Grow and Care for Foxtail Palm

Grow foxtail palm in full sun and soil that drains, and water it at the base. Foxtail palm is Wodyetia. It is not foxtail fern.

Give it full sun, soil that drains, and water at the base

foxtail palm is Wodyetia bifurcata, a solitary feather palm with a smooth gray trunk, a green crownshaft, and leaflets that stand out all around the midrib, so each frond looks like a bottle brush. [1] It grows fast in full sun. Light shade is tolerated, but the crown stays fuller in sun. Give it sand or loam that drains and stays a little acidic. A wet low spot, or a strongly alkaline bed, is a poor home for this palm. [2] Water at the base, not over the fronds, because overhead water can start leaf spot. Through the first year, keep the soil from going bone-dry. Once the roots are in, soak the ground, then wait until the soil has dried some before you water again. Use a palm fertilizer with potassium and magnesium in spring, summer, and fall, spread under the whole canopy, not piled against the trunk. Yellow-orange specks and dead tips on the oldest fronds are usually a potassium shortage. Leave those fronds on until they are fully brown, because they still hold potassium the new leaves need. [3] If you have frost-free ground, the plant-out is on Planting Foxtail Palm. A new plant from seed is How to Propagate Foxtail Palm.

Grow a young plant in a pot with a hole, in bright sun

A young plant can live in a large container on a sunny patio while it is small. It is still a landscape palm, so it will outgrow a dim indoor corner. Use a pot with a drainage hole and a mix that drains. [4]

1. Choose a heavy pot with a hole, only a size or two wider than the nursery pot, so the mix can dry between waterings.
2. Fill it with a palm mix that drains. Do not use a cachepot with no hole as the only pot.
3. Set the root ball so the stem sits at the same depth it sat in the nursery pot.
4. Water once to settle the mix, wait about half an hour, then empty the saucer.
5. Keep the pot in the brightest sun you have. If the newest fronds stay pale, the mix has often packed and lost air; knock off the sour mix and refresh it.
6. Move the plant into the ground, or into a much larger tub, before the crown is cramped. A mature palm is not a houseplant.

Let dead fronds drop, and cut only what is fully brown

This palm has a crownshaft, so a healthy old frond turns brown in a few days and falls on its own. You do not need to climb it to shape the head. Pruning is cleanup, not a way to shorten the trunk. Never cut the growing point at the top.

1. Wait until a frond is fully brown and dry. A yellow or spotted lower frond is often still feeding the palm, so leave it on.
2. If a dead frond hangs and will not drop, cut the stalk close to the trunk. Do not peel green tissue off the crownshaft.
3. Cut spent flower or fruit stalks if the cluster is in the way. That is cleanup, not food harvest.
4. Do not hurricane-cut the head down to a few upright spears. That removes the potassium the new leaves need and can kill the palm.
5. Do not cut the growing point. A topped palm does not put out a new crown.

Not a foxtail fern — and not a queen palm

Foxtail fern is Asparagus, a short plume of needle-like branchlets about two feet tall, not a tree. If the tag says foxtail fern, Myers fern, or asparagus fern, read How to Grow Asparagus Fern.

Queen palm is a different feather palm with longer, drooping leaflets, not a bottle-brush frond. Royal palm has a thicker, paler trunk and a stiffer crown. Majesty palm is Ravenea; see How to Grow Majesty Palm. Pygmy date is Phoenix; see How to Grow Date Palm. Christmas palm is Adonidia; see How to Grow Christmas Palm. Alexandra palm is Archontophoenix; see How to Grow Alexandra Palm. Areca is Dypsis, a clustering indoor palm. Kentia is Howea; see How to Grow Kentia Palm. Fishtail palm is Caryota; see How to Grow Fishtail Palm. Sago is a cycad, not a palm.

If the oldest fronds speckle yellow or the soil stays wet, feed with a palm fertilizer, water at the base, and wait until a frond is fully brown before you cut it.