Yellowing Mexican Fan Palm

estogo

Hey guys,

I have a Mexican Fan Tree in a pot (there is drainage) and recently I'd gone a few days too many without watering it. To make up for I watered it every other day for a few days. My mistake was my habit of putting a splash of Miracle Gro in every watering. He also has a tree spike in the pot and I fear I may have "overmedicated" it.

He's started to go yellow but the center shoot coming up still looks good.

I've stopped the miracle gro for now and am hoping he'll be ok.

Some of you may recognize the dying elm tree in the background of one of the pics, thanks for your help with that one in another thread.

Any advice would be appreciated on how to heal this fan palm.

I don't want to have to change my user id to "tree assassin"...

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Eric Frei

It's also stunted and has a very narrow neck ... it's in nutritional trouble.

I think it could be pot bound, how about some pics of the pot.

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newguy18

I agree,i suspect its pot bound too.Any chance you can type up what is in the miracle grow?

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old schooler

Eric Frei

Miracle grow is a soluble fertilizer usually added to water (over here anyway).

It's simply not aggressive enough in NPK for palms, palms are hungry bastids!

Also, the whole deal about palms not having big roots is not true ... you see, they dont have large diameter roots but they got 1000's of smaller dia roots that grow like buggery, they got heaps of roots like a dense mat. So they get pot bound fast.

I bet if you pulled that thing (yes because I hate those palms) out of the pot it would be a mass of white inter-twining roots, so you either pot it up or get a cheap pair of secateurs out and start cutting that root ball.... mind you prior to cutting you better treat the roots with some mychorizae so they get an improved chance of branching rather than dying.

Also you have been over doing the cutting off of the dead fronds ... let them stay on the stem longer, when they pass 8 oclock and 4 oclock then cut them off ... even the yellowing ones help thicken the neck.

Personally, I could think of dozens of better things for a pot plant than that thing, we got these really cool Black Boys (aka grass trees) here, need bugger all care and water! I landscaped a mates place once and either side of his front door planted 2 spectacular dual trunked ones ... well they flowered and he bragged to his mates how you'd have to get past a pair of black boys with spears to get to his house!

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TreeSpecialist

Miracle Grow®?and Jobe's Tree Spikes®?are high salt, commercial chemical fertilizers.

Either could fry a pot bound tree short on water without too much trouble.

Get rid of the pot and put the tree in the ground where it belongs.

Amend the planting hole with some finished compost and the tree should be fine.

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mlee

I have two Mexican Fan Palm's.. Both about a year old, and planted in soil.. I Lost the third last summer..

One seems to be in trouble, and I'm at a loss at what to do.. I have a friend who planted her Palms at the same time that I did, and she uses salt water from their back yard pool, to water the Palms.. Hers are doing fantastic..

When I was told about the salt water, I was rather doubtful that it was beneficial, and in our case.. With the Palms so close to other plants I would be concerned with harming them.....

Any suggestions would be more than welcome....

TreeSpecialist

What ever you do, don't use salt water!

#1) Mexican fan palm in North Carolina - hmmmmmmm. Seems like that is
a likely answer. They would be happier in Mexico. They don't like cold weather and don't like freezing weather without adequate water. If yours went into a hard freeze dry, it would be suffering right now.

#2) Palms do most of their root growth when the soils warm. Organic fertilizers applied frequently (once every 6 weeks) usually work very well. Stay away from man made fertilizers and you'll do better.

#3) Keep the grass away from the tree.

#4) Prune only the dead and/or dying leaves. Never prune all of the leaves off at once - you could kill it. Even if the leaf is brown but the petiole is green - leave it until there is a flush of new growth.

#5) Palms demand well drained soil - too much water is as bad as too little. Improve drainage if needed.

#6) Palms also get a disease known as "lethal yellows." Caused by a MLO (mycoplasma like organism.) No real cure for that - however a soil test is in order to see what might be missing from the soil. Low magnesium, iron, or even nitrogen all can make a plant yellow.

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mlee

Thank you for your response.. I will work on checking the nutrients in the soil, and you are right about the Palms being well out of their environment, I was surprised when my daughter arrived from Myrtle Beach with the three Palms and wanted to work them into the yard.. And of course this winter was really rough.. I knew I should have tried to give to use a covering on them to protect them, and I didn't.. Thank you for your help.. the summer months are close at hand, and its already 80 degree weather.. Hopefully, between the warm air and nutrients they might survive, at least for another year.. And I promise, no more Mexican fan Palms for the yard... thanks,

PeteC

Hello All,

We've got a Mexican Fan Palm that's suddenly in trouble. We live in Western Washington State, U.S. Temperate climate, with marine air and regular rain.
I was given this palm about 6 years ago and it stayed in a pot for about 2 years. There are a few around here and the tree is known locally to be able to weather our climate quite well. It is about 4 years in the ground (good, drained soil, sun exposure most of day) now, and it made it through our very harsh '08--'09 winter (Sticking snow 6 or 7 times and a few 20 degree temps that winter) very well. Last summer here was unusually warm and sunny, and the palm did just fine. Last winter was 1 of the mildest ever.........no snow or frost......but now, when everything else is getting ready to burst forth, our palm appears to be in stress. Yellowing, curled up fronds, and the only 2 new shoots don't look healthy at all.

Sorry for such a long post, but we really want o save this guy if we can. Any suggestions.