valerie@flower

Lilith you are right the other two are needed as well. What brand do you use in the powder form that can be used as a foliar spray? All I find mostly is the granular form. Would you use the potassium nitrate, I have never tried it?

Lilith

The one that I use as a foliar spray is a liquid concentrate made by Southern Ag. Its easy to use in an Ortho Dial N Spray.
The powder form is also by Southern Ag, but you can't mix it with water and spray it. You just sprinkle it around the plants and water it in.

The K Nitrate fertilizer I use is Peter's Excel Cal/Mag 5-15-5. Its a blue crystalline like Miracle Grow, you mix it in a bucket or fertilizer injector and spray it, but its a special order in most places. You want to get a nursery toorder it FOR YOU because it needs some sort of special permitting from the Dept of Homeland Security. Apparently, its on their list of potential problem substances. I had my local independent nursery order it and they had to fill out a form. I use this SPARINGLY, I burned a few palms with it.

__________________
11/2008 Outer Banks Marathon 26.2, Kitty Hawk NC--3:50
2/2009 5 Points of Life Marathon, 26.2, Gainesville FL--4:00
4/2009 Boston Marathon, 26.2-- 4:38
10/2009 Marine Corps Marathon, DC, 26.2--457
1/2010 Houston Marathon, 26.2--3:55:09
2/2010 5 Points of Life Marathon, Gainesville--415
Halloween Day 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, DC--
2/2011--Austin TX Marathon--

valerie@flower

Thank you Lilith for all of your useful information. I hope to get the pics soon of the variegated bottle and I'll get the fishtail one too for you.
Valerie

Lilith

I've never seen a variegated bottle palm...I bet its GORGEOUS! I'll be out of town til Monday, probably with no computer access (ugh) but will look for it when I come back

__________________
11/2008 Outer Banks Marathon 26.2, Kitty Hawk NC--3:50
2/2009 5 Points of Life Marathon, 26.2, Gainesville FL--4:00
4/2009 Boston Marathon, 26.2-- 4:38
10/2009 Marine Corps Marathon, DC, 26.2--457
1/2010 Houston Marathon, 26.2--3:55:09
2/2010 5 Points of Life Marathon, Gainesville--415
Halloween Day 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, DC--
2/2011--Austin TX Marathon--

turtile

You can buy pure potassium nitrate from Ebay. I think its 13-0-48 (NPK). Its highly explosive (oxidizer).

__________________
http://www.unusualplants.net/

Lilith

I guess that's why the government keeps track of it, LOL

__________________
11/2008 Outer Banks Marathon 26.2, Kitty Hawk NC--3:50
2/2009 5 Points of Life Marathon, 26.2, Gainesville FL--4:00
4/2009 Boston Marathon, 26.2-- 4:38
10/2009 Marine Corps Marathon, DC, 26.2--457
1/2010 Houston Marathon, 26.2--3:55:09
2/2010 5 Points of Life Marathon, Gainesville--415
Halloween Day 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, DC--
2/2011--Austin TX Marathon--

jason

Hi yeid makes potassium nitrate 0-0-24 and what your seeing on e-bay if listed like that is infact not what they say it is,cause the fertilizer that you use to be able to buy has been out lawed to sell many years ago ,it took effect shortly after the oklahoma bombing,sorry I know this because I work at a greenhouse with many different chemicals even the ones that are not avalible to the public.

jason

oh and the reason their is nitrate in the potassium ,cause it acts as a carrying agent for the potassium.

jason

And the ideal palm food in my veiw is 12-5-15 with all the minors .minor trace elements are more important to palms than you would think,palms biggest deficencey sorry probably spelled that wrong,,,is usually mag,and potta,,and the middle number in the n-p-k should always be as low as possible,,builds up in the soil after a while and starts to make the soil mix ,what we call to hot and will start to hurt the palm.

valerie@flower

Jason that is neat that you work at a greenhouse. My friends at work think I should go into the growing business. They know I love plants and go to botanical gardens a lot. Have you ever used a product that is for evaporation? It is made from pine sap to keep the leaves from drying out in hot weather. I have found this only two times going all over the internet. So the 2nd time I found it I ordered it and it worked great. The only problem is there was no label or a company name on the invoice to order more. My full sun palms really love it in the summer.
Valerie

Lilith

Jason,
the problem with using just a palm fertilizer that has all of the minors and trace is that it doesn't always work in Florida soils. If you are growing palms in containers in a greenhouse with a very nice artificial medium in the containers which will allow the palms the opportunity to catch more of the nutrients as they go by, just using slow release or granular fertilizers is great. But here, where the palms are planted into the ground, and the soil is little more than sand with a very small amout of organic matter present, or sand on top of a limestone or coral underlayment, where water can actually run off sometimes, or where it can drain through like a sieve, those fertilizers lose their punch very very quickly. That's why many people in Florida supplement with extras, and why we fertilize pretty routinely every 3-4 months even with ferts that are supposed to last a lot longer between applications.

__________________
11/2008 Outer Banks Marathon 26.2, Kitty Hawk NC--3:50
2/2009 5 Points of Life Marathon, 26.2, Gainesville FL--4:00
4/2009 Boston Marathon, 26.2-- 4:38
10/2009 Marine Corps Marathon, DC, 26.2--457
1/2010 Houston Marathon, 26.2--3:55:09
2/2010 5 Points of Life Marathon, Gainesville--415
Halloween Day 2010 Marine Corps Marathon, DC--
2/2011--Austin TX Marathon--

valerie@flower

[IMG]://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6476&ppuser=1185][/url][/IMG][IMG]url=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6525&ppuser=1185][/url][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]
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Lilith, here is the pictures you wanted to see. I also included my fishtail & angel trumpet. The bottle palm was in the shade for awhile so now I put in the sun to bring out the variegation, hope you like them.
Valerie

jnstropic

Valerie your bottle palm is a Liliaceae (the lily family). It is Beaucarnea recurvata from Mexico and close to the yuccas. Most people call it ponytail.

valerie@flower

Thanks Jason, I was calling it by one of it's common names. Sorry to get you excited, I forgot there is the true bottle (hyophorbe lagenicaulis).

southlatropical

Is there a palm forum that any of you would reccomend? I've found the banana forum and bamboo forum, but still looking for a good palm forum. Thanks
Isaac

__________________

turtile

http://members3.boardhost.com/HardyPalm

http://www.palmtalk.org

__________________
http://www.unusualplants.net/