Hi P.J., thanks for the advice and the pictures! Your palms do look healthy! I'm happy to report that my Pygmy Date Palms are starting to perk up a little after more watering. I had given them extra water concentrated on the immediate area around the trunk on Wednesday evening, and when I went to the office today they were not drooping quite as badly. I added about another .75 gallon to each plant and hopefully they will be feeling even better shortly. Here's the same one looking just a little happier: It's interesting you've found them to do better indoors. As for me, I've been a little paranoid since the day they arrived that they weren't going to thrive. I've read that they can even die if grown in full shade, so that might have contributed to my light deficiency concerns. Before I had these palms in their current containers, they were just in the large nursery pots that they came in with saucers underneath. And as I was under the impression at the time that they needed to be watered more-or-less daily, I was watering them a lot and then shop-vacing out the massive amounts of water that began to collect in the saucers. It became quite an operation. Once I potted them in the self-watering containers, adding a lot more soil, the soil was retaining so much water that I became less concerned about watering them as frequently (the soil they came in was really airy, and probably more roots than anything else). But what I like about these containers is that there's a gauge that shows how much water is in the reservoir at the bottom, and in addition to filling the reservoir directly, any water that flows through the soil from top-down watering flows into the reservoir too, and hence adjusts the gauge. So you can always know that you're not leaving the plants in a puddle, which is essential (for anything but cat palms, which seem to like puddles at my place). Anyway, I was unaware that the other little plants in the container could be affecting a big tree much. I have a Creeping Charlie that is slowly taking over the base of the other palm. I'll have to give some thought to whether to do something about that. About insects, both palms have had some insect stresses, but not too bad. The one in the photo had a scale infestation that started accelerating a few months ago. I treated it by wiping every leaflet of the affected fronds with a paper towel soaked with Natria, and so far I've only seen signs of a couple scales returning. The other palm has a few spider mites here and there, not too bad, but which I'll be chasing down in a similar fashion as soon as I have a chance. But I think there's something else going on on the spears that I just noticed the other day that looks potentially dangerous. Sorry I couldn't get a clearer shot of it. Could that be mealybug? Whatever it is, I'll be soon eliminating it. It can be quite a chore, though, to apply a treatment to feathery plants like these when you can't just spray it on. My thought was that maybe these bugs are keeping the new fronds from opening, but since the other palm doesn't have any bugs like that, I don't think it's a going theory. I'm sure the plants are rootbound, so my main conclusion as of now is that I have to aim the watering can for the rootball, and do so more often. But I still don't know what to do about the new fronds not opening -- maybe better watering will help, but I don't know, we'll see. Thanks again for your help. -Ben

Your windmill looks very healthy to me. You have gotten good advice here and I do concur. I have had new spears sometimes do that before and it has never caused a problem. The pale coloring you see is just because the inner part of the unopened spear has not yet been exposed to enough light for it to start producing enough chlorophyll to turn it green. It should green up for you just fine. Good luck!

Hi Andy, If you have one of those small greenhouses built on your home's southside (close to the house) in a sunny spot; you'll find placing the palms in there ward off cooler nights and magnify heat and palm growth during daytime heating in the Fall and Spring. Do not leave coco palms outside in temps

Alex- You are right about the rain followd be heat. Mine litterly came up overnight. Finally today it looks like pure sun with little to no clouds and a high of 87. Tommorow is supposed to be stormy and 92 in front of the cool front on its way then followed by 87 Sunday. The weather channel is saying high 70s early next week but the local guy on the radio said mid-80s but less humid. I'm guessing it will be somewhere in between. Us marine- Mid 80s for another month would be nice but unlikely. The average high for mid-September here is about 73. That said a few years ago it 90 the first weekend in October and low 80s the 2nd. That's Michigan. Early October can be 85 or 45. Good luck to us all. I will be posting pitures when I know I have to move my palms in for the fall/winter. I am amazed at the growth of my tall in particular. The main frond that finished growing in the spring is 1/2 the size of the two that have come out since early June. Good luck to us all.