Help needed-palm is dying

becky_sleaf

Hi All!

I'm after some advise. I've got a palm (not sure what type) but it appears to be dying! The leaves are going brown & all the new shoots that were coming through have all gone brown & dry too. It's been a bit battered by all the windy weather we've had recently but i really want to try & save it as it's lovely! (although not so great at the min!)

All suggestions will be greatly received.

Thanks,
Becky

Kay_Peel

Nurse! A stretcher for the patient - a soggy palm, I suspect - and make it snappy!

Some palms just don't like getting wet - I've lost a couple that rotted from the stem outwards. They were beyond saving by the time I noticed. Since then, I've covered them lightly with (what must the neighbours think of me?) a t-shirt. Yes, I said a t-shirt. I've also dug them up from soggy borders and replanted them in pots that I can move about.

Emergency treatment: Dig it up with a good ball of soil around it, put it in a cardboard box and put it somewhere dry. Have a look at the soil that you have just taken the plant from - was it very wet? If so, the palm was in the wrong place. Examine the stem and the centre of the plant. Is it all soft and mushy? If so, that's a bad sign, so don't waste much more energy, time and labour on it - leave it in its cardboard box in the dry, and see if it recovers by itself.

If the centre feels firm and the roots look healthy and white, then it's still a go-er. Put it in a large pot, water it in about a week and and keep it out of the wind. If it perks up, remove all those windscorched leaves and give the new leaves more chance.

k.

becky_sleaf

Thanks alot! It's actually in a pot already as i've only got a small back garden.
With the weather being so unpredictable at the min it's really taken a battering & had plenty of rain! I'll take your advise & put it inside & see how it goes on.

System

I am a palm/evergreen and conifer kinda guy, and maybe have about 60 in total. All I ever do is water them. No feed, just water. Cordylines also feature but with them, I gather all the leaves together, (like an upturned umbrella) and loosely tie them in bunches during the winter. This prevents problems when snow turns to slush and ice. The centre then is spared.

By coincidence today, I chatted to a market gardener on our local market who was selling 5/6ft high palms. I commented that although the palm was tall etc, the pot it was in was very tiny, so how on earth could there be enough room for roots AND compost. It seems they thrive on being pot bound.

He said all he does is give them miricle grow. Whenever one of my palms begins to die, I assume there is no alternative but to let it go.......peacefully.