Best Fertilizer for in ground Palms

[diamondeye24]

I’ve looked on line and local and I can only find Miracle Shake and Feed (8-2-12) local but from what I can find it has no Boron. Online there is Palm Gain but I can only find the 2lb bags on Amazon. I have 20 palm trees to fertilize ranging from Sabal Palmetto to Pindo palms to Windmills. Any suggestions for a good fertilizer?

[kinzyjr]

21 hours ago, diamondeye24 said:

I’ve looked on line and local and I can only find Miracle Shake and Feed (8-2-12) local but from what I can find it has no Boron. Online there is Palm Gain but I can only find the 2lb bags on Amazon. I have 20 palm trees to fertilize ranging from Sabal Palmetto to Pindo palms to Windmills. Any suggestions for a good fertilizer?

Welcome to PalmTalk!

Here in Florida, the slow-release types of 8-2-12 + micronutrients fertilizers like Florikan and Lesco are used a lot.  For your particular location, a lot of it will depend on your soil makeup.  Is it mostly clay? sand? loam?  Hope a few folks from NC can chime in as the soils where you're located are likely a lot different than here.

[SeanK]

3:1:2 is a good ratio. If you're on sand you'll need to add micronutrients or have them integrated in the formula. Clay is not so bad.

[diamondeye24]

Thanks for the responses. I have mostly clay soil here. I was able to find a supplier that has Sunninland but I’ve never used it and don’t know how well it works or if it has enough nutrients. 

[Allen]

Palmgain

https://www.seedworldusa.com/products/bgi-palmgain-8-2-12-palm-plant-food-fertilizer-10-lbs?currency=USD&variant=32106136862818&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwkLCkBhA9EiwAka9QRtF82evJmaHAE7HQeC-nrs8yUC2dW2mzCHOVM4MMvAA2HXCuLP1W_hoCB2wQAvD_BwE

[Butch]

https://www.domyown.com/palmgain-8212-plus-minors-p-8290.html?pdpv=2&sub_id=23157

 

$65.99 plus free shipping for 50#s

Butch

[diamondeye24]

The 50lb package of palm gain says it has been discontinued. And Palm Gain has to be applied every 4-6 weeks right?  I have 20 palm trees to fertilize. 

[Butch]

Ooops ... Sorry about that... I didn't see that remark..

Butch

[Merlyn]

12 minutes ago, diamondeye24 said:

The 50lb package of palm gain says it has been discontinued. And Palm Gain has to be applied every 4-6 weeks right?  I have 20 palm trees to fertilize. 

I think the IFAS recommendation was 1.5lb of 8-2-12 for every 100sqft of canopy, 4x per year.  I've used the cheap brands Sunniland and Vigoro, and they have worked fairly well.  HD used to carry a Lesco 13-3-13 palm and ornamental, and generally speaking I think it worked better than the "value" brands.  But they quit carrying it and switched to a Lesco palm 8-10-10, which has waaaaay too much phosphorus for Florida soils.  I found Lesco 510268 and 511414 at my local SiteOne, and probably will try that this summer.

[diamondeye24]

I’ve looked at SiteOne and unfortunately they will not sell the good Lesco Palm fertilizer to NC. I’ve found a Florikan 14-4-14 fertilizer for palms but I do not know how well that will work with clay soil.  It’s supposed to last 100 days. 

[Than]

My plants (not only palms) grow like crazy with nice lush leaves since I applied goat manure. I think I'll stick to manure from now on.

[SeanK]

2 hours ago, diamondeye24 said:

The 50lb package of palm gain says it has been discontinued. And Palm Gain has to be applied every 4-6 weeks right?  I have 20 palm trees to fertilize. 

riding mower + a spreader.

[Merlyn]

21 hours ago, diamondeye24 said:

I’ve looked at SiteOne and unfortunately they will not sell the good Lesco Palm fertilizer to NC. I’ve found a Florikan 14-4-14 fertilizer for palms but I do not know how well that will work with clay soil.  It’s supposed to last 100 days. 

