WateringTimesWatering plan, $19
Acoelorraphe wrightii, WUCOLS IV

How often to water Everglades palm in California

In July on the south coast, established Everglades palm in loam needs a deep watering about every 7 days: about 55 gallons each time under a 10 foot canopy, about 56 gallons a week. Everglades palm, also called paurotis palm, is a slow-growing clumping fan palm. It comes from swamps and seasonally flooded ground in south Florida, the Caribbean and Central America. Slender trunks wrapped in old leaf bases rise in a cluster that slowly widens. It grows best in evenly moist, slightly acidic soil and takes only some drought once established.

TreePalm or cycadRated for 2 of 6 zones

How often to water Everglades palm, month by month

Your city
Canopy width
10 ft
Your soil

Type your city above and the days between waterings and the gallons appear here, worked out from your city's climate table. Or read the figures by climate zone further down.

Every month, on your water days. The personal plan prints this for Everglades palm and the rest of your yard, on the days your water supplier allows.Get the plan for $19

How this is worked out: established roots fill the top 1.5 feet of soil, and you water again when that soil has dried halfway. Loam soil holds about 1.5 inches of water per foot. Water the whole area under the branches, and skip a watering after a good soaking rain.

Which soil do you have?

Dig down a few inches, take a handful of moist soil and squeeze it.

  • Sandy: gritty, falls apart when you open your hand, will not form a ball.
  • Loam: forms a soft ball that crumbles when you poke it.
  • Clay: forms a firm, sticky ball and squeezes out into a ribbon between thumb and finger.

Still not sure? Pick loam. Most garden beds sit between sand and clay.

How to measure canopy width

A tree with its canopy width marked across the widest branches and the circle under it shaded blue

Measure across the branches, from the tips of the outer leaves on one side to the tips on the other. A tape works, or pace it out.

Water the whole circle under the branches, shown in blue. The gallons here cover that circle.

A wider canopy means more gallons each watering, not more waterings. While the tree is young, measure again each spring.

How to tell it needs water

  • Soil dry 2 inches down under the clump in summer means this wetland palm is due for a deep soak
  • Leaf segment tips browning across the clump while the soil below is dry point to thirst
  • New fronds that come out yellowish with brown streaks and curled tips point to manganese deficiency in alkaline soil, not thirst
  • New fronds that emerge evenly yellow-green can mean waterlogged, airless soil or a palm planted too deep
  • One trunk wilting while the rest of the clump stays green points to Ganoderma butt rot, which watering cannot fix

How to water it

  • Water the base of the whole clump and a band beyond it with drip or bubblers, since new trunks come up as suckers
  • Soak the root zone deeply, and water again before it dries far below the surface
  • Spread organic mulch over the root zone to hold moisture, keeping it a few inches off the trunks
  • Plant it in slightly acidic soil rich in organic matter, set no deeper than it grew in the nursery pot
  • Move the watered band outward as the clump spreads, since mature clumps reach 10 to 15 feet across

Through the seasons

Keep a new Everglades palm moist through its first summers while the slow-growing clump settles in. An established clump takes some dry spells, but it comes from swamps and grows best in evenly moist soil. Creamy flower stalks rise from the crown in spring, and the small fruits ripen from green through orange to black in summer. The fronds stay green all year, so irrigation matters in every dry month. Winter rain helps on the south coast, but check the soil through dry winters. WUCOLS rates it high water on the south coast and moderate water in South Inland. WUCOLS has not evaluated it for the north-central coast, the Central Valley, the high desert or the low desert.

In pots

Everglades palm grows slowly, so a young clump can live for years in a large container. In a pot, this wetland palm dries much faster than it would in the ground. Check the mix 1 to 2 inches down every few days in summer, and daily in South Inland heat. Water until it runs from the drainage holes, then empty the saucer. Use an organic, slightly acidic mix and a palm fertilizer with micronutrients. In winter, move the pot under cover before frost in the low 20s.

1 Your climate zone six WUCOLS zones, each from its own reference city
Not ratedWUCOLS does not rate Everglades Palm for the Central Valley zone
A year
no figure
Reference
Sacramento climate table
Counts
Plant need, before sprinkler losses

WUCOLS lists Everglades Palm as not evaluated for the Central Valley zone, so no monthly figure is computed here.

