This is a picture of my beautiful palm. I love this tree. Does anyone know what kind of palm it is? I've heard King or maybe Coconut palm.
Also, I thought it had a magnesium deficiency, because the older fronds were turning yellow. I put those spikes down in May. This is the tree four months later. It still has yellow leaves, and now all the fronds kind of look bent over.....I don't know what this is, but it doesn't look right. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks,
Elaine
you have a very beautiful Queen Palm. it looks to be in excellent health too. the yellowing on the older leaves is normal old age of the leaf. i don't see any signs of "frizzletop" which you would see on the new bud and leaf. Queens take more fertilizer than some other palms. just feed a good quality granular palm feed according to directions available at any home depot, lowes, scotties, etc. your palm will thank you, but yours looks very nice. looking further at the picture, the yellowing you are referring to is the old inflorescense, the flower stalk, which is yellow. debi
This message was edited Sep 26, 2005 8:31 PM
You're right! I never even looked up Queen Palm in the Plant Files, 'cause I really didn't think that's what it was. I feel better now, the pics there look just like mine, right down to the yellowing leaves that I was worried about. (Unfortunately, this thing is getting so tall, pruning it is getting pretty tough).
I didn't know much about fertilizer in general when I bought what I have. Right now I have Vigoro brand 9-4-9 for palms. (2% magnesium, 1.4% manganese. Is Scott's or another brand better?
you don't have to prune, those old things will just fall right off, eventually! they are a pretty clean palm, except for the fruit which is messy. vigaro is what i use. not the spikes, granular. i don't like spikes. palms seem to do better with it scattered. you don't have to go as far out as with other trees, not to the dripline. palms roots are closer in. just water it in good afterwards so it doesn't burn the roots. you want that maganese, magnesium, potassium, etc. for the palms. your Queen is alittle unusual in that it is a double. you don't see that much. i would suspect that someone did it that way when it/they were young. debi
I posted a reply a little while ago, and now I don't see it here, so I'm trying again. You're right! I never searched for Queen Palms in the plant files, 'cause I really didn't think that's what it was. The pictures are identical to mine.
Because the tree is so large, putting the magnesium spikes in was the only time I have ever fed it. I guess I thought that established palms that size don't need to be fed. (duh!)
After reading about palm fertilizers, I realize that what I have is not the best palm food. I need to go buy some good quality stuff, and go from there.
Thanks for your help!!
I find that some good ol' epson salts work great for greening up palms, too. Then what ever I have left over goes into my bathtub!
I wonder how they do that to palms? I love the look of 3 or so trunks. Makes it look so tropical.
Making queen palms curve like that can be tricky... most growers who sell them curved plant them in boxes and lay them on their sides, and you get a curve that way. But natural curving of the trunk can happen sometimes, too... just not as dependable as say a bunch of King palms planted next to each other- they will almost always curve away from each other.
I had no idea now unusual a double trunk was. That's why I love it so much...it was here when we moved in, and one of the best things about the property.
I spray my sago with an epsom salt/water solution. It's the only plant that I've used it on. I think I'll try sprinkling it around my other palms as well.
glad to help and glad to see you appreciating such a nice palm. most people don't think about feeding adult palms and unless they are on hotel or resort grounds where they are taken care of, alot of older palms end up in really bad shape. they finally use up all of the nutrients around them and just when they are large and beautiful, they start to die. it takes them a long time to die, essentially of starvation. it makes me so sad to see them that way. i've often thought i would love to run around at night and feed them all. i guess i would end up in jail! LOL debi
Hey Palmnewbie in Lutz - I used to live in Carrollwood - almost Lutz. Lake Heather Oaks right there off North Dale Mabry and North Lakeview! Your Palm looks fine. I'm not an expert but I can say I am currently taking the Master Gardener classes a tad bit further south - Lucie County. I have learned that I am Queen of burning roots. When you apply fertilizer - don't go so close to your tree, plant, etc...Put it a little ways away or it will hurt more than help. Good luck to you! Your Palm really looks good though!
trackinsand, that's funny, 'cause since I became a palm lover, I do tend to look at all the palms everywhere, and think how sad a lot of them look. Although, I don't think about feeding them, I think about transplanting them to my yard at night!! Now THAT would put me in jail!
BlueDawn, as a matter of fact, before we moved here in 2000, we lived in North Lakes right down the road from Lake Heather for 11 years. We're happier living kinda out a ways now.
Fertilizer scares me for some reason. I'm always afraid of doing something to the plant (and not a positive thing). I know I have to use it, though. I had several pygmy date palms die on me, and I'm pretty sure it's because I overfed them. That killed ME, because they were expensive, and I love date palms. Now I can't afford to buy anything like that..definitely live and learn, eh?
Sorry to tell you but you don't have a double trunking Queen palm... just two seeds that germinated in the same pot (or spot). Double trunking queens are extremely unusual, and I have not heard of one. Some palms that normally are solitary will double or produce multiple turnks from a single seed, but never heard of that happening in queens. Often palms are sold that way at home depot, but they're just multiple palms in a pot. Only way you could verify if a palm was truly a double trunker is knowing for sure when you planted it in the pot that there was only a single seed. Admittedly Home Depot or similar nurseries don't usually sell two queens per pot because most do NOT arch like that... they just end up growing straight up rignt next to each other and look messy... or one eventually out-competes the other and the other one either dies are looks stunted... not to mention two queens get pretty large for a single pot.
That shows you how little I know! I guess I just called it double because there are two trunks. But technically, it can't be double unless they come from the same seed, it makes sense. I just never thought of that. Learn something new every day on this website!
palmnewbie, i think you're doing fine! now, about that new club we are going to start-The Florida Palm Raiders, mild mannered gardners by day, fertilizing fools by night. LOL debi ps. ok, we can dig up a few! LOLOL
Now that's a idea, a club! We can always recruit others to do the dirty work, and then take the credit, you know, like a pyramid scheme, only the reward wouldn't be cash, just the satisfaction of saving a tree or two. LOLOLOL
