Red Sealing Wax Palm in Maui

[mauiguy]

I have a red sealing wax palm that has not shown much growth in 2 years. It is watered 12 minutes daily on dripper and fed bimonthly with 16-16-16 fertilizer. Frowns get brown often. It has stayed about 3 foot tall. Shouldn't this grow faster?

[Little Palm]

Maui Guy,

How much sun does this get ? How much water comes out of the dripper in 12 minutes? I think you are feeding it too much fertilizer, it should be every 3 months and a plant this size probably only needs about 1lb of fert.

Jim

[Little Palm]

Here is an example of two that I planted on the left & right from a 3.5"x3.5" container in August 2006 and this picture was taken November 2007.

[bgl]

Mauiguy,

Welcome to the IPS PalmTalk Forum! Looks like the palm is close to a structure. There are two things these palms can't get enough of: sunshine and water. You need to have it in a very exposed location, and I'm sure it would love to get more than 12 minutes of water every day. And like Little Palm said, you can probably cut back on the fertilizer. I have found Cyrtostachys renda not to be fast growers, but definitely faster than most expect them to be. 3 ft tall C. renda planted in late 2001 are now, 8 years later, 20-25 ft tall.

Aloha from the Big Island!

Bo-Göran

[kahili]

Hi Mauiguy, where are you located on Maui? There is alot of difference in rain and sun amts from the leeward side to the windward side.

I am not familiar with triple 16 fert, is that a liquid or a granular fert, and how much are you putting on each time? If its granular, it does seem like way too much. Usually, the signs of a plant burning from too much soluble salts is brown tips, outer edges of the leaves, but I don't see that from your pictures (kind of hard to see from the pictures because they are small). You have brown leaves, but not the kind of browning I described above. I am also surprised that the leaves are so yellow if the fert is too much,unless the fert is really lacking in micronutrients....

[mauiguy]

Hi Mauiguy, where are you located on Maui? There is alot of difference in rain and sun amts from the leeward side to the windward side.

I am not familiar with triple 16 fert, is that a liquid or a granular fert, and how much are you putting on each time? If its granular, it does seem like way too much. Usually, the signs of a plant burning from too much soluble salts is brown tips, outer edges of the leaves, but I don't see that from your pictures (kind of hard to see from the pictures because they are small). You have brown leaves, but not the kind of browning I described above. I am also surprised that the leaves are so yellow if the fert is too much,unless the fert is really lacking in micronutrients....

I am on the dryer, leeward side. It is sunnier here than on most of the island, probably 8 hours of direct sun and 3-4 of indirect sun daily. The fertilizer is dry granular without micronutrients. What fertilizer is best to use? I am not sure how much water comes out in 12 minutes, the dripper is the kind that you twist to vary the flow and now there are two of those on the plant since I've heard it likes a lot of water. Every now and then I notice large slugs among the small rocks at the base of the plant (probably like the water) that I have to remove. Do you think it's ok to have these small rocks there?

[Z4Devil]

Hi, there -

I´m trying to germinate Cyrtostachys renda, too. Some of them show the second leave, the others wants to outgrow from the nursery.

Look:

[kahili]

Mauiguy, I think what you are using is a quick release fert like triple 10. In other words, its gone after a few good rains or waterings. If I were you, I would get a good slow release fert like Nutricote or Multicote that will last at least 6 months (some are 9 or 12 month release times). It is more expensive, but they have all the micronutrients and I have had great results using Multicote 19-6-12 on my palms. Its a 9 month so I only use it once a year-given where I live. I am guessing that you are on East Maui-Kihei? So Kahului isn't that far from you, and I think you would have good luck getting it there. They are sold in 40 lb bags, but if you have other stuff growing, or more palms (you should! lol) than you will use it up fast enough. I would use a few good handfuls for this palm, if you can, try to dig it into the ground a few inches around the palm and step up the water like you said that you are doing and you should see results in a few wks at least. Good luck and show us some pictures after you get the new fert.

Z4Devil-they look very nice!

[Dypsisdean]

Bruce,

As mentioned - I don't think a dripper is going to do the job on that palm. All the roots and surrounding soil need to be wet all the time.

Also, you haven't mentioned your elevation. If by chance you are upslope and over about 1500 ft. you will start to have problems. I'm at 2200 ft and mine struggles.

[Palm Guy]

Hi Mauiguy,

Welcome to the forum!

Do you happen to have weedblock under those rocks? If so take it out!! I had weedblock and rocks in my gardens before and it just led to problems.

1 it didnt keep all the weeds out and became tough to remove weeds from between the rocks

2 it didnt allow sufficient waterflow into the soil (most palms like to be watered heavily less frequently)

3 the weight of the rocks allowed for my soil to be compacted so little oxygen hit the roots.

That being said, I had a hard time removing the rocks and replaced it with good ol bark mulch. My plants are loving it.

A good fertilization ratio would be 3-1-2 or 3-1-3 with micronutrients.

How's the humidity in your area? Low humidity may case those symptoms also.

Cheers,

Mike

[Kris]

Hai

Even iam experiencing the same thing recently,for the past 2 weeks were are experiencing intermittent rainfalls here in south india.And i started to use chemical fertz(Di-Amonium phosphate).once i finished using this on most of my plants,just few granules were sticking to the despencing bucket.I scraped those few crystals and put it on this lipstick palm's big pot.And after 4 days i see severe leaf burn.Its raining now daily hope it does survives.