Monthly water need by climate zone

Everglades Palm: gallons per square foot per month, by WUCOLS climate zone

MonthN. CoastC. ValleyS. CoastS. InlandHi DesertLo Desert
Jan––1.240.78––
Feb––1.290.87––
Mar––1.841.3––
Apr––2.231.61––
May––2.581.95––
Jun––2.782.29––
Jul––3.172.51––
Aug––2.982.33––
Sep––2.381.86––
Oct––1.841.33––
Nov––1.340.9––
Dec––1.040.68––
Year––24.818.41––

How this is worked out: the WUCOLS water rating for each zone times that zone’s climate for the month. A dash means WUCOLS does not rate the plant there. The figures are what the plant uses, before sprinkler losses.

Plants with the same water needs 16

Rated not evaluated in the Central Valley, like Everglades palm. Plants that drink alike can share one valve and one schedule.

Hawthorn MapleAcer crataegifoliumnot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingMountain MapleAcer glabrumnot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingMiyabe MapleAcer miyabeinot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingPink CedarAcrocarpus fraxinifoliusnot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingYellowwoodAfrocarpus falcatus (Podocarpus falcatus)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingNew Caledonian PineAraucaria columnaris (A. cookii)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingFormosa Sugar PalmArenga englerinot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingNeemAzadirachta indicanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingBismarck PalmBismarckia nobilisnot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingAmerican HornbeamCarpinus caroliniananot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingJapanese HornbeamCarpinus japonicanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingAmerican YellowwoodCladrastis kentukeanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingPagoda DogwoodCornus alternifolianot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingGiant DogwoodCornus controversanot rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingMadagascar SagoCycas thouarsii (SHADE)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley ratingButterfly PalmDypsis lutescens (Areca)not rated, Central Valleyno Central Valley rating
Minutes for your sprinklers

Turn this into minutes on your water days

Every city page has a calculator that takes Everglades palm, your sprinkler type and the month, and gives the minutes per water day for that supplier's schedule. Or put it in a zone of the personal watering plan and get all twelve months printed.

Questions people ask

How often should I water Everglades palm in summer?

In July, established Everglades palm in loam needs a deep watering about every 7 days on the south coast and about every 9 days in the South Inland zone. Sandy soil holds less water, so waterings come closer together. Clay stretches them. Check the soil before each watering and skip one after a soaking rain.

How much water does Everglades palm need per day?

In July on the south coast, established Everglades palm needs about 8.0 gallons a day under a 10 foot canopy and about 32 gallons a day under a 20 foot canopy. Give it in deep waterings spread days apart rather than a little every day, so the whole root zone gets wet.

Does watering for Everglades palm change across California?

Yes. WUCOLS rates Everglades palm separately for each of the six California climate zones: not evaluated in the North-Central Coastal zone, not evaluated in the Central Valley zone, high water in the South Coastal zone, moderate water in the South Inland zone, not evaluated in the High and Intermediate Desert zone, not evaluated in the Low Desert zone. The monthly table above shows how the same rating translates into different gallon amounts as reference evapotranspiration changes.

Why are my Everglades palm's new leaves frizzled?

Yellowed new fronds with brown streaks and withered, curled tips point to manganese deficiency, called frizzletop. It shows up in alkaline, lime-rich soil. Feed with a palm fertilizer that contains manganese rather than adding water.

Should I cut off the spotted lower fronds?

Leave them while they are still partly green. Black or yellow-orange spots on the oldest fronds can mean potassium deficiency, and those fronds supply potassium to the rest of the palm. Remove fully dead fronds and spent flower or fruit stalks at any time.

Can I thin out trunks from the clump?

Cutting out mature trunks can encourage Ganoderma butt rot, a trunk rot with no treatment that kills a clump one stem at a time. Keep thinning to a minimum and take out dead trunks only. Wear gloves, since the leaf stalks carry small, sharp thorns.

How cold can an Everglades palm take?

It is cold hardy to about 22 to 25 degrees F. Water a dry clump before a forecast frost, since dry soil holds and gives off less warmth than moist soil.

Why are the trunks on my Everglades palm twisted?

Older clumps sometimes grow twisted trunks. Long, slender stems lean out, tip over under their own weight, then turn upward again, leaving a twist each time. It looks odd but does not harm the palm.

Can Everglades palm grow near the ocean?

It does not tolerate salt spray, so keep it back from exposed beach fronts. It does tolerate occasional flooding with brackish water at the roots. On the south coast, a spot sheltered from sea wind suits it best.

More plant watering guides

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Sources