Introduction

The palm is truly a wonderful tropical plant and adds atmosphere to tropical areas in your home or garden.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of confusion about the care of palm trees.

Did you know, for example, that palm trees are big drinkers in most cases, and that if you leave the palm tree dry for too long, its ornamental value will quickly decrease (except for the )

'Hey, but aren't there palm trees in the desert?'

That is indeed correct. But what is above ground is also below ground, usually much further than what is above ground. The roots of the palm go directly downwards and are (in most cases) constantly at the water.

In this way, the palm ensures that it never lacks water. It is also very important that the palm is not seen as a cactus.

Background information

The Palm family is a special group of trees.
Another peculiarity of the palm is its growth habit. For example, it has no side branches, and only a straight trunk.

What is very nice about the palm is that the fan-shaped leaves only come up at the top of the trunk. This way the palm tree does not immediately take all the sun from your garden. Did you know that the majority of the approximately 4000 palm species, occur in the tropics and subtropics? The palm trees are mostly found in the Amazon region and the Indo-Malaysian region.

Palm trees have different types of leaves, such as fan leaves. This type of leaf is most common in the species, but there are also feather palms such as the . This type of leaf is most common in houseplants, also shown in the photo below.

General information about palm tree growth

The leaves of the palms emerge from the core (also called the heart or head) of the trunk.

The leaves grow from the trunk of the palm tree all year round. Especially during the growth period, more leaves appear (spring/summer). You can remove the dried (dead) leaves. This stimulates the growth of the palm tree (that is not a problem, that is its growth habit). It also stimulates the growth of the new palm leaves. Even if the leaves have become ugly and yellow (e.g. after the winter), you can safely cut them off completely. The growth rate of the trunk is about 5 to 30 centimeters per year, depending on its location, sunshine and which type of palm you have there.

The best growing medium for your palm trees

Palm trees require a nutrient-rich soil to grow in.

We have made special bags of our own brand of nutritional soil/potting soil for you, which you can simply mix with, for example, cheap potting soil from Lidl or Aldi.

This special soil is of very high quality. For example, if you plant your palm tree in the open ground and mix 2 to 4 bags of Teeninga Palm soil with the soil around it, you will never have to do anything to the soil again (as long as the roots of the palm tree are not hindered).

If you keep the palm tree in a pot, you only need to replace the soil in the pot once every 2 years.

Without the use of nutrient soil for your palm tree, the palm may develop symptoms of nutrient deficiency.

Determining the location of the palm tree

A good place for a palm differs per species. We also explain on our website per species where the palm can best be placed.

Most can be placed in most places in the garden.

Palms prefer a place sheltered from much wind. Also in terms of sun, palms prefer sun/half shade.

What is important is that the palm is not placed immediately in bright sunlight, as too much sunlight can cause burning of certain areas of the leaves, depending on the type of palm tree.

Watering your palm tree

Palms in the wild (in the open ground) can of course access water more easily than, for example, palms in pots or tubs.

That is why it is important that the palm trees in pots or tubs get enough water (not too much, but certainly not too little). To ensure that the palms in pots do not get too much water, you can, if they are placed outside, for example, make holes in the bottom of the pot. Palms in their natural habitat get a real downpour over them every now and then (in the tropics, for example). You could also imitate this by watering them abundantly once every 3 days.

What is very important when watering palm trees is:

That excess water can drain away properly
The fact that the root ball never dries out can quickly be seen when the leaves of a palm start to droop
That neither too much nor too little water is given
It is best to water the palm generously once every 3 days (as in the tropics)
Have you just planted the palm? Then give it plenty of water 2-3 times a week for the first year

Fertilizing your palm tree

Fertilizing your palm is very important, especially for potted palms. We recommend using good soil, e.g. our own brand, or Pokon palm soil, and adding Palm Focus weekly during the high season.