Apparently Lesco makes a huge number of "palm" formulations, and distribution is weird.  So if I search for "Lesco Fertilizer" at the Raleigh NC store, I get 583 results.  If I search for "Palm" and then select "fertilizer" in the category bar, there's about 10 Lesco shown.  But all of them say "not available online in your area."  If I do the same search at my local Orlando store I get 3 in stock, including the 8-2-12 and 13-3-13 that are pretty good mixes for the Florida soils.  You could try calling your local SiteOne, they might order a couple of bags for you but just don't normally stock it.  Florikan and PalmGain are also highly recommended by the people on this forum. 

Regarding your mix, the 8-2-12 is based on Florida sandy soils, which are apparently high in Phosphorus.  So adding more is wasteful and just adds extra Phosphorus to the groundwater.  NC soils are probably different.  So that 3:1:2 ratio:

I have about 300 palms in the ground in 0.75 acres, I use about 60-80lb of fertilizer 4x per year.  I use a Dollar Store water jug and just pour from the 40lb bag into the jug and walk around the yard.  Because mine are all kinds of sizes (2' tall seedlings up to 30' trunking palms) I sprinkle a 1/2 handful here, 3 handfuls there, etc.  Just avoid chucking a "clump" of fertilizer at any one spot and it'll be fine.  Roots extend out to at least the "canopy diameter" so if you have a palm with a 20' diameter canopy just apply in that general area.

[Steve in Florida]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:25 AM, diamondeye24 said:

I’ve looked at SiteOne and unfortunately they will not sell the good Lesco Palm fertilizer to NC. I’ve found a Florikan 14-4-14 fertilizer for palms but I do not know how well that will work with clay soil.  It’s supposed to last 100 days. 

Florikan 14-4-14  will be perfect.

[NickJames]

Right now I’m using Perfect Palm fertilizer.
https://palmtreefertilizer.com/florida-palm-fertilizer?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0_aF1JvM_wIVwqiGCh0k9w-SEAAYASAAEgKcy_D_BwE
 

My soil (sand) is devoid of any nutrients, including phosphorus, so I was not bothered by the slightly elevated phosphorus in it…though many areas in Florida have high phosphorus content in the soil, so it’s not commonly found in high quantities in Florida-centric palm fertilizers. I also use it on most of my other ornamentals too…

I typically use Florikan for Palm & Citrus, though this usually has a high shipping cost…I picked some up at a vendor on my recent SWFL trip. I still have palms that have Florikan granules present from 1+ year ago, so their coating definitely works.

 

 

[Looking Glass]

On 6/15/2023 at 9:55 AM, diamondeye24 said:

I’ve looked on line and local and I can only find Miracle Shake and Feed (8-2-12) local but from what I can find it has no Boron. Online there is Palm Gain but I can only find the 2lb bags on Amazon. I have 20 palm trees to fertilize ranging from Sabal Palmetto to Pindo palms to Windmills. Any suggestions for a good fertilizer?

I feel like fertilizing can sometimes be as simple, or as complicated, as you want it to be.  For a simple solution, you could get some Sunniland palm fertilizer, apply 3-4x per year, and call it a day.   Most common and hardy palms would be happy with that,  Just be careful with cheap fertilizers, because it you overdo it, they can burn the hell out of things, especially grass.    I’ve toasted spots in the lawn with that stuff.    

If you have good soil, a little fertilizer goes a long way.   You should always be trying to build your soil.  It’s the one of the environmental variables you can control, and I think of it as one of the “4 pillars” that determine what you can grow.   (Sunlight, Water, Soil, and Temperature).   They can’t always be controlled, but sometimes you can tip the needle a little.  

Building your soil is an ongoing process, where you are adding what is naturally lacking.  It’s on ongoing process.   Here my natural soil is like pure calcareous sand.   So it’s mulch, manure, peat, leaves...  stuff like that… over and over and over.   Other parts of the country, you might be adding sand and gravel, or raking up the fall leaf-drop to use.   It depends.  

For high quality Palm fertilizers, I use Palm Tree Saver… https://store.palmtreesaver.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1841 and have pretty good luck.  I also use palm gain, but after the shortages, not as much anymore.  There are other better brands too.  I also need a lot of extra potassium and magnesium, so I add those extras on certain palms.  If I get Manganese or iron issues, I add that, and I might add a little borax if boron deficiency starts.  …..you can always add individual components as needed, but remember, they often have antagonism to a partner element… https://www.palmbeachpalmcycadsociety.com/documents/PalmNutritionalDeficiencyCorrectionAndAntagonisticNutritionalRelationships.pdf

I also do some naughtier stuff, like use a little Scott’s Lawn fertilizer, or Miracle Grow granules, when palms need a shot of steroids or critical care.  But that’s easy to screw up if you get carried away.   A little crack and some steroids never hurt anybody, right???  

