What's wrong with this palm?

15 years ago

Hi,

I brought back a coconut from Florida back in december, and it germinated around March, the plant has been growing steadily and still is (1 frond/month), but the fronds are starting to yellow and burn around the outside edges. It's more prominent in the newer, bigger fronds while the older smaller fronds still look perfect. I put it outside on warm dry days, and on cooler days it's kept in a sunless windowsill on a heat mat. Is it a humidity problem? Here's a pic of the problem:

And of the whole plant:

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (7)

mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
15 years ago
How cold does it get in your zone? I figured in 9b it could be outside around the clock this time of year. Im in zone 7 and all mine are outside full time until at least october.
rhizophora
Original Author
15 years ago
I live in the southwest of the UK and although it's quite mild in the winter, it's often pretty cool here in summer too. The last few winters have been really tough and its more like a zone 8 now, but every time I try and change it on my page there's an error! We've had quite poor summers here for the last few years too, and so far it's rarely gone above 70F this August with night time temperatures down to 55F most nights.
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us_marine
15 years ago
I am in a z9b in California. Mine is doing well in low humidity so I dont think its that but it doesnt hurt to mist often. I think it has to do with sunlight. How often do you put it outside? The yellowing and burning can happen if its not acclimatized to sun light. The temps you described are not ideal for a coconut. Its amazing its growing in that temp range.

Good luck and keep us updated :)

- US_Marine
andyandy
15 years ago
it could be stress due to it not getting enough heat. I don't have the longest growing season here but at leat we get 1-2 really warm months in the summer. If 70 is the warmest it ever sees I would think at some point it will becaome greatly stressed. They like an average temerature of 80 to do their best growing. We had an average temp of 79.3 here in July and that was a record. We've cooled down quite a bit bu we are still getting into the 80s regularly. The heat mat may be a problem too, when it is cool you want to water them very little. It could be the heat from the mat is burning the roots.
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Garden Of Delights
15 years ago
Check for spider mites.
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
15 years ago
That makes sense rhizo. I often forget that we have international members here and when I saw 9 I just assumed lower US. good luck!
us_marine
15 years ago
Hmmmmm... Actually Murray_GofD might be on to something. I noticed my coconut palm doing something like that before I knew it had spider mites. To be on the safe side you might want to mist often on both sides of the fronds. Misting can get rid of spider mites.

- US_Marine