PINDO PALM CONCERN

[tonyp709]

I noticed this morning that two of the newest fronds on my Butia Capitata are starting to turn pale. However, the spear in the center is still a healthy green, as well as all of the older fronds. I inspect all of my palms daily, and yesterday these fronds were completely healthy. I have another Butia planted about 10 feet away from this one, which appears to be perfectly fine. This tree was planted about 3 1/2 years ago, and has never given me any problems. Temperatures have been in the upper 90's, and I have been giving the trees moderate water. I live in the Houston, TX area USDA zone 9a. Does anyone have any suggestions on what this might be?

Edited July 25, 2016 by tonyp709

[tonyp709]

My camera is obviously not the best, so here are some more photos in case it helps. I don't think it's bud or root rot; and I hope that it's not the beginning stages of Fusarium Wilt.

[Alicehunter2000]

 that doesn't look good....will defer to the experts....but that doesn't look good at all. Sorry...hope it recovers.

[tonyp709]

7 minutes ago, Alicehunter2000 said:

 that doesn't look good....will defer to the experts....but that doesn't look good at all. Sorry...hope it recovers.

Thanks David... I'm hoping it's not too bad, but it's definitely not a good sign. This one is my favorite of the two because the fronds have more curvature than the other. I'm trying figure out all possible causes before I cause more stress by attempting to resolve the issue incorrectly. 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

The only time i have seen butia do this is during transplant shock brought on by lack of water. Never seen one do this after being in the ground for years. Make sure it is getting plenty of water.

[tonyp709]

18 minutes ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

The only time i have seen butia do this is during transplant shock brought on by lack of water. Never seen one do this after being in the ground for years. Make sure it is getting plenty of water.

Thanks for the advice... I've only been watering via the sprinkler so far this year. I usually use a slow drip system to deep water on occasion as well, but hadn't done so because of all the rain we received during the growing season. I hope that this is the problem and nothing major...

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

The good news is the center spear is not dessicated. Pindos are one of the most resilient palms around, and i am sure it will be fine as long as you keep them watered.  I have had FAR worse looking/damaged butia that i thought was dead for sure come back to life.

[Alicehunter2000]

Maybe air pocket under rootball? Does Houston have gophers or other burrowing varmits? Maybe get a stick and a hose....drench area around rootball and push down with the stick in the wet soil.

[Fusca]

Tony,

I bought a similar sized Butia when I lived in Tomball 4 years ago and had the same issue.  I didn't get any help from the local big box stores or nurseries but I believe it was in my case due to inadequate watering during its first full year in the ground and possibly air pockets.  It started with the newer leaves turning almost white and then the spear also turned the same color.  I'm sure we shared the same soil type and weather.  I thought I had watered it sufficiently with a hose, but I'm sure the palm didn't get as much water as I thought due to run off.  The "experts" at the store where I bought it advised to water the heck out of it but it only got worse.  Then someone else at the store said it was due to fungus, so I bought and applied the fungicide he recommended and I lost it anyway.  I've been using a slow drip on all of my palms ever since.  I hope yours makes it - I think you are responding in time and hopefully you'll get better advice than I got!  Best of luck to you!

Jon

[PalmTreeDude]

Look at this Butia I had in VA. Yeah, this thing was just a trunk after the first year, it had transplant shock, a fungle infection, and the winter with minimal protection did not help. But it is coming back! I believe watering more will help, keep monitoring it, I think it will be fine.

 

Edited July 25, 2016 by PalmTreeDude

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Some time ago we started buying 5g home depot buckets and drilling a 1/16" hole in the corner and bringing them with us while planting the palms.  We sell them as a "poor man drip system" instructing the customers to fill the bucket up every other day to keep the palms watered during the summer.  Since we started doing this our customers no longer have palms that die after we plant them. 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

In areas of texas with more clay the soil will actually shrink so much in the summer that it will sever roots of palms, deciduous trees, etc and damage/kill them if the soil is not properly watered.  There are many homes up here (mainly unoccupied) that incurred major foundation issues during extended droughts when the foundation will crack in half if not properly irrigated.

[Tyrone]

2 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

In areas of texas with more clay the soil will actually shrink so much in the summer that it will sever roots of palms, deciduous trees, etc and damage/kill them if the soil is not properly watered.  There are many homes up here (mainly unoccupied) that incurred major foundation issues during extended droughts when the foundation will crack in half if not properly irrigated.

Wow. I never thought soil could do that but it makes sense. I've got clay soil in areas here that does shrink and crack in summer when unwatered. In a hot arid environment I guess it could be worse and cause major issues with structures etc. Very interesting.

