Palm with brown tips and yellow leaves – that helps

With a few exceptions, palms are not suitable for outdoor cultivation. Most of the tropical trees thrive in pots as houseplant to put themselves in the limelight on the balcony and terrace during the warmer months.

Putting care to the test

Mostly brown tips and yellow leaves indicate that a palm tree has to suffer negligence in the care . Therefore, in the first step, examine all framework conditions in order to immediately counteract any problems that arise.

Cause: Wrong location

The professional cultivation of palm trees requires a rethink, which starts with the choice of the location . An unsuitable location has proven to be the main cause of brown and yellow leaf discoloration. Native to tropical regions, palm trees are not designed to live in cool shade. If too few sun rays reach the fronds, photosynthesis comes to a standstill. The first signs are brown tips on the leaves, which later turn yellow and die off.

That helps: change of location

• Relocate to a place with at least 4 to 6 hours of sunshine per day
• Place on the south-facing balcony or the sun-drenched terrace from April to September / October
• In winter, compensate for the lack of light with a plant lamp

When changing location, keep an eye on the locally dominant temperature level. The vast majority of indoor palms prefer a place with at least 12 to 15 degrees Celsius and higher.
Tip: Although palm trees are sunbathers, they get used to the blazing sun in the spring before moving to the balcony. So that there are no brown tips and yellow leaves due to sunburn, the ornamental trees stay in partial shade for 10-14 days.

Cause: dry air

Regardless of their tropical origins, palms can do extremely well with the dry air of the Central European climate. Under the influence of dry heating air, brown leaf tips can nonetheless occur. All indoor palms that spend the winter in heated living rooms and winter gardens are affected.

That helps: spray regularly

• Palm fronds and leaves daily with a gentle spray moisten
• For this purpose boiled or distilled water use
• Fill the saucer of the bucket with pebbles and water

You can effectively prevent brown tips on palm leaves if you optimize the humidity in the room in advance. Commercially available air humidifiers, indoor fountains or bowls simply filled with water are ideally suited for this.

Tip : Do n’t worry if only the lower leaves of a palm tree turn yellow. If a young leaf is thriving in the crown at the same time, it is a natural growth process in the course of which the oldest leaf is shed.

Cause: Imbalance in the water balance

A palm tree reacts with leaf discoloration whenever its water balance is out of balance. This applies to rashes in the direction of dryness as well as a tendency towards waterlogging . If location problems can be ruled out, the next step should be to focus on the species-appropriate pouring behavior.

That helps: Pour balanced

• Pour thoroughly until the water runs into the saucer
• Do not water the palm trees again until the substrate surface has dried up to a depth of 3-4 cm
• Pour coasters without pebbles after 10 to 20 minutes

The watering requirement of a palm tree is therefore not specified by a defined schedule. Rather, the local framework conditions dictate the frequency. On hot summer days it may be necessary to use the watering can every day. In contrast, the water requirement in winter is so drastically reduced that watering is only done every 10 to 14 days or even less often.

Cause: nutrient deficiency and excess

In terms of nutrient balance, balance is the top priority. With yellow leaves and brown tips, a palm reveals when this aspect gets out of hand in the cultivation program.

That helps: fertilize moderately

• From April to September fertilize organically or with a special preparation for palm trees
• Quantitatively match fertilizers to the respective palm species
• From October to March no fertilizer administer

Fertilizers of any kind must not be applied to dried substrate. Otherwise, the roots could be burned , which would stop the transport of water and nutrients into the leaves. The result is again brown leaf tips and yellow fronds. If in doubt, please pour clear, lime-free water and only then add the fertilizer.

Tip : Brown tips on palm leaves significantly affect the appearance. You can cut off the discoloration with sharp, disinfected scissors. It is important to note that a thin strip of the dead tissue remains on the leaf.

Cause: compacted substrate

In contrast to native trees and bushes, a palm only has the deep primary root for a short time. This is replaced shortly after germination by an extensive network of adventitious and hair roots. The demands on the permeability of the substrate are correspondingly high. If the root system is confronted with compaction, the fine roots can explicitly be strangled. Water and nutrients only get sporadically into the leaves, which can be recognized by the brown tips and yellow discoloration.

