Hi Greg..I have moved plenty of trees in the hot weather in Brisbane and Townsville but never any Palms, and the only ones that did not survive were the Callistemons ( Bottle brushes). Just a couple of questions did you plant the palms in the soil that had been sprayed with roundup as I think there is a few weeks waiting period. When you dug the holes were they a bit bigger than the root ball and did you soak the hole and let the water seep away. And if not did you water around the inside edge of the hole. Did you plant the palm at the same level as it was growing before. Did you cut of 1/3 to 1/2 of the fonds if you answer yes to those you should not have any trouble. I would keep the water up but I dont know about 5 buckets a day it will get waterlogged. And I would not fertiise every week either even with seasol, I never fertlise till I see signs of new growth even on a healthy plant I do realise you are doing the seasol bit to aid in its transplant with the roots but it is better to under fertlise than over fertilise. Get on to the US Palms and Cycads forum you may find your answer there. Or type into Google "Palms transplant" there should be heaps of info there..I have added a link below have a look at that, and good luck .....Cheers..MM.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fertlising Palms

I have transplanted palms before and it is not unusual for them to drop fronds. Sometimes they will go back to just the spear but once the roots are restablished will start growing new fronds. This 'shock period' can be as long as a year or 18 months. When transplanting I generally cut the fronds back to the newest 2 or 3 to reduce transpiration. Keep up the watering and personally I can't see any harm in using seasol as it is mild and is supposed to help shock when transplanting. As MM said don't fertilise until the palms are established, I would probably wait until next spring before fertilising them. Andrew.

If the palms have been put into more sun than they were used to it could cause the fronds to brown. You can probably expect some browning and wilting, especially in this weather. Putting up some temporary shade over them can lessen the stress. Also misting the plants a couple of times a day when really hot instead of so much water. Once Round-up reaches the soil, it is generally deactivated and can be planted straight into it. I've done this heaps of times. We do the lazy persons way of gardening in large areas. Decide where the garden will go, spray with Round-up and allow at least 6 hours to be absorbed (or overnight), dig holes where the plants will go, add compost to the holes and put in plant. Mulch garden, water when needed, and keep mulched. Have very few losses (usually smaller tubestock as I forget to water enough) and have moved many larger plants into this sort of garden. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies. I made sure when we moved them that the hole was big enough (used an excavator) and I soaked it first.We didn't use any roundup in these areas.We cut probably more than half of the fonds off before we moved them but since have cut more off.Thanks for the link MM, I might just leave them go with the "spear" only at the moment.The Kentias look OK and 2 Trangles we moved have not even wilted. It just seems the 2 Alexanders didn't like it. Thanks Greg

Alexs are notorious for unhappiness if transplanted. Patience here and do remove 2 or 3 older fronds.