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redrayderz01

Mexican Fan Palm Tree - Fronds Turning Yellow/Brown

RedRayderz01
11 years ago

Hi everyone,

I live north of Dallas, TX and have a Mexican Fan Palm Tree that I planted in my backyard in April. It has been doing great until the last few weeks. Some of the fronds are turning yellow/brown and they are fairly young fronds. I don't know if the problem is too much or too little water. I dug a small hole near the tree to feel the moisture level of the soil with my hand and the soil seems to be somewhat moist... it is a compact/clay like soil which I guess may not be idea for palms...

Anyways, I attached a picture, and would appreciate any feedback any of you may have. I'd hate to lose this tree, it's very beautiful.

Comments (21)

  • islandbreeze
    11 years ago

    It looks more like a filifera or filifera cross.
    They don't seem to do well with a lot of moisture, so I'd bet you need to cut back on the watering.

  • tropicalzone7
    11 years ago

    I agree, watering might be a problem. Best bet is to just leave it alone and see what happens!
    -Alex

  • kaotickelly
    11 years ago

    nice looking palm sorry to here about the fronds and it does look like a burn. hope it gets well.

  • RedRayderz01
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks everyone. Home depot (where i bought it) said it was a Mexican fan palm. I water it about 2 times a week. Today after I created this post, I put a soaker house around the tree for an hour because I thought it might be lack of water.

    I do remember a few times when I was watering the tree, I would wet the fronds and perhaps the sun did cause this to burn the fronds? I usually only do this in the morning but it's pretty hot here in Texas in the mornings already.

    Is there a proven way to know if it is lack of or too little water?

    Thanks again everyone !

  • RichardC7
    11 years ago

    How much did you pay for it at Home Depot?! I cant find anything but house plants at mine!!!

  • RedRayderz01
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    It was $100! An amazing deal, they sold out of them really quick. It's probably 6 feet tall.

  • RichardC7
    11 years ago

    I paid $45 for my 4 foot one with ALOT less trunk! you got a great deal! All the fronds on mine died after planting :( but its getting better

  • ashratnam
    10 years ago

    Hi Rayderz,
    I am having the same problem with a potted palm I've had for almost 5 years. Were you able to figure out what was wrong and what to do about your plant?

  • prinbama
    10 years ago

    Another thing that could be the issue is shock. Upon planting a palm, they can get shock upon replanting. I would just quit giving it water for a while and keep an eye out on how its doing. The fronds will eventually all brown up and new fronds will grow back. Mexican fan palms have an amazing growth rate it will be back in no time.

  • Nikitas_10a, Corfu
    10 years ago

    I used to have the same problem when I planted my 4-year old Washingtonia robustas on the ground. That was six years ago. It seemed that the phenomenon would start midsummer and in period of about two months most of the fronds would die. I must admit it was very frustrating because I couldn't solve the problem by watering or fertilizing.

    Now here's the good news: a) I didn't lose any of my 5 robustas, b) as soon as autumn comes the trees start recovering, growing new fronds, and c) after 3-4 years, as the trees were getting larger the phenomenon started to go away and although some fronds still get brown and die during the summer I no longer consider it a major problem.

    I can safely rule out overwatering as the cause of the problem because the trees would start recovering in fall when it rains heavily in my area.

    Nik

  • RedRayderz01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hi Everyone,

    That was a brutal winter wasn't it! My Mexican Fan Palm looks really bad, all the fronds are brown. I really hope it comes back this Spring, but I'm not sure. I live in Frisco (30 miles north of Dallas) and we had a good amount of ice and very very cold temperature. It got as low as 10 degrees a few nights. I am holding on to one sliver of hope. In the attached pic, you can see some small areas of green on the youngest fronds.... does this mean the palm is still alive and will come back this Spring? Thanks everyone, looking forward to your feedback.

  • RedRayderz01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is another pic of the whole tree.

  • Central_Cali369
    10 years ago

    I hope your palm pulls through, but it looks dead to me. I've seen them damaged on cold years here in Central California, but never this bad.

  • RedRayderz01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    But I inspected the center of it (the bud) and I do see areas of green. I have high hopes that it will return here in the next 1-2 months. Why else woudl the bud still be green?

  • bradleyo_gw
    10 years ago

    If you see green in the emerging spear, I'm pretty sure it will live. Good luck!

  • PicoAzores
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    10C or 50F is not a chance for a Washingtonia. I went through that and gave up 7B/8A climates and long terms survival for any palms other than Trachys, Sabals and an occasional Butia. Even in zone 11 here they don't look at their best. My Washingtonia was killed at 14F just one night of 14F and one day of 30F was enough for all my Washies. In fact Wash. filifera is not doing well in a rainy climate or a semi-shade or both, I would not take a chance either in a rural area zone 8 with any of the Washies. 8 years experience talking. Now I am in a zone 11 without much heat, so it may not be a true zone 11 since the low temps March the 11B but high temps are never above 80F. Even the 80F is reached a couple days a year for short periods. I would say Washies are best for zone 9 and up, maybe marginal for 8B. That's it. Your Washie is dead or dying and even if it comes back, it will not last long. The next winter will kill it. It is now too weak to survive. Move to a warmer zone. I lost too much money playing with borderline zones. Get your plants one or half zone below yours and you will be safe.

  • devingill42
    7 years ago

    Hi. It looks like it could be either sunburn, or iron deficiency. Its more than likely sunburn. It depends on where it was when you bought the palm. If the palm was in a shady area when u bought it, and then transferred to a very sunny area without giving it time to acclimate, then it can go into shock. I have some cold hardiness questions. I live in Birmingham, AL(zone 8a). This past winter, it got down to 12F one night. It lost all of its leaves but it still survived because i wrapped the crown with a t-shirt, and kept it dry the whole winter. I am just curious if it could survive conditions even colder than, but it rarely gets below 15F in B-Ham, but im just curious

  • subtropix
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    jus' curious, as the above posters says, they will not have long term success in zone 8. Not to be a downer, but sometimes palms that appear to have survived the winter will pull bud in the Spring once it gets warm. I would go with Sabal minors, 'Louisiana', Trachycarpus fortunei, Chamaerops, and Needle palms.

  • P Boggs
    3 years ago

    redrayderz01. Did your palm survive the winter 6 years ago? Im looking at mine now wondering if they survived last week. I had the trunk wrapped and heated but limbs are dead.


  • Carolina Santana
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Following... I live in Cedar Hill Texas

    south of Dallas and my palms trees after 2 weeks ago freeze.


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