Dead Trithrinax

I just lost a Trithrinax. I bought and planted it at the end of Jan. After a week in the ground the fronds started to die. After a month all fronds were completely brown except for the new spear. Today I pulled out the spear and and the entire inside was rotted and full of maggots. It was planted in full sun in an area I would describe as fairly well draining and watered it every day. Ocassionally every other day. We have not experienced any severe cold. Any thoughts on what I did wrong?

Thanks,
Chris

How big a plant are you talking about? Cold would never be a problem in your area even if it was cold. If it was a big plant those often are very touchy (in other words, did it have a trunk?). Those are incredibly hardy palms so unless you watered and got the crown wet, or it was a larger plant, I'd say it was sick when you got it. You usually don't have to water a palm every day after you plant it, but most should be able to tolerate that. Don't know your soils well... here in So Cal, usually weekly to monthly watering is enough depending on how much clay is in the soil. But we would certainly not water that species every day (very drought tolerant species you had there).

It had about six inches of trunk and I only water at the base. Our "soil" is very sandy and appears to drain well. At least the first few feet down. The water table is quite high here, but this palm was not at a depth to reach that water. Established palms I water about once to twice a week depending on the wind conditions and the severity of our winter drought. Newly planted palms I water every day for the first month then taper off to every other day for a couple months. Has worked well for other species, but maybe this one I should have allowed to dry our more between waterings.