Palm Focus is specially designed for palms and provides a dark green leaf. In the open ground we recommend using Palm Focus for the first few years. After 2 years this is no longer necessary, because the roots are then deep enough to extract nutrients from the ground themselves, or the palm must indicate a nutritional deficiency. In the open ground it quickly becomes a large palm.

Do you see any diseases or deficiencies on your hardy palm tree?

Here we explain what you can do about this and what you can pay attention to in order to keep your palm tree disease-free.

The core (also called the growing point) of the palm is the most sensitive spot for bacterial and fungal attacks. Fungi get their chance if the growing point is damaged. That is why it is very important to protect and keep the growing point dry during the winter. As a precaution, it is advisable to spray the growing point with an anti-fungal agent, such as Sulphon or Baycor and Rosacur, in the months of October/November and at the beginning of spring. The leaves of the palm that die off during the winter are best removed in the spring. Even if the leaves of the palm tree freeze, you do not have to write off your palm. As long as the growing point is not damaged, a palm can grow back and produce new leaves.

Leaf color

Palm leaves can change colour in the winter (light yellow), while the stems after the leaves have simply remained green. This is because the tree has an iron deficiency. This occurs mainly when the soil is chalky or has a high pH value (also called acidity). It is now certainly advisable to give iron to your palm tree. If the palm does not recover, it is a result of a pH value that is too low. Then the right decision is to add magnesium to your palm tree. In this case too, the palm leaves become light green (yellowish) in colour.

Pruning the palm tree

You can remove the leaves when the leaf has become completely brown/yellow or ugly. It also stimulates the growth of the palm tree.

If a palm has all broken leaves, you can cut off all the leaves (in the growing season). Then all the palm leaves will grow back on the palm tree faster.

Potting and repotting your palm tree

The palm does not need to be repotted often (on average once every 5 years). It is very important that the water in the pot can drain away.

The roots of palms do not like to be in water all the time. We also recommend that you make holes at the bottom of the pot, or never overwater palms indoors (the soil may feel moist).

We have a large assortment of pots that you can use specifically for palm trees. For example, if you want to leave your palm tree outside in a pot, we recommend that you add bubble wrap to the edges of the pot (on the inside), so that the roots have extra protection against frost.

For transplanting palm trees we have developed high-quality private label potting soil (Teeninga Palmen nutrient soil), which is extremely suitable for use in planting palm trees and exotics in the open ground or in a planter.

The best time to repot palms is in the spring (end of April, beginning of May) so that the roots can grow again during the entire summer. It is very important that you give the palm a few weeks of rest and protection from sun and wind after repotting. Repotting always means an attack on the health and vitality of a plant. You should also water it abundantly and spray it regularly, for example with a garden hose.

If you want to put the palm back in the same pot, that is also possible. You can then cut 1/5 part under the roots in slices, and then put the palm back in the pot.

Always make sure that the pot is never soaking wet, as this can cause the roots to rot.

Caring for a palm tree in winter

All our palms that we buy and import are each and every one suitable for the Dutch climate and are therefore quite hardy (the ). This means that they can all survive temperatures around freezing point, because they are used to the cold. The condition is that the palm must be kept dry and the frost must not last too long. It is recommended to place your palm in a cool, dry place with sufficient light from the end of October to mid-April, or to wrap the palm in a prolonged period of frost of -6 degrees or colder with, for example, a fleece, jute, light string, or heating tape. You can also use old sheets or pine branches to protect the palm. We also have various reed mats that you can put around the trunk in the winter.

What does a palm tree look like from the inside

A common question is, what does the inside of a palm tree trunk actually look like?
The inside of the palm trunk does not have annual rings like other trees, but small threads.
These ensure that the water is transported to the leaves.
Did you know that the palm is used for multiple purposes in Indonesia, for example?
They make instruments from coconuts there and the trunks are often used for this purpose.
To cut down the larger palm trees at palm growers so that they cannot blow over.