Pics of my Trachy Fortunei and need some suggestions.

[palmmandan]

Bought my 7 foot Windmill a month ago and planted it. When I received it a lot of the older fronds looked to be wind damaged . Tree had a nice dark green to it with a yellow flower. I dug my hole and lowered tree into hola and filled with a palm tree soil mixture. The day time temps have averaged in the 60's and night times have been in the 40's. The tree seems to be turning a light green and the older fronds have started to brown. I gave it some epsum salt 2 weeks ago. Should I prune all the older fronds off? And do you think I need some more fertilzer? Would like your opinions and expertise.




spear coming out of top



Brown flower

[Randall]

what type fertilizer did you use, you didn't mention.
Removing some of the lower fronds will help it use more energy for root establishment.
Did you amend your soil when planting?
Are you keeping the soil moist but not overly wet?
Need more info to help.
Randall

[palmmandan]

what type fertilizer did you use, you didn't mention.
Removing some of the lower fronds will help it use more energy for root establishment.
Did you amend your soil when planting?
Are you keeping the soil moist but not overly wet?
Need more info to help.
Randall

I am using Dr. Q's palm food 14-4-14 with 3% added magnesium.

I dug a hole 3 times bigger than the root ball. Then I added about 7 bags of Miracle Grows Palm and Cactus soil. It has been cool here and raining about every 3 days. So I have not watered the palm myself in a few weeks.

[lucky1]

Palm and cactus soil would provide good drainage.
Did you pack the soil down around it after planting to eliminate large air pockets?
Generally a good thorough initial watering settles a plant into its new soil.
In my area I can't rely on rain to soak the ground around a plant.

Did you mix the fertilizer really well into the soil?
Could it be that fertilizer is touching the roots?
It's a gorgeous big Trachy...was it rootbound in the pot?

Sorry I can't be more help.
Barb

[Cali-wanna-b]

Dan,

If I was a betting man...and I am....I would say your soil is too wet. My trachys hate wet feet!!! I have used the same cactus/palm soil and had problems with my soil staying too wet. I now add some coarse sand and wood chips to all my soil. I just planted a 15 gal. Trachy here in Pennsylvania. I dug the hole about a foot wider than the pot and as deep as the pot. Then I dug a 12" wide x 12" deep hole in the bottom of the rootball hole. I filled the hole with clean 1/2" to 3/4" gravel and covered it with some landscape fabric to act as a sump for drainage. This is the first time I have tried this, but in theory it should keep the root zone from staying to wet.

[Randall]

I'd remove the flower and about 1/3 of the fronds so that it can focus all its energy on new root establishment.
Sounds like its struggling to maintain its fronds and flower while also trying to establish new roots.
As others have mentioned, could be getting too much water as well. Make sure the soil around the trunk hasn't settled, creating a well that could be holding water. I wouldn't fertilize again till June.
Mostly it sounds like transplant shock with a little too much water to sum it up.
Keep us informed on how it goes.
Randall

[Randy]

While there's a lot of good information here, based on my own personal experience in north Alabama and with about the same size Trachy it sounds like Randall's advice is almost precisely what the grower told me about my similar situation. I lost my first, smaller Trachy to a fungus late last year and it worked out that I ended up setting out the replacement 7-footer in early December. In moderate clay soil I dug the hole 3 times the size of the root ball, added about an inch of small rocks to the bottom and then backfilled with the soil I dug out plus a bag of regular potting soil mixed in. Once the hole was about half full I filled it to the top with water and let it drain out before adding the rest of the soil. I watered it again to make sure the soil was settled properly and then finally added a 4-inch layer of cedar mulch to within 6 inches or so from the trunk. Despite the late planting, it withstood the winter, including several nights in the low teens with no problems. On the advice of my grower, I bought a moisture meter for a few dollars at Lowe's. He advised keeping the moisture levels in the mid-meter range but never in either extreme. In early March, my tree seemed to look a little lighter color green exactly as you described yours. He told me to mix a tablespoon of Miracle Gro with a gallon of water in a clean (or new) pump sprayer and mist the fronds, top and bottom every few weeks in the late evening. After doing this for about a month, it looks as green and shiny as the day I set it out and new spears are popping up. Let us know how it goes!

Randy



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[Windmill Palm guy]

Randy, do you ever think that haveing all those wood chips around your palm will stop the rain fall from getting to the root system??

The only reason I ask is because I would love to do somthing like that to my 5 foot tall Trachy but i would think that the wood chips would just soak up all the rain.

[hardyjim]

Palmman.definitely don't fertilize anymore from roots,you want it to start hardening growth off at this point for winter,the only fertilizer I would use this late in the season would be something like dyna-gro, pro-tekt a potassium&silicon based solution for increasing cell wall thickness cold and drought tolerance.If you fertilize this time of year you will promote weaker growth that will be less cold resistant.B.T.W.how will you protect this winter?