Identify and Diagnose this palm

[Mike Z]

Hello all,

I recently bought a home in Central Florida with a palm tree in the backyard.  I'd like to know what kind of palm it is, and would also like this community's opinion on the state of its health.  To me it looks rather sickly.  All of its leaves are a faded green and it looks like its been poorly maintained in its past.  

I want to get this guy back to good health.  Any advice is appreciated!  I'm new to palm trees (and landscaping in general) so I'm here to learn.

[redant]

Triangle palm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dypsis_decaryi   they are usually pretty easy, looks like severe nutritional deficiency.  Hit it up with a good palm fertilizer for a couple of months andit should snap back.

[kinzyjr]

@Mike Z Welcome to the forums and Central Florida!

[NickJames]

Correctly identified above, I think they can get potassium deficiency in particular?

 

I have one. It gets palm gain and palm helper spikes. 

[Mike Z]

Thanks all! Glad it seems to just be a deficiency.  I've ordered Jobe's outdoor spikes (10-5-10) which I plan on applying twice a year.

[Gonzer]

Something's been munching on the fronds before they fully emerge. That's what needs to be addressed first.

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, Mike Z said:

 

 

45 minutes ago, Gonzer said:

Something's been munching on the fronds before they fully emerge. That's what needs to be addressed first.

My friend is correct, as you can see in the emerging fronds in the above photo, you have a "muncher".  Relative to color Dypsis decaryi which is commonly called a Triangle Palm will normally have grey/green leaflets.  I don't live in Florida to be familiar with the typical pests which could be chomping on the newly emerging leaflets, so will let someone more familiar with your local pests address the issue.  I've experienced some issues with grasshoppers over the years doing some damage, but only on a couple of spears before they split, with much less damage than you have experienced..  It may require getting up on a ladder to see if there are any obvious infestations in the crown where the leaves emerge.  Using an insecticide or fungicide in the crown might be the answer, but it really depends on what you find (as well as the correct insecticide for the specific infestation causing the problem.).

You can see the normal color of Dypsis decaryi pictured below, younger than yours it still hasn't shed leaf bases and started forming a "clean" trunk.

[NickJames]

Mike...do you have lubbers in your yard? I kill about five a day and yes, they even eat palms as I discovered. I have discovered them several times on my d. Decaryi but killed them before they made it to the new growth. 

[redant]

I have grown lots of triangles in FL, Never had anything munch on the fronds and we have tons of lubbers around. I'm sticking with totally deformed fronds.

[Mike Z]

1 hour ago, NickJames said:

Mike...do you have lubbers in your yard? I kill about five a day and yes, they even eat palms as I discovered. I have discovered them several times on my d. Decaryi but killed them before they made it to the new growth. 

I've lived here a few months now and have never seen lubbers in the yard.

I got up on a ladder and didn't see any obvious frond-munchers, but I did pull back the old dead blades (I learned they are called petioles) and found a few different insects.  There were lots of black ants, some tiny roach-looking dudes (about a quarter inch long), and another bug I couldn't identify.  Hopefully the pics come out well:

 

 

It's raining hard now so tomorrow morning I will be removing all the old dead petioles (they were coming off easily).  That seems to be where all the insects are nesting.  I will also remove all the fruit because I read they attract pests and waste nutrients.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Mike Z

[awkonradi]

You've noticed this palm grows fronds in three groups.  Hence the name triangle palm.  Are the one or two groups nearest the power lines the most damaged?  Any chance there could have been some electrical arcing between the power lines and the palm during a wind storm?

[Merlyn]

Dypsis Decaryi can look either greenish or silver-grey, depending on how much sun they get and the plant's genetics.  Sort of how some Bismarck palms are strikingly silver-blue and some are very green.  Yours looks like a fairly silver-grey type, just with some nutrient deficiencies.  I marked up one of your photos below with some notes.  My guess is that you have a Potassium, Magnesium, Manganese and Boron deficiency.  Symptoms are kind of similar between them, and it's common to see deficiencies in Floriduh palms.  It's most obvious on the old fronds, for example Potassium deficiencies usually start with translucent yellow/orange dead spots on the oldest fronds near the tips first, but can also cause leaf tips to become curled or frizzled.  Magnesium is yellow linear bands transitioning to solid green near the base of the leaf, but never causes lip necrosis.  Manganese causes similar lengthwise dead streaks in leaves but also causes dead and curled leaf tips.  Boron I think is one of your major issues, with fronds not fully opening (see upper right) and distorted leaf shapes.

Here's a primer on palm deficiencies in FL.  Repeated applications of a fertilizer with palm micronutrients (Magnesium, Manganese, Iron, Boron) will help a lot.  Lowe's Sunniland Palm, Home Depot Vigoro Palm or Lesco Palm are good choices for generic palm fertilizers.  Osmocote or Nutricote are much better but more expensive, Jobe's is super expensive and not a good value.  A ratio around 3:1:3 NPK is reasonable, just don't use fast release generic 10:10:10.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/EP/EP27300.pdf

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep261

[Mike Z]

Lots of great info here, thanks everyone.  Here are the stats of the fertilizer I bought yesterday.  It's Jobe's spikes, $13 and had great Amazon reviews, but who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It includes everything @Merlyn2220 mentioned, besides boron.  I agree the tree seems to be showing symptoms of boron deficiency as well.  Maybe later in the September/October timeframe I will apply a different product that includes boron.

[kinzyjr]

@Mike Z You'll get a lot of recommendations for fertilizer to correct nutritional deficiencies.  I don't use a lot of fertilizers.  When I know I have a plant that is prone to nutritional deficiencies, a good base fertilizer to start with here in Florida is Florikan .  Me and @sonoranfans get ours from the Big Earth stores in our respective areas.

You can see a list of places where it is available here: https://www.florikan.com/distributors

Partial quote from sonoranfans perfectly summarizing why it's what I prefer to use:

I use florikan palm special from big earth on us 301 in palmetto.  Its controlled release, only delivers when wet and warm and even then its osmotic delivery so it cant wash away in rainstorms. 

[Merlyn]

28 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

@Mike Z You'll get a lot of recommendations for fertilizer to correct nutritional deficiencies.  I don't use a lot of fertilizers.  When I know I have a plant that is prone to nutritional deficiencies, a good base fertilizer to start with here in Florida is Florikan .

Florikan is the one I couldn't remember, thanks @kinzyjr!  Significant deficiencies can take months or years to correct, so if you can figure out what the major issues are this summer, then next year's new leaves should look really nice.  In your case it might just be "this palm hasn't seen fertilizer in 10 years."  Or it might be that it's been given generic yard fertilizer, since the grass is nice and green and thick all around it.  In that case it might just be missing the "minor elements" part of the mix.  If that's the case then you could do something like a once-a-month light ground spray of something like Southern AG's Palm Nutritional Spray at about 1/10th their recommended dosage.  A handful of Rite Green Magnesium Sulphate or Manganese Sulphate sprinkled under the crown area will help fix those issues.  If you see things like distorted leaflets or accordion-shaped leaves then boron is a likely problem.  Here's UFL's writeup on boron, which can be fixed over time with something like 20 Mule Team borax powder in VERY small amounts.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep264

[Mike Z]

Lots of options... Florikan sounds great, I'll probably pick some of that for the fall.  And yeah I'll be careful with the boron.

Yesterday I got up there and removed the old rotting blades.  SO many insects in there.  Big roaches, small roaches, ant colonies full of eggs...all that couldn't be good for the tree.  Hopefully removing all the dead stuff gets rid of them.  I will definitely be working on maintaining the tree properly for years to come.