Pygmy Date Palm Help

[Scook]

I need help with my palm, we live in Mississippi and did a soil test and found it is deficient in nitrogen. My Pygmy has been struggling since our landscaper brought it to our home and planted it a year ago. With the nitrogen deficiency can I put some on my palm now? The nursery we purchased it from said to just cut the fronds that have the black spots off we did not need to treat it with anything and the palm seems to be slowly going down hill and I am afraid I am or have lost my  palm.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how and if I can save my palm?

Thank you

[aztropic]

Looks like it froze, rather than any kind of deficiency...  Should perk up again when the weather warms up.

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[Merlyn]

@Scook pygmy dates are not particularly cold hardy, and take variable damage anywhere below around 27-28F...especially with frost.  That reddish bronze-ish color on the fronds is almost definitely cold damage.  If you get a lot of ~25F cold fronts with frost, then a pygmy date may not be a long-term survivor there.  If you only get one or two sub-30F nights per year then it should have no problems.  

The spots on the stems are a typical "rachis blight" and usually only cosmetic.

The ground near it looks kind of wet, but it might just be the photo angle.  Generally reduce watering over the winter, and give it maybe 2 handfuls of a "palm" type fertilizer.  The common recommendation here is PalmGain 8-2-12, but any similar ratio palm type should work well too.  I've been using Sunniland Palm 6-1-8 for several years, and recently switched to Sunniland Pro Tree/Shrub 8-0-10.  Just sprinkle evenly under the canopy diameter.

[ck_in_fla]

It might be a tad optimistic to expect that palm to thrive in your area.  I agree that it looks like cold damage.  

If you want to have that palm in your area you might want to at least throw a blanket over it when it gets below 32.

I'm curious, are there other pygmy date palms in your area?  If there are, how do they look?

[Johnny Palmseed]

Honestly they don’t look too good and the one is probably beyond help. I agree that it looks like it has some cold damage but I don’t think that’s the whole story. When you had it installed, did they provide any instructions for care? You do not need to remove any fronds unless they are diseased. Normally, Phoenix Roebeleniis love water and would benefit from supplemental watering after transplanting. It would also benefit from a modest fertilization after a few months time to get established. Having a soil deficient in nitrogen is not a specific problem since nitrogen is easily added through the fertilizer. I don’t see a specific nitrogen deficiency in the palm, it looks like an overall nutrient deficiency which caused lack luster growth over the summer. Adding fertilizer now won’t help much due to the cold temperatures. I would recommend a natural product like seaweed/kelp to get you through the winter. If it makes it, increase the water frequency when it warms up and add a palm specific fertilizer. 

[Scook]

We don't get temps below 25 typically more than 1-2 times a year.  We are not here year around and unfortunately they had an unexpected cold front come in the first week of Nov and we were not here to cover it. We did have another one the end of Nov and we did cover it.  I have not seem many pygmy's around but they do have them in the nurseries around us so someone must have them. 

The landscaper who planted it said he had some paperwork on care from the place he purchased it from and said he would give to me but he never did and of course does not respond when I try to contact him.

Unfortunately we spend the late spring summer months up north so I am not here to see how well it did during the summer. My neighbor did say it looked beautiful until the week they got the low 20's temp for one night.

[Merlyn]

@Scook 25 or above seems to be the "minimal damage" point for most Roebellini.  Mine never showed damage from repeated ~27-30F with frost, or at least not enough damage to really notice.  Typically it takes 2-3 days for all the cold damage to be visible, though some palms will show burnt bronze colors almost immediately.  The next cold front around the 11th or 12th is supposed to be pretty bad too, so covering it with frost cloth would be a good idea.

The smallest one looks like it's struggling too, but seems to have new growth coming up.  One risk with cold fronts is a fungal infection in the crown.  Hydrogen peroxide and Daconil are both good crown rot treatments.  A small squirt of H2O2 into the crown may be a good idea to ward off fungus.  If it bubbles fungus is present.  If it does not bubble, no fungus is present.

@Johnny Palmseed I'd still fertilize in January in Southern MS.  Soil microbial activity is probably half of what it is in the summer, but still useful IMO.  As an example, Hattiesburg MS probably has soil temps around 55-65F right now.  Most charts show something like this:

Even if the average daily temp (about the same as soil temp) is down near 50 there's still a lot of soil microbial activity going on.  I know "conventional wisdom" says don't fertilize in winter, but Southern MS also isn't a frozen wasteland like Michigan right now.   

