Comments on: 5 Important Palm Tree Watering Q&A

By: Ming

Ming — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:58:20 +0000

Hi, Susan,

I live in Southern California, and I planted a new 25 gallon King Palm on December 1st. After planted, we had a three days of strong Santa Ana Wind. Very very strong. I don’t know how to take care of my new Kong Palm. I feel so upset!! The temperature is cold (only 40f), and the wind is strong, and I don’t know how to watering it everyday. Please Help!!!!

Ming

By: Traci Folmar

Traci Folmar — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:50:38 +0000

I recently purchased 2 Pigmy Date Palms for my covered patio’s. I live in drought stricken west texas and it has been averaging 100-104 degrees here. The first date palm I bought sits on a totally covered patio on the south side of my house and seemed to be doing okay so I purchased another that gets some direct early morning sunlight on a covered east side patio. I water approximately once a week because I am scared of overwatering. The problem is (they are both in planters) the ends of the leaves are turning brown and they seem to be weeping or limp. Is this a product of over or underwatering or is our climate simply not suitable for these beautiful plants. They were “perky” when I bought them from our local home improvement store.

By: thefeistyguy

thefeistyguy — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:19:38 +0000

Hello Susan! I have two problem palms. One I think, from your very useful article, is from not enough water. The tree randomly allows a green frond with dead brown leave-tips to drop hanging paralelle with the trunk. I have cut off 3 or 4 of these droped fronds already. I hope to remedy this with more water unless you suspect otherwise.

Second, I have a robellini palm that attracted weevils, which I know because I saw them. It was a duel trunk robelini, one trunk has died from the weevils. Before that trunk died I noticed the tree produced very small fronds. The ordinary fronds were up to 3 feet long, then all the sudden after the weevils the fronds are 1 foot, no more, in length. It died completely soon after. The second trunk of this tree is displaying the same behavior with the shortened trunk. Is it too late to save the second trunk do you think?

My plants and I Thank you for your wisdom! [And a really good website too]

By: Susan Brian

Susan Brian — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:56:07 +0000

Hi Liz. Palms like moist but well drained soil. If you overwater it, the leaves will turn brown or yellow and fall off without drying first. If you provide not enough water the tips of the leaves will start turning brown. If you just planted the palm it might be in shock and will recover after few weeks. ~Susan Brian

By: Susan Brian

Susan Brian — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:29:48 +0000

Hi Mary. Could be a lot of different things. It could be watering problem, too much sun, insects, diseases, or nutrient deficiency. ~Susan Brian

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:54:02 +0000

What is wrong with palm fonts that turn brown at the tips. I think they are fan palms. I live in So. Sarasota Co.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:40:25 +0000

how do you know if you’re overwatering or underwatering a palm tree? The fronds on our newly planted sylvester palm are turning brown(dried out) from the bottom rung. I’m noticing the upper fronds are starting to yellow on the tips! help! Did we plant it too deep? are we overwatering? How can we tell? thanks!!!

By: YURI

YURI — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:25:07 +0000

May I water my young palms on the beach with semi-salty water? Problems with “sweat” water.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 04 May 2011 00:23:53 +0000

Hi Susan,

Thank you for putting together all of this great advice. I just have one question: I ended up overfertilizing three of my juvenile potted palms, and noticed residue build-up and accelerated browning only a matter of days later. Because there was so much fertilizer throughout the soil, I decided the best way to save the tree was to re-pot them using a fresh soil mixture. I did so using about 2/3rds regular potted soil and 1/3rd cactus mix.

Does your watering advice about apply to repotted plants, too? Should I be watering them daily for the first week, etc?

I greatly value your help.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:18:38 +0000

I recently transplanted a 15′ windmill palm. We dug the hole (2 1/2 ft deep) 4-6 inches deeper than the top of the root ball. Will 4 -6 inches of dirt up the tree trunk, above the rool ball, hurt the palm?. If so, can I put a deep layer of mulch/ pinestraw on top for appearance sake (to make it level with surrounding flower bed). It was difficult for us to handle, we really don’t want to take it back out of the ground. Thank you! Nancy