Please help. Sylvester Palm Browning Tips.

[Montengro]

Hi all,

I fertilized my 5 sylvester palms about a week ago and all 5 of them have browning tips.  I used about half a pound of fertilizer for every 2 inches of wood at 3 feet high.  I used sunniland fertilizer 17-5-11 which I have used before with no problems.  What should I do?  Should I remove the rest of the fertilizer? 

Here are some photos.  This palm has been on the ground for +/- 5 years and last time fertilize was over a year ago. Thanks. 

Edited May 6, 2019 by Montengro
New info

[Jeff985]

That sounds like a lot of fertilizer. Also the ratio is higher on nitrogen than potassium, which it shouldn’t be. I have three of those palms with seven feet of trunk and I give them each 1.5 cups of palm gain 8-2-12 and they seem to like it. 

[Merlyn]

I'm no expert, but that seems like a huge amount of fertilizer.  If I'm reading it right, you added 9 pounds of Sunniland 17-5-11?  That's 36" of wood and 0.5lb per 2" of wood = 9lb?  If that's what you applied, then remove all you can and flush out the rest with lots of water.  Not even fertilizer hogs like bananas want that much fertilizer.  They want "huge amounts" which translates into about 1lb of fertilizer per trunk.

Sylvesters can grow okay in most places in FL without any fertilizer at all,  The recommendation I have used is a couple of handfuls spread evenly inside the root area (roughly the outer diameter of the fronds), 3x or 4x per year.  Placing that fertilizer up next to the trunk isn't a good idea, as it concentrates it in one spot and will burn the rootball and critically burn the root initiation zone.

[Montengro]

I added a little under 0.5lb per inch.  My sylvester palm tree diameter is 18” (at 3’ high) I added roughly 7- 8lb of fertilizer. From everything I read online, different palm websites recommend between 0.5-1.5 lbs of fertilizer per inch.  

I went conservative with the amount of fertilizer I added.

Can a fertilizer/ palm expert please chime in. 

Thank you. 

[Ben in Norcal]

This is pretty easy IMO.  You won't hurt it by pulling the fert up and giving a good drench.  You could hurt it further by leaving it down.  I'd pick up what you can and soak it.

Seems obviously burned to me.

[palmsOrl]

I see this type look like this all the time in my area.  Clearly a nutrient deficiency.

[redant]

I never fertilizer my Sylvester's and they always look great.  I'm going with take up the rest of the fert.

Edited May 7, 2019 by redant

[Cikas]

It seems that you fried the roots of that palm.

[PalmatierMeg]

Scrape up as much of the residue as you can, hose the rest away and water deeply. In the future don't dump piles of fertilizer in a small donut around the base of the palm but scatter it around the perimeter of the canopy drip line. I agree you fried major roots close to the palm's trunk with a concentrated hit of fertilizer.

[Merlyn]

23 hours ago, Montengro said:

I added a little under 0.5lb per inch.  My sylvester palm tree diameter is 18” (at 3’ high) I added roughly 7- 8lb of fertilizer. From everything I read online, different palm websites recommend between 0.5-1.5 lbs of fertilizer per inch.  

You have to look at the numbers on the fertilizer too, yours is 17-5-11 which is the wrong ratio and has twice the nitrogen as recommended.  Here are a few links for palm fertilizing from FL experts:

https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/media/sfylifasufledu/baker/docs/pdf/horticulture/FertilizerRatesforLawnsandLandscapes_000.pdf

Recommendation: for 8-4-12 use 20oz per 100sqft under canopy of *slow release* nitrogen.  For a 15' diameter Sylvester it's about 175sqft under canopy, so spread around 2.2lb of 8-4-12.

http://www.virtualherbarium.org/GardenViews/SmartPalmFertilizing.html

Recommendation: 3-4lb of 8-4-12 every 3 months for medium size adult palms.

http://www.floridaplants.com/horticulture/palm.htm

Recommendation: For palms under 8' tall, 2-5lb per palm, 4x per year.

Looking at the above sources, anything around 3lb of 8-4-12 fertilizer would be a reasonable choice, spread evenly under the palm's canopy diameter.  Everyone recommends to keep the fertilizer away from the trunk.  These are mostly based on the nitrogen in the fertilizer.  Yours is 17-5-11 which is more than twice as much nitrogen as 8-4-12.  Converting yours, that 9lb has a nitrogen equivalent of putting down 19 pounds of 8-4-12.  That's roughly 6.4 times the recommended amount.  Something like 1.5lb of your 17-5-11 would be safe, even if the ratios aren't right for palms and it doesn't have any of the necessary micronutrients.