[Pete in Paradise Hills]

11 hours ago, tonyp709 said:

My camera is obviously not the best, so here are some more photos in case it helps. I don't think it's bud or root rot; and I hope that it's not the beginning stages of Fusarium Wilt.

Here in San Diego mine died in the shade. Got plenty of water just rotted, the leaves turning pale before the spear did too. I would treat it now as though it's a fungus...

[sergiskan]

11 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

The good news is the center spear is not dessicated. Pindos are one of the most resilient palms around, and i am sure it will be fine as long as you keep them watered.  I have had FAR worse looking/damaged butia that i thought was dead for sure come back to life.

It's only an opinion, but may be that the spear is still green because is not open, without no sun exposure, bad news, fungus treatment is an option.

[DoomsDave]

On 7/25/2016, 6:37:46, tonyp709 said:

I noticed this morning that two of the newest fronds on my Butia Capitata are starting to turn pale. However, the spear in the center is still a healthy green, as well as all of the older fronds. I inspect all of my palms daily, and yesterday these fronds were completely healthy. I have another Butia planted about 10 feet away from this one, which appears to be perfectly fine. This tree was planted about 3 1/2 years ago, and has never given me any problems. Temperatures have been in the upper 90's, and I have been giving the trees moderate water. I live in the Houston, TX area USDA zone 9a. Does anyone have any suggestions on what this might be?

Hmm. Not good, but not necessarily fatal. It looks a bit like heat wave damage on some of my palms, but that usually just extends out from the ends, not all the way to the base of the frond.

On the other hand, I've had palms do that, and they were okay, just grew, and cut out the dead leaves.

Do the "Rock me test": nudge plant with your toe, or rock it (gently) and see if it's still tight in the ground. Push up against where the spears are coming out in the center. If it feels solid all round, you're okay for now.

Butias are tough. Like whiskey-drinking Marine nails.

But it won't hurt to souse the center with some peroxide, straight from the bottle. If it foams or bubbles, you might have a fungus, in which case, treat again over a few days.

Keep us apprized!

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I stand behind my original diagnosis. Please see the attached picture of butia odorata that was moved up to a larger container, but then suffered a irrigation malfunction that prevented watering for an extended period of time. I have also had this occur with smaller potted butia that suffered the same lack of water. This picture was taken today and the palm continued to regrow earlier this month and is alive. This is not a fungus issue as others have alluded to in previous posts and is solely brought on by a lack of water.

[DoomsDave]

One of my Butes did that too, for the same reason.

The nudge-Rock tests were meant to see if there's anything rotting in there.

Still, won't hurt to give peroxide prophylaxis.

Whatever happens, let us know. We want our palm friends to succeed! (At growing palms.)

 

[tonyp709]

Thanks everyone for all of your expertise and encouragement. I've literally taken everyone's advise, ie slow drip deep watering with a 30 gal tub, and treating as a fungus. I even poured some peroxide down the spear lol! Desperate times calls for desperate measures. :-) I've since cut the two fronds that were originally discolored, and a third frond, as well as the spear, has also turn pale. Like I stated in the original post, the palm has been in the ground for about a little over 3 1/2 years, so I don't think that this is a result of air pockets. However, I could be wrong. We've had a pretty mild winter this past year, which was probably the warmest that I've experience since I moved to the Houston area over 16 years ago. Therefore, I don't think that it's cold damage either. However, we have gotten a ton of rain this year, and I have been watering the lawn with a rainbow sprinkler; which leaves me to believe that this issue could possibly be caused by Phytophthora palmivora bud rot. I've been doing a lot of research, and found that this disease is typically caused by excessive rain, and irrigation over the crown in warm areas. The newest leaves along with the spear are typically the first to go, which is certainly what I'm experiencing. I admit, I'm a bit of an hypochondriac when it comes to the health of my palms so hopefully I'm wrong. Either way, I am going to continue to deep water the palm, and drench it with anti fungicide. The good news is that the spear didn't come out after tugging pretty hard on it, so I'm hoping that I have caught the issue in enough time to save my Butia. I'll keep you all posted, and thanks again.

Here are some more pics that I took this morning.

[tonyp709]

Here are a couple of close ups that I took of the spear, which shows some form of rot. The dark blue mark on the spear seen in the top picture is from a marker that used in order to track new growth.

Edited August 22, 2016 by tonyp709

[DoomsDave]

Give it a little Madonna Juice (hydrogen peroxide) down the top.

Let us know.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Your butia will be fine, just keep watering it.  With that much green still present it will restart growing and push all of that dead spear mess out in a few months.  I have had a lot of butia that came back from worse.   If you have already poured peroxide down that hole stop adding it and allow it dry up.

[DoomsDave]

Texas Cold Hardy's advice trumps mine!

Good luck.