Save My Pindo Palm!

Q. Is there any way to save my Pindo palm?

 

This Pindo palm has yellowing coming from newer palm fronds and is very small for a ten-year-old palm. The yellowing is nutritional but can be aggravated from watering too often, poor drainage from the soil surrounding the roots, salts or a lack of fertilizer and any combination.

A. Looking at the picture, very poor growth of this young palm and most of the center leaves are yellow. I am guessing this palm is growing in soil covered by rock and perhaps was not planted properly.

            The soil after a few years, reverts to its desert origins, the chemistry of the soil changes and plants have trouble finding available nutrients.

This is what some native desert soils can look like; almost zero organics, hard to dig as cement, and very poor drainage. Adding organics to the soil at planting time, like compost, is a partial solution. Covering amended soil with rocks and never adding anything more causes the soil to revert to its origins.

            Perhaps they are watered too often and the soil is not given enough time to drain. This “drowns” the roots, suffocating them. Putting “good stuff” like compost mixed in the soil at the time of planting is important. They “open” the soil and improve drainage as well as provide nutrients.

            Now on to watering. I am believe in giving plants plenty of water when they need it and not giving them “tiny sips” of water daily. Giving tiny sips of water is a “Hail Mary” attempt at landscape irrigation.

Some landscapers and many landscape architects now install drainage pipe vertically in the planting holes around palms. On top of that, they specify surrounding the root balls of palms with sand. This forces the palms to rely on conventional fertilizers for their nutrition.

            A young palm a few years old should get 10 to 15 gallons each time it’s watered. This time of year, watering once a week should be enough.

This is a Queen palm planted in the Eastern Mojave Desert. It shouldn't be planted here in the first place. The Mojave Desert is too harsh of a climate for Queen palm. But this yellowing is signaling its need for better nutrition. The poor nutrition could be the result of watering too often and poor soil drainage of water.

            Even if yellowing is caused by watering too often, it can be corrected with liquid fertilizer sprayed on the leaves. The problem is not knowing which nutrients are causing the problems.

            Use a shotgun approach when applying fertilizer sprays to the leaves. Products like Miracle Gro, Ferti-Lome, Jobes, each have a line of powdered fertilizers that can be mixed in water and sprayed on the leaves. Look for a smorgasbord of nutrients listed in the fertilizer.

Miracle Gro is one example of a water soluble fertilizer that can be sprayed on plant leaves. There are many out there.

           

This is another example of a water-soluble fertilizer that can be mixed with water and sprayed on the leaves of plants. This shows you the three numbers.. Sometimes four.. That appear on these fertilizers. These numbers would be okay in this case but I would like to see the last number closer to the first number in this particular case.

Use distilled or RO water and not tap water. Add a teaspoon per gallon of liquid “baby soap” or Castile soap and foliar iron to the mix. Spray the fronds on top and bottom until they begin dripping. Repeat this spray two or three times a week apart.

This is an example of a "soap" or detergent that helps move the fertilizer inside the plant leaf. Very important when you are spraying fertilizers on a part of the plant with no roots. I like this particular one because it is plant-based and all-natural. But you can use Castile soap and mild soap made for babies. I wouldn't use liquid dish soap unless it doesn't have any perfumes or hand lotions.

            Take 2, one cubic foot bags of compost and apply it to the soil beneath the palm. Do this once a year or replace the rock under the palm with woodchips. This helps improve the soil over time.

            Do not water palms daily. Water them like you would any other landscape tree.