Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Alright, I'm ready to admit what I did over a month ago to my Foxtail Palm. My fav palm over 6 feet tall was suffering from a spidermite infestation that would not go away. I sprayed three times as prescribed, Wiped the leave with mild soapy water top and bottom three times per week for weeks after that, then had another infestation on the newest frond. Out of frustration I grabbed my pruning shears and lopped it off at 8.5 inches, removed the infested fronds from the house and put the stump outside in 28 deg F weather for a week. When I read another poster showing his palm chopped off for the winter, I was inspired to look, and low and behold, it had begun to grow in that cold weather. The nursery promised me I got those mites this time ... lol. And had a great stroke of luck. It has recovered about an inch per week. I'll no longer have a 6 foot foxtail, it will be a one foot foxtail. But its alive!! And I do not recommend this radical treatment to anyone.

My question, are these just extra hardy palms? Has anyone else had experiences similar with a Foxtail? How long can I expect recovery to take? Please see my member gallery for a pic. I can't get the link to work.

NanaNut2




[IMG]http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8212>

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Well, I got some info on my Foxtail Palm, and found out it is indeed hardy to 27 deg F. This is one tough and beautiful palm. But I do have another question. I'm thinking I'll need to pull off the old layers of trunk to make certain there are no pests that can accumilate there. Any thoughts on this?

I got this palm on 70% sale at one of our local upscale nurseries because it had frost damage and black spot disease. I just know it wants to live.

Should I peel off the old layers?

NanaNut2

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Hi when I saw the picture of the foxtail I was kinda cofused because NORMALLY you can not do that to the palm,by cutting it back like that you usually destroy the crown shaft and that is were the life of the palm is at .When crowns in palms get damaged or snapped they almost always die,so consider your self very lucky,,Oh and the next time you get spider mites use Avid it is a chemical specially made for spider mites SOAPS do not work!!! Only spray avid outside or in your garage it is not a indoor spray,,but works wonders on killing off the hard to get rid of spider mites! Jason.

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Avid, I'll remember that next year. Thanx J.

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

You know, I thought the palm was a gonner if I took it outside to spray in 28 deg weather anyway. When I read today that they are hardy to 27 deg, I realized that all I had to do in that moment of panic to save my other palms, nanas and tropicals was to put it outside. I can't imagine the mites living in 28 deg anyway ... lol. That would have given me some time to get the necessary chemicals. Thank you for the 'Avid' advice. I had been using the 'Safer' product. I hope to never have another infestation. Right after I lopped it off, I corrected the conditions that brought it on, bought a humidifier and raised the humidity to 70 - 80 %, and spray a monsoon twice daily on top of that. Plants are happy, I'm happy. And I have another 2 years before it will reach 6 feet, so longer to enjoy it indoors.

NanaNut2

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Yes ever year when I bring in my palms from outside to inside the house they always get spider mites no matter what ,so I take them in the garage when this happenes spray avid all over and even on the trunk of the palm and spray very lightly the top of the soil as well and about 2 days latter they are gone,,,Oh when spraying Avid try to not breath it in cause it is not very good for ya,,I would love not to use harsh chemicals on plants or in the enviorment but the safe or organic just does not do the trick most of the time.Both my foxtail palm are 8 feet plus and my 3rd one is 4 feet tall,,remember heat is the key to good growth when it comes to these palms!!Take care-Jason.

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

hello everyone.
i just got a foxtail palm tree about a week and a half ago and have it growing indoors under a light in a pot. i have it in a special cactus/ palm tree potting soil by miracle grow made to keep moisture for these type of plants. i also have some mulch on top to help insulate. just the other day two of the leaves have started to turn brown at the tips so i decided to clip the end to prevent it from spreading. it seems to just have curled the leaves and hasn't done prevented the brown from spreading at all. those two browning leaves are the only two leaves on one of two shoots and was wondering what the problem could be.
i water it enough and spray it a few times a day with a water mist bottle to try and give it a proper humidity.
below is a picture of the Palm. it is the two leaves to the left.
please try and tell me what the problem is and what i can do to prevent this from happening in the future!

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

My guess is that your light is sunburnbing the leaves. Immature palms do no require, as a rule, direct light but filtered light.

It looks to me that you are burning the palm up.....the picture makes it hard to tell.

Good luck.

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Foxtails in good condition can take a few hours of 27F, but not one in the condition of yours.

Your palm is in need of greenhouse conditions to survive the winter.

I wish you the best of success!

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

when i first got 2 foxtail palms from a guy online... they were the same as that picture....they didnt survive but not saying they wont :/ anyways if they dont survive Pm me and i can set u up with some more established sized foxtails :D heres a pic of what im talking about.....they are in the top left corner

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

yea i ordered the one i have online too. how old do you think mine is? it cant possibly be a year old yet because the "trunk" of the palm isnt even one solid trunk yet. how would i be able to contact you and what would you charge for a more established foxtail. i was so excited to receive this one i just cant imagine having it die.
it hasnt grown at all yet either, when do you think it will begin to look more like a palm tree instead of a seedling?

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

I suppose we are lucky here, we can buy 8 ft Foxtails at Walmart for about $13 every season. I haven't ever bought one though, because they are not reliably hardy here and I don't have a permanent spot in my greenhouse for one. The man who purchased our old house from us bought a huge mature specimen and had it trucked up from South FL and planted it smackdab in his front yard...it was about 16 or so feet tall with a trunk diameter of roughly 14 inches or more. The first 2 seasons he covered it with (I kid you not) a silk parachute when a freeze was predicted to go below 30F. Then 2 winters ago we had had a very mild winter and it was almost Spring and he and his wife booked a trip to Italy. 2 days after they left it dropped to 22F (surprise surprise). No parachute. The palm died.

When literature says a palm is "hardy to 27F" for example, what that really means is, mature specimens have withstood brief dips to that temperature without suffering permanent damage. There are varying segrees of palm hardiness...leaf burn/spotting from cold damage, frond loss, and trunk death. The most insidious damage is later crown rot from cold exposure. You think your palm is okay and made it, then suddenly it just croaks and all the fronds fall off.

There is a huge difference between a mature palm and a juvenile palm.

I agree, you were very lucky that your palm survived the treatment you gave it at all, but if I were you I wouldn't consider it a "done deal" that it has truly survived. That kind of harsh treatment coupled with the cold could very well result in some rot that you just can't see yet. I hope it doesn't happen and that it continues to recover, but, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it suddenly just die.

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

you said you can buy them in Walmart for $13?! how big are they and are they in decent condition?

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

Yeah they always look great. They sell all sorts of stuff here that people use as container plants...Bottle Palms--hardy to a whopping 38F but that doesn;t stop them from selling them (Hyophorbe lagencaulis), Spindle Palms (Hyophorbe vershafftia) (I am probably misspelling these LOL) Adonidia merrellii (Christmas Palms)...the Adonidias are always nice, usually 10 or so ft tall, sell for about $25.

We always joke when we see this stuff that the buyer for the Box Store nursery must have been forcibly transferred up from So FL, hasn;t been through a cooler winter yet, and is still ordering palms that he'd be growing in Miami because he hasn;t caught on yet that they aren't hardy here

I do have a small foxtail, I got it as part of a trade. Its about 3 ft tall, I keep it greenhoused in winter in a pot. I'd never actually spend real dollars for one unless I had a dedicated spot in the GH to plant it out in there

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

yea i live in new york and only have it for inside. do you think theres any way to order some of those palms online directly from a walmart nursery?

Re: Hardy Foxtail Palm?
 

I guess you'd have to check with Walmart about that