Desperate need of help in AZ

[CC in AZ]

My husband and I moved from PA to AZ this past October and have never dealt w/ palm trees before. The house came w/ 4 Queen palms, one of which had to be removed the 1st month we moved in because it was dead. Of the 3 remaining, I fear we may be losing 2 of them currently.  We have been adding magnesium, "Moon Juice" as advised and upped the watering due to 115 degree weather, but they were still struggling. 2 nights in a row we had some strong winds and now both of these trees have their 'spires' bent over and one of the trees has all branches bent over (or dead). Is there any saving them?  If not - we would like to replace them, but do not want Queen Palms again - landscapers advise that it is too hot here in the desert.

So...what palms do we get?  We have heard hybrids between Queen and Pindo (Mule) ; hybrids between California and Mexican fan palms; King palm hybrid (Piru hybrid). We cannot plant these ourselves and are leery of fly-by-night landscapers that will plop in the ground and then no follow-up.  All nurseries will negate any 90 day warranty if a landscaper plants them anyway. We have been to Moon Valley and like the plants, however the prices are exorbitant!!

Any suggestion of trees would be awesome!

[Jim in Los Altos]

Your Queen palms will always struggle with your intense dry heat. Mule palms would do MUCH better for you. Not sure what Moon Nursery is referring to in their ad about Piru King palm because they show King palms. (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) but refer to them and Syagrus romanzoffiana (Queen) x Butia (Pindo). Makes no sense and true King palms would positively roast in full sun in your area. Mule palms, which are a cross between Queen palm and Pindo palm would likely do well in your area provided they get plenty of water. 
 

[Silas_Sancona]

31 minutes ago, CC in AZ said:

My husband and I moved from PA to AZ this past October and have never dealt w/ palm trees before. The house came w/ 4 Queen palms, one of which had to be removed the 1st month we moved in because it was dead. Of the 3 remaining, I fear we may be losing 2 of them currently.  We have been adding magnesium, "Moon Juice" as advised and upped the watering due to 115 degree weather, but they were still struggling. 2 nights in a row we had some strong winds and now both of these trees have their 'spires' bent over and one of the trees has all branches bent over (or dead). Is there any saving them?  If not - we would like to replace them, but do not want Queen Palms again - landscapers advise that it is too hot here in the desert.

So...what palms do we get?  We have heard hybrids between Queen and Pindo (Mule) ; hybrids between California and Mexican fan palms; King palm hybrid (Piru hybrid). We cannot plant these ourselves and are leery of fly-by-night landscapers that will plop in the ground and then no follow-up.  All nurseries will negate any 90 day warranty if a landscaper plants them anyway. We have been to Moon Valley and like the plants, however the prices are exorbitant!!

Any suggestion of trees would be awesome!

CC in AZ, welcome to the forum,

What you're seeing is pretty typical for Queen Palms here.. They just don't stand up to our heat all that well ..unless you want to spend a ton of money on keeping them watered and providing lots of fertilizer.  Even then, there is no guarantee they will look good  ..more like " decent", at best.

Queen X Pindo cross = Mule is your best bet for tolerating our heat better.

Washingtonia ..robusta and filifera ( CA. Fan = W. filifera,  look much nicer, imo than the standard W. robusta,  or hybrids between the two sps. )

Brahea armata, nitida, brandegeei, and some of the Sabal ( Palmetto ) species also do well here ..Sabal uresana, is our closest - native Palmetto sp, and is perfectly adapted to our climate. Two forms, a greener " coastal " form, and the " highland " silvery colored form.  Both do fine here.

Most of these species are easy enough to track down locally. A few may be rarer, but not too difficult to obtain.

King palm, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana ..and all other Archontophoenix sps. are another group of palms that won't handle our heat / dry air ( outside humidity bumps during Monsoon season and the wetter winters )  unless you have a lot of tree canopy that provides shade 8am to sundown. Even then, their fronds will burn up on one of our famous dry / breezy days this time of year.  Love a lot of water too.

