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Moisture Protection Strategies
Protect your palms and tropicals from rotting due to too much moisture..
For those moisture-hating plants in the garden:
- Prepare a good-size planting hole and mix in *lots* of well-rotted compost
and/or peat/coco-fibre *plus* lots of coarse grit.
- Plant them into a raised area/bed (i.e mound up the soil if necessary) to
improve drainage.
- Plant sheltered from the source of water (a sprinker in your case, the
prevailing wind in my case). i.e. against a wall or in the shelter of taller
plants.
- Leave the root/stem join well clear of the soil. Fill around with coarse
grit so that this can dry off quickly even after heavy rain/watering.
The same principles apply when growing in pots especially regarding the free-
draining compost and the grit around the root/stem area. I have many Brahea
armatas in pots in my polytunnel (watered with a mix of hand and overhead
sprinkers) and they've pulled through 3 winters now without rotting. Although
I haven't yet planted a Brahea outside, I have planted several desert, dry-
loving and theoretically 'tender' plants such as Dassylrion wheeleri and Butia
yatay in the garden, all of which have been through at least 2 summers and 1
winter (including lots of rain, some freezes and some snow this year) and they
are, I'm pleased to say, positively thriving.
Cold Washingtonia
I live in Victoria, BC, Canada. We are a cool zone 8b. Washingtonia robusta has a
poor record here. I unsuccessfully tried to overwinter one here last year.
This had a rain cover over it and wind protection. They do not tolerate wet
cool conditions. My advice is to only plant while large and in the late
fall cut off all the opened fronds. Wrap the growth spear with an
insulating material and put a rain cover over it. You will almost certainly
lose all the fronds anyway. Do not wrap the growth spear with plastic, it
will promote fungus.
I have had better success with Phoenix canariensis. I will try Wash.
filifera in the future.
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