Fertilizer for palm trees
 

Anyone know what is the correct fertilizer to use on Palm trees? All tips and advice welcome.

TIA:bigbow:

Lesco palm fertilizer which can be. Purchased at the John Deere store on Rte. 301. This is per the advice of Sumter County Extension Office/Master Gardeners.

Ditto, that's what I was told and have been using it since 09 when I moved here.

Note that Lesco palm fertilizer can be purchased at the big box stores, but the formulation is not the same as what you can buy at John Deere. Also be aware that the stuff from Deere is not cheap.

I have been using the Deere stuff since 2009 and would like to say it is the answer to perfect palms. Sadly, I still have palms which are far from having perfectly lush green fronds.

I'm confused - if you have been using the Deere stuff since 09 and is the answer to perfect palms why do have less than lush fronds???

I was told by a nursery that fertilizer made for Roses is also perfect for palms. Beats me but it seems to work.

I, too, use the Lesco fertilizer from John Deere, and my palms are doing very well. I also was advised to use this product by the county extension. They also advised to not get lawn fertilizer too close to the palms, so I don't put any on the lawn in the area of the palms. But I do spread the palm fertilizer over the lawn in the area of the palms. Seems to keep the lawn happy, too.

Thank You
 

Thank You all for the replys. A trip to John Deere awaits us.

Should you fertilize palm trees when they are putting out seed pods or wait until afterwards?? Or does it really matter!

We had a guy come out and trim our 2 palm trees - he told us to fertilize with Epson Salts. He told us our palms would be beautiful! I thought it a bit odd so I Googled it and found it to be true. Who knew? We're gonna give it a try and see what happens.

Me too
 

I was told this also and it works.:a040:

Epsom salts is Magnesium sulfate. It will provide the magnesium that your palms need. You have to do it over and over. The University of Florida recommends either the Lesco 8-2-12 plus 4 available at John Deere or Howards 8-2-12 available at Fairfield Farms or BGI 8-2-12 from Home Depot. Magnesium is one of the trace elements that are included in these palm specialty fertilizers, eliminating the need for epsom salts or adding boron or iron or manganese, or other trace elements. These 8-2-12 formulas work quite well on you lawns and shrubs as well.

ANY brand of 8-2-12 will work just fine

I was told that the fertilzer U may use for your lawn should not be put too close the palm roots which go out to the drip line.

Therefore, the beds around the palms should be large as the drip lines.

If you don’t know what the drip line is, its the area on the outer edge of the canopy where the majority of water runs off of the tree and falls to the ground. This is where the majority of your water absorbing roots are, not near the trunk, where people most commonly water. It is also important to have your drip system here as well.

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Lesco 8-2-12 is the best
 

Lesco 8-2-12 is the best to use on your palms, and epson salt applied at the same time as mentiond above is all you should really need to use to have great looking palms. Just remember DO NOT feed them for the first 3-months after they have been planted, just give them plenty of water and let the root system get established and then feed them. If you feed them any sooner then that, you are taking a big chance of hurting them rather then helping them. Also feed them for the last time in November as you do not want to push out a lot of new growth during the winter months. This new growth is very tender, and can get burnt very easy if we get a freeze.Then start to feed them again around March. Also John Deere has moved to Leesburg, they are on the corner of Griffin and Thomas there phone number is 352-748-6555. (Hope this helps)