Areca catechu Dwarf with problems

[PalmatierMeg]

Earlier in the week I noticed my oldest Areca catechu Dwarf on the back lanai was not in good shape. But I was unable to address its issues because I was laid up with crippling migraines that have plagued me since the holidays. And the weather had turned back to January levels. Yesterday afternoon I was able to don a jacket, look at my palm and formulate a plan. The palm hadn't been repotted in 4-5 years and its potting mix looked plain nasty. It was also too wet, as days in the 80s had ended in 2" of rain and a drop of 20 to 30 degrees. I feared root rot, so I wrestled the palm from its large pot and rinsed off all potting mix. But, surprise, the roots were white and healthy. Still, I soaked them in a tub of hydrogen peroxide for 1+ hour. As it was getting dark and colder, I rinsed the roots off, wrapped them in a wet towel, then let the palm spend the night in a bathtub indoors.

This afternoon I dusted the roots with fungus powder, sprayed the poor thing's groady foliage with insecticidal soap to get a jump on pests, then repotted it in fresh, coarse potting mix. I took the following photos of this little guy and hope someone with better eyes than mine can suggest what troubles it. There are rusty brown spots - fungal disease? But the leaves also look tattered and unhealthy and I wonder if I am also dealing with spider mites. Arecas get them and badly. My eyesight is poor and I couldn't tell. I took the following photos. I hope I've gotten to my little palm in time.

Poor, stricken little Areca catechu Dwarf, Cape Coral, FL

Newest leaf looks pristine

 

[Palmaceae]

Hello Meg, 

To me it looks like cold damage. 

I pray your migraines go away, as I know what you are going through. Today is 587 straight days of my migraine, still has not gone away.

 

[GottmitAlex]

3 minutes ago, Palmaceae said:

Hello Meg, 

To me it looks like cold damage. 

I pray your migraines go away, as I know what you are going through. Today is day 587 straight of my migraine, still has not gone away.

 

This.

[NOT A TA]

How nice did it look in the fall? Were the fronds all fully green? Did the frond damage appear over a short period of time? Was it exposed to low 30's temps? Cold & damp? Frost?

I cringe to be the one to mention it but, have you been watching for Lethal Bronzing in your area? I'm colorblind but to me the damage to your catechu looks very similar to leaves on palms here I suspect have Lethal Bronzing. Below are pics of fronds on trees I'm fairly certain have Lethal Bronzing, perhaps others can look at the colors. Note the spotting, cupping of leaflets, pattern of necrosis, newest fronds still look fine, and some affected fronds fold from weakness before they fully brown & fall.

While dwarf Areca catechu isn't listed in the extension service bulletins I'm sure there's lots of susceptible palms that aren't on the list because they don't have a case confirmed by testing.

[Palmaceae]

38 minutes ago, NOT A TA said:

How nice did it look in the fall? Were the fronds all fully green? Did the frond damage appear over a short period of time? Was it exposed to low 30's temps? Cold & damp? Frost?

I cringe to be the one to mention it but, have you been watching for Lethal Bronzing in your area? I'm colorblind but to me the damage to your catechu looks very similar to leaves on palms here I suspect have Lethal Bronzing. Below are pics of fronds on trees I'm fairly certain have Lethal Bronzing, perhaps others can look at the colors. Note the spotting, cupping of leaflets, pattern of necrosis, newest fronds still look fine, and some affected fronds fold from weakness before they fully brown & fall.

While dwarf Areca catechu isn't listed in the extension service bulletins I'm sure there's lots of susceptible palms that aren't on the list because they don't have a case confirmed by testing.

Your coconut palm looks like cold damage also, and potassium deficiency which is normal for winter time. You can see this damage on coconuts when the temps hit the low 40's.

[NOT A TA]

1 hour ago, Palmaceae said:

Your coconut palm looks like cold damage also, and potassium deficiency which is normal for winter time. You can see this damage on coconuts when the temps hit the low 40's.

I do hope Megs case is just cold damage which is why I questioned what she's experienced there.

My coconuts are fine, the ones in the pics are a neighbors. And all of ours saw much lower temps in the 2010 winters than this year. I had cold damage then but nothing like what I'm seeing on the neighbors trees currently.  However, I'm open to the possibility that it could be cold damage related, we did go into upper 40's briefly a couple nights.  EDIT: Thinking about it I haven't even turned the heat on once this year.

There's more to the story on the neighbors palms. Fronds are falling off the neighbors coconuts at a high rate while mine 50' away looks like it normally does at the end of winter with one frond at a time slowly drying up and turning brown. Other neighbors coconuts also look like mine, typical end of winter sorta ratty appearance.  The neighbor with the coconuts that look really bad came over and got me because he hadn't seen them look so bad so fast in over 30 years. I've never been able to just tug the end of a frond a little and have them just pull off the trunk easily along with the infructescense yet the pic below shows what just a gentle pull on each frond resulted in. These pulled off as easily as a dead spear pulls out of a dead seedling. The abscission layer looks "funny" too, ragged looking compared to the smoother look of a normal frond drop. He normally removes lower fronds early before they brown completely. A couple weeks ago the palm in the pic below looked fine. The three fronds under the palm in the background fell overnight before I pulled the ones in the foreground.

I will say I leave a lot of coconuts on the trees during the coldest winter months to help keep the apical meristem warm during cold events should we get one so that may be the just enough of a difference. I've checked with a hand held laser guided thermometer gun and the back side of a coconut clump can be 10-12 F warmer than ambient at 1 AM on a cold night. My coconut palm nearby has probably 3-4 times the number of coconuts on it than the neighbors had.

[PalmatierMeg]

Thanks for the replies. Not lethal bronzing, I'm sure. I'm not certain the Areca genus is on its hit list. Leaves were green last fall but I was concerned they weren't as large as before. I suspect their ratty condition has come on in the last few weeks (we hit 38.7F in Jan.) and in retrospect cold damage makes sense. I spent many days bedridden from pain and vertigo. For the past 3-4 winters lows hadn't fallen below 41F and I was lulled into oblivion. Nothing stays the same and the rumor that dwarf Arecas are hardier than normal ones may be just that. I will have to consult the normal Areca catechu planted down near the canal.

I do admit I delayed repotting my little dwarf far too long and the soil had turned to muck. I just hope I didn't damage too many roots doing so. And it won't be put back on the lanai. 

[Dwarf palmetto]

I also have the dwarf palmetto but mine is planted in the ground I’ve noticed that the entire plant is turning brown.the plant is really struggling and I’m not sure what to do to try and save the plant.