Help - King Palms Dying!

[ChuchoJ]

I’m urgently looking for help diagnosing why my king palms are dying (see pictures).  I planted them just over 3 weeks ago, the leaves started sagging within the past week, and now the leaves are turning brown with yellow spots.  I think it’s likely a water issue, but I don’t know if they’re getting too little or too much. 

 

- SOURCE: Purchased at HD.  I think they were in 15 gallon containers - 2 triples and 1 double, each ~6 feet tall.  The last several inches of many leaves had been clipped off. 

-          - SOIL:  Planted with 50/50 native soil to palm/citrus/cactus mix…or could have been more like 40/60. 

-         -  HOLES:  Dug twice as wide as pots and a few inches deeper and filled the extra depth with the palm mix.  Right now, the roots at the top are slightly exposed (~ 1 inch) from soil washing away and/or settling.  Is this OK?

-        -   WEATHER:  The first week, they got several days of heavy rain.  Since then it’s been in the 70’s and sunny by day, and the 50’s at night.  (low humidity)

-         -  WATERING: I fully saturated the palms when I planted them and they each have a ring of roughly ten ½ gph emitters that run 3X/wk for 20 minutes each time (so 5 gallons each per week at 1.67 gallons per feeding).  Since they started going downhill a week ago, I’ve given them 2 hand waterings of maybe 10 gallons each, some of which runs off.  If I were to continue this regime, they’d each get around 15 gallons per week spread over 4 waterings [3 X 1.67 gallons, 1 X 10+ gallons).

PROGRESSION - They were fine for the first 2 weeks (the first of which got heavy rain), then some leaves/branches started drooping in week 3.  I thought it was lack of water, so I gave them all a drenching by hand (~10 gallons each), and then yesterday I noticed some large sections of leaves turning dark brown and dying.  (See pictures)  Some websites say you should give them as many gallons as their original pot size, so if I feed 3x/wk that would mean 45 gallons per palm - triple what I’ve started giving them.  My local nursery, which doesn’t specialize in palms, thinks I'm over-watering them.  They say its transplant shock and that I should add “Sure Start” or “B1” (some MPK supplement?) to counter it.  

 

So what’s the diagnosis?  Transplant shock?  Not enough water (and/or too shallow)?  Too much?  Something else?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

 

[quaman58]

I'm not seeing anything fatal going on. Fungal infections can happen with bouts of rain on acclimating palms, but it doesn't have that look. The brown leaf bases shown just show that the entire leaf is ready to shed in the near future. The browned leaflets are always a bit of a mystery, especially when there are sharp borders between the green & brown. Don't over water them; give them some time to adjust. I think they'll be fine.

[GottmitAlex]

Looks a bit like transplant shock to me.

Look at the spears. If they're green and robust, don't worry about it. They'll outgrow it.

 

Welcome to the forum Chucho!

Edited October 24, 2018 by GottmitAlex

[ChuchoJ]

Thanks all for the input.  It's good to know they aren't in dire straights!

I still have no clue how much to water them.  One local nursery is saying 1 gallon per week (total), another says 10 gallons, and online sources are suggesting as much as 45 gallons!  At this point I'm at a total loss.  I don't want to give them root rot but I don't want to starve them either.  Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[quaman58]

You need to know something about the drainage in your yard. Some soils drain like crazy (like DG), some not much, like clay. If you’re not sure, the get a spike type moisture meter to see how wet the root area is. I would guess (on average) 6-9 gallons a week spread over 2-3 waterings. Obviously, crazy hot, low humidity calls for twice that, and late fall/ winter a lot less. Getting a handle on your microclimate is most important thing you can do..

[Jubaea]

You need to water the entire original rotball thoroughly when watering and ideally a bit further out so that your palms can grow into your native soil.  Unless you have hard clay or some soil that does not drain well i would error on the side of watering more than less if the weather is sunny and warm.

[Palm Tree Jim]

16 hours ago, quaman58 said:

I'm not seeing anything fatal going on. Fungal infections can happen with bouts of rain on acclimating palms, but it doesn't have that look. The brown leaf bases shown just show that the entire leaf is ready to shed in the near future. The browned leaflets are always a bit of a mystery, especially when there are sharp borders between the green & brown. Don't over water them; give them some time to adjust. I think they'll be fine.

Good advice.

[ChuchoJ]

I purchased 2 moisture meters (7" and 15" probes, respectively) and tested the trees.  At a 5"-10" depth the soil registers in the bottom-to-middle of the moist scale while the 12-15" levels are very moist to wet.  (This is 24- 36 hours after their last watering, which was pretty heavy.)  The soil here tends to hold moisture so I think the holes I dug are acting like bowls and are holding the water that drips through the more porous amended soil I planted with.  I don't want root rot, so I'll hold of watering for a few days and hope that that deep water reduces, then be more cautious about how much water to give them.  It sounds like 2-5 gallons a week may be appropriate but I'll use the moisture meters to try and keep the soil moist without accumulating at deeper levels.  

BTW -  Should I build up the soil around the trunks a little to level it out?  They are about 1 inch higher than the surrounding soil, with some roots exposed.  I heard that this could cause water to run away from the root balls, which  at this point need it most.  THANKS AGAIN, EVERYONE!

 

[Jim in Los Altos]

Hopefully you didn't disturb the roots, either on purpose or by accident, when planting. Most palms don't like their roots bothered at all and Archontophoenix are more sensitive than most. As far as water goes, it's impossible to over water these. They will even grow well in total aquatic conditions. I've got several maturing ones that are growing in the pond water. 

Your Kings look like they will adjust and be fine. Nothing remotely fatal here. Just keep them well watered and be patient. Once they adjust and settle in, they will grow fast.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Jim in Los Altos