I see one of your Phoenix roebelenii ( Pygmy date palm ) looks like it is struggling behind one of the Queens..  These will do fine here, but need 2-3X a week deep soakings  to get through the summer.


Stay far away from Moon Valley..  The absolute worst place.  Won't even walk into any of their nurseries myself.  " wave " at them anytime i pass by the location near the house here.


Two best nurseries near you:  Desert Horizon, ..and ( even better ) Treeland, over on AZ Ave.  Owner has a collection of mature palms planted on -site  you can see that handle our heat w/ out much trouble, inc. a large Mule.

Hope this helps.

[MJSanDiego]

There is tons of info out there about Queen palm zones, growing in the deserts and in the long forum about Queen palms that I started here. I won't add much except I can understand your frustration when you buy a new home and move to a new state it is never good news or even believable to hear that what was planted there so long ago is not suitable for your desert area, but everything said above is accurate. Because its a nice tropical palm, there are diehard Queen palm folks who will keep trying to plant this tropical palm in the deserts though,  but it is very difficult, and futile IMO. I wonder if Moon nurseries still sells Queen palms in Phoenix. Their Super Palm Juice is nothing more than Home Depot's tiny bottle of concentrated Super Thrive at 20 times the price!!

[Harry’s Palms]

Welcome , you are amongst frond friends!!If you want mature palms they are expensive. For me , private growers do the best or local information from a person who grows palms , like @Silas_Sancona . This information is the best. I know Mule palms can be beautiful and if these folks say they can handle your area , I would tend to believe it. This forum has people All over the word that are more than happy to help. I can’t because my climate is different than yours . Those queens , most likely , will never look their best in my opinion ,  tons of water may help . If you see any in your area that look decent , it is because they have been fussed over which is fine if you want to do that . Most folks don’t. HarryIf you pass a yard like this , it’s probably one of us . We come from a different planet , according to my wife😂!

[MJSanDiego]

This is what a typical Queen palm looks like here just driving around yesterday took this pic

[Bennie]

I live in North Phoenix. There is a local AZ thread on palm talk that has been very helpful for me- 

I love the tropical look of Royal Palms, and planted two in my yard. So far they are doing ok. The heat hasn’t been so much an issue as the cold last winter. I also planted a Bismark palm that seems to be doing pretty good. It is slow growing however. 
 

I wish I could get a hybrid that would give me the same look of a Royal or a King but more cold hardy. People say Mule palm but I just don’t see the resemblance. It’s the grey shaft of the Royal that is very tropical looking in my opinion. Mule seems to be Harry like a queen palm. 

[LowDesertBoil]

I agree with, Jim! I live in the Palm Springs area which is a brutal environment! I have a Mule Palm seedling that loves full afternoon sun! It's growing rather fast. I had a couple of queens but had them removed. 

[sonoranfans]

I grew palms in arizona (gilbert) for 11 years.  I grew queens, phoenix, sabals, brahea armata, chamaerops cerifera, and I killed many smaller palms trying to "adapt" them to the desert.  Unless you have a heavily shaded hard many palm species may die without extra care after planting out.  IF they are small you can put shade nets over them to prevent the sun from killing them while they develop roots and transition to their new desert environment.  Queen palms I planted as 3 sets of triples so they would shade each other a little and use water more efficiently from shared drippers.  Then watering was for one triple with 6 drippers at 2 gal per hr for 5 hours every 3 days in summer.  So 60 gallons of water every 3 days for 3 palms.  Queens are the most water needy palm you can grow in the desert in full sun.  They also need lots of fertilizer and are sensitive to Mn, Mg, K deficiencies.   Desert adapted species will conserve water and fertilizer.   Palms that grew well for me in AZ were phoenix sylvestris, brahea armata, chamaerops humilis and cerifera, Bismarckia nobillis, sabals (uresana and riverside), and several of the desert adapted livistonas grow well there:  Mariae, RIgida, drudei,  and others.  I think the mule palms should be fine and they grow fast.  They were not available when I was living there.  I would personal message board member AZtropic and ask him about palms that are possible and how he irrigates them.