[Johnny Palmseed]

2 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@Scook 25 or above seems to be the "minimal damage" point for most Roebellini.  Mine never showed damage from repeated ~27-30F with frost, or at least not enough damage to really notice.  Typically it takes 2-3 days for all the cold damage to be visible, though some palms will show burnt bronze colors almost immediately.  The next cold front around the 11th or 12th is supposed to be pretty bad too, so covering it with frost cloth would be a good idea.

The smallest one looks like it's struggling too, but seems to have new growth coming up.  One risk with cold fronts is a fungal infection in the crown.  Hydrogen peroxide and Daconil are both good crown rot treatments.  A small squirt of H2O2 into the crown may be a good idea to ward off fungus.  If it bubbles fungus is present.  If it does not bubble, no fungus is present.

@Johnny Palmseed I'd still fertilize in January in Southern MS.  Soil microbial activity is probably half of what it is in the summer, but still useful IMO.  As an example, Hattiesburg MS probably has soil temps around 55-65F right now.  Most charts show something like this:

Even if the average daily temp (about the same as soil temp) is down near 50 there's still a lot of soil microbial activity going on.  I know "conventional wisdom" says don't fertilize in winter, but Southern MS also isn't a frozen wasteland like Michigan right now.   

Ummmm First of all, I’m not sure why you tagged me. Is it your need to instruct me? I don’t need instructions for growing palms in MS. I live in Florida (Not Floriduh) and have since 1986. Second, I didn’t say don’t fertilize, I said “Adding fertilizer now won’t help much due to the cold temperatures” which is true regardless of soil microbial activity. I recommended a natural fertilizer as opposed to a synthetic to not promote tender growth while it is still going to be cold. Third, where are you getting Southern MS or Hattiesburg from? It was never mentioned where in MS they are.

[Johnny Palmseed]

4 hours ago, Scook said:

We don't get temps below 25 typically more than 1-2 times a year.  We are not here year around and unfortunately they had an unexpected cold front come in the first week of Nov and we were not here to cover it. We did have another one the end of Nov and we did cover it.  I have not seem many pygmy's around but they do have them in the nurseries around us so someone must have them. 

The landscaper who planted it said he had some paperwork on care from the place he purchased it from and said he would give to me but he never did and of course does not respond when I try to contact him.

Unfortunately we spend the late spring summer months up north so I am not here to see how well it did during the summer. My neighbor did say it looked beautiful until the week they got the low 20's temp for one night.

Unfortunately, landscapers will have no trouble taking your money to plant something regardless of the suitability for your area. Without knowing what it looked like before the cold snap, it is only a guess as to the problem. But if it looked beautiful until the cold temps, that’s probably your answer. It will need TLC until it warms up and even then, it might not make it. It has lost a lot of fronds and the remaining ones are not very green. I’m not sure if they will be able to photosynthesize enough food with what is left. And trying to grow it out now will lead to tender leaves that will be susceptible to low temperature damage. Good luck.

[Scook]

They you all for your advise.  I am not sure if it will matter or not but I live in Gautier MS.  So for a person who does not have a green thumb, can I use the seaweed/kelp and fertilizer at the same time? With the average temperatures in the low 60's here now should I fertilize it and use the seaweed/kelp or just do one of the two?  I am going to buy Hydrogen peroxide and see what the results are of it tomorrow.

I have palm fertilizer here and will be getting the seaweed/kelp but I am not sure if I will be able to find it in the stores here or if I will need to order it. 

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Ummmm First of all, I’m not sure why you tagged me. Is it your need to instruct me? I don’t need instructions for growing palms in MS. I live in Florida (Not Floriduh) and have since 1986. Second, I didn’t say don’t fertilize, I said “Adding fertilizer now won’t help much due to the cold temperatures” which is true regardless of soil microbial activity. I recommended a natural fertilizer as opposed to a synthetic to not promote tender growth while it is still going to be cold. Third, where are you getting Southern MS or Hattiesburg from? It was never mentioned where in MS they are.

I only tagged you in the reply because I suggested fertilizer and you said a few minutes later that fertilizer wouldn't help much.  I just picked a random MS town as a temperature example, but Gautier averages around 65F right now.  So microbial activity (a proxy for fertilizer uptake/availability) is only about 25% less than in summer, so fertilizer uptake is still really good.  For a struggling palm I think some fertilizer is a good idea.  It wasn't meant as a personal attack, just explanation of why I have that opinion.