Something is eating my Sabal Palm!

[redogsc]

First post, so first of all, thanks for letting me join the forum!

So a week or so ago, I noticed that one of my palmetto trees was dropping a boot or two from the bottom of the tree.  When I removed it, I found a good bit of rot and damage under that area.  I removed a few more boots, washed the tree off with a hose, and let it dry out.  Then yesterday I cleaned everything up a little more.  It's pretty apparent that something has been eating my tree!

As a side note, a holly bush had sprouted behind one of the removed boots, and had established quite a root system in the dirt and debris.  The top of the tree looks pretty normal.  Maybe a bit more yellowing on the lower leaf tips than the one beside it, but not too bad. 

I would appreciate any advice on what I need to do to help my tree survive.

It's hard to see in the picture, but there were small black ants that moved very rapidly scurrying in and out of these holes with something white in their mouth.

Holly bush that sprouted under one of the boots.

 

Thanks!  

Heath

[8B palms]

The ants where probably carrying larvae that got exposed when you removed the boots to protect them.  There also looks like a chrysalis of something in there, not sure what that might be. I suspect most of the damage was the holly sapling probing around with its roots.  I am sure there are people on the forum with more knowledge who am sure will have a suggestions/solutions.  Hopefully you have resolved the issue.

[redogsc]

Thank you for your answer 8B palms.  I've read some articles online saying that it's bad to remove the boots, suggesting that some people even pour dirt in them and plant flowers and ivy etc.  Some of the information said that the boots help the tree absorb water and survive drought conditions.  In this case, it seems that the boots helped the tree harbor insects and promote rot.

Is there a general consensus on if it's better to remove the boots, or leave them there?

Edited June 10, 2020 by redogsc

[8B palms]

Hi Heath,

I am relatively recent into the world of palms, I will defer that question to someone with more knowledge than me, it is probably like discussing palm fertilizer types, people have opinions all over the place as to what is best.  Sometimes it simply comes down to the aesthetics simply neat and tidy, Washingtonia's to trim or leave the skirt for wildlife. what do other people think regarding old boot straps?

Craig

[Merlyn]

Personally I remove old boots.  I have a Livistona Chinensis with about 2 feet of trunk, and a mass of carpenter ants was trying to make a nest in the old boots and debris.  Even through they aren't "wood destroying insects" officially (because they don't eat wood like termites) they do burrow holes in dead wood and will demolish a house if you leave them alone.  In this case they were burrowing into the old boot and may have gone into the trunk next.  So I remove any loose boots to make sure there's no bug attracting debris and water that they'd like to live in.

Overall it's personal preference to keep or remove old boots.  But termites do like to live in old palm trunks too.  If you have closeup photos of your "ants" you may discover that they are actually termites.  The body shape is different, but from a distance they look and move the same.

[redogsc]

Does anyone know if Palmetto Weevils have made it this far north?  I see some mention of them being in the coastal areas of SC, but I'm located in the middle of the state.  The chrysalis I posted are in a hole in the base of the boot.  I've seen a few of them, but haven't seen what hatched out of them yet.

[Joe NC]

1 hour ago, redogsc said:

Does anyone know if Palmetto Weevils have made it this far north?  I see some mention of them being in the coastal areas of SC, but I'm located in the middle of the state.  The chrysalis I posted are in a hole in the base of the boot.  I've seen a few of them, but haven't seen what hatched out of them yet.

I found one in southern NC, so beyond what is typically listed as their range.

 

[redogsc]

5 hours ago, Joe NC said:

I found one in southern NC, so beyond what is typically listed as their range.

 

So is your palm still alive?  Did you treat it with anything?

[redogsc]

Sorry for the duplicate post - not trying to be impatient.  I thought I was having an issue posting it on my phone, and posted the second one from my computer, not realizing the first one apparently went through.

[Joe NC]

On 6/10/2020 at 4:57 PM, redogsc said:

So is your palm still alive?  Did you treat it with anything?

Alive and looks happy.  I hadn't noticed any issues with the palm, but I just happened to see a big old weevil rooting around in the crown.

I did spray some sort of systemic insecticide down in the crown as a preventative (even as much as I hate using pesticide for no reason, I wasn't taking a chance).  I don't know if the weevil came from my palm, or was just looking for a nice place to lay some eggs.   

[redogsc]

I'm back!  So I paid an Arborist to come look at the tree, and he didn't think anything major was going on - which is good news.  I still have boots falling off, so I decided to remove some, and found some living grubs or larvae or caterpillars in the boot areas like where I found some evidence of them in the other boots.  Does anyone here know what these are?  My guess from looking at Google is maybe Sawflies?  The good news is that Palmetto Weevil larvae appear to be all white, so if I can rule them out for sure, that would be awesome.

 

[Stevetoad]

You got some kind of insect living in there. 
maybe try to keep the pupa and see what it turns into.