Canary Island Date Palm - Overwatering?

[Dr. Papa]

I planted my canary island date palm a month ago and the new frond shoots are brown. is it overwatering or underwatering? 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Dr. Papa
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[Kim]

Welcome to PalmTalk!

What is your location and what has the weather been like? How much are you watering? What kind of soil do you have -- sandy, clay, humus, rocky? What size was the rootball when you planted? Was the palm root bound? Need more information. After all that, it could simply be transplant adjustment.

[Dr. Papa]

14 minutes ago, Kim said:

Welcome to PalmTalk!

What is your location and what has the weather been like? How much are you watering? What kind of soil do you have -- sandy, clay, humus, rocky? What size was the rootball when you planted? Was the palm root bound? Need more information. After all that, it could simply be transplant adjustment.

Location is St George, Utah.  Zone 8b (so I will be protecting in the winter).  Weather has been dry the last month. Night temps in the 40s and day temps 60-80. Drip watering every other day with the rest of the landscaping. Hard to tell exactly how much water.  root ball was about 12x12x12. Yes, it seemed a bit root bound.  soil is red desert soil that tends to compress into a light clay that falls apart easily (i.e., not a dense gray clay). I planted in a hole twice as wide as the root ball with planting soil for palms and citrus. Is there a recommended soil moisture percentage? 

[Kim]

Newly planted palms need lots of water. I doubt you could overwater this palm in your situation. Since you are unsure how much water it is getting, I'd guess it's probably too dry. Can you stick your finger in the ground or dig a little around the outer edge of the rootball to test the soil? Try giving it a long slow soak with a hose 2-3x a week and see if things improve. I'm afraid I don't have any figures for soil moisture percentage. Maybe someone with more detailed experience can help out. Sometimes people plant a new palm and think it's getting enough water, then discover the soil around it is wet, but the rootball is dry. Thus the suggestion for a good soaking.

[Jubaea_James760]

Phoenix canariensis have those brown fibers attached to the leaflets. Looks completely normal from my eyes. Alot like Washingtonia's & the stringy fibers that make up the leaves, they hang off the leaflets, especially Filifera's.

Volunteer Filifera, extremely fiberious 

 

 

[Jubaea_James760]

Without knowing have much your drip system is emitting to the Canariensis it'll be hard to say if your under or over watering. Check your soil with a little spade or scratch the soil before the drip comes on the next day to see if it's still moist. 

I feel though that you could come by with a hose once or twice a week & soak it good, especially in summer & it'll be just fine. Once it's established (1-2 years) you could literally not water it for a month & it'll be good. Probably not happy but I recommend you don't do that lol! Be careful watering durning winter. I usually turn off my drip system in November & usually don't turn it back on until March. If we get a dry winter I have no problem just walking around & hitting everything with the hose. Goodluck. 

[Merlyn]

New Phoenix spears do have a brown "sheath" over the spear, it's just a protective layer of fiber while the spear is growing.  So you'd have to check and see if the leaves under the sheath are nice and green.  I zoomed in on the photo and it does look like the center of the new spear is green. 

I use drippers here in Floriduh, one thing I learned is to put the drip emitter tubing onto the existing rootball in new plantings...and then move them away from the trunk once it has rooted in.  If your emitter is "near" the rootball it might not be actually watering the palm, as it'll take several months to really grow out into the surrounding soil.  That might not be the case, but it's worth checking.  My Canary is happy in fairly rich sandy soil with 40-60 inches of rain/year plus some drippers.  For watering, you'd probably see under/overwatering effects on the older fronds first.  You probably wouldn't see it on the new spear.  My key is:

Underwatering brown at the leaflet edges first, later followed by yellowing of the whole leaf. Overwatering can be drooping fronds turning yellowish and losing color