Advice on pygmy date palm care.

[Mike Palm Enthusiast]

I have a 10 year old potted pygmy date bought from Home Depot. It has 5 stems. The largest stem has an approximately 3 foot trunk. I'm wondering whether trimming out the two smallest suckers will help the other three stems grow faster and stronger or if pruning it will damage the whole.

Advice? Opinions?

Michael Palm Enthusiast 

[PalmsInBaltimore]

pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelenii) are single stem plants so those are not really suckers growing out of the taller ones but five individual palms planted as a grouping in order to increase visual "fullness." 

The good thing about many palms is that they are incredibly good at growing in small spaces. Pygmy dates are often clumped together in 3-5 stems of different heights. Over time the stems will naturally curve away from each other to help the leaves avoid competing for light. 

Personally, I like the clumped look and don't want my potted palms growing like wild because I have to winter it inside. Other people though don't like the groupings and prefer a single stem, or at least more spacing between the stems. 

Are you trying to save the parts you referred to as "suckers" or are you just going to trash them? Like I said, those are individual plants so in theory they can all be repotted as individuals. But also, like I said, palms are good at growing in tight places and I've seen pictures of pygmy dates as old as yours, or older, that have gracefully curved away from each other and grown tall (sort of a coconut tree look) while remaining nextdoor neighbors at their roots. 

If you just don't care about the smaller ones, you could trim them out. Sort of a shame in my opinion, but these are cheap plants that you can experiment with, I guess. 

The other option is to repot them as individuals. It's not easy. There are other discussions on here about separating the individual palms, but it's very stressful for them. The roots do not like being disturbed and it's likely the smallest ones would not survive or would have to be nursed like babies back to health. When they're planted so close together, it's impossible to separate the root entanglement without damaging roots on the smaller plants. Even the larger plants will suffer damage if their roots are harmed, which would counteract your goal of increasing their growth.

If you decide to separate the individuals and repot or just kill the smaller ones by snipping them off, definitely keep us posted as I'm very curious. Best of luck, and happy summer to you!

[Allen]

I have a triple going gangbusters in full sun and watered as often as possible in this heat (Daily). Mine has thee palms.  If you didn't want the extra 2 or so I would cut them at bottom and not disturb the others roots IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9PaVcxFDRo

https://youtu.be/A1kQXix2F_0?t=144

 

[Mike Palm Enthusiast]

Thanks for the information and advice PalmsInBaltimore and Allen. I wish I had gotten 3 even stems. One stem looks similar to Allen's biggest stem, but the others are wimpy. I don't think the cold climate and lack of sun in Massachusetts helps. Anyway, if I cut two out, the strongest ones won't be hurt and eventually, I may get a more even plant.

I also decided to get seeds to try growing single palms. I like the individual palm look.

I have grown innumerable dates from seeds starting 50 years ago with seeds out of the dates you get at the grocery.

About 10 years ago, I got a bunch of different palm seeds and had varying degrees of success. I got Mediterranean fan palms and mountain date palms to germinate, but licuala grandis seeds rotted and pygmy date palm seeds seemed to do nothing, but I only waited about 6 months - I couldn't imagine waiting longer would help. Things that grow nicely always seem to take about a month to show the first signs of life.

I hope my current batch of seeds grow!

MikePalmEnthusiast

[Mike Palm Enthusiast]

BTW, I am still completely on the fence about cutting, but I certainly wouldn't try to nurse the cut palms. I'd just trash them.

The object of removing them is to provide better conditions for the bigger palms, more symmetry and remove weak looking plants.

I also noticed that the whole plant ensemble has compacted down into the pot. I have them in a 3 ft pot and there's about 9" of room from the soil line to the top of the pot, so I might pull the whole thing out (very gingerly to avoid too much root disturbance and with thick gloves), trim and add a bunch of new soil mainly at the bottom, but the soil surface looks rather uneven. I will make sure not to add too much soil at the surface, which I believe can damage or kill a palm.

MPE

[PalmatierMeg]

17 hours ago, Mike Palm Enthusiast said:

BTW, I am still completely on the fence about cutting, but I certainly wouldn't try to nurse the cut palms. I'd just trash them.

The object of removing them is to provide better conditions for the bigger palms, more symmetry and remove weak looking plants.

I also noticed that the whole plant ensemble has compacted down into the pot. I have them in a 3 ft pot and there's about 9" of room from the soil line to the top of the pot, so I might pull the whole thing out (very gingerly to avoid too much root disturbance and with thick gloves), trim and add a bunch of new soil mainly at the bottom, but the soil surface looks rather uneven. I will make sure not to add too much soil at the surface, which I believe can damage or kill a palm.

MPE

I suggest you repot them in a new/disinfected pot with drain holes. Discard the compacted soil - it's probably shot. Use a loose, coarse, premium garden soil (no Miracle Gro) amended with perlite or pumice. If you have coco coir add some of that. Do not overwater and do not fertilize for 3 months, then use timed release pelleted fertilizer like Nutricote toward end of summer. Do not fertilize over winter.

[Mike Palm Enthusiast]

Thanks, PalmatierMeg. I've noticed that Miracle-Gro and Scott's are garbage - they even have garbage in them like painted house boards. 

I will follow your advice. 

MPE