I feel that they love organic feed better than any chemical based fertz.

When possible i will post stills of its present condition.

Love,

Kris

[Little Palm]

Kris, I agree. I have had some good results with cow menure.

[Kris]

Thanks Jim

[Peter Pacific]

Hi Mauiguy, I have a few C. rendas and they love water. I have a couple in full sun, a couple in full shade and a couple in filtered sun. For me, the one in full shade does the best (we are very hot here and sandy soil but the full shade area has the most amended soil) with a lot of growth. I also use cow manure, used coffee grounds, and 15-15-15 a couple of times a year. Good Luck, Peter

[Jose Maria]

Mauiguy,

These C.renda have dry leaftips.

I have seen some palms growing close to the beach with this kind of leaf-burn. Saltspray?

Your palms definitely have to move from where they are...not enough sun? too much wind?

If you water them every day; fine, fertilizer; fine, but these results.... Maui has a tropícal climate, and C.renda should grow perfectly well.

[ariscott]

The only thing I can say from observing C. renda around town is lack of water. I don't water mine everyday, and I don't keep them moist at all times... but it gets plenty of water every 2 days and I mulch heavily to retain the moisture. Mine are in full sun (Darwin sun... so pretty harsh - if any of you has ever visited), but close to my house, so they get protection from the dry wind. The soil there is very sandy as this is where the builder used to dump a lot of sand during the house build.

I don't fertilise them all the time either - probably a few times a year. I use organic fertiliser on all my plants. No fast growth - as some said - but fast enough for me...

Maybe you can try to put buckets of water on it for a few weeks every day or something and see how it goes. Don't remove the drip line yet.... as it might not be the cause. Just try to eliminate the 'possible' problems one at a time... and see which one has produced good results. It is not too late yet for your palms. They are pretty tough, as long as you are in warm climate. Be careful if you have to dig and move it... I killed mine a few years ago, trying to move it.

Regards, Ari

[Little Palm]

Yes, if you decide to relocate the palm do not disturb the roots. After relocation you must water daily until it stabilizes probably 2 months depending on the weather conditions.

[mauiguy]

I am impressed and thankful to this board and all who have responded to my palm situation. I am going to try either an organic fert or time release with micronutrients as suggested. Since this palm is on a timed drip line with other plants that need water everyday, the only way I could water it every 2 days as suggested would be to shut off the drippers to it and hand water, but I am not that good at being consistent, so I guess I'll leave it on the drippers. I think the sun and humidity here in Maui (Kihei) is good for this plant. Probably getting leaf burn from the fert I've used.

Thanks again.

[MikeL]

Aloha Mauiguy,

It's nice to see someone else from Maui on the forum. My garden is on the north side of the island where we get about five times as much rain as Kihei, yet I still find it challenging to get enough water on my young sealing wax palms. They do just fine once they've got a few feet of trunk, but the young ones get the same burned leaf tips as yours mostly due to the dessicating effect of the Maui tradewinds. Since I don't think you can give C. renda too much water, why don't you try adding a few more emitters to your drip line? You won't have to change the watering schedule but you'll be able to ascertain whether more water helps with the problem.

Of course, if your trees are in a windy area, you might always have tattered leaf tips. I could never overcome that problem for the trees in my windier spots.

Good luck,

Mike

[Wai`anae Steve]

Couple of years ago I found one I could afford. Don't remember the price. Was it a 3 gallon pot. I stuck it on a cement block in the wife's lily pond. The second picture was taken last Feb. It's in full sun. It's never been fertilized. I just sat it in the pond and sort of forgot about it.

[Daryl]

Keep trying...I'm sure it will come good in your climate...here is one of the nicer ones I saw in Darwin

[roman schepis]

I'm tagging onto an old post but hope that is OK.

I just purchased a 3 gallon Red Sealing wax in Homestead (Miami) Florida.

I noticed the pictures you guys posted have very little exposed root.

Here is a picture of mine, notice all that exposed root. That was the level it came in from the nursery.

Should I cover those i.e. plant it deeper?

Thanks in advance!!

[Mike Evans]

Roman, plant it deeper to cover all the roots. Have your container sit in a tray of water and use a good slow release fertilizer. They do not like cold dry climate, so you may have to protect it in the winter, or take it inside. Good luck & welcome.

[robsp2000]

I'm tagging onto an old post but hope that is OK.

I just purchased a 3 gallon Red Sealing wax in Homestead (Miami) Florida.

I noticed the pictures you guys posted have very little exposed root.

Here is a picture of mine, notice all that exposed root. That was the level it came in from the nursery.

Should I cover those i.e. plant it deeper?

Thanks in advance!!

Just curious what they charged. They have a 15 gal one here in Key West that they want $450 for.

[roman schepis]

Just curious what they charged. They have a 15 gal one here in Key West that they want $450 for.

It cost around $120. Wow, 15 gallon would be real nice.

[Sabal Steve]

I have always considered getting one of these. Any chance that it might survive if brought in during cold spells and kept in a pot without holes for the water to escape? Surely someone in my area has tried this at some point?