Deformed spear?

[NorCalKing]

So my Archie has recently started putting out deformed spears the last two times. (See attached a pic)

It's almost like it gets wrinkled within the tree and then when it comes out, there is partial damage to the leaf stem. 

Otherwise the tree looks very healthy and seems to be growing well.

 

One other thing, and I'm not sure if it's related. But for the last couple of months it's been pushing spears extremely quickly and sometimes it'll start to open within the first 10 to 12 inches. Unlike before when the spear would get several inches long before it would start to split. 

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

 

Before anyone ask's for pics, I've tried 15 times but continue to get this (wrong) error message: You are only allowed to upload 8mb. Umm...My file is 1.4MB so clearly something is gone off the rails with the forum software????

 

http://tinypic.com/r/2vn009f/9

http://tinypic.com/r/ogmo9k/9

 

[enigma99]

Looks like cold stress or some other kind of stress to me

[foxtail]

19 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

So my Archie has recently started putting out deformed spears the last two times. (See attached a pic)

It's almost like it gets wrinkled within the tree and then when it comes out, there is partial damage to the leaf stem. 

Otherwise the tree looks very healthy and seems to be growing well.

 

One other thing, and I'm not sure if it's related. But for the last couple of months it's been pushing spears extremely quickly and sometimes it'll start to open within the first 10 to 12 inches. Unlike before when the spear would get several inches long before it would start to split. 

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

 

Before anyone ask's for pics, I've tried 15 times but continue to get this (wrong) error message: You are only allowed to upload 8mb. Umm...My file is 1.4MB so clearly something is gone off the rails with the forum software????

 

http://tinypic.com/r/2vn009f/9

http://tinypic.com/r/ogmo9k/9

 

Can't open the first attachment.

 

[NorCalKing]

Huh, was thinking that, but this is after pushing at least 3-4 appears. You'd think the cold damaged part would have grown out by this point.

[NorCalKing]

1 minute ago, foxtail said:

Can't open the first attachment.

 

I just clicked it (2vn start to file ID) it opened fine for me.

[foxtail]

Edited May 19, 2016 by foxtail

[foxtail]

[NorCalKing]

43 minutes ago, foxtail said:

Hmm...

 

http://tinypic.com/r/2vn009f/9

[Las Palmas Norte]

Insects in the emerging spears?

[NorCalKing]

9 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Insects in the emerging spears?

Could not see any. That was my first thought. If you look at the second pic you can see how uniform the damage is too.

[palmfriend]

17 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Insects in the emerging spears?

That was my thought as well. I have exactly the same pattern at some of my coconut palms.

Its reason is a bug which likes to seat inside the palm but just during the winter. The new spears

don't have it anymore until the next winter.

best regards

 

Edited May 19, 2016 by palmfriend
Misspelling

[NorCalKing]

4 minutes ago, palmfriend said:

That was my thought as well. I have exactly the same pattern at some of my coconut palms.

Its reason is a bug which likes to seat inside the palm but just during the winter. The new spears

don't have it anymore until the next winter.

best regards

 

Maybe I'll keep an eye on it. I thought with all the new growth tis spring it would have already pushed out all of the winter parts, but maybe not.

Thanks everyone.

[el-blanco]

Ive had two Kentias do exactly this.  I treated with a copper based fungicide, and then neem oil treatment once a week FAITHFULLY.  It took about a year but all new emerging spears are looking great again.  I believe it is a fungus or mites.  No science to back it up with but it seems to come on after a cool winter.

Ive had two Rhopolostylus do this as well.  These trees had a mite infection something fierce.  I treated those with Neem Oil as well and no more problems.

Ive been using neem oil on my entire garden and it seems to keep the bugs and fungus in check.  Smells bad but works for me.

Good luck!

Jeff

 

 

 

 

[NorCalKing]

16 minutes ago, el-blanco said:

Ive had two Kentias do exactly this.  I treated with a copper based fungicide, and then neem oil treatment once a week FAITHFULLY.  It took about a year but all new emerging spears are looking great again.  I believe it is a fungus or mites.  No science to back it up with but it seems to come on after a cool winter.

Ive had two Rhopolostylus do this as well.  These trees had a mite infection something fierce.  I treated those with Neem Oil as well and no more problems.

Ive been using neem oil on my entire garden and it seems to keep the bugs and fungus in check.  Smells bad but works for me.

Good luck!

Jeff

 

 

 

 

I'll give that a try. Guess the mites are tough to see.

Edited May 19, 2016 by NorCalKing

[BS Man about Palms]

38 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

I'll give that a try. Guess the mites are tough to see.

A Mite bit, I bet...

[Monòver]

I saw the same damage with 3 different archontophienix in Spain.

One, drought.

One,trasplant

And one for mealy bugs

 

[Danilopez89]

The brown dead parts look like it might have been caused with water... maybe all that rain you got. 

I've also had several palms push out fronds with some wrinkles on them after this winter. I thought I had read on this forum that it could be a boron deficiency to cause such things. 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

+1 it is water that sat over winter and caused the frond to decay. It happens to all varieties of palms every winter in 8B

[NorCalKing]

Hmm, now I'm certainly confused. We did get a ton of rain with the El Nino last winter, but I thought you could not overwater archies? I'm sure it's  not a boron deficiency as i fertilize regularly. It seems to have only started with the last 3 fronds. I bought some neem oil I think I'll spray it this weekend just to be sure.

[Josh-O]

4 hours ago, NorCalKing said:

Hmm, now I'm certainly confused. We did get a ton of rain with the El Nino last winter, but I thought you could not overwater archies? I'm sure it's  not a boron deficiency as i fertilize regularly. It seems to have only started with the last 3 fronds. I bought some neem oil I think I'll spray it this weekend just to be sure.

if you kings are growing in pure clay they can be over watered, YES indeed. 

looks like fungus problem brought on by cold damage?

how cold did you get?

[pigafetta]

Ive recently had the same thing happen on a Kentia.

[Ben in Norcal]

Yes, looks like fungus in the crown.  Usually I get it around here in the summer if I spray water in the crown.  Learned the hard way not to do that.

[NorCalKing]

9 hours ago, Josh-O said:

if you kings are growing in pure clay they can be over watered, YES indeed. 

looks like fungus problem brought on by cold damage?

how cold did you get?

Well I did add a couple of cu. feet of palm/cactus soil to the clay mix. And we got down briefly to 25f for a few hours but warmed back up (winter speaking) mid day. So the new growth looks nice and green (other than the damaged portion) do I still need to treat the fungus, or is this just residual damage from winter, that will grow itself out?

[Josh-O]

3 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

Well I did add a couple of cu. feet of palm/cactus soil to the clay mix. And we got down briefly to 25f for a few hours but warmed back up (winter speaking) mid day. So the new growth looks nice and green (other than the damaged portion) do I still need to treat the fungus, or is this just residual damage from winter, that will grow itself out?

It will grow it self out in no time at all. treating with contact fungicide is always a good idea

[NorCalKing]

Thanks. I'll treat it soon!

[Josh-O]

8 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

Thanks. I'll treat it soon!

sweet

[enigma99]

If you hit close to 25 on this past winter, you might want to find some more elevation  24/25 is around the lower limit of Kings I believe.