Irrigation the key to success in my garden

[happypalms]

One element you need to grow a garden is water, and in a palm garden you can never have enough water especially in my climate. If iam to grow the exotic palms I wish to have I must irrigate them. 
There are pipes in all sorts of directions, with shifts on top of shifts overlapping each other, I have a bore for pretty well much unlimited water. And every chance I get I water, usually 20 minute shifts. 
So if you want to get your garden growing get onto irrigation it works. I have over 30 taps throughout my garden most with 19mm fittings for  the sprinklers. 
It’s a game changer!

[gyuseppe]

Richard the water is very good for the plants,d summer I have to water every day,d summer it never rains here,they call it the long Mediterranean summer

[Phoenikakias]

Also in my transitional from BSh to BSk climate (Köppen classification), artificial irrigation is absolutely necessary. Look what happened to a potted Livistona of mine during mid March , while irrigation still remained shut off.

[sonoranfans]

In dry climates irrigation is number 1 issue for many palms(non desert palms).  If things are not growing fast for you irrigation is the most likely suspect holding things back.  The difference between the dry hot spring and the hot rainy season is quite dramatic, no marking of spears needed just count new leaves per month.  When palms are dry they go into stress and that stagnates growth as they try to find water by growing new roots when all they need is to be watered.   In high drainage soil this issue is magnified in a big way.  When I lived in arizona I saw lots of people kill palms with frequent shallow(short duration) water schedules in clay soil, moisture at depth is not achieved as soil evaporation and runoff(in clay) dominate ground penetration.  In our florida drought we are only allowed to irrigate once a week.  This years growth could be seriously stunted as drought stress signs are everywhere.  Did you know that palms cant feed on nutrients in dry soil?  You can throw down plenty of fertilizer and still palms can be nutrient deficient if the soil depth where roots feed is dry.  Moisture is required to enable the transport processes of nutrient uptake.  If your palms are growing too fast and you want to slow them down, cut watering down in the hot season, it will do the trick.

[happypalms]

19 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

Richard the water is very good for the plants,d summer I have to water every day,d summer it never rains here,they call it the long Mediterranean summer

Water is one element we need for our survival!

[happypalms]

18 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Also in my transitional from BSh to BSk climate (Köppen classification), artificial irrigation is absolutely necessary. Look what happened to a potted Livistona of mine during mid March , while irrigation still remained shut off.

It hurts so much to watch a palm suffer in the dry, I have palms all planted on same day from the same seed batch, some are 5 meters tall or more the ones that are in that sweet spot on my land are doing great while some are still the same size they where when planted if not even smaller than there original size, and yes they are the ones that didn’t make it due to water. They where planted 27 years ago, so time is a great way to judge the affects of water, with have and have nots!

[happypalms]

15 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

In dry climates irrigation is number 1 issue for many palms(non desert palms).  If things are not growing fast for you irrigation is the most likely suspect holding things back.  The difference between the dry hot spring and the hot rainy season is quite dramatic, no marking of spears needed just count new leaves per month.  When palms are dry they go into stress and that stagnates growth as they try to find water by growing new roots when all they need is to be watered.   In high drainage soil this issue is magnified in a big way.  When I lived in arizona I saw lots of people kill palms with frequent shallow(short duration) water schedules in clay soil, moisture at depth is not achieved as soil evaporation and runoff(in clay) dominate ground penetration.  In our florida drought we are only allowed to irrigate once a week.  This years growth could be seriously stunted as drought stress signs are everywhere.  Did you know that palms cant feed on nutrients in dry soil?  You can throw down plenty of fertilizer and still palms can be nutrient deficient if the soil depth where roots feed is dry.  Moisture is required to enable the transport processes of nutrient uptake.  If your palms are growing too fast and you want to slow them down, cut watering down in the hot season, it will do the trick.

I could only image your climate, it is possible to create that microclimate with water, but you need a lot of it and constantly relying on it. 
I noticed I wasn’t watering any near enough after a full year of good rainfall with record breaking rainfall. The garden just grew all 4 seasons. 
I have  black sandy loam and drainage is my moisture downfall, absolutely fantastic for growing palms in. But when it’s dry it’s dry in the garden and the surrounding gum trees drink and store all the water they can get. But on the other hand when it’s wet it’s like tropical rainforest the transition is amazing. As you say water at the right time of season, especially in summer, it is critical to a palm gardens success. Also I learnt something new today that palms cannot feed when it’s dry, no matter how much you feed them, thanks for that info.

