Palm Root Characteristics

• With long, tall trunks, it may seem logical that palms might grow from long, deep taproots that resemble carrots. On the contrary, palms develop hundreds of thin roots that radiate outward in all directions, mainly horizontally, from the base of the trunk. Digging down around a palm trunk exposes a highly modified growth region that resembles a bulb at the base of the trunk underground. From it, thin unbranching roots grow to stabilize and anchor the palm and grow into soil for sources of nutrients and moisture.
  
  

Root Zone Size

• Palm roots, like those of trees, grow in the top two to three feet of soil where warmth, water and nutrients are most plentiful. Palm roots grow outward for great distances, not just a few feet from the trunk, or only to the extent of the farthest reaches of the leaf tips. Large-growing palm species -- such as royal, Bismarck, Bailey and Canary Island date palms -- can extend their roots 50 feet away from the trunk. Smaller palms vary their root zone sizes, but a distance of 10 to 25 feet from the trunk is a reasonable general estimate.
  
  

Root Growth

• Palms originate or rejuvenate roots from the growing surface at the bulb-like trunk base, 12 to 36 inches below the soil surface. Cutting the roots of some palms causes the entire length of root to abort, and a new root must grow to replace it. Other palms may sprout a bud to continue growth if a root is cut. Roots become most active when soil temperatures get above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. For these reasons, horticulturists transplant palms by digging a large root ball near the trunk base. Palms establish after planting most quickly during the warmth of late spring to midsummer. A balance exists between retaining as many roots and soil around the base of the palm as possible and making the root ball small enough so tht it isn't too heavy to lift and transport to the planting site.
  
  

Fertilization and Watering Insight

• Because palm roots extend far from the actual trunk or multiple stems of the plant, fertilizing and watering palms should be mainly at the trunk base. Scatter granular fertilizer far and wide around the palm so nutrients reach roots at various distances from the trunk. Also water palms near the trunk for fastest uptake of water, but also deeply 10 to 50 feet from the trunk to sustain outer, younger and actively elongating roots.