palms Pygmy Robellini Palms

[Tony S]

Planted at end of summer last year and used a rich mixture of peat moss, potting soil and mulch. I use a drip system on them. Being in Arizona, I water all year but less in the winter months. How long before they get established and look really healthy. I have a lot of brown dry fronds.

[Frances]

The brown may be from the cold winter we had in AZ. Mine are normally fine in the winter but the frost got to them this winter and have browned like yours.   Right now is the start of the growing season for them, so start fertilizer. Mine are in the ground. I never used peat moss. It took a good year for mine to get established. Two pictured for comparison, one from before winter, browned after winter. 

[PindoPalm]

It could be winter. My pindo in Arizona did this 

[PindoPalm]

Could be a nutrient deficiency or underwatering also there’s a lot of that here in AZ

[Johnny Palmseed]

These are not desert palms. They can survive but will never thrive there. The best looking Roebeleniis I ever saw were in North Florida in partial sun with high oak canopy. They were well watered and deep green. I would say the soil was mostly sand with mulch on top. I’m also not sure about your container. That looks like it would get extremely hot and be difficult to keep the soil moist which is exactly what it would need in Arizona.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

These are not desert palms. They can survive but will never thrive there.

 While i cant speak for places like Yuma or Bullhead City,   Pygmys actually do fine here, ....not just " survive "  but thrive, whatever thrive means within the constraints of a hot, tropical desert.. 

Do look best with some afternoon shade of course, <  What doesn't benefit from that here, or almost anywhere it gets hot >  but can tolerate much more sun than i'd assumed they would  ..if kept hydrated.. 

Even somewhat less pampered specimens i see often look far better than i'd assumed they might.  Even a Pygmy that has been somewhat neglected far outshines 99.8% of Queen Palms here.







As for the OP,  first question should be where in S. AZ are they located?  ..Tucson?,  Yuma?,  Gila Bend?,  Green Valley?,  Sonoita, or Sierra Vista?   .." Southern Arizona " is far too generic of a term to cover such a wide area containing several distinctly different climates. Gotta drill it down a bit more..

Anyway, while i myself would plant directly in the ground ..at ground level,  i've seen Pygmy dates in raised planters of a similar size / depth / width here that were doing fine.

Burnt leaves could be from frost damage, or from heat related damage from last summer's  " hell spell "  ..Though you should see more new growth pushing out above the burnt fronds by now if damage was from summer - related burn.

Overall ..provided ideal care, imo, i'd say they should start  getting themselves established within a year of planting.. 

Note i said  " Start "  ..For most plants,  the " establishment " phase is approx 2-3 years  after  you plant something.. 


Notice the OP  hasn't posted again since the first post back on March 23rd. so maybe we'll get an update / response, or maybe not..

[PindoPalm]

5 hours ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

These are not desert palms. They can survive but will never thrive there. The best looking Roebeleniis I ever saw were in North Florida in partial sun with high oak canopy. They were well watered and deep green. I would say the soil was mostly sand with mulch on top. I’m also not sure about your container. That looks like it would get extremely hot and be difficult to keep the soil moist which is exactly what it would need in Arizona.

I’ve seen the. Thrive here I’ve even seen a coconut palm survive here! It is just really expensive and very hard to maintain which is why i wouldn’t recommend growing tropical palms here but Butias survive perfectly out here 

[Johnny Palmseed]

Well I stand corrected. Perhaps they can thrive in Arizona with lots of water but I was really only referring to the condition as pictured. A metal container in the middle of a bunch of reflective rocks in southern Arizona will probably not thrive. I think the real key is water. If they get enough, they can withstand some extreme conditions. But thriving is different for me. I will admit that it is subjective but to me these do best with plenty of water and some shade from the most intense sun times. Even mine are not thriving. They are in full sun in an area without supplemental irrigation. The soil is of high pH and they tend to get potassium deficiency. The color of the greenest fronds is a lighter green than I would like and they usually have some brown tips. They used to look better when they were smaller as they had some sun protection that is no longer there.