Hi all. last year I bought a date palm which I naively just thought would look after itself. It's to no surprise that the palm is looking very sorry and after doing some research, I'm pretty sure that my palm is deseased and dying. I'm making sure that the soil is kept moist but not over wet, I've started using a plant feed which is especially high in potassium which after research, I figured the palm might be starved of. The tree doesn't get a lot of direct sunlight - could this be a contributing factor? I've not changed the soil since purchase and I've read that doing so may distress the tree. Any advice useful, thanks. Craig
It's often difficult to raise the humidity without affecting everything else inside. Conditions outside would probably be more accommodating. Perhaps it could be placed outside temporarily to see if it makes a difference. Even then it may be too late at this point - the plant doesn't look too good.
Try forming some kind of hood to place over it, in small scale this works in example by placing say, a cut out milk gallon over a small plant. That increases the humidity levels, you just need to make it large-scale to fit over this palm. You can also try putting the plant onto a dish/container of water that you continually fill up and this will also increase the ambient humidity, combined with the hood, it should be at decent humidity levels but Junglekeeper is correct, it is difficult to remedy the outside conditions to match what you are trying to grow; It is easier to create a smaller limited habitat for it, providing the plant "what it needs" to survive and possibly even thrive. I'd say do the usual plant tending and try the humidity hood & tray and see what that nets you.
