ow to buy a healthy Trachycarpus palm

The number of palm resellers is currently going through the roof. A word of warning may be helpful. Quite a lot of Trachycarpus fortunei is offered for sale with a poor root ball. These palm trees have been lifted from the soil, pushed into big containers, and then filled up with potting soil. Often a few boards are fixed tight to the container in order to keep the trunk in position. Usually these (relatively cheap) palmtrees have been pushed to maximal growth speed and never become hardy in our area. They may survive only with a lot of protection (and good luck ...).

Of course it is better to leave such plants with their owner. They will need an extra growing season to recreate a normal root ball before planting out, and never become really hardy any more. Such a plant may only be an option if you have a frost-free green house for the first winter plus fairly green fingers. Young palms grown in our climate are stronger and a lot hardier (and not really expensive - seedlings are available priced from a few euros). So watch out for this "fast trade"!

Other things to be alert to: some Trachycarpus strains have leaves like broken fingers. If you like this, there's no problem, but many people prefer fortunei plants with tight leaves.  And the size of the container should match the size of the palm; a palm with a trunk of 2 meters in a container of only 45 liters is totally out of proportion; such a palm needs a container of at least 110 liters. 

Check the spear of the palm (this is the young still unfolded leaf in the heart of the palm). It should be present and feel strong. Do not buy where the palm trees are kept outside and unprotected in the winter. Ask advice about cultivation requirements and check that the salesman or woman knows what is essential for good cultivation.  If a trachycarpus is being sold as "iron-hardy", be careful! Extra frost protection is needed when the temperature drops to -10°C, and even earlier when there is much wind. 

In a time when every road-maker may act as a landscaper, and each garden center offers plants without knowledge, it is extra important to buy from good nurseries. 

fast trade...

fertilizer

Most palm trees need quite a lot of extra fertilizer in the growing season. I apply dried cow dung first in early spring and later again in summer, and they thrive on this diet. The proportions N-P-K should be more or less 3:1:3 , which means only a little Phosphorus. When you sprinkle the fertilizer: make sure that no fertilizer falls in the heart of the palm, since this may cause rotting in the heart! If the weather is dry and warm I give extra water. This is especially important on fast drying soil!

"Container-pushed" Trachycarpus fortunei with wind sensitive "broken" leaves in cramped containers means unhealthy plants!