Help with newly planted king palms in San Diego

[zdh16]

Hello! 
 

Looking for a little help with my newly planted king palms! I planted three king palms in our backyard along our fence a couple days before Christmas. They were lush and green when I purchased them, but since all 3 have slowly started deteriorating. They are turning brown at the end of the fronds and the trunks are looking paler, yellow, with some brown spots. Not sure what to do! 

some basic info:

-purchased from Home Depot, they weren’t kept in the shade there. 

-they get about 5 hours of sun during the day from about 8am to 1pm or so. 

-it gets into the 40s at night, and generally 60-70 during the day

- I’m watering them every 2-3 days 

-when I planted them, I dug a hole about 1.5x the size of the root ball, added some “palm tree soil” from Home Depot and mixed it with the native soil and added a small amount of fertilizer. 

-from my inexperienced eye, looks like the soil has some clay as it goes further down. 
 

-I haven’t been able to check deep into the soil to see if there is too much moisture, but my gut is telling me there’s not. Everything seems to dry out here pretty good every couple days. 
 

any advice would be greatly appreciated! Photos attached 

[Fusca]

I believe it's just normal shock adjusting to the new environment.  The same thing happened with one I planted back in March.  These guys love water so over watering isn't the problem.  If you're experiencing windy conditions you would do well to water more.

[SeanK]

My first guess is they need about 5-gals H2O daily.

[DoomsDave]

8 hours ago, zdh16 said:

Hello! 
 

Looking for a little help with my newly planted king palms! I planted three king palms in our backyard along our fence a couple days before Christmas. They were lush and green when I purchased them, but since all 3 have slowly started deteriorating. They are turning brown at the end of the fronds and the trunks are looking paler, yellow, with some brown spots. Not sure what to do! 

some basic info:

-purchased from Home Depot, they weren’t kept in the shade there. 

-they get about 5 hours of sun during the day from about 8am to 1pm or so. 

-it gets into the 40s at night, and generally 60-70 during the day

- I’m watering them every 2-3 days 

-when I planted them, I dug a hole about 1.5x the size of the root ball, added some “palm tree soil” from Home Depot and mixed it with the native soil and added a small amount of fertilizer. 

-from my inexperienced eye, looks like the soil has some clay as it goes further down. 
 

-I haven’t been able to check deep into the soil to see if there is too much moisture, but my gut is telling me there’s not. Everything seems to dry out here pretty good every couple days. 
 

any advice would be greatly appreciated! Photos attached 

Build a basin about 4-5” high and 24” across arounde a week  your clump and fill it up with water at least once a week; they’re thirsty things!

Keep them happy and they’re gorgeous!

 

[Harry’s Palms]

Welcome . Yes water and time , that’s the ticket. The Home Depot may have had them in the sun but I would think they were grown under protection. H D only has them for a short period of time in the sun. Over time they will have to adjust to your climate . Archontophoenix are slower than some to adjust so be patient and water them a lot , don’t let them dry out. Just know you are in the right area to grow these and they will be beautiful some day , see @DoomsDave post .