Help with Areca Palm that seems to be dying

[miamigirl03]

I purchased two Areca palm trees about 3 months ago from RPT. I was very satisfied, at first, with the purchase. I potted them in the same size pots, they are in the same part of the house, get the same amount of natural light, and are cared for virtually the same way. One of the palms has taken a turn for the worse and one of them is thriving beautifully. The one tree is basically wilting away frond by frond and shrinking as I have to cut off the dead fronds. There's hardly anything left now. It is quite an eyesore especially when you look at it next to the healthy one. I have one on each side of my entertainment center area so it's a pretty noticeable problem. I am obviously outside the 15 day guarantee so I am trying to figure out how to salvage this tree, if at all possible. This is my first attempt at a live indoor plant so I need any guidance I can get. I must be doing something right because the one tree is beautiful. Neither are yellowing or have spots/bugs. The bad one is growing a couple new fronds, but they don't last long after they have shot up. The fronds that are dying just begin to brown and wilt over... They look healthy otherwise. Thank you for any assistance you can give!

[SurfCityPalms]

It sounds like the roots have been damaged in one way or another.

One: If the trees were shipped "bare root" they either were damaged when the dirt was removed or when you potted it.

Two: Is that there is an air gap somewhere in the root system from when you potted it.

I would recommend to re-pot the the tree again, and make sure that the dirt is woven through the roots and not crowding them. You need to be VERY careful not to do any additional damage. Make sure to get the tree in bright INDIRECT light. Water it well to flush out any bad things that might be in the soil. Then all you can do it wait and try to nurture it back to health.

Just remember that it is a very slow growing tree, so it will take some time to see it make a turn for the better, but you will know if it is working if the leaves stop dieing so rapidly.

If the root system was damaged from when they removes the soil, this process might work as well, but it will take a much longer time for the tree to repair itself. Just don't give up until the tree is completely dead. Sometimes they will pull through later than you would think.