Watering King Palms in SoCal Clay Soil?

[Mat_Sheets]

If you live in Southern California and you have thriving King Palm trees (or Giant White Birds of Paradise), I would love to know your watering schedule. I’ve have my Birds and Palms for 10 months and I’m still trying to get them thriving, but not having much luck. They are the best they’ve ever been currently, but not the best the could be. How do you water in this horrible clay soil?

[Jim in Los Altos]

I have tons of King palms up here in the Bay Area. Our soil here is clay but I’ve amended mine over the years with lots of composted mulch on top that’s gradually worked itself into the top 15” or so of soil. King palms love clay soil. Giant Birds will grow well in it as well. Both like lots of water. I recently removed most of my Giant birds though. They had 25 foot trunks and were crowding out more desirable palms. They had massive leaves.  Keep the soil wet on those King palms and know that their lateral roots will travel as much as 30 feet horizontally from the trunk, in search of water. They are impossible to overwater but easy to under water. 
 

Edited May 23, 2022 by Jim in Los Altos

[BayAndroid]

Jim's advice set me straight. I was worried about root rot when I started my kings. My clay soil is super thick dense and compacted. Anyways, the kings I have are now looking their best, since I started heavy handing with the water over here. 

[Mat_Sheets]

11 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

I have tons of King palms up here in the Bay Area. Our soil here is clay but I’ve amended mine over the years with lots of composted mulch on top that’s gradually worked itself into the top 15” or so of soil. King palms love clay soil. Giant Birds will grow well in it as well. Both like lots of water. I recently removed most of my Giant birds though. They had 25 foot trunks and were crowding out more desirable palms. They had massive leaves.  Keep the soil wet on those King palms and know that their lateral roots will travel as much as 30 feet horizontally from the trunk, in search of water. They are impossible to overwater but easy to under water. 
 

Thank you so much Jim. Someone else suggested I read your comments because you’ve answered this question a lot and know what you’re talking about! Thanks so much! Beautiful trees by the way!

[Mat_Sheets]

22 minutes ago, BayAndroid said:

Jim's advice set me straight. I was worried about root rot when I started my kings. My clay soil is super thick dense and compacted. Anyways, the kings I have are now looking their best, since I started heavy handing with the water over here. 

That’s great to hear! Do you have any idea how many gallons a week you’re giving your kings? And are you watering once, twice, or more a week?

[BayAndroid]

Not sure how much it is, I'm just leaving the hose on it until the hole is basically full lol. Doing it every other day. 

[Breaktheory]

I have similar socal LA clay in front - the drainage is decent and a 15 gallon hole will drain in about 6-8 hours but the bottom of the hole will continue to have a wet mud shine for 2 days. Is it considered fully drained with that shiny mud at the bottom?

[Mauricio]

Hi there. I take advantage of the thread to seek some opinion and advice regarding my new planted King Palm. It has been planted in my garden for seven months now. I bought it at a nursery and when I planted it had several green leaves and a spear growing. However, little by little, most of their leaves came off and turned brown. My archie receives direct sun for almost eight hours, I live in a coastal city. It doesn't rain much here, and I water it well once a week or when I see that the soil is drying out. The soil drains well, it is not prone to flooding, so I try to keep it always slighty wet. I have had to prune some dry leaves and only a green-brown leaf and a spear remains, but it doesn’t look in good condition. It has another smaller, healthier spear growing. I have recently fertilized it with NPK, and some time ago with worm castings. The nursery where I bought it told me that it could be an acclimatization problem, but I am afraid that my palm tree has some disease or root rot. I would greatly appreciate some advice. I attach a photo of my palm tree. Thank you so much.                 Mauricio - La Serena, CHILE

[SeanK]

11 hours ago, Mauricio said:

Hi there. I take advantage of the thread to seek some opinion and advice regarding my new planted King Palm. It has been planted in my garden for seven months now. I bought it at a nursery and when I planted it had several green leaves and a spear growing. However, little by little, most of their leaves came off and turned brown. My archie receives direct sun for almost eight hours, I live in a coastal city. It doesn't rain much here, and I water it well once a week or when I see that the soil is drying out. The soil drains well, it is not prone to flooding, so I try to keep it always slighty wet. I have had to prune some dry leaves and only a green-brown leaf and a spear remains, but it doesn’t look in good condition. It has another smaller, healthier spear growing. I have recently fertilized it with NPK, and some time ago with worm castings. The nursery where I bought it told me that it could be an acclimatization problem, but I am afraid that my palm tree has some disease or root rot. I would greatly appreciate some advice. I attach a photo of my palm tree. Thank you so much.                 Mauricio - La Serena, CHILE

1. Most nursery palms are grown under shade cloth. Ergo, yours is getting too much sun too fast.

2. There is always some transplant shock so that will affect older leaves.

3. You need to water every day.

There are a few Cali King experts here who can guide you with more details, regimen, etc.

Yo he ido a La Serena en invierno y la encontré muy fresco. No sé que son las temperatures mínimas ahí.

Edited October 19, 2023 by SeanK
.

[Mauricio]

23 minutes ago, SeanK said:

1. Most nursery palms are grown under shade cloth. Ergo, yours is getting too much sun too fast.

2. There is always some transplant shock so that will affect older leaves.

3. You need to water every day.

There are a few Cali King experts here who can guide you with more details, regimen, etc.

Yo he ido a La Serena en invierno y la encontré muy fresco. No sé que son las temperatures mínimas ahí.

Thank you very much for your advice. I hope it’s just a problem of acclimatization or direct sun stress rather than root rot or another disease. I must point out, however, that I have another Archie planted almost three years ago at the entrance to my house, in a front garden and in the ground. It is strong, vigorous and even already has a small trunk formed. It never suffered from transplant shock and I give both of them the same care and environmental conditions. I'm glad you know my city, La Serena. The climate here is not extreme: although it does not rain much, the climate is humid. Winter is usually cool, but frost never, ever occurs. The coldest you can experience is 5 or 6 degrees Celsius, in the middle of winter and in the early morning. Then it rises to 16 or 17 degrees. In summer, the humidity is continuous but with temperatures that fluctuate between 15 and 23 degrees Celsius. Returning to my archie: I don't know if with not so extreme temperatures, and with high environmental humidity, it will be convenient to water it every day!!

Best regards

Mauricio 

La Serena - CHILE