Triangle palm oozing slime

[fiji jim]

Hi All,

This Dypsis decaryi has grown well for 7 to 8 years with no problems until developing a soft spot that is excreting slime.

Any opinions and help to cure this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Jim

[fiji jim]

The area affected is about 1 inch wide by 3 to 4 inches across. That’s about 10 by 3 centimetres.

I can push my finger in about a half inch only and it will squeeze out some slimy juice.

It was perfectly happy until the last couple of weeks and this slime keeps coming out of her.

[fiji jim]

Last year it flowered several times and produced many seeds a few months back. Here is a look at the shrivelling flower on the healthy looking side.

[fiji jim]

Here’s a pic of the palm in January. Now the lower half of the leaves has browned off but the newest growth still looks ok.

[chris.oz]

Here’s a pic of the palm in January. Now the lower half of the leaves has browned off but the newest growth still looks ok.

Hi Jim,

D. decaryi is not perfectly suited to some parts of Fiji. They like it on the dry side, with assured soil moisture of course and they grow best on a slope. I have seen quite a few sickly ones around Nadi and very sickly ones in equatorial regions.

Good luck with your one it looks like quite a good specimen and is well worth trying to cure it..

[fiji jim]

Hi Chris,

I don't think that this is a case of unsuitability as the palm has grown very well until now with no problems.

Also it is in a very well-drained location and this year, specially the last few months have been drier than usual

So for it to develop a problem now due to wetness is not possible.

This problem can't be from unsuitable climatic conditions. We have many triangle palms growing around here and all doing fine if they have sun and drainage.

So if there are no suggestions I will just clean it off and wash with some H2O2 for lack of any other guidance.

Also Chris, where around Nadi did you see any triangle palms ? There are very few in all of Fiji and most were propagated by myself as no one else is importing seed.

Thanks,

Jim

[Moose]

Jim - I suspect you may have a borer in your trunk. A systemic pesticide would be needed to prevent further damage or decline. I do not suspect a fungus as the cause since a mechanical damage is not apparent on the trunk. You may now have a fungus or bacterial situation because of the slime excretments. This would be a secondary malady and not the orginal cause. It would not hurt to treat for both as a precaution in my opinion.

Your palm does not look tall enough for lightning being the cause. It would have had a rapid decline as well.

I am no expert, just an opinion from a fellow palm-a-holic.

[Kostas]

I am sorry to hear that Jim

I dont know if that is this,but i know a fungus that causes palm trunk oozing of blackish,rubbery substance,this fungus is spreading inside the trunk killing among others,the vascular tissues and eventually the palm dies...There was a topic here about a plant pathologist's talk in Hawai and there was a video showing all palm diseases present on the island. At the fungus caused diseases,this disease was thoroughly explained,what causes it,how to id it and how to treat. Its not easily treatable unfortunately and from what i remember he said that the palm would need fungicide injections every few months for all its life if it is to survive...

However,the oozing liquide seems light colored in your palm so it could be something else,possibly easier to treat.

Wish you the best for your palm!

[gavilan1]

I lost a triangle recently (about a year or two ago) that snapped at the trunk during Santa Ana winds. In investigating what caused the trunk to split, I posted here in search of suggestions and theories. However, I came to believe that the local gardener, who had removed some leaf bases to expose the trunk, had actually sliced a few millimeters into the trunk. I didn't think of it at the time, but I remember seeing clear liquid oozing from the spots where leaf bases used to be, but I thought that the trunk had just been wet by a hose or sprinkler. Turns out that the liquid oozing down the trunk was the equivalent of tree sap (someone help me here with the botanically correct term) and my 12' tall or so triangle was "bleeding" to death. Wasn't long after that that the open fronds started to show slight decline, even though four new spears were up. Then the wind came, and blew it down. The inner tissue was mush by then. Check your trunk for insect bore holes, as previously suggested, razor cuts, or other damage to the outer "skin" of the trunk. Spray it, and plug it to stop the oozing, and cross your fingers. Just my 2 cents. Good luck...

[fiji jim]

Thanks again to everybody for the input.

Now looking like it’s a one-way street to death.

I researched some and also viewed the lecture by Dr. Scot Nelson, Plant Pathologist of the University of Hawaii.

He showed examples of healthy mature triangle palms dying off. They seem to be in a similar climate to here and he suggested that perhaps the boots of the leaves trap water and hold it between themselves and the trunk and thus the rot starts.

On closer inspection it appears that the folds of these boots or leaf bases are overlapping very tightly until the palm starts to push out flower spathe and then the gap opens allowing water to enter but also being trapped.

Now if that is the case I expected to find water in mine but after inspecting all round I found those areas to be empty of water. But this has now been a few months of low rainfall so perhaps the rot developed last wet season.

So it is somewhat of a quandary as what to do. If one removes the old leaf bases you risk damage to the trunk and allow the possibility of rot or infection to develop (which is also a possibility in our case). Otherwise perhaps there is another way to approach the problem.

We have another tri of the same age that also flowered this year and it looks fine. It was one that I had posted pictures of its splitting trunk a couple of years back. The split did not progress or excrete anything and looks the same and the palm seems healthy today.

Anyway it seems to be that it is time for autopsy by chainsaw.

I bet the heart is rotten.

Now it is like this.

Jim

[fiji jim]

Check out the crown.

[fiji jim]

And this shows the gap made when the spadix pushes out.

We have cut off the old flowering stalk on this one.

[DoomsDave]

OUCH!

Jim, that sucks, things look bad, alas.

You may have to grow other Dypsis, and leave the triangles to drier climes . . . . . . Sorry to see!

[epicure3]

Sorry to see it go. Good news is you've had plenty of time to enjoy its beauty. It was a gorgeous specimen. Now, you'll have to settle for one of those common Pelagodoxa H. or a Sealing Wax palm.

[fiji jim]

Thanks Dave and John,

Good advice but seeing as we have dozens of triangles in our nursery stock and some 8 ft +; I will be stubborn and plant another.

Jim

[DoomsDave]

Thanks Dave and John,

Good advice but seeing as we have dozens of triangles in our nursery stock and some 8 ft +; I will be stubborn and plant another.

Jim

That's the spirit!

And, if you can, be a stubborn sleuth and try figure out what the problem is.

It would help all of us.

Are we free of rot here in the Land O'La La?

Don't ask

[Jeff Searle]

Jim - I suspect you may have a borer in your trunk. A systemic pesticide would be needed to prevent further damage or decline. I do not suspect a fungus as the cause since a mechanical damage is not apparent on the trunk. You may now have a fungus or bacterial situation because of the slime excretments. This would be a secondary malady and not the orginal cause. It would not hurt to treat for both as a precaution in my opinion.

Your palm does not look tall enough for lightning being the cause. It would have had a rapid decline as well.

I am no expert, just an opinion from a fellow palm-a-holic.

Jim,

I totally agree with Ron's thoughts. I would almost bet my nursery on it. If this problem shows up again, by all means treat the spot with an insecticide.

Jeff