Potted pindo frond and new spear damage

[Brian s]

Hello, first post here. Sorry if it should be in a different thread. I came home last week from a 6 month trip to some pindos in 65g containers looking pretty rough. We are in coastal North Carolina in 90 degree days with not much rain. 
Before I left I drilled extra holes in all my big pots and hooked them up to the garden drip line. The person looking after the house ripped the irrigation hose out of some of the pots with the mower in the spring. Noticed one month ago and watered them every day after months of just minimal rain water. The soil is 50% Miracle grow palm soil,  50% sandy fill dirt with a bag of compost mixed in. I have had them in these pots for 1 year, watered about 3 times a week before I left in February. 
I don’t know if these are under watered from the hot summer, over watered from the last month or some kind of rot / bacteria. the fronds are drying up from the center of the frond. Half the fronds have about a 1/2 inch of dried brown tip. One had spear pull the one with multiple dead spears are in there pretty solid. 
Didn’t want to plant these out since I might be moving soon. I also don’t want fungus to spread since i have multiple large pindos around the yard, Any advice is greatly appreciated and thanks for other tips I’ve read on here the last few years.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Brian s

[Merlyn]

I'd guess a fungus too, but confirm by squirting a little household hydrogen peroxide on it.  If it bubbles it is definitely a fungus.  I have had good luck treating with a mix of Daconil + hydrogen peroxide squirted into the crown, combined with a soil drench of systemic Banrot.

[Brian s]

Merlyn, I only had a few ounces of the hydrogen peroxide left but I dumped it into the open crown of the open looking one. It was difficult to see down there but it did bubble and I could hear the fizzing even from a few feet away.
I will get more from the store today for the other sick pindo and to test on a healthy one to see if it has less fizz. I will order the daconil and systemic banrot too. Would you suggest doing this to all of the potted pindos sick or not just in case? 
Thanks, either way I will post an update on them if they recover or get worse. 

[JLM]

1 hour ago, Brian s said:

Merlyn, I only had a few ounces of the hydrogen peroxide left but I dumped it into the open crown of the open looking one. It was difficult to see down there but it did bubble and I could hear the fizzing even from a few feet away.
I will get more from the store today for the other sick pindo and to test on a healthy one to see if it has less fizz. I will order the daconil and systemic banrot too. Would you suggest doing this to all of the potted pindos sick or not just in case? 
Thanks, either way I will post an update on them if they recover or get worse. 

It probably wouldnt hurt to do the soil drench for all of them. 

[Merlyn]

I'd agree with @JLM.  If it's a typical crown rot it is a phytophthora.  I've treated a bunch of seedlings up to small potted and landscape palms successfully with a hydrogen peroxide + Daconil mix.  I just take a full bottle of household H2O2 and pour some of it out, then put 4 teaspoons into the bottle and shake it up.  A few good squirts should be enough, then follow up in a few days with another dose...and repeat again later.  If you are lucky it'll kill off the pathogen and you'll get a new spear in a month.  I use Banrot because it's rated against Thielaviopsis and Phythophtora, and recommended here by UFL:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP144

There's always a risk that your potted ones will spread the fungi to other nearby palms, so at the least I'd keep them isolated.  I've seen a bunch of queens at a local hotel die one after another from crown rot.  I doubt they treat them, just leave the dying palms until they are totally brown and dead...and then cut them down.  By then they are spore-generating machines...  Oh, and I'm sure the same crew that cuts down the dead ones is also trimming up the live ones, without cleaning their tools.  Durrrr.... 

[Brian s]

Thank you for the replies, after the daconil, peroxide and banrot arrived in the mail I treated several of them. Will post pictures when they either heal or die. Thanks again!!