Needle palm

[Landasaw]

I’m worried about this plant in Nashville area. It seems the inner Fronds Are starting to yellow too. Last time I saw that the plant died. It seems funny I can keep a windmill, a pindo palm, a sable minor alive here. But this is my second needle.

[SeanK]

I'm not sure. I will say though, that needles should be planted in the spring time. Also, better to plant a tad high rather than low.

[L.A.M.]

On 11/1/2024 at 6:14 PM, SeanK said:

I'm not sure. I will say though, that needles should be planted in the spring time. Also, better to plant a tad high rather than low.

Indeed. I planted both of my needle palms in April. One didn't survive its first winter despite no single digit temperatures Fahrenheit, but the other has had no issues and even gone on to survive negative TEENS Fahrenheit. Note that this is in Middle Tennessee too, and it's under a medium-sized northern sugar maple tree and slightly larger American tuliptree in a fencerow but with southern exposure to my almost completely treeless backyard.

[KPoff]

I had a few that looked like this until they died. I planted them on the south side of my house in full sun in west Texas. I thought they were getting a fungus so I sprayed them with copper fungicide. I think the combination of that and the the high elevation full sun in west Texas murdered the crap out of them. Lesson learned. It wasn’t even a fungus to begin with. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Mine seems to grow more reliably and aggressively in temps above 78°F and well watered. That full head of steam takes a while to slow down, and even into November there's been some growth. They're somewhat relatively new commercially to the PNW/Cascadia.

[DTS]

5 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Mine seems to grow more reliably and aggressively in temps above 78°F and well watered. That full head of steam takes a while to slow down, and even into November there's been some growth. They're somewhat relatively new commercially to the PNW/Cascadia.

Mine started to stop growth at around Halloween

[Subtropical LIS]

On 10/27/2024 at 7:02 PM, Landasaw said:

I’m worried about this plant in Nashville area. It seems the inner Fronds Are starting to yellow too. Last time I saw that the plant died. It seems funny I can keep a windmill, a pindo palm, a sable minor alive here. But this is my second needle.

I would not feel too bad…had the same issues.

Although I’m sure they are among the hardiest palms, at least from zone 6b and up, it seems like it can be tough at times to get needle palms established. Back before 2000, I had THREE die on me in zone 7a/b, having spear pull in April, then complete rotting out by late May. The winters that they died in were not even that cold (above 15 F). I sometimes think it’s even the partially plant itself, some are weaker/stronger than others it seems (some more prone to rot). I would not give up on it if the spear is tight, they can look awful over the cool months (Dec – March), then start growing fronds again in May.

I finally got one established in 2014…it seems to like the heat of the south facing side of the house and even pushes up fronds in milder winters. It’s a beast now, approaching 6 feet. I cut the fronds to expose the trunk, but it pushes out about 10 fronds a season.

 

 

[Landasaw]

That Plant looks great.

[Subtropical LIS]

2 hours ago, Landasaw said:

That Plant looks great.

Thanks.

It loved all the 85 - 90 F days and on/off thundeshowers in the early part of summer...it grew fronds very fast (I cut some off trying to keep exposing more of the trunk). Once the drought set in around mid September I had to water it much more. Had only 1 inch of rain from Sept 1st to early November. 

[NMPalmjunky]

I almost gave up on needle palms after the main trunk froze and died the first winter. The pups survived and have grown great since. It would probably be much healthier with more acidic soil and more water, but I’m happy with it.

[Las Palmas Norte]

I planted a clumping Needle palm about 4 years ago. The first year it lost the largest center growth, & only the small off-sets survived. That seems somewhat common for a reason unknown to me. This seems slower than expected, but perhaps faster growth can be achieved once it can bulk up in size. Here it is today, Dec. 06/24 in the rain.