That helps: Loose-draining potting soil

The closer the quality of the substrate comes to the natural conditions in the habitat of palm trees, the faster the plant recovers. If you were able to identify substrate compaction as the trigger for the deficiency, immediately repot the palm in this soil:

• Premium quality potted plant soil, enriched with leaf compost or bark humus
• Alternatively, add 1 part leaf or garden compost to 1 part loam soil, optimized with Perlite respiratory flakes
• As a further variant, mix equal parts of leaf earth and compost, adding lava gravel or coconut powder

Commercially available potting soil is unsuitable for the cultivation of palm trees. Due to the high proportion of peat, such substrates tend to become compacted, which increases each time it dries up. A sufficient supply of air to the widely ramified root system falls by the wayside. In addition, the ability to store water is steadily declining. The irrigation water passes the roots almost unused, so that the palm dries up from the leaf tips despite regular watering.

Cause: hard water

If you get to this point in the elimination process, everything is OK in terms of location, humidity, water and nutrient balance and substrate quality. Now, at the latest, the focus is on the quality of the irrigation water. The relevance of lime-free water in the care of palm trees is usually reduced to the fact that unsightly white limestone edges are to be avoided. In fact, the use of hard water can cause leaf chlorosis, a deficiency that manifests itself in brown and yellow discoloration. In the course of time, the lime content accumulates in the substrate, whereupon important nutrients such as iron or magnesium are blocked.

That helps: Always pour in soft water

• Boil or descale tap water before use
• Alternatively, hang a cotton sack with 1 liter of peat in a 10 liter watering can for 1 week
• Collect, filter and use rainwater in a barrel

Pond water is best suited for palm care. Not only is the pH right here, but there are also important nutrients in it that are good for your palm and arm you against deficiency symptoms.

Cause: frost damage

Escorting a palm tree safe and sound through the winter requires special care. With a few exceptions, palm trees are not frost-resistant. If the exotic trees in the tub stay too long on the balcony, they will suffer frost damage in the form of brown tips. If even the root ball freezes through, the fronds turn yellow.

That helps: give it up in good time

• When the first signs of brown leaf tips appear, give up immediately
• Wear to bright, frost-free winter quarters at temperatures up to a maximum of 18 degrees Celsius
• Wrap garden palm trees with breathable fleece and cover the root disc with leaves and brushwood
• Do not cut off frozen leaves, but wait until they are completely absorbed

The climatic conditions are no longer as predictable as they were a few decades ago. While the temperatures at Christmas one year are so mild that one can speculate about outdoor barbecues, next year winter will come with freezing frost from the beginning of October. So keep an eye on the weather forecast in favor of your palm. If the temperatures drop permanently below the 10-degree mark, move the plant to the bright, frost-free winter quarters. So

Brown tips and yellow leaves as a symptom of pest infestation

Has the analysis so far shown that cultivation does not give rise to modifications? Then a possible pest infestation moves into the focus of the investigations. In the following, we highlight common pests that cause brown leaf tips and yellow discoloration of leaves on palm trees.

Cause: spider mites

They are tiny at 0.2 to 0.8 mm and still cause serious damage to your palm. The sucking and stinging spider mites attack leaves and fronds from the underside with vehemence. The insects stab the epidermis more than 20 times per minute in order to get to the sap. Some of the most common species can be recognized by the white webs on the leaves and between the leaf axils. Only at an advanced stage can the infestation be diagnosed on the brown leaf tips. If the leaves are already turning yellow, there is an urgent need for action.

That helps: fight in an environmentally friendly manner

• The humidity in the immediate vicinity increase
• Thoroughly shower off the infected palm
• Treat repeatedly with the soft soap solution
• Fight with ecological insecticides based on rapeseed oil

In order to put an end to the spider mites, environmentally and health-conscious hobby gardeners are increasingly using the protection of industrious beneficial insects. The use of predatory mites, lacewings and black ball ladybug has good experience. These hunt for spider mites and migrate as soon as the plague has been cleared.

Conclusion

With brown tips and yellow leaves, a palm tree signals health problems. In order for the tropical ornamental wood to regenerate quickly, a precise analysis reveals the causes in order to infer adequate countermeasures. The main cause of the damage is usually bottlenecks in maintenance. Put all framework conditions to the test, from the location to the water and nutrient balance, the substrate quality and ideal winter storage. If everything runs according to the norm, there is still a look at a possible pest infestation. Examine the battered palm for spider mites, as these pests are particularly often responsible for unsightly leaf tips and yellow discolored fronds.