Pygmy date palm - Can it be saved?

[HillTribe]

We have a pygmy date palm in our front yard but over the last couple of months the left one started to deteriorate. We watered it, probably not enough, but its strange that the left is dying and the right one seems to be doing on.  Can it be saved?

 

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

I think the worst one is dead.    The other does not look happy at all either.  Either some kind of severe nutrient deficiency along with not enough water.  Or a fungal infection or lethal bronzing.  
If it froze there it could be cold damage too.  
Not sure if it can be saved or what you can do at this point.   
 

[Fusca]

26 minutes ago, HillTribe said:

We have a pygmy date palm in our front yard but over the last couple of months the left one started to deteriorate. We watered it, probably not enough, but its strange that the left is dying and the right one seems to be doing on.  Can it be saved?

Welcome to Palmtalk.  Where are you located?  Phoenix roebelenii are often sold as doubles or triples.  One usually gets the majority of water and nutrients leaving the other to suffer.  This species is native to Asia and gets a lot of water in habitat unlike other date palms native to desert areas.  If there is some green left in the center spear there's hope but very little.  It looks like it needs more water and palm specific fertilizer.

Jon

[Patrick]

I'd let the sick one go. Get a sawzall. To piggyback on what Fusca was saying, the pigmy dates next to my pond have roots that have grown over the side of the pond and are have been sipping from the pond for several years now. they like the water.

[HillTribe]

1 hour ago, Fusca said:

Welcome to Palmtalk.  Where are you located?  Phoenix roebelenii are often sold as doubles or triples.  One usually gets the majority of water and nutrients leaving the other to suffer.  This species is native to Asia and gets a lot of water in habitat unlike other date palms native to desert areas.  If there is some green left in the center spear there's hope but very little.  It looks like it needs more water and palm specific fertilizer.

Jon

I am in central Florida. There is some green still, and I got some fertilizer I will put around in the morning and start the sprinkler regularly. Would it be advantageous to cut the clearly dead parts of the fronds off?

[Patrick]

It wouldn't hurt it...

 

I just had a triple do this. Competing for nutrients. One died over the summer, the second is on its way out right now, looks about like yours, and the third is healthy as can be...

Edited January 6, 2023 by Patrick

[Merlyn]

@HillTribethe right one *might* be cold damage, it depends on where you are in Central FL.  At my place (NW Orlando area) it was down into the upper 20s and I had a whopping 20+ hours below freezing.  None of my Roebellini have any sign of damage, but there was no frost at my place.  If you were substantially below 30 or if you had frost, you can expect some frond damage on Roebellini.

It could also be a fungal disease, you could try squirting a little hydrogen peroxide into the crown and see if it bubbles up.  If it bubbles and fizzes it's a fungal infection, if it does not then it's something else.  Lethal Bronzing is a possibility, and is a fatal palm disease with no cure.

One thing to be really careful of is pruning off dead fronds.  It's really easy to transfer diseases from one palm to another by using dirty pruning shears.  So if you cut fronds off the mostly dead one, make sure you clean them prior to pruning anything off of the ok looking palm.  I wipe my shears/loppers/clippers off with rubbing alcohol. 

[kinzyjr]

I'd agree with the posters above in definitely removing the left one ASAP and sterilizing your cutting equipment as suggested above.  It's probably not coming back and may be carrying a lethal disease.

[HillTribe]

14 hours ago, Patrick said:

It wouldn't hurt it...

 

I just had a triple do this. Competing for nutrients. One died over the summer, the second is on its way out right now, looks about like yours, and the third is healthy as can be...

I really like the look of the triples. If I get one in the future would there be anything I could do to mitigate the risk? I would think more consistent watering and proper fertilizer would do the trick but I am new to this. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@HillTribethe right one *might* be cold damage, it depends on where you are in Central FL.  At my place (NW Orlando area) it was down into the upper 20s and I had a whopping 20+ hours below freezing.  None of my Roebellini have any sign of damage, but there was no frost at my place.  If you were substantially below 30 or if you had frost, you can expect some frond damage on Roebellini.

It could also be a fungal disease, you could try squirting a little hydrogen peroxide into the crown and see if it bubbles up.  If it bubbles and fizzes it's a fungal infection, if it does not then it's something else.  Lethal Bronzing is a possibility, and is a fatal palm disease with no cure.

One thing to be really careful of is pruning off dead fronds.  It's really easy to transfer diseases from one palm to another by using dirty pruning shears.  So if you cut fronds off the mostly dead one, make sure you clean them prior to pruning anything off of the ok looking palm.  I wipe my shears/loppers/clippers off with rubbing alcohol. 

We are also in the NW Orlando area. But the left tree started to sag long before the freeze. Just didn't really know what to look for at the time. 

 

 

 

 

[Merlyn]

@HillTribeyeah it hasn't been cold enough in this area to cause damage to a Roebellini.  The fertilizer *might* help, but at the moment I'd guess a fungal disease or Lethal Bronzing.  If nearby Phoenix Sylvestris or Phoenix Dactylifera have been dying then LB/TPPD is definitely in your area.  It's been killing Phoenix palms all over the place in Orlando this year.

I'd do the hydrogen peroxide test/cure in the crown of both palms.  Any bubbling is a crown phytophthora infection, which can be cured if caught in time.  Usually a crown infection results in the newest frond dying first, followed by the rest.  It looks like maybe yours was dying with the older fronds first.  That usually means it's a trunk, vascular, or root problem...but crown infections are much easier to cure so it's worth testing anyway.  Here's an info sheet on crown infections:  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP144

Another possibility is Thielaviopsis or Ganoderma.  If you slice off the dying/dead trunk, take a photo immediately after cutting it.  If there's a trunk infection the center of the trunk will be randomly discolored.  After 30 seconds or so the cut trunk will start oxidizing and changing colors, so you really have to look immediately after the cut.  Unfortunately these two diseases are fungi that can easily spread to to the second one, if it hasn't already done so.

Lethal Bronzing (LB) used to be called Texas Phoenix Palm Decline (TPPD), and is caused by a phytoplasma.  Back in the 80s and 90s there was a common coconut disease called Lethal Yellowing (LY).  It was caused by a similar phytoplasma, and killed thousands and thousands of coconuts in Miami and South FL.  That disease is still around, but most remaining coconuts are resistant to it.  There's no cure for either of them, and they appear to be 100% fatal once symptoms are detected.  It might be this attacking your palms, the visible symptoms are consistent with LB/TPPD. 

A "palm special" fertilizer will definitely help, but if it's a disease like Thielaviopsis, Ganoderma, or Lethal Bronzing, it's not going to cure it.  A systemic fungicide like Banrot might cure a root fungal infection or help the palm fight off other fungi.  But your palm doesn't show signs of common nutrient deficiencies, so there's a decent chance that it's one of the incurable diseases.

[Darold Petty]

Here is an example of the the trunk infection Merlyn mentioned.

[Merlyn]

And an example of a Christmas Palm/Adonidia with Thielaviopsis.  This died in my front yard, you can see on the left photo there was just a tiny bit of clean white live tissue in the trunk.  The rest was completely rotted away, and only held upright by the stringy fibers.  In the bottom right you can see it was about 99% contaminated by fungus.

[Merlyn]

And an example of Fusarium that killed a queen palm in my yard:

[Jimbean]

It looks like either lethal bronzing or Ganoderma fungus.  Is there any fungal infections at the base of the palms?