Sugar Palm-how to care for Sugar Palm-how to care for - Talk of The Villages Florida

Sugar Palm-how to care for

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  #1  
Old 07-29-2025, 01:53 PM
sherrisvrcek sherrisvrcek is offline
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Default Sugar Palm-how to care for

Is this a sugar palm? And does anyone know how to care for it? Do I trim all the brown fronds off? I haven’t been able to find much on the internet about it and would like to try and care for it ourselves. Thank you!
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  #2  
Old 07-30-2025, 05:43 PM
Ozzello Ozzello is offline
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That is a sugar palm.
They sure are pretty when they are pretty, but they are finicky.
Lots of questions to figure out what's going on.

Water is always 1st issue to check.
Did the landscaper tuck weed block all the way up to the tree?
Is the tree being strangled by weedblock as it grows?
Did you turn your water off because it rained and shock the tree?
Is the water around the tree running off away from the tree instead of soaking in?

How well was it planted?
Most are dug in a field and many I see have too small a root ball to support the number of fronds you saw when it was freshly planted and over the next few months they slowly decline.
From your pic... looks like it wasn't planted deep enough.
Did the installers dig the hole properly or try to dig it "just big enough" and stuff it in, causing air pockets? Again, causing slow decline.

These are the most common issues, only AFTER I make sure all these things are taken care of, do I start looking for pest issues or nutrients. pH of the soil being important there.

If you see ants running up and down the tree like a racetrack, there is definitely an issue, but the ants are just taking advantage of the issue, and most likely not the issue.
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Old 07-31-2025, 09:33 AM
Pondboy Pondboy is offline
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I’d snip off that frond on the right at ground level. If it’s brown it won’t come back. I’d leave the others as they are.

If you have a partially browned frond, you can cut back the brown area on the individual “fingers”. The browning might continue but at least it will be without the brown color.

As far as coloring for the palm, it could be too much or too little of a number of things including water and fertilizer.

If I google “Arenga Palm”, (another name for them) it appears that they would prefer a bit more shade than sun. So that’s why it might have that light green color. They also don’t like wet feet. Your lot appears to be on a down slope and your neighbor has some nice green grass, so check the moisture in that area.

Last edited by Pondboy; 07-31-2025 at 12:30 PM.
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