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Pygmy Date Palm roots are exposed

15 years ago

I have a concern about my date plam that I have growing in a large plastic pot. I've had this plant for close to 15 years now. it started as a store bought plant that came with 3 trunks. About 3 years into having the plant the smallest one died leaving me 2, and a copule years later the 2nd shoot died leaving me the one and largest plant. The pot is about 5 gallons. I place the plant outside every spring in a filterd light enviroment and pull it in each fall and place in a bright east facing room.

The plant seems to be doing very well foliage wise but it over the years has been slowly pushing itself out of its pot. The plant is now probably about 6 inches out of the soil and it seems to grow even further out of the soil each winter. By this, i mean the base of the trunk is being held up 6 inches off the soil by a series of hardened roots that are acting like more trunk. Ive tried multiple times to do some minor root-ball triming then repotting the plant so that the soil comes all the way up to the base of the trunk. Within 2 months the plant will somehow push itself back up out of the soil.

What is it doing, why is it doing it, is it harming my plant and how can i correct this problem (if it is a problem)? Any advice would be great. If anyone needs to see pictures I can take and send you some.

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Comments (3)

secretsquirrel007
15 years ago
Plain and simple.The pot is way to small for this palm.Need much larger pot.Maybe like half of a 55 gallon drum.Roots need room to grow.This is most likely the reason the other 2 trunks died.If I understand you,the growth on this palm looks good.I would not tranplant now.I would wait til about March.When you do transplant, the palm will probably go through some form of shock.Make sure to water well everyday for about 2 weeks.Fertilize with manganese while watering.Follow directions on fertilizer.Also make sure your pot has drainage holes.,
greenturtle116
Original Author
15 years ago
Do pygmy's usually have large root systems? The pot almost looks too large for the plant just by looking at it. I dont ever remember it being that root bound either when looking before. If thats truly the case I need to find something creative for it because I am unable to deal with a larger pot. This one is almost too heavy to move as it is, and being in a colder climate, moving around is what it needs.
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Hi Al, Yeah, unfortunately. They are just coating the new fronds that have not yet opened, and the opening fronds are all spotted and yellow. I collected some and we looked at them under the microscope, and sure enough, that's what they are. Little red shiny dots surrounded by fuzzy white stuff. You know, Al, it's funny you should say that about Florida, because the university web site there says that the red date scale was eliminated in California, and it cites a 1990 source. I am going to call the extension office tomorrow and let them know about this, just in case, but I find it hard to believe that I have the only case of it in CA. There were numerous other bugs too. It was kind of interesting looking at this whole little microworld: scales, mealybug destroyers, little brown beetles and little weevilly things. But there must be millions of those little brown scales. I'm worried about my Queen Palms- they don't look so hot, but that could be the drought. They are not listed as a species that gets infected by this scale. Renee
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If it was me, and I do plan on doing this to another palm I have that has 3 plants, I would take the plant out of the pot and place it in a huge tub of water to remove the dirt and loosen the roots. The trick is to try not to break or damage the roots. I know some plants are more sensitive than others, but you might try to move the plants around teasing each one out from the other. It will be a slow process but I think it would work nicely reduce the damage that causes a lot of the problems. Many palms will grow new root systems before continuing to grow if the roots are damage. Be careful.
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Thank you for the replies! I just examined my palm and pruned off 4 mostly brown fronds! The bottom two "layers" of fronds have noticeable browning and yellowing with the lower of the two "layers" having the most. All the fronds, even on top, have a little brown and yellow on the tips of their leaves. It's noticeable on these fronds only if you closely examine them. The pot is about 1.5 feet away from a floor vent, so it's pretty close. Should I move it? There are also two electric heaters in the room for supplemental heating. They function like radiators. Are these okay to use? Maybe they are drying out the air. As I recall, the palm started to look more wilted when I moved it into this room. Originally, it was in a different room grouped closely with a lot of plants. It was about 3 feet from a heat vent, and there were no electric heaters. Hmmmm... I'm thinking I should move it away from the vent and take out the electric heaters. Good idea?? Then I could see what happens. I could eventually get a humidifier if it didn't perk up. What do you think? I really don't think I'm over-watering it. I let the soil get moderately dry and it doesn't sit in water. Could the fact that it is pot-bound (I just discovered it) be a contributing factor? I can't repot it for a couple months, but it would be nice to rule that out. Thanks, Casey
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User
15 years ago
It would be help to post a picture to get some idea of the plant/container ratio. If your sense is that the container is large enough,you're probably right (most people tend to overplant, hence, overwater their palms). My bigger pygmy is in a large, drum container (not sure of the gallon size), the plant itself is over five feet tall and it too is sitting on some prop roots exposed above the surface but not as extreme as yours sounds. I personally would wake until Spring, do more root pruning with a sharp, sterile knife of the deepest roots and reset it in the same container but a bit deeper (as long as your soil is well-draining, it should be fine--but having some surface roots exposed shouldn't be a problem.

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