Possible Potassium Deficiency In Newly Planted Christmas Palm

[G8trman84]

I just bought a 30gallon (container grown) Christmas Palm from a local nursery on Friday evening.  On the way home, I noticed some brown spots and the end of the frons torn up a little.  I wasn’t really paying attention when i bought it, nor would I have really known what I was looking at any ways.  I ended up planting it Saturday Morning.  Based on my limited research, it looks like I may have a potassium deficiency??  Since you aren’t suppose to fertilize for the first two months, how would one deal with this? Thanks in advance!  Located in Central Florida.

[kinzyjr]

@G8trman84

Welcome to PalmTalk!

It doesn't look too bad to me.  It might be minor pest damage.  Using synthetic fertilizers while it is establishing isn't generally recommended, but depending on your soil, something organic might be a good idea.  You could probably work some Black Kow composted manure and chopped up banana peels into the planting hole.  That would be enough to get a "dead" soil moving in the right direction without burning the roots.

[Looking Glass]

I love nitpicking nutritional deficiencies, but to my eye, there appears to be nothing wrong with your palm whatsoever.   It looks like a healthy palm grown outdoors, where in the harsh reality of the real world, conditions aren’t always 100% ideal.  It looks quite well.  Just like the dozen of these that overhang my property, that are 15-25 feet tall.   

These aren’t my favorite palms, mostly because they are so common in South Florida , grow quickly and well without any specific care, and seed constantly to the point of annoyance.  But they are nice palms.  

I’d plant it, water well through the summer,  if it doesn’t rain in this heat, and maybe fertilize in a couple of months with a high quality palm fertilizer. 

Don’t worry.   It looks totally fine.   Congrats.  Those little spots are blight that requires no specific treatment   Their ends are tattered sometimes.  

 

[G8trman84]

Awesome!  Thank you for the good news!!

[Merlyn]

@G8trman84 I'd agree with the others, it looks pretty normal.  They always have slightly tattered leaf ends, and I'm sure you'll see some more of that in the upcoming days and weeks.  It's impossible to transport and plant a palm that size without some cosmetic frond damage.  The palm looks pretty rootbound in the pot, so it may take a couple of months for it to really grow out a significant number of roots into the surrounding soil.  Make sure you are watering on the existing rootball, especially if we get another drought week like a couple of weeks ago. 

I think small amounts of something like Osmocote or Nutricote is probably fine to sprinkle on top of the rootball, as well as diluted stuff like fish emulsion or kelp fertilizer are fine.  The nursery has probably been putting a commercial grade of Osmocote on top of that palm in the pot for years, most places use the little green beads in their pots as a controlled-release fertilizer.  You just want to avoid anything with a lot of fast-release nitrogen, which will burn new growing roots.