help me, we planted this Pinedo Palm about a month ago and it is dying off. At least it looks really bad now.

In the photo, the Pigmy Palms in my yard all have this reddish/brown ends on their leaf tips. Could this be caused by the cold, or is it something else?

@Berzon the new pictures look more like handling/planting damage and transplant shock than anything else.  In the below photo the left hand newer frond looks like it's dead, but the spear looks reasonably green and the other fronds look like they have maybe sunburn or handling windburn damage.

I'd mark the new spear horizontally with a sharpie against neighboring fronds, so you can see if it's growing or not.  The fronds do look a bit stretched out, so probably this palm was grown under nursery shade cloth.  When it goes suddenly into full sun they tend to get sunburnt on the upper fronds, they then turn reddish brown and then light brown and crispy.  So it's difficult to say the exact cause...maybe a combination of sunburn + normal transplant shock + some handling damage that knocked around new fronds and broke them.

As far as the Pygmy Date palms go, the tips of oldest fronds going red is normal in my experience.  I have one that turns red-orange as the oldest fronds die off, and one that goes yellowish on the tips before dying off.  If it's just the oldest fronds it's probably normal.  If it's also the tips of the top fronds (exposed to the most sun) it could also be sunburn.  Pygmy Dates are hardy to around freezing, and take some frond burn below freezing and with frost.  If your temps have been >40 or no frost, then cold isn't likely to cause damage to one.