Whats the humidity like inside,to you have a fan going ?

If it's in the 40s and 50s constintly I would water them VERY little. At those temperatures their metabolism is at a stnadstill. I would guess that the brown leaves are due to a combination of cool temps, transpant shock, and too much watering. If there's any way to warm it up in there I would due it. Roebis do ok in indirect sun but constant cool temps aren't too good for them.

If you could afford it, I would have gotten a HID light, that would give you the light you need and help with the heat during the day.

Thanks everyone for the help.

1. The humidity is pretty high--about 85-90% constantly.
2. No fan going.
3. Warming up the garage more is always an option but would be very costly as this is uninsulated. I'm looking at getting a kerosene fueled 55,000 BTU heater. I would have to crack the garage door 2-3" to maintain safe ventilation (CO2) but this could really help with the temps.
4. HID lighting is a great idea but unfortunately out of my budget.

Cause of the lights, I can't tell too good. But if those are Phoenix, it is either transplant shock or you have air pockets in the transplanted soil. These air pockets will kill the trees. Phoenix have a HORRIBLE root system that if you break or scrape one of the bigger ones, it will kill the tree, or with the thousands of tiny roots, air gets in there and it's hard to get the dirt in between them.
HOPEFULLY, it is just shock. I am sure you didn't water them on the spear right????

Here is a shot with the camera flash on. And yes, these are roebies. I looked out for air pockets when transplanting, closely following your suggestions given to Brian (Spataro) in transplanting his in a previous post. I think Andy may be correct in that it's overwatering. I've been giving them quite a bit of water and am afraid this is the problem.

They seem to be doing ok. I would get a fan to blow around the air at least 6-10 hrs a day just to keep the air moving. if its any info to you paul......the second one i got from you is browning also on the leaves. I am thinking that it might be some cold weather damage from them sitting outside. I heard that it could take weeks for the damage to show and maybe that it the problem, and that one is in constant 72 degrees with all direct sunlight. The first one you gave me has made a remarkable turnaround! It has really greened up and the new fronds are starting to open! Also i know that it has taken to the soil real good because when you tug on the trunk that sucker is rock solid in the soil! Hopefully yours will work out along with mine.

Brian,

These palms did experience one night of 24F (looked up on weatherunderground.com) back in November before I picked them up--much too cold for roebies so perhaps you're right about the delayed cold damage effects. They still look pretty good but I just don't like seeing any dying fronds.

Is there any way of moving at least one or two of those into the house or basement. You'd be surprised how well they can do with moderate light and 60s. They can be very tough palms. I cant speak for root disturbance but I have almost completely de-foliated mine twice and yet it is doing great. I have it in my living room where the foliage gets about 2-3 hours of direct sun and is in a constant mid-high 60s. Those plants you have look exceptional. I would hate to see them die a slow death in a garage that is too cold. Believe me I know how much natural gas costs these days but your house has to be kept warm.

I really think you can come up with a little money and get an HID set up. We are talking less than $100. I found some MH bulbs at Lowes today for less than $30. You need a fixture and they probably sell them. I didnt look because I was looking for tile. It gave me some ideas. I saw some 400watt lamps, some 175 and 75. There were also some of the Sodium lamps around the same price, again you would have to find a fixture.

The problem with the light fixtures you have now is, you are only getting about 200 footcandles of light at most, and less on the leaf surface at the distance you have them. You might get 400 fc if you had the light about 1 inch from the plant leaf. These low light levels dont do anything for the plant other than allow you to see the plant. Remember the sun light is 5000 to 10000 footcandles depending on the time of the year. With an HID light you could easily get 3000 or 4000 fc if you wanted maybe more, the heat from the light would be a plus.

Just an idea, I am planning on adding a lamp to my greenhouse for winter use. We have some dark days during Dec/Jan and it would come in handy a few days a month.

Andy--I have considered the basement but the ceilings are only 8ft and is fully underground. Purely artificial lighting would be a must. Plus these probably weight 300lbs with the soil and container so it's very tough to get them downstairs.

Orchidude-I've looked for HID lamps before at Lowe's, HD, Menards, etc and could never find--I probably don't know what they look like. I'm going to look into this some more...for the costs you mentioned it sounds like a good idea. Do they sell HID fixtures at Lowe's as well or just the bulbs?

How many candles of light out of the mercury vapor lights,they are a lot cheaper,by the way,if any of you have them for outside propert lights,a guy from work told me,he gets a paper montly fron rural electric coop,that after 2008,mercury vapor bulbs will no longer be made,and everything will switch to sodium,have anybody else heard this?

