New Sylvester palm

[Jenny88]

Hi,

I had this Sylvester palm transplanted about three weeks ago. I would like an opinion about how my tree is looking and any suggestions to help care for it. The yellow/brown leaves are making me nervous. 
I had a large oak tree removed about six months before planting the palm. It was planted a few feet away from where the trunk of the oak was, but the oak tree was huge and roots were everywhere. Some even had to cut out when the palm was being transplanted 

I have not used any fertilizers yet. I live in northern Florida and we have not had much rain lately. I’m still watering daily. 
 

thank you for everyone’s help  

[The Doctor]

Palm overall looks good, I think it's just transplant shock. the soil level around the roots seems a bit high, but I would not go to far to expose any roots to air. Make sure you are deep watering it to let it soak, not just having it spill over to the grass. The necrotic distal leaf tips unlikely to be potassium deficiency as it just came from the nursery. Large palms undergo extensive root pruning before transplantation, and will need time for recovery and root regeneration. Overall looks good, and if that central spear fully opens I would not be worried because it would not put out new growth under duress. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by The Doctor

[D Palm]

Looks OK for A recent transplant. You could try some palm nutritional spray to help it cope with the transplant.

[Merlyn]

Yeah it does look like it's planted a litle bit low, it's hard to say.  Here's a great tutorial on the correct planting height: http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

Most palms will "eat" the oldest set of fronds in the month after planting, especially if it was a field-grown palm.  They have to basically cut off half the roots in order to get it out of the ground, bag it, transport it, and plant it.  So they typically cut off half the fronds too, to balance water loss from fronds vs root loss.  So some yellowing and browning of the oldest set of fronds is normal.  Don't cut them off until they are fully brown and dead, since the palm pulls nutrients from the old fronds to power new root growth.  Keep up with watering, and as The Doctor said, deep soak watering on the root ball and not into the nearby grass.  One way to see if it's growing is to mark a horizontal line across the new spear leaf with a sharpie.  It's normal for the spear to not move for a week or so after planting, but after 3-4 weeks it should start growing again.  Just be careful of the huge thorns if you try to mark it!

[Jenny88]

Thank you all so much for your help. 

[Kat67]

Mine is the same and it’s now 5 months in the ground.  NW Florida. It’s concerning me as well. It’s on a soaker 3 x week x 25 minutes. 

[Collectorpalms]

10 hours ago, Jenny88 said:

Thank you all so much for your help. 

I agree with what most people said on here. It’s basic palm 101. But some things to consider from someone with personal experience.

The sooner you can get micronutrients to the palm the better off your palm is going to be. Palms that have that waxy coating are really at a disadvantage of any nutritional spray. That wax is made to repel water. Tropical palms, very green crown shaft type palms, no problem. 
You need to lightly liquid feed roots regularly. The more you water it, the more your leaching nutrients if your Florida soil is bad. New palms shouldn’t get a fertilizer high in Nitrogen, and should have a low salt index. Should contain water soluble fast acting other nutrients.  Sulfur potassium, magnesium, manganese, boron are biggest issues for Florida Phoenix.

Otherwise, if you do nothing and soil is okay, it might be fine. If it’s white sand, then I kinda doubt it. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by Collectorpalms

[sonoranfans]

The biggest issue for sylvestris in florida is continually wet roots due to overwatering in clay soil.  The ones I grew in arizona looked more colorful(silver green) than almost all of the ones I see here in FL.  IF your soil is clay, underwater your grass around it as these palms dont want the same watering interval as grass.   I wold turn off the irrigation in the wet season if you get good rain amounts.  When the soil is clay here a healthy sylvestris will grow adventidious roots since the soil will be too wet in summer.  In arizona, I controlled the dry cycle completely so they grew like gangbusters, fast.  I do see quite a few go sick and die here, more than one would expect.  ANd it almost always is clay soil with an irrigation timer set for grass or surrounding flowers.  Once the aventidious roots develop it will be more resistant to wet soil.

