In California, I believe we have earthquakes and fires more often than a significant change in a palm trees life to report on...so here goes 10-18-2011 about 11 am.
As you can see, I have rearranged my family portrait just a little....made it earier to reach and feed these while still in their 1 gallon containers. In the close up photo, you can start to see a stem growing from the center of the plant to the fond. Approx. every other month, I take (2) 5 gallon buckets, pour approx. 2 cups of the palm fertilizer pellets from the big warehouse stores into each bucket, fill each with water while mixing about 15 minutes to dissolve the pellets. I now scoop about 1 cup of solution and pour it into each 1 gallon palm container until the 2 buckets are empty.
On the alternate months, I take the same portions of Epsom Salts which contain more of the Magnesium and Manganese that I have read about...this dissolves much easier than the pellets....pour the same 1 cup into each 1 gallon palm container again until both 5 gallon buckets are empty. Is this working? I've still had 2 or 3 die during this summer heat wave.
I am about 40 miles north of Los Angeles and 40 miles inland from the ocean....hotter and dryer with less humidity and cloud cover than others posting from So. Cal. From about Mid May to Mid September, there is direct sun beating down on these palms while sitting on a cement patio. As tolerant as these Med Fan Palms are, I think this causes the tips to turn brown on each new and existing fond sooner than I would expect should happen. So I would suggest and hope to find a little more filtering of the sun at least during their younger growth period.
Also, watering is always being discussed about palms. When I have tried to skip a day or two to see if I am over watering these palms, I think I can see a slight wilting taking place and the soil is rock hard dry. So I try to water these every day using a fan spray nozzle getting each container wet and within about 15 minutes, all water has soaked into the soil. The soil stays darker until the next morning. The palms seem to like more water than less....I KNOW I'M CONFUSING THOSE THAT GET SOMETHING CALLED RAIN.
