Pembana problem

[Tracy]

One of my Dypsis pembana is a clump planted near an Aloidendron "Hercules".  A while back the Aloidendron had quite a bit of black mold on it, not too unusual for me to get in the spring when marine layers persist along the coastline.  When we finally got a nice clear dry and hot day, I decided to blast off the mold with the hose and a high pressure nozzle.  Apparently some of that black mold washed into the crownshaft of the tallest and closest trunk of my clump of Dypsis pembana.  I noticed the next emerging leaf appeared stunted, but I didn't do anything.  Fast forward about 18 months and the last healthy leaf base came off in December exposing what was going on underneath.  While there are new leaves and it is struggling to progress, its fate is sealed with the rotten constricted trunk.  I think there are at least 4 other trunks growing right now in the clump, so I will only lose what used to be the tallest in the group.  While Dypsis pembana is fast, the Aloidendron has exceeded the palms growth.  Both were planted in late 2010, the Dypsis pembana from a 7 gallon and the Aloidendron from a 1 gallon.

My only dilemma is whether to take that trunk from the base, the top, or just wait for it to topple in some wind event.  What would you do if it were in your garden?

[Bazza]

I would go close to the ground to amputate. AKA....furthest away from the diseased area.

Just my 2 cents.

Hopefully others with more experience will comment.

Good luck - I just obtained my first Pembana last week!

[Tracy]

Here is a perspective on the Dypsis pembana, it is to the left and behind the Aloidendron.  It is adjacent to the front walkway that leads through the gate to the house entrance.

[TomJ]

If it was at my house I would hit if with a fungicide once a week.

I would use a different one each time.

That was if it was at my house.

I always have a couple walking dead lingering about.

I have been to your house. 

Everything is perfectly grown.

If you can tolerate the eye soar I'd give it through Spring to see if it grows out of it.

If rot starts to creep down the trunk at all.....  amputation.

 

 

[Palm Tree Jim]

I would cut it at the base and say goodbye.

Not the ideal situation but I could not continue to look at the problem. 

Tracy, you can borrow my chainsaw if you would like. 

[ahosey01]

18 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Here is a perspective on the Dypsis pembana, it is to the left and behind the Aloidendron.  It is adjacent to the front walkway that leads through the gate to the house entrance.

Sidebar - but that is a tremendous aloe hercules.

I've heard they're rocket ships.  They don't like my winter cold or my summer heat, though, so that's a species I'll always have to admire from afar.

[richnorm]

It seems to be fighting back so may well fully recover.   That often happens here with Dypsis our marginal growing conditions.  I would leave it but I am more of a collector mentality than a landscaper if you know what I mean!

[Merlyn]

In my yard Pembana went from 3' tall to 14' tall in 1.5 years, so I would have no problems lopping one off that had become infected.  For removal I'd use a reciprocating saw at the base, and take the whole trunk out of the area at once.  Then cut it up in your driveway or somewhere it won't infect anything else.  I had to do that with an Adonidia triple at Thanksgiving.  It had gotten a crown fungal infection that I ignored for too long, and two trunks pencil-pointed and finally died.  When I cut it down the entire trunk on one of them practically fell apart in my hand:

 

It looked like plain old fungus on the outside, but was probably Thielaviopsis on the inside...there's no value in struggling to save a badly infected palm that isn't ultra-rare, IMO.

[sonoranfans]

I would also cut it at the base remove the 1 piece trunk.  It is a multi so nothing is really lost.  I would want that infected trunk out of there asap and then I'd also treat the remaining grow points with daconil.  Leaving it in might allow the fungus to establish itself in live tissue nearby.

[Tracy]

 

The correct answer for me....

 

[Josh-O]

13 hours ago, Tracy said:

Here is a perspective on the Dypsis pembana, it is to the left and behind the Aloidendron.  It is adjacent to the front walkway that leads through the gate to the house entrance.

Thats a lovely perspective you have there Tracy.

[Josh-O]

9 hours ago, Tracy said:

 

The correct answer for me....

 

[PalmatierMeg]

I'd get that infected stem out of there, stat.

[Tracy]

I did decide to get out the old

and do the dirt deed.  I tried to get a nice clean cut and this seemed to work better than the logger's axe.  Hopefully the other crowns in this clump being less crowded won't succumb to the same moldy infection that the one did.  The bummer was that the one I had to remove was the tallest in the clump.

[DoomsDave]

@Tracy

OUCH!

For what it's worth, I've had similar problems with clumping Dypsis, especially lutescens, where they get that fungus and just rot. Usually, the lutescens just get moldy and discolored; baronii also do that, and rot, too.

And, as you wisely did, and as @Palm Tree Jim and others wisely recommended, I take Madame G and hack away.

("Tis' strong medicine, that cures all ills." Sir Walter Raleigh, fingering a headsman's axe in the Tower of London. )

But, take heart! Unlike Sir Walter, your pembana has more than one head.

Just to be safe, I'd give Madame G a nice bath in some straight bleach, to avoid transmission of germs.

Also, keep an eye on Sir Pembana's other remaining heads. If the fungus returns, but before it gets really bad, you might want to consider @TomJ's regimen, though "Subdue" or others alone might also work.