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Needle palm magnesium deficiency? (Pics)

islandbreeze
11 years ago

Something's going on with my Needle palms and now my Windmill. All are planted against the same south facing brick wall under an overhang. It's not sunburn, as these have been in the ground for at least a year and a half, so should be plenty acclimated. I can rule out lack of water too, as I've been watering regularly since the problem started getting worse.

The first pic is a windmill, the rest are of needle palms. As you can see, the tips of the fronds turn yellow, and then brown. Even the newest opened fronds are affected.















Comments (8)

  • Steve
    11 years ago

    That's salt/fertilizer burn. Mg deficiency would start at the leaf tips of the oldest leaf or leaves.

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The only fertilizer I've used is Miracle Gro granules, and I didn't think I used that much. All of the fronds have the yellowing tips, not just the newest ones. But only the newest ones have the yellow, all the rest have turned brown. Could there be salt in the ground naturally? If that's the case, should I soak the soil to rinse it away? I did apply Epsom Salt thinking it was a Mg deficiency. I don't know if this is the same kind of salt...

  • Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
    11 years ago

    I don't know about 'naturally', but since you're in MI, I would imagine they salt the roads every winter there as they did up in Traverse City. That said, I can't see how salted roads would affect your soil overmuch unless you happen to live downhill from a road.

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    LOL especially on my street, where every time it snows, we have to wait days for the township or county to come clear or salt the roads. They do salt the roads here, although they're going more toward sand and some chemical spray to avoid corrosion from salt. We do get snow, but very little compared to Traverse City.

    Either way, salting the roads shouldn't affect these palms, as they're a good 50 feet from the street.

  • Steve
    11 years ago

    You could try to remove any remaining fertilizer. If that's not possible, try flooding the area to dilute the remaining fertilizer. I would not recommend adding any more nutrients since the leaf tips will continue to discolor and wither until the salt level gets to a much lower.

  • jimhardy
    11 years ago

    Ryan

    This is a common sight on certain sensitive plants indoors
    caused by watering with tap water...is it possible you have
    had to water more this year with the hose???

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Steve- I'll try to pull the rest of the granules away from the base of the plant.

    Jim- I have definitely been watering more due to browning tips(I figured the original cause of the problem was keeping them too dry) but yes, I have been using a lot of tap water, but no more than I've been using with any of my other plants. They're planted under an overhang, so they get very little natural rain water, which adds to their winter hardiness, but could also be their downfall with yellowing/browning tips. Do you have any suggestions if it is actually the tap water causing this problem?

  • jimhardy
    11 years ago

    Rain

    I have never had to water like this before,I think only the palms
    and maybe some cactus would be alive if I didn't.

    I think if it is from the tap water it will correct itself
    when not so much tap water is needed.

    I store rain water in barrels but there hasn't been much this year.