Kentia palm leaves issue

[AlexS]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a pretty big Kentia Palme (2 meters high).

I planted it in a 10 times larger pot than the original one. The soil is made for palms. A mixture of sphagnum and small hydro balls. I placed a 4 cm layer of hydro balls on the bottom of the pot as well. The pot is without holes on the bottom.

I removed some of the old soil before planting.

Washed the leaves with soft tissues dripped in osmose water.

Watered it heavily. My water contains a lot of calcium.

Placed it by the big window where it gets some direct sun during only 2 or so hours per day.

I spay the the leaves 2 times a day with osmose water. The leaves dry out before the sun is up.

And here is my issue. A day after planting I noticed that some leaves started to get tiny holes by the roots of the leaves. It looks like they crack. There are no insects on them. One some lower leaves there are yellow/brown spots which get bigger.

The soil is constantly moist without me watering the Palme. When I squeeze the soil from 2 cm depth I can squeeze some water out of it.

What shall I do? ((((

Is it because it got chock after transport, new light conditions and repotting?

Too much water? If I try to lift the pot it still feel pretty heavy

Lack of minerals? Or too much calcium in the water?

I will drill some drainage holes.

I've done some research and found out that it could be leaf spot disease. I stoped spraying the palm and create air circulation more frequently. Is there any other cure?

Can I remove some of the soil and replace it with dry one or will I just kill the plant?

Thank u in advance!!!!

[SouthSeaNate]

Sounds like a combination of too large a pot, too wet soil & perhaps too much direct sunlight...

[OB Burt]

Well, definitely drain holes. Very few palms can tolerate sitting in water in a pot, if any. You could pull the whole thing out of the pot and start over. Kentias don't have very sensitive roots, in terms of being handled. I have root pruned them before with no set back.

Good luck

[AlexS]

Thanks for the replies!

U are right. Combination of many things. Too many stress factors the palm had to deal with.

The only thing is how long time can it stay in the pot without drainage holes before it's critical? I can drill the holes and so on in two days. It's been already in the pot for two weeks. Can the roots start rotting?

[Kim]

They may have already started rotting. Take it out of the pot and let the root ball sit for a day or two so it can get some oxygen. You are drowning your palms.

[AlexS]

I have drilled the holes today

There was no water in the pot. I tried to dig as deep as possible to see how the roots looked like and there were plenty of new white healthy roots. It's at least a good sign there were a couple of small onces which were brownish and fell off. But I guess it's normal when u replant a plant.

From now on I am only going to water the plants with calcium free water.

There are already two more new big leaves on their way.

I wonder- why is it a bad idea to plant a plant in a huge pot?

May I start spraying the plant again or shall I wait till the yellowish spots on the leaves (especially on the lower leaves) are gone?

I've been to the same shop today and noticed that almost all of their palms had those spots ot holes in the leaves. What can it be?

[Pal Meir]

Replant your palm (Howea forsteriana?) immediately into the original pot or a similar one (with enough holes!) of the same size or only a little bit (max. twice) bigger. Use a soil mixture which guarantees very good drainage (without any sphagnum!), e.g. a mixture of 50% (fine) pine bark with 50% Seramis (or anything similar) and a layer of LECA (German: Blähton) on the bottom as substrate. Water once after repotting and wait with next watering until the soil mixture gets relatively dry. Don’t expose the palm the next time to direct sunlight (at least not from early noon to afternoon, even in Denmark). If the palm has many leaves cut off the older ones. – My diagnosis is: The roots are still rotten. Nevertheless I wish you good luck!