Seedling Transplant Shock

[Born]

I received several Washingtonia Filifera seedlings in the mail on December 17, 2025. The leaves were bright green and soft and moist. I put them into solo cups with drainage and placed my soil mix and a bit of water. 

It has been 2 weeks and I have noticed the bright, moist green leaves have wilted and become somewhat hard. That said, the roots are firmly in places, the plants are all green, and there is no droop. 

I understand the consequences of transplant shock. I also know it can be temporary and the plants usually bounce back over time. 

My question: Please look at the pictures of the seedlings. Does this look normal after a transplant with seedlings? Are they still alive? 

The first photo is from December 17 when I received them. The other photos are from today, December 30th (2 weeks later).

Thank you!

[Johnny Palmseed]

Palm seedlings in the winter in Illinois - challenging to begin with. The fact that they were grown elsewhere and shipped makes it harder. Ideally, you would want to replicate the growing conditions as much as possible for the best results. In order to figure this out, you will need to identify what has changed with their environment. Water, light, temperature, soil? Illinois in the winter requires heat in the house which tends to reduce the humidity. They look kind of dry so maybe that’s part of it. Also, it looks like they are in full sun, albeit indoors in Illinois. But if they were in shade and moved into direct sun, that can burn the leaves. The soil doesn’t look great from the pictures and you have them in plastic cups which don’t seem to have drainage holes. Plants in pots can be a tricky balancing act between too much and too little water, especially in winter. And root rot can present itself on the leaves similar to dry conditions.

[PalmsInBaltimore]

agree with above that they look a little dry and crispy. could be because of the transplant shock and they will end up losing those leaves. they are alive nonetheless and there's hope. When I divided and transplanted a bunch of livistona chinensis that were planted in one container at the nursery, they didn't really do much growth above the soil for like a year. Yours are probably focusing on root growth after being transplanted to establish themselves. I wouldn't worry if there are new leaves that emerge but stop growing for some time. As long as it stays green it's doing something. 

Which brings me to the next thing. You should get deeper containers and the soil does not look like it is fast-draining. Looks like lots of sphagnum in the potting medium which can retain water well indoors but also will turn into a hard brick if it dries out, or muck if too wet. I know that they were just recently transplanted already, but it may be a good idea to think about transplanting them into some sort of looser material that will drain quickly. Someone else can verify but filifera are more OK than most with having wet feet and there should be posts on here with people's indoor set-ups and whether they had a pool of water the cups were sitting in between waterings. Anyway, I wouldn't touch them immediately, but once it warms up you might want to get them into deeper containers with better soil.

As long as they can hold on until the weather warms up they really should be placed outside whenever possible and acclimated to at least some direct sunlight during the day. If you've been having very cloudy short winter days it might be worth getting a good grow light to supplement the sunlight. This is definitely a palm that wants to be outdoors in lighting levels that cannot be achieved inside without a sunroom, even in front of a south-facing window, so any additional light you can add would help it hold on

[Harry’s Palms]

They are definitely not happy. I hope they come back , if any palm can survive shock it would be these. They are very hardy palms . I have dug them up at that size , or even when they are much larger , and never lost them . They do need good drainage and the right conditions . In my climate , they are naturalized . Southern California they grow wild , popping up in fields , gardens , even in drainage ditches. Harry

[Born]

Thank you for all the replies. 

For soil, I am using a Palm mix with Orchid mix. For humidity, I am using a full-home humidifier at 50%. The plants are in a location for indirect light.  The cups have small holes in them. I have attached photos for review. 

[PalmsInBaltimore]

This is what I think is probably going on. 

for whatever reason, it doesn't look like the roots are taking in the water you are giving them, or else the leaves would be less crispy like they were when you received them. I also think if they were transplanted you should err on the side of more water until they are really established. The leaves won't droop like other plants if they are underwatered they will shrivel up like that and eventually turn into a brown stick-like appendage. I would see if giving them more water helps the leaves open back up. 

The other possibility is that they are sacrificing the old leaves for new growth as they adjust to the indoors, but if that were the case some of the leaves would be turning brown from the top down after two weeks

Where are they from? My guess is they were sprouted and raised outside under a sunshade or translucent plastic. If they were raised in direct sun they are going to most of the leaves now that they are inside. They should get as much light from that window as possible -- direct and indirect. Don't worry about the leaves getting sunburned, as they won't in the winter anyway and also glass windows nowadays absorb some UV radiation anyway. 

[Born]

I bought the palm seedlings online and they shipped from Las Vegas. I do not know the environment in which they were raised, but I am going to keep the soil moist, the humidity at 50%, and the right amount of indirect light. 

The way I see it, if I have 5 plants, then I have 5 opportunities. 

[Than]

I am no expert but they look exactly like some seedlings I managed to kill by putting them in direct sunlight after receiving them. They had obviously not seen direct sunlight where they grew before and I made this huge and stupid mistake.

I can see direct sunlight hitting them in the first photo. Perhaps a thin white curtain in front of them, or just move them a bit to take them out of the sun. 

Good luck!

[Las Palmas Norte]

These don't look good and with 3 months until spring, I'd be looking at plan B. Washingtonia seeds are cheap and fast. In the mean time, nurse these along as best you can.

[PalmsInBaltimore]

in the first photo you can see how deep the roots like to grow.

The root systems of washingtonia filifera look like a mirror image below ground of what can be seen above. but yours are currently transplanted into plastic cups that look to be about half as tall as the stem and leaves and shorter than the roots are in the first photo. something to think about.

that being said I think these can hold on long enough until march or april when they can be moved outside. They grow pretty quickly as far as palms go even at a small size when they like their situation