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Browning on parlour palm leaves

7 years ago

Ive had this palm for a while now (about more than a year) and its been doing okay generally.


I repotted it into a bigger pot this May:


(heres a before pic from may 2018)



(And a pic from a few days ago)



(It looks like it kind of spread out more in the bigger pot, but thats not what I'm going to ask about )


It’s leaves have been browning (and has been doing that the whole time I had it) and I lost a bunch of leaves (throughout the year) cause of that


Could it be not enough water/humidity and too much sun? Or some kind of bug??


I have it at a SW facing window now and theres a big tree and some houses that block some of the afternoon sun.




Hopefully it can recover soon

Comment (1)

  • 7 years ago

    Hi, Adrianne. Leaves don't live indefinitely. If they don't die because of mechanical damage, disease, or herbivory, natural senescence (aging) eventually claims them. In cases where the plant lacks enough nutrition to provide the building blocks that allow new growth to form, the plant cannibalizes the older foliage, extracting mobile nutrients and other biocompounds from the leaf during the shedding process.

    There isn't enough information to arrive at a conclusion, but the most likely potentialities are over/under-watering, a high level of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil solution, or, if you use tap water - fluoride toxicity. The plant is particularly sensitive to fluoride, which is accumulative in the plant. Once it takes up fluoride, it has no way of ridding itself of the compound other than shedding the leaves that contain it, which occurs when the leaf becomes a net user of photosynthate (photosynthate = food - plants make their own food - sugar) as opposed to a net producer.

    I think, if you start flushing the soil when you water and using a "tell" to tell you when it's time to water again, you'll likely see an improvement.

    Using a 'tell'

    Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most
    common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small
    effort. Plants make and store their own energy source –
    photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to
    drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use
    oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that
    terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root
    function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough
    air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy
    plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids
    (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water –
    so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma.
    It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be
    to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to
    beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of
    accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant
    being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to
    prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a
    course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we
    water a very important factor.

    In many cases, we can judge whether or not a
    planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true
    if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't
    work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay,
    or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one
    hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

    Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok
    for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or
    more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several
    inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen
    in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and
    cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential.
    Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they
    measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a
    cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

    One of the most reliable methods of checking a
    planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo
    skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm)
    would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can
    usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a
    pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the
    diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep
    into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the
    plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until
    you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom.
    Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for
    moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out
    dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval
    between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

    Al

    Adrianne P thanked tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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