Queen Palm root cut transplant box

13 years ago

Hey everyone,

I have decided to do a little project and wanted to see what you experts think.

I have an old queen palm that needs moved up to a bigger pot. I also have these wooden pot covers that I made long ago. I use them to cover the pots.

My idea was to take one of these box covers and convert it to a tree box, all I need to do it add a floor to the bottom of the box. The boxes are made of 4x4 posts and cedar. They have been in the weather for over 8 years and have not rotted yet, so I think they are good to use.

My question. Does anyone know how long the recovery process is for queen palms when you cut their roots? I read on the web that you could cut them back to a 12 inch root ball and cut off a few leaves. I do not think I would have to do that much off but I do want to trim the root ball a little to get some new growth. The plant is over grown for the pot as you see in the picture below.

Any dos or donts with cutting queen palm roots? Here are some pictures of what I am working with.

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This is my big spindle palm.
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Comments (4)

lzrddr
13 years ago
I do not understand why you think you need to cut the palm roots.... explain. If you want as little transplant shock as possible, leave the roots completely alone. Just remove from the pot its in and put in the new pot. It will grow roots to fill then new pot just fine, particularly if you DON'T cut the roots or mess with them in any way.... less messing, better recovery. Should actually be NO shock or transition time at all if you just lift out the root ball and put it completely intact in the new box... the palm may not even know it was moved... however, I bet that thing weighs a LOT... not sure how you plan on moving it without a crane (will need a lot of man power otherwise).
orchiddude
Original Author
13 years ago
The whole idea of repotting the palm was to: 1. give it more pot room, 26 gallon pot moving to a 45 gallon box, and 2. the top of the base of the tree is about 8 or so inches above the pot it currently is in. I wanted to lower the tree so that it would be more stable in the new box. It has basicly grown roots over the years which has pushed the palm upward leaving the top roots dead looking. I am not sure what all is in the pot.

As far as moving this thing around, I plan to tip it over, side the old pot off, trim any dead looking roots, and put in new plant box, cover with dirt and bingo....done.

Since no one else seems to know much about queens around here, I guess I will just have to see what happens. lol
Thanks
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tropicalzone7
13 years ago
I wouldn't cut any healthy roots. The less you disturb the root ball the better off it will be. Looks like a beautiful queen palm! I wouldn't risk doing any damage to it since queen palms are pretty finicky when it comes to staying healthy.
Good luck!
-Alex
orchiddude
Original Author
13 years ago
To be honest, I do not think there is any dirt in the pot. I think it is one big mass of roots. This will be fun and interesting for sure.