I transplanted two 8 feet tall date palm trees in July 2011, as yet new leaves have not emerged. One tree has?

Hi ss1886,

Thank you for your question.

I favor transplanting in the cooler weather when the trees activity level has slowed down. This helps to reduce the shock of transplanting. Depending on your climate at the time of transplant, weather it was in the middle of summer or winter will determine the survivability of your date palms. How much of the root system did you take when you dug the date palms trees up?

All but the top straight up branches of the palm should have been taken off at time of transplant to reduce the stress on the trees. After a year in the ground, I would have expected to have seen some new growth at the top of the tree.

What concentration of fertilizer have you been using? A standard palm fertilizer is usually 6-4-8, which are 6% nitrogen, 4% phosphate and 8% potash. This should be applied at the drip line of the palm trees, or in your case, at the end of where the roots of the palm tree are located.

Date palms are regularly moved and transplanted in my area and an 8 foot tall date palm tree would need to have a base of about4-6 feet taken with it during transplant to ensure survival of the tree. Any less than that and the tree could suffer from transplant shock and die. Check with your local nursery supply if you have one available and look for a product called SUPERthrive. This is a plant growth hormone that may help your date palms on their recovery. Let me know if you can find this product and I will help you more.

This has been another of,

Ricks Picks

I think you should call a tree-specialist if your palm tree did not grow up...

hard issue try searching over a search engine that can assist