Fusarium Wilt is killing everything

[Rd003]

This is pretty sad but a good few of the Queens and half of the Washies in my neighborhood have met their demise to that pesky Fusarium oxysporum var. palmarum . I live in a cul-de-sac, with three Queens in the middle (with Roebeleniis below). One Queen is fat and happy, one has Mn deficiency, but it used to be the fattest queen palm( like the pendulous ones), and I just noticed one of the other palm's leaves look like it had textbook fusarium . What should I do, and how can I tell it's not rachis blight, which one of my queens had(it's fine now) Honestly I've wanted to contact the HOA because they're leaving all the dead palms and it's gonna kill all of them, most of my neighborhood has the run of the mill queens, washies, Pygmy dates, a few triangles, lots of coconuts, and solitaire palms

[Sandy Loam]

Oh no!  This is a homeowner's worst nightmare.

I thought I had read somewhere that the type of fusarium that kills washingtonias is not the same as that which kills queen palms, aka. Syagrus Romanzoffiana. Perhaps I am confusing the fusarium which kills Canary Island Date Palms.  In my own neighbourhood (northeastern/north-central Florida), lots of washingtonia robustas have been killed by fusarium and at least one nearby Canary Island Date Palm. However, the Queen Palms have not been affected.  Is this odd?

You said that your subdivision has a lot of pygmy date palms, triangle palms, coconut palms and solitaire palms (you mean ptychosperma elegans?).  I am no expert, but I was under the impression that none of those are affected by fusarium, except for possibly the pygmy date palms (because CIDP and phoenix sylvestris are affected by fusarium wilt).

Sorry, I wish I had good advice on what to do other than remove the dead/dying palms. Hopefully someone else on PalmTalk can advise you appropriately.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

4 hours ago, Rd003 said:

This is pretty sad but a good few of the Queens and half of the Washies in my neighborhood have met their demise to that pesky Fusarium oxysporum var. palmarum . I live in a cul-de-sac, with three Queens in the middle (with Roebeleniis below). One Queen is fat and happy, one has Mn deficiency, but it used to be the fattest queen palm( like the pendulous ones), and I just noticed one of the other palm's leaves look like it had textbook fusarium . What should I do, and how can I tell it's not rachis blight, which one of my queens had(it's fine now) Honestly I've wanted to contact the HOA because they're leaving all the dead palms and it's gonna kill all of them, most of my neighborhood has the run of the mill queens, washies, Pygmy dates, a few triangles, lots of coconuts, and solitaire palms

There is nothing you can do except plant palms that are not susceptible to Fusarium (and while you’re at it, TPPD too). Livistona are good substitutes for Washingtonia and Sabal.  Livistona decora (Ribbon palm) are good subs for Queens.  Try the Beccariophoenix genus as replacement for the Phoenix and Queen palms.  If coconuts are hardy in your neighborhood  you have dozens of species to work with.  Have a speaker come to a HOA meeting some time and present alternatives, many are far prettier than Queen’s and Washies anyway.  

[Rd003]

I'm curious if S.sancona, pseudococos, or botryophora can get fusarium?? Anywho, my rupicola is pretty much dead, (I have a feeling it was ttpd) but I didn't water it too much either so :/ . My Easter lilies didn't bloom now (of course not) but they are really big now. I got them flowered last year , chopped them in Oct, and the bulbs all came back  

 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Sorry but not surprised to hear this. I lost all my 10+ queens, 2 mules and my 35' Washy to wilt several years ago. So far, none of my other Syagrus species have gotten it. The wilt is incurable and kills palms within a few weeks of first symptoms. Once one palm is infected the rest are ultimately doomed. Replace/destroy them. 

The classic symptom of wilt is fronds die first on one side, then the other, so you see fronds that are 1/2 healthy green and 1/2 yellow & brown. See photo of one of my queen fronds below.

[Matthew92]

When I went to Orlando this March, I saw quite a few random brown queen or Washingtonias that looked to have died very suddenly- I think fusarium. I think they are having some problems with this even at Disney World. Most notably at the famous main welcome to Disney World entrance. There is/was a grouping of Washingtonia robusta on the right side. One of them suddenly died several years ago, and each time I go back there every one to 2 years, another one is missing. I'm surprised they haven't taken that whole clump out, because when I went this past March, I think only like a couple were still there.

Here's a queen at the Shades of Green golf course that looks to have succumbed.

[kinzyjr]

10 hours ago, Opal92 said:

When I went to Orlando this March, I saw quite a few random brown queen or Washingtonias that looked to have died very suddenly- I think fusarium. I think they are having some problems with this even at Disney World. Most notably at the famous main welcome to Disney World entrance. There is/was a grouping of Washingtonia robusta on the right side. One of them suddenly died several years ago, and each time I go back there every one to 2 years, another one is missing. I'm surprised they haven't taken that whole clump out, because when I went this past March, I think only like a couple were still there.

Here's a queen at the Shades of Green golf course that looks to have succumbed.

In Lakeland, I think most of our CIDP and phoenix dactylifera in parks and medians are gone.  I see a lot of dying washingtonias and syagrus romanzoffiana as well.  My personal collection is healthy, thankfully.  My first memories of Lakeland from the first time I came here was all of the phoenix dactylifera lining US-98 and South Florida Avenue.  Almost every date palm on US-98 is gone now.  Sad...

[Palmsbro]

22 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

In Lakeland, I think most of our CIDP and phoenix dactylifera in parks and medians are gone.  I see a lot of dying washingtonias and syagrus romanzoffiana as well.  My personal collection is healthy, thankfully.  My first memories of Lakeland from the first time I came here was all of the phoenix dactylifera lining US-98 and South Florida Avenue.  Almost every date palm on US-98 is gone now.  Sad...

That's bad news for my area. I see a few cases around town of this awful plant disease, which appears to mainly target Sabals and Phoenix palms for now (every single affected palm is dead, and this disease appears to kill palms quickly [sad, the number]). An epidemic of this would be horrible.

[Palmsbro]

I hope this doesn't spread through the soil like Ganoderma rot does.

[Sandy Loam]

I just saw this article summary online (2017):

https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/full/10.1094/PDIS-08-16-1099-PDN

It discusses the new scientific evidence of Fusarium speading to the mule palm, a fourth affected species.

[PalmatierMeg]

41 minutes ago, Sandy Loam said:

I just saw this article summary online (2017):

https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/full/10.1094/PDIS-08-16-1099-PDN

It discusses the new scientific evidence of Fusarium speading to the mule palm, a fourth affected species.

I got all the evidence I needed when wilt killed off both my mules. A real shame because they are superior to plain queens.

[Dave-Vero]

In the Vero Beach and Fort Pierce area, Syagrus romanzoffiana are dying off (a big, healthy one, just recently at Heathcote Botanical Gardens) and date palms are starting to go.  I don't think I'm seeing as many losses among the Washingtonias.  Bismarckias are turning out to be far from trouble-free; not just beetles.

[IHB1979]

I usually see about 3-4 queens in my neighborhood die each year, also had a large Bismarkia several houses down pass this year.