How to Care for a Queen Palm Tree
The queen palm tree (Syagrus romanzoffiana) is a low-maintenance palm that grows up to 50 feet tall and 25 feet wide. The Queen palm’s leaves can grow 18 to 36 inches long. Native to Brazilian and Argentinian forests, the queen palm tree grows best in USDA plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, which are the subtropical and tropical zones where minimum annual temperatures don’t dip below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. You should plant your queen palm in full sunlight and in well-draining, slightly acidic soils.
Feed your queen palm tree a well-balanced palm fertilizer that contains manganese two to three times each year, in the early spring, in midsummer and again in the fall. Insert palm fertilizer spikes 2 to 4 inches below the soil surface about 1 ½ to 2 feet out from the trunk.
Water your queen palm three times each week during the first summer after planting it and twice each week during the first winter. Water the palm tree deeply to moisten the soil down to the root ball and to a depth of 6 inches in the surrounding soil.
- The queen palm tree (Syagrus romanzoffiana) is a low-maintenance palm that grows up to 50 feet tall and 25 feet wide.
Keep the soil around your queen palm acidic. If you have persistently alkaline soil, apply a soil acidifier or mix a solution of 1 cup muriatic acid with 5 gallons of water. Pour the water around the entire root ball area.
Watch out for the palm-leaf skeletonizer infesting your queen palm tree, which is a moth with larvae that feed on the palm fronds. Prune away and discard the infested palm leaves in a sealed plastic bag. Spray the larvae and their tubes off the palm leaves with a high-pressure hose.
Treat your queen palm for frizzle top, which is a common manganese deficiency that causes the new leaves to look tattered or frizzled. Treat frizzle top by feeding your queen palm an extra dose of manganese.
- Keep the soil around your queen palm acidic.
- Watch out for the palm-leaf skeletonizer infesting your queen palm tree, which is a moth with larvae that feed on the palm fronds.
Tip
You can treat frizzle top by inserting manganese fertilizer spikes into the ground beside the queen palm or by spreading powdered manganese sulfate around the trunk.
Warning
Protect your queen palm from becoming burned by the acid treatment. Water the queen palm deeply about 24 hours prior to the applying the muriatic acid solution.
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References
Tips
- You can treat frizzle top by inserting manganese fertilizer spikes into the ground beside the queen palm or by spreading powdered manganese sulfate around the trunk.
Warnings
- Protect your queen palm from becoming burned by the acid treatment. Water the queen palm deeply about 24 hours prior to the applying the muriatic acid solution.
Writer Bio
Sarah Terry brings over 10 years of experience writing novels, business-to-business newsletters and a plethora of how-to articles. Terry has written articles and publications for a wide range of markets and subject matters, including Medicine & Health, Eli Financial, Dartnell Publications and Eli Journals.
