I'm no expert but I believe warm temps are key for these plants. Once it is warm enough they will start putting out new leaves and at that point I believe you can begin with the fertilizer. (That's when I start mine) If its too cold the plants don't do much. They just kind of sit there dormant. I don't think fertilizing in cool weather will do much.

I called Spray-N-Grow this morning, the supervisor there advised that I could apply the Spray N Grow now, but to hold off on the fertilizer until the end of March. I can't wait to see if this will make any diffrence. Barbra

The first thing I do is hit them with some Epsom salts and then some K,once the soil temps are well over 50(F) at 4". As the soil temps approach 60(F),I try to coordinate their first feeding with a nice rainfall and some sunny warm weather. This rather then going by the time of year-I don't think Palms roots can really absorb the fertilizer until soil temps are above 50(F) anyway.

Yeah, 1/4-1/3 strength fertilizer is generally a good idea. I usually wait until the 1st set of leaves are leafing out well (not counting the cotyledon/feeder leaves that emerge first and generally drop off) and the 2nd set is showing before I fertilize unless there's early visual signs of nutrient stress. Rarely do I have to fertilize before that point. It all happens rather quickly after the 1st set of true leaves emerge.