Help! King Palm issue(s)

[Jillian]

Please be gentle, it’s my first request, ha, ha. So a couple of years ago I found someone with a similar problem and they were told that “the white fuzz” on the guys king palm was normal. Well, mine isn’t white close up but it looked like it from the ground. Is this white flies, or mealy bugs?? Don’t suggest soapy water my tress are tall and I need to use a sprayer to take care of this. I’m sad and scared. Thank you. 

[mgmccabe]

Little hard for me to tell from the photos, but it could be some sort of pest. I’d recommend neem oil. I put it is a sprayer attached to my hose and dilute it with water to spray on my palms. By using the hose sprayer you can get to higher places too.  Helps immensely with pests.

[Jillian]

I tried to do as close up as I could. I have attached one more photo of the tree, not just a cut off frond. I did do neem oil, and I followed it up using a Bayer Bio Spray, because my King Palms went from really good all winter to looking seriously sad, very quickly. 

[Silas_Sancona]

To my eye, this looks like the typical " fuzz" you see on Kings.. Infestations of Mealy bugs will  look like cottony blobs when present.. To be safe, you could apply a solution of soapy water, or Neem.. Be careful w/ any oil based product though, it can burn the leaflets if they're exposed to the sun..  Beyond that, Your King looks happy and healthy.
 

[Jillian]

Thank you. The only reason they look good is because I’m too embarrassed to show the bad parts ;)

[Silas_Sancona]

11 minutes ago, Jillian said:

Thank you. The only reason they look good is because I’m too embarrassed to show the bad parts

,  No worries..  A few flaws show character.. Don't think even Plastic plants would look perfect..

[Jan Jo]

17 hours ago, Jillian said:

I tried to do as close up as I could. I have attached one more photo of the tree, not just a cut off frond. I did do neem oil, and I followed it up using a Bayer Bio Spray, because my King Palms went from really good all winter to looking seriously sad, very quickly. 

I'm no expert but I agree that this looks fairly normal for Archontophoenix

[James B]

The fuzz is normal on Archontophoenix. Some just have more than others.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Good question Jillian!  Pretty sure that fuzzy stuff is called tormentum.  Perfectly normal, not sure of its function, I’ve occasionally wondered if it has something to do with waterproofing or aeration while emerging from the crownshaft.  Maybe somebody smarter about it can weigh in on it’s function.   No matter, it’s a really a cool feature that is exemplified on Dypsis leptocheilos, the teddy bear palm, fuzzy fuzzy!

[Jillian]

Thank you very much. I will be looking up the words I do not recognize. I agree that the fuzz is closer to the shaft of the tree and less towards the tips as it opens. I will officially stop worrying. There’s a lot of mis-information on King Palms on the internet so that’s why I’m glad I found this site. Everyone wants to jump about everything and say Pink Rot. We had a couple of cases shortly after purchase and we were able to save both trees in the long run. It was not a death sentence fortunately for the tree. Well off to lookup all the new words I learned today. Thank you everyone!