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Woke up to a Leaning Queen Palm

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b

8 years ago

We have many Queen Palms and they are all fine. This palm was here when we purchased this place. It wasn't windy last night, and we are puzzled as to how this happened. DH has it propped, but we fear it can't be saved. What do you think?

The leaning extent. Moved my car so when it goes, it won't make dents.

I tried to take a photo of the broken roots, but the picture was so dark I had to adjust the brightness and contrast with photoshop. Hopefully you can see the drip irrigation and the broken roots.

Featured Answer

palmbob

8 years ago

I have known some who purposely lean their queens like this (sometimes nearly on their side) to get them to arch- most queens will keep on growing as if nothing happened. But must do not arch subtly- tend to bend sharply and look sort of weird… but sometimes that is the desired effect, too. Some do this over and over making a really bizarrely bent trunk.

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Comments (6)

tropicbreezent
8 years ago
I'd say you've got a good possibility of saving it. Shade the area around the base and give it plenty of water. It would be good to find out why it went over. Any chance it was nudged, by a car or something? Can you see any impact marks on the trunk?
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
8 years ago
No marks on the trunk. Doubt it was nudged. Hard to get close to it with the gate closed, which it always is. We'll give it water and put shade cloth around the base. Thanks for the suggestions!
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That's a very fair price. I paid $200 a tree here in Boca and that did not include taking out the root ball or grinding it down. However, let me address that topic - If you take out the root ball, you must fill the sides of the hole with good topsoil before you replant in the same hole. I would also mix some palm fertilizer in with the topsoil since the old palm's micro-roots will have depleted the soil. If you must pay extra to have the root ball removed or ground down, and don't wish to. Have them cut the palm as close to the ground as possible. The stump will decay on its own in a few years or you can pour chemicals on it to hasten the process. Then simply make new holes for the new palms or trees.
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Living in Florida I have righted many of my Queens after a Hurricane. I have never lost one that has leaned at 45degrees and subsequently righted. Preferably its best to right them right after they get blown over but its not essential. I have one tree I righted 2months after it leaned. What I do to right them is soak the ground with a soaker hose for a day. If they are large I use my Jeep winch otherwise 3 people can usually pull them up right. The key is to have one person on the other side with a line to prevent the tree from being pulled past center (very easy to do). Once the tree is where we want it, you can stake it off. I usually leave them staked for 9-12 months. If they are sill small and you want a different look you can leave them leaning and they will grow a curved trunk.
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They stand up to hurricanes so I would say they can take the wind quite well.
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Hi would suspect you have something digging up the roots?? Queens usually root very easily, 6 months tops Are you in florida?? maybe too much water?? gary
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
8 years ago
On purpose? On further checking, we found one in the back that has an arch. So maybe this one will be OK! Thanks for the input!
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
8 years ago
Has a perfect tropical arch look. As too why? I would guess that its sort of lifted itself out of the ground- you can see the base is not touching mother earth. Then, a wind tilted it.
I dont know the cause or why palms do that. I have that with mine with one of the Howea's and a large King palm. The Howea actually rocked a bit in windy weather. What I ended up doing was,using garden clay soil- as solid clay as I could find,and packed under the palm where needed as best I could. It worked. No more palm shaking in the wind.
tropicalzone7
8 years ago
Keep it propped up just in case and give it just a little bit of extra soil underneath it if you can. As long as it keeps getting watered well it will be fine. That is a very healthy queen palm and they are very willing to recovery and adapt so you should be fine!

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