I have a yard full of Cat and Areca palms in Southwest Florida. I made the mistake of using standard miracle grow on all the palms two days ago, and now ALL of the palms are looking droopy and are starting to turn yellow! What did I do, and how can I fix it. HELP!
Is the worry that the cat might be harmed by eating the palms, or that the cat might be harming the palms by excreting on them?
Sorry, I was hoping you'd clarify your question! I don't understand the relevance of the cat, in particular.
Perhaps I made an assumption. When I mentioned Cat, I was referencing "Cat Palms" and "Areca Palms" (we all know that Felines don't have "Palms")
I don't know much about palms, but if you over fertilized I would think the best thing to do might be to water a lot to try to leach it from the soil or at least dilute the concentration. This happened a few days ago. Are they looking worse or starting to recover? I did apply miracle grow to a queen palm that was yellow and it seemed to help the plant a lot. It is now green and fuller.
Advice from palm expert Buddy Poulsen in Naples, FL: "The palm known as the common Areca is really Dypsis lutescens. They grow like a weed using up all the food and then become deficient rapidly turning yellow. If you must have one, the palm needs Sul-Po-Mag (already mixed together) or sulfur potash and magnesium on top of a palm blend of fertilizer with a ratio of 4-1-4 w/minors and put it on every three months at a rate of one pound per caliper inch. The soil must be sand, pine bark, Florida or Canadian peat with no wood in the mix. The palm need lots of room to grow and as soon as it is out of room it will let you know by turning yellow unable to maintain a steady diet. They are good in a pot through about 10-12 feet, then they need a very large pot or put it in the landscape. " Chances are your Miracle Grow was 10-10-10 or something similar. Just water it out but the plant will forever expect constant fertilizer according to Buddy who owns a palm nursery.