[Collectorpalms]

24 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

The biggest issue for sylvestris in florida is continually wet roots due to overwatering in clay soil.  The ones I grew in arizona looked more colorful(silver green) than almost all of the ones I see here in FL.  IF your soil is clay, underwater your grass around it as these palms dont want the same watering interval as grass.   I wold turn off the irrigation in the wet season if you get good rain amounts.  When the soil is clay here a healthy sylvestris will grow adventidious roots since the soil will be too wet in summer.  In arizona, I controlled the dry cycle completely so they grew like gangbusters, fast.  I do see quite a few go sick and die here, more than one would expect.  ANd it almost always is clay soil with an irrigation timer set for grass or surrounding flowers.  Once the aventidious roots develop it will be more resistant to wet soil.

Mine was planted in the worst clay, but the rootball was 2/3 out of the soil in a raised bed cornered by grass. It got hit by the neighbors sprinklers every morning in the spring through summer had those crazy Adventitious roots. It only had about a foot of trunk when I got it but grew to 35Ft in 15 years.. It was impossible to overwater it, it was Texas Gold Oil. It might have had a nutrient deficiency when I got it, but it never did after that. It was slate silver, too bad it was too tall to see it for most of its life. It had an orange trunk when I got it, but a hard freeze ruins it.

Edited May 17, 2022 by Collectorpalms

[Merlyn]

I'd wager that adventitious roots are a genetic thing, there are plenty of Sylvestris in the Central FL area that have them...and plenty without.  This one near me was planted around 2011 and the trunk looked normal, at least on the Google Maps streetview.  Today it has a whopping 8 feet of adventitious roots going up the trunk!

Sylvesters also tend to yellow out older fronds after winter, even though they are totally hardy in the Central FL area.  I've seen a lot of them around with yellowed lower fronds.  I didn't fertilize until the end of March, and probably should have done so in the beginning of March.  So mine in the backyard looked like this on Friday, just before I transplanted it to the front yard:

@Kat67 my guess on yours is a bit of cold-weather yellowing and it needs a dose of fertilizer.  Any HD/Lowes "Palm Special" will help, many people here recommend PalmGain or others.  The general target is 1.5lb of 8-2-12 fertilizer for every 100sqft of palm canopy.  So for a 12' diameter Sylvestris that's about 113sqft or 1.7lb of 8-2-12.  If your fertilizer is a different concentration (say 6-1-8 or 8-4-8) you'd want to adjust that a little bit up or down using the first and last numbers as a guide.  I.e. add about 25% more of 6-1-8 vs 8-2-12.  After 5 months in the ground it is definitely ready for fertilizer.

 @Jenny88 I'd wait at least a month before adding any fertilizer, and then only sparingly.  A light handful sprinkle at 3 or 4 weeks is probably safe, any more could easily burn the new roots.

[3 Milesfrom Gulf of Mexico]

Every time a plant or tree goes in the ground I use this. Fertilome root stimulator. 

 

https://www.fertilome.com/product/root-stimulator-plant-starter-solution-4-10-3-1

[Sylvesterpalms13]

I’m buying three Sylvester Palms to plant in a row and I’m trying to figure out how far apart to plant them. Keep reading the plant them about 5 feet apart where that seems way too close I was thinking more in the 15 to 18 foot spacing. Anyone have experience? 

[Merlyn]

@Sylvesterpalms13 it's probably better to post a new topic with some photos of your proposed spot and your general location.  You'll probably get more suggestions and replies that way.  As a reference, Sylvesters usually get to around 12' diameter, give or take a bit.  So it really depends on what look you are going for.  Initially I started out with a "no palm frond may touch another" planting concept.  Now I have nearly 1000 individual plantings on 0.75 acres, roughly 300 are palms.  Closer together will give more dense shade underneath, if that has value to you.