[Mazat]

23 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

Richard the water is very good for the plants,d summer I have to water every day,d summer it never rains here,they call it the long Mediterranean summer

I can be glad that it sometimes rains really hard, even though there are already dry spells

[sonoranfans]

5 hours ago, happypalms said:

I could only image your climate, it is possible to create that microclimate with water, but you need a lot of it and constantly relying on it. 
I noticed I wasn’t watering any near enough after a full year of good rainfall with record breaking rainfall. The garden just grew all 4 seasons. 
I have  black sandy loam and drainage is my moisture downfall, absolutely fantastic for growing palms in. But when it’s dry it’s dry in the garden and the surrounding gum trees drink and store all the water they can get. But on the other hand when it’s wet it’s like tropical rainforest the transition is amazing. As you say water at the right time of season, especially in summer, it is critical to a palm gardens success. Also I learnt something new today that palms cannot feed when it’s dry, no matter how much you feed them, thanks for that info.

the difference is soil is massive in terms of growth.  I have adjusted my soil with top mulch every 18 months or so and I also added 2 tons of turface MVP for water retention.  The turface is more recent(started 4 years ago) they use it here on golf courses to limit drought damage.  I have palms that had their soil ammended with 10-15% turface in the planting hole.  Those plants initially had some deficiencies as the calcium pores absorbed Mg, but after about a year they reacted well.  RTurface is sintered clay with massiv esurface area/lb and microbes dont eat it like they do organics.  Palms that do better in the hot and dry for me have either genetics that do well in such conditions or they have moist soil due to ammendments and also shade to slow evaporation from leaves and soils.  

[happypalms]

On 3/30/2026 at 2:28 AM, sonoranfans said:

the difference is soil is massive in terms of growth.  I have adjusted my soil with top mulch every 18 months or so and I also added 2 tons of turface MVP for water retention.  The turface is more recent(started 4 years ago) they use it here on golf courses to limit drought damage.  I have palms that had their soil ammended with 10-15% turface in the planting hole.  Those plants initially had some deficiencies as the calcium pores absorbed Mg, but after about a year they reacted well.  RTurface is sintered clay with massiv esurface area/lb and microbes dont eat it like they do organics.  Palms that do better in the hot and dry for me have either genetics that do well in such conditions or they have moist soil due to ammendments and also shade to slow evaporation from leaves and soils.  

Iam now amending soil, never did in the past. 
Now simply just to give them a head a start otherwise the established garden eats them up, and even then I have to maintain new plantings, just to much competition from the mature garden. Interesting you noticed the nutrient factors. I dont fertilise my garden just let the garden mulch itself, I guess I could be doing more but wait for those big wet events and use irrigation as my main helping hand!

[sonoranfans]

20 hours ago, happypalms said:

Iam now amending soil, never did in the past. 
Now simply just to give them a head a start otherwise the established garden eats them up, and even then I have to maintain new plantings, just to much competition from the mature garden. Interesting you noticed the nutrient factors. I dont fertilise my garden just let the garden mulch itself, I guess I could be doing more but wait for those big wet events and use irrigation as my main helping hand!

Some palms like bismarckia and royals dont need fertilizer here, I don't target them.  Others like C Oliviformis, teddy bears,  P. Rupicola, and the cuban copernicias will show deficiencies if you dont have enough micros.  I dont think Nitrogen or phos are big issues here, but potassium is a huge issue, soil has almost none, and Mg deficiencies are also common.  my archontophoenix seem to like fertiliers in that they will get a little pale without it, but not really notable.  Bismarckia need nothing here, they grow in laterite soils in habitat which have minimal micronutrients.  You loamy soil probably supplies some micros that my soil doesnt.  I also think my palms get more water due to rain and auto irrigation and that means nutrients are rinsed away.  And yes planting small plants in established gardens usually means they will struggle if there is a lot of root competition from larger plants. 

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Some palms like bismarckia and royals dont need fertilizer here, I don't target them.  Others like C Oliviformis, teddy bears,  P. Rupicola, and the cuban copernicias will show deficiencies if you dont have enough micros.  I dont think Nitrogen or phos are big issues here, but potassium is a huge issue, soil has almost none, and Mg deficiencies are also common.  my archontophoenix seem to like fertiliers in that they will get a little pale without it, but not really notable.  Bismarckia need nothing here, they grow in laterite soils in habitat which have minimal micronutrients.  You loamy soil probably supplies some micros that my soil doesnt.  I also think my palms get more water due to rain and auto irrigation and that means nutrients are rinsed away.  And yes planting small plants in established gardens usually means they will struggle if there is a lot of root competition from larger plants. 

I had a row of foxtails and with the large recent rain event leached them of nutrients, to a very noticeable yellow. I also had a perfectly green Joey palm I planted next to a spring and within a month it went yellow due to leaching. Phosphorus is about the only real issue if your garden is in the bush with native plants not really wanting a lot of it, a good indicator that our soils in Australia are generally low in it. 
But apart from that the garden creates its own mulch and withe gum tree mulch from the bark and leaves small amounts of micro and macro nutrients are available enough to sustain good health. Chamaedoreas, New Caledonian and Madagascar palms all do well in my soil and climate. But the irrigation is the key to success for me. 

[Phoenikakias]

10 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

 And yes planting small plants in established gardens usually means they will struggle if there is a lot of root competition from larger plants. 

Are in other plants included also palms and what extent? 

[sonoranfans]

10 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Are in other plants included also palms and what extent? 

