How to Plant and Grow Queen Palm

Queen palm is one of the most popular palms for commercial and home landscapes. This fast-growing palm, which is native to South America, is used to line streets or sidewalks and is often planted in clusters. The palm has a single, smooth, gray trunk. Long, bright green fronds give queen palm an elegant appearance year-round. Count on a queen palm to produce ornamental, vibrant orange dates in clusters during the winter months.

Where to Plant Queen Palm

Select a location in with at least partial sun and sandy, well-drained, acidic soil.

Median plantings, curbside planting strips, and petite planting areas near a deck or patio are all good places to plant queen palm. Because queen palm has a relatively weak root system and it can get knocked over by strong winds, plant it at ample distance from your house and other structures.

This solitary palm (with a single trunk) can be planted as a specimen or in groups. It is moderately salt-tolerant.

Good planting partners for queen palm include sweet acacia, spicewood, locust berry, floss silk tree, and fiddlewood.

How and When to Plant Queen Palm

Queen palm can be planted any time of the year except during extremely dry or cold weather. Planting a palm tree requires some extra steps after planting. First, dig a hole that is at least twice the diameter of the root ball and the same depth. The heart of the palm is sensitive to cracking so be extra careful when lifting the palm out of the nursery container, injury of the heart can lead to stunted growth and even plant death. Place the palm in the hole and backfill with enough of the original soil so that the top is flush with the soil surface.

Like all palms, it will need support for at least the first year because the small root ball of palm trees does not sufficiently anchor the plant in the soil until it’s established. The preferred method is bracing your palm tree with 2x4 lumber and burlap. 

For spacing, you can plant the palms as close as 4 to 5 feet apart in a row but then their tops will soon grow into each other. Planting them at a distance of 12 to 15 feet is better as they will also compete less for water and nutrients.

Queen Palm Care Tips

Once it is established, queen palm requires little maintenance other than removing the dead fronds.

Light

Queen palm grows best in full sun but also tolerates partial shade.

Soil and Water

Queen palm needs sandy, well-drained, acidic soil with a pH between 6.2 and 6.5. When planted in alkaline soil it suffers severe mineral deficiencies which manifest themselves through stunted young leaves. Prolonged mineral shortage can even kill the tree. While treating the soil with mineral applications is possible, it requires considerable expense and effort and it must be maintained for the lifetime of the tree. For that reason, it is not recommended to plant queen palm in soil that is not naturally suitable.

Watering is mostly required when the palm tree is young. An established queen palm needs only moderate watering.

Temperature and Humidity

Queen palm is among the hardiest tropical-looking palms. It can survive frost but it is not suitable to be grown where winter temperatures drop below 25 degrees F. It does best in a hot and humid climate.

Fertilizer

Use a fertilizer that is specifically formulated for palm trees, as it is high in potassium (K) and contains magnesium, iron, and manganese, which are the minerals that palm trees typically lack. Follow the label instructions for amounts and frequency.

Pruning

Queen palm is not considered to be self-cleaning; its fronds persist after they die and often require manual removal. When pruning, try not to remove any live fronds. Pruning off live fronds can cause the palm to decline.

Potting and Repotting Queen Palm

Because of its fast growth and size, queen palm is not an ideal choice for a container. Its size will be restrained by the confined space in which the roots can grow. For a start, use a pot that is at least 20 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep and has good drainage holes. It should be made of a heavyweight material so it is less likely to topple over. Remember that potted plants need more frequent watering and fertilizer than plants in the landscape. 

Replant the palm to a larger pot when it becomes rootbound.

Pests and Problems

Protect the trunk of queen palm to prevent diseases as the trunk is susceptible to decay and injury by lawnmowers or landscape equipment which can create an opening for various diseases to take hold and kill the tree. Potential fungal diseases include fusarium wilt and ganoderma butt rot. Pests of queen palm include palm leaf skeletonizer, a native moth that attacks palms in the southern United States, as well as scale insects and spider mites.

How to Propagate Queen Palm

It is not unusual for queen palm to self-seed. The heavy fruit clusters that the palm tree drops contain over a thousand seeds. 

Queen palm can be propagated from half-ripe to fully ripe seeds. Remove the pulp and soak the seeds in water for two days to soften the seed coat. Plant several seeds in 4-inch pots filled with potting mix, as germination is erratic. Keep the soil evenly moist. The ideal germination temperature is between 90 and 95 degrees. Even under ideal conditions, it takes six weeks to six months for the seeds to germinate. If more than one seed germinates in the pot, only keep the strongest seedling and cut the others at the soil level (do not pull them out, as that can damage the tender roots of the seedling you want to keep).

Queen Palm Companion Plants

Sweet Acacia

Sweet acacia (Vachellia farnesiana) is a tree with fragrant, golden yellow puffball-shaped flowers in late winter to early spring. It grows 20 feet tall and wide. The tree is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Chile. Zone 9-11

Spicewood

This small tree or upright shrub is valued for its spicy fragrance. Myrcia neopallens is native to southern Florida and grows in light shade to full sun to a height of 15 to 20 feet. The flowers are inconspicuous but the berries attract many species of birds. Zone 10-11

Locustberry

Byrsonima lucida is an evergreen shrub that is native to Florida. In late winter to early summer, it has showy blooms that go from white to pink and crimson. The flowers attract butterflies. The shrub has a spreading growth habit, growing 5 to 15 feet tall. Zone 10-11