Palm and tree questions
How often should palm trees be fertilized in Florida?
In Florida’s sandy soil, smaller and more frequent feedings beat one large one, because nutrients wash below the roots fast. In Southwest Florida, our position is that the productive feeding window runs roughly October through May, so the palm carries reserves through the cool months.
Reviewed by Jeff Kaulbars, ISA Certified Arborist FL-10118A, Ptolemy Inc.
Why frequency beats quantity
Southwest Florida soils are sandy and low in organic matter. Water-soluble nutrients can leach below the root zone in a single heavy rain. Smaller, more frequent feedings keep a steadier supply within reach and lose less to leaching.
Why not in summer
Summer rain leaches nutrients away, and many counties restrict nitrogen fertilizer during the rainy season. The well-timed feeding going into the dry season is the one that carries the palm through winter. The decline you see in February often started in November.
What to feed
A complete palm fertilizer, not lawn fertilizer. The UF/IFAS standard for landscape palms is an 8-2-12 analysis with 4 percent magnesium plus micronutrients, in controlled-release form.
When feeding is not working
On a reclaimed-water or high-pH property, the nutrients may be in the soil but locked where the palm cannot reach them. A soil test shows what the soil holds and what the pH is doing. That is often the real story, not the amount of product.
Read more
Sources: UF/IFAS EDIS palm nutrition series (EP263 to EP269). Rainy-season fertilizer rules vary by county.