Question
QUESTION: Hi Nick,

I've just recently established a new garden and have planted a number of beautiful bangalow palm trees.

In just a few weeks, the foliage on the palms are starting to go brown in color!  We've been experiencing a lot of windy weather lately and one nursery just said that they are drying out due to the wind and to keep the watering up.  Well, we have been watering them fairly often, even though we have water restrictions down here in Australia.  They are still browning :(
Is there anything we can do to nurse them back to their former beautiful green state?  Perhaps some special type of fertlilizer or something?
We also have a number of cocos palms, which seem to be doing much better, as well as Pygmy Date Palms.  It's only the bangalows which are browning so rapidly.
Your expert advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Best regards,
Merv Australia

ANSWER: Hi Merv, albeit we don't have Bangalows here in Florida, I did some research and from what I found out, they are extremely common in your area and also very easy to grow; Windy conditions shouldn't be the culprit, I'm inclined to think that the problem is in the soil, and usually browning in any palm is "too much" water, and the newly planted root system is soaked and rotting on you, check this and if need be pull them and replant if the roots are indeed soaked, as I'm inclined to think. Nick

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Nick.  

Thanks very much for your response. Much appreciated!  

When I say browning, I mean the foliage is drying out, dying and going brown.  To the un-trained eye, it looks like lack of water and the plant is just shrivelling up and dying.  The other cocos palms around the Bangalows are doing MUCH better and get just as much water.  I find this very strange.

Oh, I also sprinkled some slow release palm fertilizer around all the palms when I initially planted them (as per the nursery's advice).

Thanks,
Merv.

Answer
Hi again Merv, ok, looks like you have no choice but to pull it up and check the roots; I've got a bad feeling they may have rotted on you, if not, the problem may lie in the way they were planted initially; if they others are doing fine then therein may lie the problem, and you may have to replant, but I'm leaning toward the prior, that the roots have gone bad on you; pull it out and see if the nursery will replace them for you, some give a guarantee. Nick