Boron Deficiency or Something More?

[Leepoffaith]

I have a 5 stem Sylvester Palm that is showing signs similar to Boron deficiency, but also some of the fawns are rotting at the base and falling out. Attached you will see some pictures of the tree approximately 3 weeks ago. Normally each palm has a nice high middle stem, but now the middle stem is short and all the leaves are opening very early at all scrunched up. I thought, at first, this was boron deficiency so I treated the palm with 4 oz of Borax mixed with 5 gallons of water. As of today those crumbled leaves are looking much taller and the whole palm seems to be doing better, with one exception.  I have about 4 leaves that are dead and pulled right out of the tree. I attached a picture of the base of the stem. It's a white substance that kinda looks like mold, but also looks kinda like an aphid colony. Does anyone have any suggestions on what is going on here and how to treat it? Also, some of the stems have died off half way up the stem, but the rest of the leaf is fine. Before this, this tree was extremely healthy and I've had it for about 3 years.  Thanks!

[Frond of Palms]

Hello,

 

 I gather you have a tight group of five Silver Dates…Are all five affected with the same problem or just one? I have one that had a very similar issue at the beginning of the growing season last year…except the emerging spear (stem) began to lean over, and as it grew out it revealed a constricted growth very much in appearance to what you have posted. I did some online research to determine the condition and I came to the conclusion it may be a Boron deficiency as well…and being a newbie I tried one of my hair brain ideas to add Boron by throwing about five hand full’s of Borax based powder soap around the base of the trunk and watered it in. (I am not recommending that anyone do this) I disabled the sprinkler head (irrigation nozzle) that is next to the palm to reduce water because a point made was that Boron deficiency can be caused by over watering. It appears your image of the pulled frond that is covered in fungus may be results of over watering…are these plants next to a sprinkler head?

[Leepoffaith]

Yes, it is 5 Silver Date Palms, one in the middle and 4 around it. I purchased it this way, but I guess there is a grower in South Florida that does this to them. I read on how to apply the Boron properly and they seem much happier now after applying that, but still have the odd fungus which worries me. There several sprinkler heads by this palm since it is in my lawn. I could try to rearrange the sprinklers, but the odd thing is I have never had this before. It seems like the main stem on all of them is still good so whatever I'm doing is working.I also purchase Banrot fungicide which I will be applying to it. I also have 2 other Silver Date Hybrids that are much large then these. One of them is showing similar sgns to this one and the other one I'm having issues with yellowing. I already had to replace one of them due to TPPD. I swear, my yard is a haven for diseases!! 

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Leep, that isn't boron deficiency.  Its bud rot.  Maybe a result of heavy summer rain & more irrigation water than it needs (st augustine grass underneath?)  Try putting hydrogen peroxide down the bud.  If its an opportunistic fungus run amok due to lots of water, the peroxide might do the trick.  If its Phytophthora bud rot, probably not.  Thats usually lethal.  But, I suspect its something less awful.

Riverview is in the epicenter of TPPD, so you might consider planting something in a different genus.  Stay away from Queens, Phoenix, and Sabal palmetto.  You can probably grow Royals and, at least for now, they don't seem to be suffering from some pandemic disease like many of the other common palm species.  The whole genus Livistona seems to be thriving too.  

[Leepoffaith]

Keith,

Thank you for your input!! I'm hoping that the fungus is a minor nuisance and not a death sentence. I did the hydrogen peroxide a week or so ago as well and it seems to be clearing things up pretty well. I think these stems were dead before then. We did get a run of rain about a month ago for what seemed to be two weeks straight. That could be it.

As for TPPD, I know it all too well. It killed a beautiful Sylvester Hybrid palm I had behind my pool about a year ago. It was one of two matching palms I had there. I had it replaced with a similar palm, which is currently showing similar signs of the fungus as well. Also, now the other palm is showing some odd signs of yellowing as well. I don't think it's TPPD as we had started to immunize both trees regularly about a year ago, but something is really hurting it. I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't have to have it removed in the next year too. I consider myself to be a fairly diligent person when it comes to taking care of my trees. I fertilize once a quarter with 8-2-12 fertilizer with micronutrients and we immunize each of the trees every 3 months as well. Both hybrid palms were in our yard for 5 years and doing great. Then all of a sudden this disease comes around and starts reeking havok.

I LOVE the way royal palms look, but we do get a freeze here and there. Last year we had 1 night get below 32 and it really stunted our Triangle Palms. They are just now starting to grow at the same pace as they were before the freeze. Are Royal's cold tolerant? Any other suggestions of cold tolerant palms? The Sylvesters are just so perfect. They are a big beautiful palm that is just awe inspiring when grown well. I'm not sure if I can find anything to match that look. We also have a few Bismarks in the yard. The one that is 7 years old is gorgeous so I'm thinking of going that route too. Also, I've been reading about Mule Palms. Any experience with those?

[Leepoffaith]

Here is an updated picture of the middle stem of the 5 stem palm. The center stalks and began to grow very quickly. This was 2-3 weeks after the boron treatment and a week or two after I had treated it with the hydrogen peroxide.

I also included pictures of the larger tree showing similar symptoms. We had this tree planted last June and we have been having problems ever since. We had, what I thought was broken stems from the rope that tied up the leaves being too tight, but now I wonder if it wasn't something else. As you can see, the new growth is smaller and some of it has this black sooty stuff on the stem which causes it to flop over, but still stay alive. Yesterday I also treated this palm with Boron at the same time as the other and I just started putting the peroxide on it yesterday. It's really hard to get up and to the top of the palm so I just did the best I can. This is so frustrating since I really work hard to keep my landscape looking really nice. :-/

[Leepoffaith]

Well, the good news is that the 5 stem sylvester is doing great!! I'm not sure if it was the peroxide or the boron or maybe a combo of the two, but it's growing like crazy!! Over the past two weeks the center trunk has grown a significant amount and the 4 other trunks have also started to recover. I BELIEVE it was some type of fungus and plan on rerouting the sprinkler heads to help prevent this in the future.

The larger, single trunk sylvester palm is doing OK. It hasn't recovered nearly as quickly, but it is definitely still growing. I'm keeping my eye on it, but I think it's going to be OK as well.  As for the last single trunk sylvester, well the jury is still out. It continues to yellow and die from the oldest leaves and up, but it's doing so extremely slowly. My last tree that had TPPD completely died within three months. The yellowing on this palm has been happening since March. It has some of the black mold on it as well, so I treated it with the peroxide as well. Only time will tell with that palm, but I'm putting my money on it dying within the next 6 months. I'll be staying away from the phoenix group of palms from now on. They are absolutely beautiful, but it's nearly impossible to keep them healthy. I have two bismark palms that are growing extremely well so maybe I'll replace it with that. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Response to the boron application will be super slow, I suspect.  It takes months for the deficiency to express, and months to correct.  Just be careful as it makes an effective herbicide too.  

We have Royal palms in Winter Haven that were planted before the recent cold winters of 09-10 and 10-11.  They are good into the high 20's, assuming it's brief.  They will recover from even lower temps, but won't grow where they defoliate every year.  So a Royal might freeze in the next 90 days or it might live for years before anything cold enough to kill it comes along.  They don't get TPPD, or fusarium wilt and they thrive in mucky soil, and survive in most other types too.  If there are areca palms, Pygmy dates, and fox tails, a Royal has a good chance.  Get one with gray wood if at all possible.  They are more tender as youngsters.  

Also try the Livistona genus.  Many are rugged, fast growing palms with nice foliage.