Palm Tree Care In The Desert

We've already covered how to prune palm trees in the desert here so this time it's all about proper care for your palm trees in our hot, windy desert environment.

Many people don't realize that some species of palm tree such as the California Fan Palm grow out in the desert all on their own. You can often find these "washies" out near wash areas and in canyons.

Let's talk about palm trees you might find in your own garden. You could have purchased and planted them, inherited them in a home acquisition or are standing at your local garden center, completely confused. Whatever the situation may be, hopefully this will clear up a few of your questions.

The Queen palm pictured to the left grows near a very hot wall with reflective summer heat. It's as healthy as can be, thanks to proper watering, fertilizing and drainage. It is possible to have healthy Queen palms in the desert!

The two most common mistakes people make when dealing with their desert backyard palm trees are underwatering and overpruning. While some palms are more drought-tolerant than others, they all will need slightly more water than your other desert plants.

One of the most drought-tolerant palms I've come across in the desert landscape is the Mediterranean fan palm, otherwise known as the European fan palm. In foreclosed houses where the water has been shut off for the yard oftentimes this fan palm is the only thing in the yard that still looks lush and vibrant.

How can you tell if your palm tree is underwatered? The first giveaway is the fronds. They will be grayish-green and lackluster. The ends of the fronds will be brown, crispy or dead. The new leaves will be significantly smaller and it might even appear as if the palm has stopped producing/growing all together.

This Mediterranean fan palm is one of the most drought-tolerant palms available.

Overpruning is a pet peeve of mine and that article can be found here. Basically the more you butcher your palm tree the less life it will have down the line. If any part of a frond is still green, don't trim it. It's working to produce sugars for the palm tree and that palm needs every frond.

Cold weather can affect your palms too. Most palms, with the exception of ones like the windmill palm, are fairly frost-sensitive. For the most part the palms sold in big box stores or local garden centers will survive temps in the upper 20s for brief period. Palms such as a coconut palm will not survive and are rarely sold in the western desert regions. If a frost does pop up and kill off some of your existing palm fronds, do not worry about it too much, most likely your palm tree will simply produce new, healthy ones in May or June. Do not trim off the frost-damaged ones, as they will offer at least some sort of protection should another frost come along. If your palm is small enough (like a young Queen palm) you can throw a blanket over top if there's a freeze warning, but be sure to remove the cloth the next morning. This allows the sun to warm it back up and protect it from cold temps.

In the winter months you should reduce your irrigation. Palm trees grow in the hotter months and are dormant in the winter. By reducing the irrigation in October or early November you are telling the palm to stop growing and start preparing itself for the cold winter nights. New growth is most susceptable to frost burn. Another reason to cut back on the watering is to prevent root rot. Palms rot very easily in the damp, cold winter months, so be sure to cut back on your watering to keep rot out of the picture.

Your palm trees thrive in the summertime, when the soil temperature is 65 degrees F or hotter. This is their time to shine. Give them a good, deep irrigation (not short bursts daily) and start applying fertilizer or ammonium sulphate.

Watering your palms is a little different than most desert trees, but the concepts are similar. Palm trees 5 years old and older need watered down to 3 feet every 10 or 12 days. Do not water them for 30 minutes 3 times a week like many have tried before. This only spoils the roots and causes them to be very close to the surface. By 3 feet deep we are talking the water should penetrate into the soil at least 3 whole feet. This is called 'deep irrigation' and it can often mean life or death to your palms in the summer.

Wind is an issue I'm all too familiar with and from my experiences the best advice I can give is don't overwater, don't overprune and try not to stake your palm tree if at all possible. If your soil is tight and not saturated with water the palms won't tip sideways during a storm. Over-saturation and root bound palms are typically the two reasons palm trees bend or uproot. Remember, palm have lived thousands of years along hurricane-prone coastlines and the majority of them will stand up to those kinds of winds. When 70MPH winds tore through our garden in the winter of 2009, a half dozen newer willow acacia trees were ripped out of the ground. The palm trees didn't even flinch.