Could be palms compete, especially if your watering is not even over a large area/ volume.  Irrigation wet spots will create more competition by increased root density with multiple palms in proximity.  A well developed palm has high root density, palms starting out are going to compete for nutrients in the wet volume of shared soil.  If the wet volume is large, less competition then if it is "spotty".  I think drought resistant species will outcompete wet loving species if water is constrained.  If you overwater, the dry loving species they will likely get some rot and the wet lovers will have an edge.  Palms may be just fine competing to a point, they will probably grow more slowly as they share water and nutrients in a shared soil volume.  The nutrients per soil volume is limited by root burn potential of fertilizer added.  More roots means greater nutrient uptake so recent plantings will be root disadvantaged in nutrient uptake with well established root systems already there.  You can dig bigger holes and cut out competitive roots.  If I find root density high when I dig, I double the hole size for a new planting to help mitigate competition.  Again if speed of growth is not of high interest, the bigger hole is not necessary.  In some cases like oak tree roots I have dug even bigger holes and used a removable barrier to give the new planting a better head start.     

[ZPalms]

I want irrigation for my palms so bad, hand watering sucks because it takes so long to make sure each palm is getting what it needs. I would to encourage more growth especially before winter to make sure they have a lot of leaves ready to go

[Harry’s Palms]

I hand water everything but my hill . The gardens around the house are manageable but it still takes the better part of an hour to do it right. The hill gets irrigation a few times a week . Harry

[Tropical Toni]

On 3/28/2026 at 10:47 AM, sonoranfans said:

In dry climates irrigation is number 1 issue for many palms(non desert palms).  If things are not growing fast for you irrigation is the most likely suspect holding things back.  The difference between the dry hot spring and the hot rainy season is quite dramatic, no marking of spears needed just count new leaves per month.  When palms are dry they go into stress and that stagnates growth as they try to find water by growing new roots when all they need is to be watered.   In high drainage soil this issue is magnified in a big way.  When I lived in arizona I saw lots of people kill palms with frequent shallow(short duration) water schedules in clay soil, moisture at depth is not achieved as soil evaporation and runoff(in clay) dominate ground penetration.  In our florida drought we are only allowed to irrigate once a week.  This years growth could be seriously stunted as drought stress signs are everywhere.  Did you know that palms cant feed on nutrients in dry soil?  You can throw down plenty of fertilizer and still palms can be nutrient deficient if the soil depth where roots feed is dry.  Moisture is required to enable the transport processes of nutrient uptake.  If your palms are growing too fast and you want to slow them down, cut watering down in the hot season, it will do the trick.

I have sandy soil here in SoCal,  so I always amend with compost & a thick layer of mulch. When I water my non desert palms, I set my timer for 45 mins, & let her rip (the drip line that is !). I have a tree soaker ring on my bismarckia, & then 2 other separate drip lines on the other palms that are elsehwhere on my property.  If it's in the 90's (which we had a VERY hot spell a couple weeks back, I would do this every day). However now it's about 1-2 times a week.  Here in SoCal, it NEVER rains. Last year, we went 9 months without rain !! I have a section of the garden that are understory palms, so trying to imitate rainforest conditions with faking humidity.

[Phoenikakias]

2 hours ago, Tropical Toni said:

I have sandy soil here in SoCal,  so I always amend with compost & a thick layer of mulch. When I water my non desert palms, I set my timer for 45 mins, & let her rip (the drip line that is !). I have a tree soaker ring on my bismarckia, & then 2 other separate drip lines on the other palms that are elsehwhere on my property.  If it's in the 90's (which we had a VERY hot spell a couple weeks back, I would do this every day). However now it's about 1-2 times a week.  Here in SoCal, it NEVER rains. Last year, we went 9 months without rain !! I have a section of the garden that are understory palms, so trying to imitate rainforest conditions with faking humidity.

What is the tariff for utility water there? Or is there  an option for impure irrigation water?

[Phoenikakias]

This has proven the most efficient way for me, in order to watch the hardiest Phoenix spp in my garden  producing a trunk and a canopy!

 

[Phoenikakias]

17 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

Could be palms compete, especially if your watering is not even over a large area/ volume.  Irrigation wet spots will create more competition by increased root density with multiple palms in proximity.  A well developed palm has high root density, palms starting out are going to compete for nutrients in the wet volume of shared soil.  If the wet volume is large, less competition then if it is "spotty".  I think drought resistant species will outcompete wet loving species if water is constrained.  If you overwater, the dry loving species they will likely get some rot and the wet lovers will have an edge.  Palms may be just fine competing to a point, they will probably grow more slowly as they share water and nutrients in a shared soil volume.  The nutrients per soil volume is limited by root burn potential of fertilizer added.  More roots means greater nutrient uptake so recent plantings will be root disadvantaged in nutrient uptake with well established root systems already there.  You can dig bigger holes and cut out competitive roots.  If I find root density high when I dig, I double the hole size for a new planting to help mitigate competition.  Again if speed of growth is not of high interest, the bigger hole is not necessary.  In some cases like oak tree roots I have dug even bigger holes and used a removable barrier to give the new planting a better head start.     

How probable is it, that by cutting out competitive roots, one creates entrances for root pathogens? Could such a side effect be prevented or the risk be reduced with adding special trichoderma strains in to the new hole?