Windmill palm brown leaves them stopped growing new fronds

[charlotte palm guy]

My windmill started growing in dead brown fronds (although the stems were green) this late Spring.  Now it totally stopped growing new ones.  The older green growth is still green but worried it will all die soon.  Had the palm there for about 2-3 years. Have not transplanted other then when I initially planted in ground.  Oddly,  a friend of mine who lives in the region has the SAME thing going on with his windmill…. I’m in Charlotte.  Any ideas?  My other tropicals (sago, Mediterranean, and banana plants have done fine (with some winter protection).  See pics 

[Jimhardy]

How cold was it last winter?

Sometimes damaged tissue can overwhelm the plant

over time in esp in wet hot weather.

[Hutch]

That's winter damage....for sure seen similar damage...water heavy...not in the crown..it need time on the warm side ..for a bit ..and your climate should be a fine to end the grow season..

[Allen]

Pull spear and fronds to see if they pull out.  May be fungal growth.  Recommend weekly copper fungicide in the morning on a dry day over crown and trunk all the way to ground.  Alternatives could be poisoning of some sort or way too much fertilizer.  

[charlotte palm guy]

I was able to pull some of the dead fronds from top.  Does this mean it’s a goner?

[UK_Palms]

I would sit tight on it for now and give it a bit of time to resolve on its own. I have never seen this sort of thing in what is normally a bulletproof palm. 

Did you have any temperatures below 5F or more than 150 consecutive hours below freezing? Hot, wet, humid summers following major cold damage can cause a range of fungal problems, but this could be something different. I wonder whether it is some kind of fusarium wilt type disease maybe? It definitely looks like some kind of wilt or disease to me.

[Allen]

1 hour ago, charlotte palm guy said:

I was able to pull some of the dead fronds from top.  Does this mean it’s a goner?

Probably being this late in the year more odds to die unfortunately.  In your case pull all loose/rotten material out of the crown and pour a half/whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide down the hole in the center.  Then treat weekly with copper fungicide.  No easy way to keep it dry but if you can think of something like a pool umbrella and want to do that it would help. 

Also you can take your hand and squeeze the top trunk around spear area and if it is mushy you may want to consider trunk cutting in which you cut progressively down with a saw to the first signs of solid trunk.  I have never had to do that myself but others on here have made it work.  I consider that last resort.  

[Jimhardy]

If any of the newest spears pull you may want to operate...normally you would not

be doing this at this point in the season but normally this would not be happening

this late, operating could also remove the damaged tissue and give you a rare look into

exactly where it is damaged and you would be removing that issue from the trunk- because even 

if it could grow out of it, having a dead spot in the trunk will always be an issue for the palm.

I would call this exploratory surgery for sure - it would really be interesting to see exactly

where its damaged!

[charlotte palm guy]

I would be surprised if it’s going to die given they should def be bulletproof here.  The tree was planted a couple years ago with no previous issues.  It’s also in partial shade and near house, which I know windmills prefer.  This winter def had some cold days, but nothing below like 20 degrees consistently.  I have Christmas lights around trunk I turn on at night in winter too.  Some winter damage on winter grown fronds was observed, but I’m sure that’s normal.  Green fronds came in early Spring then dead fronds late Spring into Summer.  Now growth stopped and I was able to pull out most recent dead fronds.  Just very odd that my friends in SC did same thing.  What an amazing coincidence?

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Question:  Does it get water in the crown from a sprinkler?   This could be something that might cause fungal infection in the crown.    Just a thought.  

 

Also, windmils dont really "prefer" shade.  They are just as at home in full sun.  However some thing that the shade grown ones look better.  To me they're all beautiful.  

 

Let us know what you decide to do and how it goes!  Good Luck! 

[jons0027]

Following this thread with some interest. I have a trachy that's probably a goner and am considering the hacksaw surgery as a final option.  But would there even be any point this late in the year? Would any new growth from the cut actually have time to pop out and survive the winter?

[Allen]

3 minutes ago, jons0027 said:

Following this thread with some interest. I have a trachy that's probably a goner and am considering the hacksaw surgery as a final option.  But would there even be any point this late in the year? Would any new growth from the cut actually have time to pop out and survive the winter?