If they stop making on kind of light they will have to start making something else, because both bulbs are used in the agrioculture area to grow plants and animals. Each bulb works on one side of the light spectrum. One grows stuff the other flowers stuff.

I think you should actually stop and give yourself a " big pat on the back " for growing such great looking palms in chicago.
You obviously know more than me.. I would not even try to give you advise " GREAT JOB " !!

A little brown is normal in wintertime conditions.
Don't worry about it to much !

Thanks topher for the kind remarks, but honestly I didn't grow these palms. They were more dug up and saved from a business in Chicago that bought them from a nursery in Florida for summertime use.

Now that I've heard advice from nearly every angle =-), I really agree with the suggestions on 1) Lighting 2)Temperature and 3) Overwatering, as being the main areas of my problem.

Orchiddude--I stopped at Lowe's on my way home from work and did in fact find HID fixtures, with the bulbs, as you suspected. It was $79 for the fixture and bulb (150 Watts)but have one question: It says it is either wall or floor mountable but not ceiling. It comes with the raw electrical cords (not the outlet ready ones) so what in the world would I plug this in to? I know I'm sounding a little elementary here but are there electrical stands or something made for HID lamps for mounting?

The heating--I think I'm going to go try that Kerosene 22,000 BTU indoor safe heater you see everywhere. It's like $120 and heats 1000SF for 12 hours on 1.9 gal of kerosene. For $3.49/gal here I'll use it only as supplemental heat during the extra cold days. This should help me get some 60s in the garage though every once in a while.

Overwatering is a given--just don't do it as often as I have. This will actually be the easiest and cheapest suggestion yet--thanks Andy!! =-)

ptmcclanahan...thats great, I think the wire has to be wired into a ballast. I remember reading on the light bulb box, something about "use with ballast M54" or something like that. The ballast is a box between the plug and the lamp. If your fixture has one built in, then all you need is a 3 prong plug. I am going to Lowes today so I will check out the fixture and see what you are talking about.

I would recommend a 400watt bulb at least, but you could use the 150 and just bring the light closer to the plant. I have a chart around here somewhere I will try to post.

I'd add though I've considered adding some of the high inensity sodium or mercury lamps for years , I was always aware how hot they get and how careful you need to be using those. Well finally I know someone locally , who recently installed a 400 watt model , with balast and all, and they do get much hotter than I'd have guessed. Considering my very low ceilings and not wanting them too low , would make using them in my house nearly impossible. Not to mention all that extra heat in the summer hear, when I do hate to turn on the AC if possible!

Here's a little info on different lighting styles.

Here is a link that might be useful: lights

(Mike here)The metal halide are the best over all. They give you the full light spectrum (that looks white) also they sell ones that cover the blue light spectrum only. They look bluish. If you have a swap meet or flea market near by you can usually pick up some good ones for fairly cheap. If you not sure if its sodium or metal halide the name should be one the bulb it self. If you get sodium it has to be high pressure sodium with enhanced spectrum. Downtown at the old town aquarium pet shop they sell all types of metal halide and color spectrums for fairly cheap. I use them for my coral I have in my fish tank. The plants love it too.

Another possibillity is getting some kind of heat mats or coils. Keeping the soil temperature up is more imortant than the air temperature. This would also take care of the CO2 problem. I have some Royal seedlings going and while the air temperaure around them is in the high 60s (low for a royal) they are sitting on a heat mat that keeps the soil at about 80. They keep shooting up. I'm guessing that if you keep the soil for those in the 60s and the air temp at about 50 they should be ok.

Andy that sounds like an excellent idea. Could these be places simply under the plastic pots or would I have to re-dig these badboys out and repot with the mat it the soil? Sorry but this is a new idea to me and I'm clueless.

Thanks again everyone!

FYI everyone--I heated the garage up to about 70F last night for several hours using my 23,000 BTU kerosene heater I bought. I'm sure it was a nice relief for the palms. It was actually a strange feeling walking out of the door into the garage and feeling the temperature actually higher than inside my home!

Better buy your mercury vapor bulbs now!

Here is a link that might be useful: mercury vapor ballasts

I wonder what they are going to replace it with? They have to do something, there are to many of these lamps being used for agricultural. One lamp grows plants the other blooms them.

I heard just sodium.but haven't been able to confirm that yet!

dbryal....it cant just be sodium, because the mercury vapor lamps are the ones that the flowering farmers use to bloom their indoor plants. One bulb works one end of the specturm and the other works the other end of the specturm. They must be going to come out with either a combo job or a new bloom bulb. Its got to be something coming out. I might call GE tomorrow and see what they say. This is a billion dollar industry.