canariensis Palm – General Maintenance Guidelines

Introduction

The Canary Island () palm is not native to North America. This palm often reaches a size too massive for most residential landscapes but, fortunately, it is very slow-growing and will take a considerable amount of time to reach its 50 to 60-foot- height. The Canary Island Date Palm is most impressive with its single, upright, thick trunk topped with a crown of 8 to 15-foot-long, stiff with extremely sharp spines at their bases. The stalks of inconspicuous are replaced with clusters of one-inch diameter, orange-yellow, date-like, ornamental , which ripen in early to late summer. The trunk can reach a diameter of four feet and is covered with an attractive, diamond-shaped pattern from old scars.

Use and Management

The Canary Island Date Palm should be grown in full sun on fertile, semi-moist soil for best growth but is tolerant of any well-drained soil. This type of palm also does well in arid, sandy soil conditions. It does well as a street or avenue tree, even in confined soil spaces. The Canary Island Date Palm will require pruning to remove old fronds. Older leaves frequently become chlorotic from magnesium or potassium-deficiency. Preventive applications of appropriate fertilizer can help to avoid this. Avoid damage to the trunk by locating it properly in the landscape and keeping landscape maintenance equipment away. Damaged trees are susceptible to Ganoderma rot. Only prune fronds, which hang below the horizontal. Do not remove those growing upright since this may slow the growth and reduce vigor. Do not prune out green fronds.

Diseases

Be sure sprinklers do not irrigate the trunk so it remains wet. A wet trunk and wet soil encourage diseases.

Canary Island Date Palm can become stressed due to poor growing conditions, causing susceptibility to fungal diseases such as Fusarium wilt. Fusarium wilt is a fungal disease that cuts off the vascular system of the palm, thus causing the palm to die. Fusarium is non-curable, so it is very important to maintain healthy palms. Care Recommendations for Phoenix canariensis Palms

1. Irrigation System: All irrigation heads that spray water towards the palm trees should be redirected to spray away from the trunk bases. Also, if necessary, the irrigation should be turned off during the cool winter months or reduced to only once per week for a few minutes.

2. Competitive Environment: It is recommended to remove all around the base of the trunk (especially aggressive types of plants such as agapanthus). This should be done delicately to prevent damage to the exposed Palm roots.

3. Disease prevention: Any tools used on palms should be disinfected with a bleach and water solution (1:1 dilution) between each Palm. Only hand saws should be used, since they can be bleached. No chain saws should be allowed to trim or shape the palm. It is very important to disinfect tools prior to pruning each palm. Fusarium Wilt is a non-curable, fatal disease, which attacks the Phoenix canariensis Palm. Fusarium Wilt can be transferred through the use of infected tools.

4. Compact Soil Management: Installation of mulch on the soil at the base of the trunk will reduce compaction in the soil, keep weeds down, assist in aerating the soil, maintain consistent soil temperature, and reduce competition between the palms and material/turf. Do not let mulch build up on trunk, keep away from base.

5. Pruning Requirement: When pruning the Palms, only dead/brown fronds should be removed. Never remove any live or green fronds. The removal of live/green fronds allows pests and diseases to enter the palm at live tissue sites that are open from the pruning cuts.