 

[sonoranfans]

Florikan makes the best fertilizer on the market its not slow release but controlled release which is the most efficient release.  You may not need the best fertilizer in clay soils as clay soils have plenty of cation exchange which helps retain micronutrients that would otherwise be washed away.  In sandy florida soils the tenchology of osmotic membrane release is superior as release rate depends on how much micronutrients are in the soil.  There is a chemical potential between the fertilizer inside the prill and the soil outside the prill membrane.  Fertilizer release is increased as concentration in the soil is depleted.  I tried lesco, sunniland, 2-3 other palm types and found none cold prevent deficiencies to my "canaries in a coal mine" cuban copernicias which are very sensitive.  I fertilize 60+ mostly mature palms to 45' tall including those fertilizer pigs the copernicias bailey and fallaensis using about 100-120 lbs a year.  FLorikan has separate prills for different micronutrients so theprill membranes are designed for different solubilities of nutrients.  That said for clay soil, its not terribly critical what fertilizer you use just make sure it has the micros in ratios that you see on florikan or palm gail which have the same exact formulation.  I would also use fish emulsion in between the prills several weeks apart.  Fish emulstion wont burn and carries some good micros.  After that humic acid will condition the clay soil, its the natural decomposition product of mulch but you can get a much bigger application withhumic acid than mulch which must decompose slowly to form humic acid. 

[D Palm]

If you live in a rural area where most folks do not fertilize there yard or ornamentals, Sunniland at Walmart works fine. They usually drop the prices super low right now. I stock up, $8 for a 20 lb bag of citrus sunniland today. I grabbed a screen shot and sent them to a neighbor who also cares about lawn/ornamentals. If you have the cash, others mentioned above are probably better. But I have 2 acres of lawn, palms and other plants to feed. Palm fertilizer was not on sale, sadly enough. I’ll keep checking as the summer season progresses. If you live in a nicely landscaped area, these deals may not occur.

Edited June 20, 2023 by D Palm

[sonoranfans]

in florida potassium should be 1.5 times the nitrogen for palms.  SO and 8-2-12 with all the palm micronutrients(S,Fe,Mg,Mn,Cu, B etc) is the proper fertilizer for palms here.   In another state the formulations are different depending on soil and rain.  Too much rain here for 2:1 N:K.  it may work ok for some palms and not others.  For example Bismarckia and serenoa repens in my yard are not dependent on fertilization, they do fiune with no fertilizer.  Also any fertilizer that is readily dissolved by rain water will be washed into the watershed and that runoff some scientists think may be a source of the red tide.

[diamondeye24]

8 hours ago, D Palm said:

If you live in a rural area where most folks do not fertilize there yard or ornamentals, Sunniland at Walmart works fine. They usually drop the prices super low right now. I stock up, $8 for a 20 lb bag of citrus sunniland today. I grabbed a screen shot and sent them to a neighbor who also cares about lawn/ornamentals. If you have the cash, others mentioned above are probably better. But I have 2 acres of lawn, palms and other plants to feed. Palm fertilizer was not on sale, sadly enough. I’ll keep checking as the summer season progresses. If you live in a nicely landscaped area, these deals may not occur.

They do not have Sunninland around NC at stores. I had to order some online and I found out it is being shipped from Florida. 

[D Palm]

@sonoranfans is correct about runoff. I place mine under mulch to prevent run off. Also, plugging your yard after application of anything (fertilizer, granular pesticide, grass seed, etc) helps reduce it. Some areas in Florida have a ban on fertilizer from July to September because of heavy rain run-off. This is my last application until October, no ban in my area though.
 

my neighbor planted Centipede grass but did not plug or cover with anything…I have all his centipede thanks to run off.

[Barbara Martinkosky]

If you are in South Florida, Diamond R palm specialty is a good palm fertilizer for our alkaline soil.  It is manufactured in Homestead and distributed by several vendors.  Lesco also makes a good one and can be mail-ordered.  UF professor, Dr Broschat has some excellent articles about palm fertilization.  You can find it at edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/EP516.