How much water is enough for my new Palm Tree?

Robert Pittman  December 9 2008 03:59:31 PM

Palms can be planted any time of year.  The care your newly planted palm will require will be based on the time of year you plant the palm.  Other factors like drought tolerance, cold hardiness, soil conditions and lighting requirements will need to be considered too.  The recommendations below are based on growing conditions in Florida.

Palms planted at the onset of rainy season need less care than those planted at the beginning of a dry Spring.  Plant your Palms between Memorial Day and Labor Day and very little suplemental watering will be needed. The rainy season typically starts by Memorial Day and lasts well after Labor Day.  During this time the ground becomes saturated and palms have no trouble finding ground water.

If you decide to plant your palms at the end of Fall or during winter, the palm will not need much water.  The palm will be growing slowly and may even go dormant.  Palms planted during this time will not have enough time to "root in" and find ground water prior to Spring.  You must water the palm through Spring and can cut back on watering once the summer rainy season kicks in.

You may want to wait on planting palms that are not completely Cold Hardy for your Cold Hardiness Zone.  For Central Florida, this means witing until after the second week in March.  Palms that have rooted in are much better prepared to take on a cold event than newly planted palms and will certainly recover faster from freeze or frost damage.

Drought tolerant palms have the built in ability to handle less watering. Like all palms, they still require an establishment period. Follow the same guidelines for drought tolerant palms and you can't go wrong.

Drainage is important to palms.  Poor drainage due to clay soils or low lying areas will require much less water than sandy soils that are elevated.  Adjust your watering to the the soil conditions.

Water your palms with enough water to penetrate the soil completely.  You can water your palm less often by watering deeply.  Surfacew watering does little to benefit your palm as the roots designed to gather water are not at the surface.

Palms that are planted from plastic or cloth containers are less likely to experience shock than field grown palms.  Field grown palms have lost some of their ability to gather water and will nedd to replace the lost roots to be able to support itself.  Field grown palms will need more water.  Watering everyday in copious amounts during the spring will be required.

Rob Pittman
www.aqualityplant.com

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