Hardy Tropicals UK

sanatic1234 wrote:Very hard to know what is right and what is wrong, good job this forum is full of experienced growers that actually know the plants requirements.

I think a lot of it is an assumption that high nitrogen is used to get leafy plants, Palms are leafy so therefore use high nitrogen. It's good for huge leaves that don't last long, like in Colocasia, and gthe leves are never hardy whatever you do with them, but plants that have to be tough you need some nitrogen, but not too much, and in conjuction with phosphorus and potassium.

The real expert is probably Nigel

In all honesty, palms in their native habitat don't get fed any fertilisers so why bother doing it?

Not by humans at least. But in a forest for instance the soil is rejuvenated all the time when leaf litter and other organic matter decomposes. It's the circle of life. In a tidy garden you normally don't get this, so even mature plants and trees will benefit from a feed once in a while. But if a plant is growing away nicely without any obvious signs of deficiency I wouldn't worry too much about it...

Potted plants on the other side is restricted and the plants will quickly exhaust the nutrients in the soil. So a regular feed is probably needed throughout the growing season.

simon wrote:

GoggleboxUK wrote:The way I see it there's no plants on Jupiter and that's a nitrogen atmosphere so it can't be that good for them.

That is a joke, right? Only the lack of laughter icons worries me slightly.

I've bought some potash on my way back from work, and give all the palms in the ground and in pots a sprinkling and a light water. It was actually a chap i bumped into at akamba who swore by nitrogen but did say stop the nitrogen july time. He was a customer and had been growing tracys for over 30 years. I think i'll give high nitrogen from say march to mid june, then potash as Dave suggests from then until september. I shall still put palmbooster on every 2wks till the palms have established. When they estabilished i'll use palmbooster probably on a monthly basis to keep things strong. Can potash be used on yucca rostrata and Faxoniana?. thanks karl.

The reason we fertilize is because we mostly grow plants out of their comfort zone. Plants in the wild grow where they are suited hence not as much need to fertilize.

A 3-1-3 or 2-1-3 ratio of NPK should be used on palms. Nitrogen shouldn't cause a problem unless it is applied in excessive amounts. It's also better to use a slow release form of nitrogen.

Potash can be used on yuccas. They respond very well to fertile soil.

turtile wrote:A 3-1-3 or 2-1-3 ratio of NPK should be used on palms. Nitrogen shouldn't cause a problem unless it is applied in excessive amounts. It's also better to use a slow release form of nitrogen.

I agree totally. Too much nitrogen causes big soft leaves. Big soft leaves and Trachycarpus fortuneis = disaster ,the wind will trash them even worse than normal.
Palms need potassium, and magnesium is important too. Phosphate is not very important and high phosphate can cause problems by locking up other essential minerals in the soil.
It is far more impórtant to give a balanced feed and let the palm build its own leaves than to force growth with high nitrogen. As others have said, after August dont feed any more, especially nitrogen which can make the palm more frost vulnerable.
I always had best results using long term palmbooster with balanced feeds.
Here is my Jubaea which never lost a leaf in 6 years growth,this is what you need to aim for, hard growth that lasts.

Nigel wrote: Palms need potassium, and magnesium is important too. Potash is not very important and high potash can cause problems by locking up other essential minerals in the soil.

Is that a typo Nigel....Potash is potassium, the K, isn't it the phosphate that they don't need much of, Taking the 'P' out of palms

Dave Brown wrote:

Nigel wrote: Palms need potassium, and magnesium is important too. Potash is not very important and high potash can cause problems by locking up other essential minerals in the soil.

Is that a typo Nigel....Potash is potassium, the K, isn't it the phosphate that they don't need much of, Taking the 'P' out of palms

Hi dave yes that will teach me to type too fast without checking
I was agreeing with you and accidentally contradicted you