Windmill Palm Tree Care Guide: How to Grow Windmill Palms

The Windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), also known as the Chinese windmill palm, fan palm, or Chusan palm, is a cold-hardy palm tree native to China. As its common name suggests, the windmill palm features a windmill-like spiral of green fronds. When the leaves die back, the leaf stalks or petioles become part of the tree's hairy brown trunk. In the wild, windmill palms can grow up to forty feet tall, but outside of their native habitat, this member of the palm family (Arecaceae) rarely reaches more than ten1 feet. The thick fibers of the leaves can be used for weaving and rope-making.

To grow your own windmill palm, start by purchasing a small tree from your local nursery. Windmill palms are cold-hardy up to USDA zone 7, so if you live in a warm climate, you can plant them directly in the ground. In colder climates, windmill palms are often planted in large containers and brought inside during the winter. Here’s how to choose the perfect spot for your windmill palm.

• Soil: These sturdy palm plants tolerate a variety of soil types, as long as it drains well. Nevertheless, when planted in extremely calcareous soil, the green foliage can become yellow.
• Light: The windmill palm prefers full sun or partial shade. While it can grow in partial sun or full shade, it will grow significantly slower.
• Temperature: The windmill palm thrives in USDA zones 8a to 11 and requires little to no winter protection in growing zones 8 to 7b. Keep in mind that the palm's growth rate will slow in areas with cold winters.

Windmill palms are exceptionally hardy, low-maintenance palms and will thrive with basic care. Here’s how to maintain your windmill palm:

• Watering: Windmill palms are drought-tolerant once their root systems are well established, which can take up to three years. Before that time, they are susceptible to drought stress and require regular watering. For the first three months after transplanting, water your new palm every other day, then weekly for the rest of the first year. Allow the soil to stay moist, especially on scorching summer days.
• Mulch: Adding a layer of mulch around the base of your windmill palm will help retain moisture in between waterings, and provide some protection from the cold.
• Fertilizing: While the windmill palm isn't picky about the soil type, fertilizing poor soil regularly will help avoid a nutritional deficit. Apply a well-balanced palm fertilizer or compost to the base of the plant once in early spring, before new growth appears, and then again during the growing season, in summer or fall.
• Insects and diseases: Windmill palms are vulnerable to scales, palm aphids, root rot, leaf spots, and deadly yellowing disease (a lethal palm disease common in Florida). Introducing natural predators, such as ladybugs, is one low-risk way to treat both scales and aphids. To prevent root rot in container-bound plants, plant your windmill palm in a large enough container, with plenty of drainage. If your palm leaves are covered in dark spots, make sure conditions are not too moist, and apply fungicide to the leaves.

In areas where windmill palms grow wild, such as the tropical forests of China, Japan, and India, the strong fiber of the leaves has long been used to weave cloth and ropes. Outside of its natural habitat, the windmill palm tree is mainly ornamental. As one of the hardiest palm trees, windmill palms are commonly used to add a tropical feel to gardens and parks in temperate areas like North America and Europe.

The windmill palm is dioecious, meaning that it comes in two forms: male and female. Male windmill palms produce huge plumes of yellow blooms in the early summer, while female plants produce greenish flowers and, later in the season, bluish-black, inedible fruits about half an inch in diameter.

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