Fungal damage can be extensive by this time in the year.  If as extensive as original poster you can try trunk cutting by now.  But winter will need to be covered in a dry enclosure if possible.  If the palm is able to fit in pot I would dig in fall and put in garage in zone 7b around Dec 1st-15th

[UK_Palms]

4 hours ago, jons0027 said:

Following this thread with some interest. I have a trachy that's probably a goner and am considering the hacksaw surgery as a final option.  But would there even be any point this late in the year? Would any new growth from the cut actually have time to pop out and survive the winter?

I would be hesitant to trunk cut any palm as we head into September now. Due to the shock, it will take at least 1-2 months to start growing again properly and by then winter will be impending so growth will be almost non-existent in a northern location. That cut/exposed point will probably spell the end for that palm come December or January. I would personally let it ride it out over the coming months. If it doesn't resolve on its own this fall/autumn, a few decent freezes over winter may kill off the fungus or any kind of wilt that may be effecting it, potentially.

It doesn't seem like you or the OP are in regions that get sufficiently cold enough to kill Trachy's, unless you get like 5F and a week below freezing. And I'm pretty sure you guys don't get anywhere near that cold, right? The damage you are seeing is almost certainly a type of wilt or fungus from humid subtropical climates. Possibly nematodes in the soil even. Trachycarpus Fortunei won't grow in Florida and other hot-wet-humid summer climates, which may be why they are struggling for you. I reckon it's more due to pathogens in those climates rather than the weather itself. It seems like quite a few people are having problems with them on the east coast. 

[jons0027]

Thanks for the advice. The trunk felt somewhat soft to the touch, so rather than agonize over this one any further, and somewhat out of anger/frustration (my yard/soil has a knack for killing trachy's) I took a saw to it yesterday and am glad I did. Despite having a few promising fronds remaining, the center of the trunk was 100% stinky rotten mush all the way down to the base. Really sad because it was a 5 year old plant with a few feet of trunk that was doing perfectly fine in a container, but the ground just zapped it. 

Sadly I think this is where my journey with trachys ends.  I have killed off four now. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Have tried everything and in the end probably did too much tinkering. My first attempt was one I ordered online, and probably doomed from the start, and after that I kept thinking I figured out what I did wrong with each attempt but never did. People on here claim they're easy/bulletproof, and there are several in my neighborhood thriving, but for me they have been super finnicky, and overall stressful and huge waste of time and money. Have several other "exotics" in my garden that are all thriving with little to no effort beyond the basic common sense stuff. Oh well. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by jons0027

[Jimhardy]

Thats to bad but at least you got a first hand look of what happens

inside a palm when there is inner damage

[Chad king NC]

On 8/24/2021 at 9:12 AM, charlotte palm guy said:

I would be surprised if it’s going to die given they should def be bulletproof here.  The tree was planted a couple years ago with no previous issues.  It’s also in partial shade and near house, which I know windmills prefer.  This winter def had some cold days, but nothing below like 20 degrees consistently.  I have Christmas lights around trunk I turn on at night in winter too.  Some winter damage on winter grown fronds was observed, but I’m sure that’s normal.  Green fronds came in early Spring then dead fronds late Spring into Summer.  Now growth stopped and I was able to pull out most recent dead fronds.  Just very odd that my friends in SC did same thing.  What an amazing coincidence?

I hope you didn't have C9 lights on it during a warm winter like we have had the past couple yrs.  That could actually cook the palm.  I found out the hard way and started using led for decoration purposes.

[charlotte palm guy]

12 hours ago, Chad king NC said:

I hope you didn't have C9 lights on it during a warm winter like we have had the past couple yrs.  That could actually cook the palm.  I found out the hard way and started using led for decoration purposes.

No they were normal small lights.  Had them on year before too.  I looked in crown today and saw what was either fungus or who knows what.  It was grainy like sand line and inside the crown.  Poured a whole thing of hydrogen peroxide down after I saw.  Tree isn’t looking too good… disappointing