what to do with stubby windmill?

Discussion in 'Outdoor Tropicals' started by honolua, Aug 9, 2009.

  1. honolua

    honolua Active Member

    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    HI,
    The saga of my winter damage continues...one t.fortunei lost to fungus. Another had a spear pull, but to my surprise, came back with one extremely miniature frond (looks like a very, very small version of the usual), two full sized, but short-stemmed fronds that have attempted to open up but remain so deep in the trunk that they can't. Thus, no new spear in 1 month. The leaves remain green (other than minor brown tips due to the incredibly hot weather), but no new life visible. I have had a look inside and don't see a new spear in there, although it is hard to see due to the half opened fronds crowding the crown. I have gently pulled on each of these oddities, and they are secure. Most odd.....fronds that have not crept up past the crown to emerge fully opened. It looks like a 2 foot tree with a dense but short green emergence of leaves!
    Is there hope? I don't want to dig it out yet, but wonder if it will ever recover?
    Help!
     
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    Cold damaged trees and shrubs may take years to regain their original vigor. I have seen the entire tops of large musk rose plants defoliated by a cold winter, to be followed by a few slender new canes poking their way up through the heap. Not very promising at all, yet some years later the plants are large again.

    Windmill palms benefit from watering and fertilizer here. Many have poor color and are probably not as vigorous as they would be if given more care. The basic problem with yours is it got too cold for them, I had several small ones on Camano Island appear to have died completely. I have not pulled any of them out yet.
     
  3. honolua

    honolua Active Member

    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Thanks,
    Yes, I lost one not to cold, but the rot in the crown from ice. It was a nice 5 foot tall one.
    For "stumpy", I have given a quick kick of fertilizer this spring, plus placed specialty palm slow release micronutrient fertilizer spikes into the ground (as I do every year). Lots of good watering, and yet, it remains stunted. I keep hoping a normal spear will poke through, towering above the short, crowded odd ones. Yet, no luck. It is healthy in terms of colour, but just odd spears with no stem to them.
    I will not pull it out this year, as I want to give it a good opportunity. I did dig out the rotten one and replaced it.
    I have noticed other windmills around the city that look equally odd as mine. Time will tell, I guess!
    cheers,
     
  4. LPN

    LPN Well-Known Member 10 Years

    Messages:
    1,525
    Likes Received:
    10
    Location:
    Courtenay, Vancouver Island
    I've only seen one dead one around our region of Vancouver Island. I believe it to be a recent transplant which may not have set down new roots to support itself. Some suffered frost damage to the fronds and have developed slowly as the drought set in in June. Today some measurable rain finally and hopefully that will jump start some growth.

    Cheers, LPN.
     
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

    Messages:
    21,250
    Likes Received:
    786
    Location:
    WA USA (Z8)
    Take those spikes and crumble them, spread them on the surface during all future applications. Then, if fertilization continues to appear to be needed buy a product that is already in a powder form rather than formed into an inefficient, additionally costly spike shape. You have been paying the manufacturer extra to form fertilizer into spikes that are less effective than the original powder. Roots fan out from the stem, fertilizer should be spread out also rather than concentrated into vertical columns.

    Operative term: gimmick.
     
  6. honolua

    honolua Active Member

    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Vancouver, Canada
    Thanks for the advice re: spikes...I also do have special palm fertilizer slow release spread around the dirt.
    So, another week goes by and I do not have a new spear reaching out of the crown. I have attached 2 pictures so you can appreciate my pain (I apologize for the second one...it is rotated funny and I can't seem to correct it... but you get the picture. The white stuff on the fronds is the remnants of the fungacide.....not some new pest). I have read through the appropriate chapter in "Palms Don't Grown Here..." and there is a photo of one like mine, though after the crown was sawed down an inch or so post-winter.
    I have seen others in my neighbourhood like mine, but want to know if there is any hope of it springing into action. I can't even trim off these fronds because I can not get to the branch part, to clip it. I was thinking that might stimulate growth...
    Any ideas out there?
    thanks,
     

    Attached Files:

Share This Page