How to care for Pindo Palm in AZ zone 9A-B

[PindoPalm]

Temps range from 25-75 during winter, 70-105 during spring 80-120 during summer and 75-95 during fall. I want to know how often to water, prune, and fertilize.

[sonoranfans]

If that palm is in a container better get shadecloth over it.  Id get it into the ground now.  There is an arizona thread, caring for palms in arizona is unlike just about any other place  here.  Hot super dry and the most intense sun in the country.    Late day sun is the worst.  Hopefully our arizona palmtalkers will chime in and give detail on care they use for these palms.

[96720]

I agree with @sonoranfans get that thing planted it’s a tough palm I’m not one for fertilizing but if you want to put some palm fertilizer on it probably about now and again in the fall I have drippers on mine water every 3 days for 1 hr. !!

[Harry’s Palms]

We don’t have the intense sun that you have there but I planted mine as a seedling , on a slope , south facing in full sun. Our temps aren’t near as severe as yours but still , a lot of sun for a VERY young Butia. It always did fine . I only fertilized for the first 5 years , it is now 25 years old. Harry

[sonoranfans]

22 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

We don’t have the intense sun that you have there but I planted mine as a seedling , on a slope , south facing in full sun. Our temps aren’t near as severe as yours but still , a lot of sun for a VERY young Butia. It always did fine . I only fertilized for the first 5 years , it is now 25 years old. Harry

you are correct your weather isnt nearly as hot or dry and has much less intense sun than airzona.  I grew a butia to about 8' tall berfore I moved from Gilbert AZ.  It burned in the sun from a 24" box tree a cou-ple years before it was established and it never saw the western sun as trees were planted west of it.  Sonoran desert weather is very tough on palms, especially in the dry spring where 110F and 6-10% RH is common.

[Harry’s Palms]

Well , I hope Palmlover69 has success with his Butia. They are very nice palms . I wonder if it will help that it appears to be a silvery one. Mine is and the silver coating , I think , seems to be a benefit for protection.. Harry

[Palmfarmer]

Beautiful! Ideally only prune once a frond has withered completely. 

They love water I would saturate the soil 2-3x per week in summer and 1x in winter. 
 

the fertilizers you buy will say how long you should wait before fertilizing again so I can’t comment on that. It varies quite a lot depending on what fertilizer you get. 

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

Not from a super hot and dry area like yours but I would plant it now and put down a thick mulch. Bark mulch would probably be best as it will insulate the ground and not transfer too much heat to the roots.. Black rock would cook the roots. White rock may work but rock is dense and would retain heat. Shade it from afternoon sun if possible. Be generous with water especially the 1st year and use a root growth stimulator when planting.

Edited February 21 by Jeff zone 8 N.C.

[96720]

This is a pindo palm in Phoenix in full sun!!

[PindoPalm]

Thank you, i saw some that were a pretty silver and mature in Florida, it’s nice to know they flourish here to.

2 hours ago, 96720 said:

This is a pindo palm in Phoenix in full sun!!

 

[Palmfarmer]

On 2/21/2024 at 6:27 AM, Jeff zone 8 N.C. said:

Not from a super hot and dry area like yours but I would plant it now and put down a thick mulch. Bark mulch would probably be best as it will insulate the ground and not transfer too much heat to the roots.. Black rock would cook the roots. White rock may work but rock is dense and would retain heat. Shade it from afternoon sun if possible. Be generous with water especially the 1st year and use a root growth stimulator when planting.

Throw some bonemeal in the planting hole and a bit above once planted too. 
Butias do great in dry Climates. They love water, but they can also survive for ages without. Never seen any bad sunburn on my Butias during spring so they should do full sun in phoenix easily. Even my Robustas are not as sun hardy as my Butias. 

[Palmfarmer]

On 2/20/2024 at 8:50 PM, sonoranfans said:

you are correct your weather isnt nearly as hot or dry and has much less intense sun than airzona.  I grew a butia to about 8' tall berfore I moved from Gilbert AZ.  It burned in the sun from a 24" box tree a cou-ple years before it was established and it never saw the western sun as trees were planted west of it.  Sonoran desert weather is very tough on palms, especially in the dry spring where 110F and 6-10% RH is common.

I think it’s similar to here in spring. I have had my Livestona Chinensis burn off all fronds from high UV here 2 years in a row. Even Robustas has gotten ugly burn marks. It’s not as hot here, but the elevation makes the sun a lot stronger. 

[jwitt]

11 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

I think it’s similar to here in spring. I have had my Livestona Chinensis burn off all fronds from high UV here 2 years in a row. Even Robustas has gotten ugly burn marks. It’s not as hot here, but the elevation makes the sun a lot stronger. 

A minimum of 6% uv increase with every 1000 foot increase in elevation.!