This is a very old thread but palm nutritional deficiencies are still around so hopefully this will help someone else with the same problem in the future. Judging by the photos and based on the explanation that nothing else is wrong with the new leaves, they are just coming out smaller, my best bet is that this is a mild N deficiency. This would cause new fronds to come out small and closer to each other on the trunk (less space between fronds). The older fronds may appear less green to yellow. If I can see right, I think the lower fronds on the foxtail palms seem a little less green and have a darker yellowish hue. And by the way, there is no such thing that if a palm is grown in more shade and moved to a sunnier spot it will start having smaller fronds. Scientifically makes no sense and I have never seen such a claim from an authoritative source. This usually works with other plants, like heliconias and gingers, which may get taller in a shadier spot because of trying to get more sun. It doesn't work like that with palms though. Here is a photo guide on most common deficiencies in palms: https://discover.pbcgov.org/coextension/horticulture/pdf/commercial/Nutrient%20Deficiencies%20of%20Landscape%20and%20Fieldgrown%20Palms%20in%20Florida.pdf

Welcome JMLz16! Thats a nice list of palms. That fishtail palm must be a beauty and San Franciso defintiely has a pretty good climate for many different palms. Heres an updated list of my palms... (some of this list was copy, pasted, and updated from the list above) ...... Windmill palm (5) (3 in the ground 2 have been through 2 winters, one has been through its 1st winter now, and 2 are 4 year olds that are still pretty small and are in pots) Pindo palm (3) (one that has been through 2 winters in the ground and one that will be going through its first winter in the ground this year.) European Fan Palm (inground and going into 2nd winter) Blue European Fan Palm Parlor Palm (Triple, 7 years old) Cat palm (2) Magesty Palm (3, one is huge one is medium sized, and the last is small) Queen palm (8 years old from small seedling) Livistonia Chinensis (4 of them, one in ground going into 2nd winter, others in pots) Coconut palms(2) Bottle palm Chamaedorea Microspadix Chamaedorea tepejilote Chamaedorea seifrizii Spindle palm (large potted plant with ringed trunk forming) Sabal Minor (3rd winter in the ground coming up) Foxtail palm Solitare Palm (about 2 feet of clear trunk) I have 19 species of palm trees that are currently living at least 10-15 others that havent made it over the years -Alex

You would be able to do plant and lift with small growing heliconias like the psitticorums (Lady Di, Choconiana, Andromeda, etc) but most likely not with the larger growing species like the bihais, strictas, caribaeas. Heliconia rostrata, the pendant lobster claw, can be "semi-hardy" depending on the species you get and its point of origin (but this means lows minimum of maybe 30-32, not a zone 5-6 winter). However, some people have had success with plant and lift with rostrata, but it is much larger growing than the psitticorums and you will eventually be digging up and potting into a 30 gallon tub. You may lose blooms and portions of the stand that way from transplant shock and root damage. Plumeria respond extremely well to plant and lift, you can either pot them and grow them as houseplants in winter or let them go completely dormant. Gingers, yes they will do plant and dig. Curcumas, globbas, kaemferias and zingibers, which go naturally dormant in winter, can be dug before they go deciduous, potted, and the rhizomes wintered over in a place like a cool garage/storeroom. Alpinias and costus, which mainly need a 2 year growth to bloom, can also be dug and continued in pots indoors, but cannot be allowed to freeze or you will not get blooms. Hedychiums and do pots in winter extremely well. If your ground freezes you will most likely lose any alocasias that you plant outside, colocasias and xanthosomas would be extremely iffy, you could always dig up and pot the alocasias and grow the colocasias and some of the xanthosomas as aquatics in summer and take indoors as terrestrial houseplants in winter.

Hello Anthirum, Both Macarthur Plams and Golden Cane have a similar structure. The mature palms consist of ten or more individual canes sprouting from a dome shaped base. To the casual observer they may appear to be similar palms, but the Macarthur has a very different and much more attractive leaf structure and a more subtle colour, being a very light yellow/green. Golden Canes consistently send up shoots from the base and from the stems of the main plant. If left unkempt these shoots form a very bushy undergrowth that forms an effective screen. This is completely absent from Macarthurs which have no undergrowth of new shoots whatsoever. No, it is not as bushy as the Golden Cane. I have seen many of the common fruit eating rainforest birds in my Macarthurs feeding on the ripe fruit, including Metallic Starlings, Rose Crowned and Superb Doves and Pied Imperial Pigeons. I have yet to see any bird in the Golden Canes - I guess they just don't like the fruit. Grant