trunk splitting

[fiji jim]

Hi All,

I have read that the cause of  trunk splitting in palms is due to too much water.

Here it only happens to older specimens with at least one meter of woody trunk.

Sometimes it has been so bad that the palm will collapse in that section and need removal.

Our victims of this have been Foxtails, Triangles, King and Manila palms.

Pic attached is the latest splitting noticed on foxtail (a very mild case). These plants were only installed a week ago so the defect must have developed while in its nursery bag of 100 litre mix of river loam and compost.

Here in our hot climate it is hard to imagine that one can water too much when palms are elevated from the ground in large containers with a free-draining soil.

Could part of the problem be a lack of certain nutrient that allows the weakness to develop?

Or a combination of soil,water, nutrients causing the weakness?

It would be good to develop a strategy to prevent this as loosing plants after 5 to 10 years of care is really disappointing.

So any ideas  to minimize the occurrence would be great.

Jim

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

looks like disease or a total lack of vigor. not over-watering.

[fiji jim]

Thanks Jerry.

And what disease would that be?

Palms did grow very vigorously and look healthy and robust except for the trunk splits.

We had this in several palms after last years sever cyclone.

All our nursery stock has the same soil mix and watering schedule but the splits only occur in some.

jim

[fiji jim]

needed to give this a bump as still not identified the cause or prevention

any more opinions would be appreciated

thanks, jim

[krisinmexico]

thanks, jim, i look forward to an explanation of this. i have a hard time thinking this is caused by excessive irrigation. i have heard that high winds can do this to evergreens such as fir and pine.

[sur4z]

I have two palms that have had vertical fissures...Dictyosperma album and Dypsis leptocheilos. My research indicates it is water related...not enough and possibly too much. Both trees grew through this condition and have clear wood above the cracks.

[aztropic]

SUNBURN!

Only on 1 side of the trunk ...?  

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona 

[fiji jim]

I have never heard of  sunburn on a trunk.

Also I don't think the high winds were an issue as these were in bags and were all laid down on the approach of the last cyclone.

The palms pictured were only planted a couple of days before the pics were taken.

Still a mystery that I would like to solve to be able to prevent future occurrence.

Thanks All for the input.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Hey Jim,

Were they exposed to any storm surge at all that may have caused salt burn on them, or are they grown close to the water where they may receive a lot of salt spray?

John

 

[fiji jim]

Neither occurred John.

Also I believe that too much salt spray would show in the leaves  first.

[krisinmexico]

is it possible that moisture extremes played a part? very low soil moisture followed by saturation?  some fruits will split under those conditions. tomatoes come to mind. who knows, just spit-balling here.

[fiji jim]

Yes Kris that dose sound possible but I can't recall them ever lacking watering and an extreme amount should have been OK as the soil mix was free draining. I would like to sus this so as to prevent it happening in the future.

thanks, Jim

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

22 hours ago, fiji jim said:

Neither occurred John.

Also I believe that too much salt spray would show in the leaves  first.

Hey Jim,

You are right under normal circumstances.  I just thought that since these were in grow bags and laid down instead of being in the ground with salt spray exposure, that they might have been affected by some more severe salt exposure with the cyclone other than just typical salt spray.

John

[mnorell]

I haven't experienced this problem here in the Florida Keys other than with one species--Roystonea regia. It happened on three specimens in our landscape, all had been in the ground for a few years with about five or six feet of trunk and the splitting accompanied severe white striping on the leaves. This turned out to be a manganese deficiency and application of manganese sulfate took care of it. New leaves were suddenly deep green, fissures stopped developing (though those that formed have not really "healed" though they look better since the trunk is larger now); and after another year or two the root-mass had presumably penetrated down through our oolitic limestone to the freshwater lens, and also outward through layers of mulch/fill/soil, and I assume has by now hooked into the mycelial network with the various fungi that had established in the maturing mulch/soil. Now they grow well with no help whatsoever. So, long story short, try adding manganese sulfate and see if it stops the development of these disfiguring fissures. Not a scientifically proven theory, but I personally don't buy the "too much water" hypothesis. At least it was certainly not the case with our trees.

[Jimhardy]

I was wondering if you maybe went from drought to flooding???

Regardless.....

Palms can lose there elasticity just like  your heart can with too little water.

so,I am wondering if heavy rain after dry cond- may have cause the trunk to spilt

as the moisture is taken up so quickly....this is not uncommon esp after heavy rain-

you see it in Banana plants that drop leaves because they break at the connection

point as the trunk swells, also very common in cactus plants like the large column

cactus- 

[fiji jim]

Thanks guys.

That all makes sense and  we see the splits starting  on some bagged manila and foxtail palms again so we will try the manganese sulfate and see the result.

Any idea of the correct amount to use on a 3 meter tall palm in 100 liter bag of soil?