At Desert Empire Palms of the Coachella Valley, we know that planting mature palms can be a daunting task. Our experts have some basic tips for transplanting existing palms on your property, as well as premier customer service options for palm installation when purchasing new mature palms for your property.
Call Desert Empire Palms today to discuss the installation of mature palms into your landscaping!
Planting Mature Palms Versus Growing from a Young Tree
1. Developing young palms vs. transplanting mature palms
There are some key differences between young and mature palms that alter the planting process to take note of. When planting a young palm tree, you have to consider the palm species’ mature size to ensure there is enough room for it to grow. When planting a mature tree, however, you can often get a better idea of your final landscaping result. Young palms are also more sensitive to sunlight and have higher watering demands as they develop, and need to start in containers before transplanting into the soil, while mature palms can be transplanted directly from the growing fields when you purchase, or from other areas of your own property. Mature palms are known for their hardiness and transplanting is usually successful without too much stress. There are benefits to choosing to plant mature palms, but those come with their own set of challenges due to the vast size of certain species of palm trees.
2. Plan on the right location to plant your palm
Different species of palms require different sunlight, water, soil, temperature, and space to grow. To avoid having to transplant later on, you will want to ensure you are selecting a large enough space where your palms can thrive. You will also want to consider the intended function of the palm, if it produces single or multiple trunks, if it’s fronds or thorny and smooth, and how/when its fronds fall. For example, a California Fan Palm may not be the best selection to provide shade, and you are probably not going to want to plant a Mexican Fan Palm and its typical “hula skirt” of dead leaves over your pool.
At Desert Empire Palms, we understand that a combination of selecting the right location will help both functionality and aesthetic landscaping goals, as well as the overall success of your palms to live and thrive for years to come.
3. Plant during the growing season and follow basic planting guidelines
While palms are hardy transplants, it is still ideal to move and plant palm trees during the mild growing season, so sunlight, temperature, and soil moisture are easy for the tree to adapt and stabilize after transplanting. In the Coachella Valley, this is the spring months, before extreme temperatures settle in during summer.
When transplanting palms on your property, you’ll notice that the tree’s roots do not lengthen out into the soil, but rather come in the form of a root ball. This makes transplanting palms exceptionally easy. The following basic planting guidelines can ensure a successful transplant of your palm tree:
- If using vehicle transport, be sure to wrap the roots of the palm to protect it.
- Dig a trench twice the size of the tree’s root ball to give plenty of space for the palm to stabilize.
- Water the hole well before and after planting to keep the soil moist during the transplanting transition. You’ll want to make sure it is watered once a day as it stabilizes and takes root.
- Note that palms prefer well-draining soil to prevent the root ball from developing root rot and turning to mush.
- Be sure to have help! Depending on the size of the palm, you may need up to 4 people to assist in moving and planting.
4. Consider hiring a professional
When purchasing new, large mature palm or multiple large trees, you may need assistance with delivery and/or installation and planting. At Desert Empire Palms, we have several options for delivery, do-it-yourself delivery, and in-house (local) delivery and installation. For out-of-range or larger orders, flat-bed transport is the most commonly used method for delivery. Similar to a semi-truck, the flatbed can accommodate large palm trees and large orders, fitting seven to 10 mature palms per load. For those within our local delivery and installation range, we offer an in-house palm tree delivery service. Take note, however, that trees delivered in-house must be less than seven feet tall. Customers can also choose to arrange their own transportation to pick up purchased palms and our Coachella Valley palm tree delivery experts will load the trees onto your flat-bed vehicle using our heavy machinery.
Note that installation is only available for those in our local geographic range. Those cities include:
- Palm Springs
- Cathedral City
- Rancho Mirage
- Indian Wells
- Palm Desert
- La Quinta
- Bermuda Dunes
- Indio
- Coachella
The tree delivery and installation team at Desert Empire Palms serves several cities in the Coachella Valley. Our experts are dedicated to providing our customers with the information and assistance they need to purchase and install or transplant existing mature palm trees.
Contact the Coachella Valley palm tree sellers at Desert Empire today.