Pseudophoenix sargentii - snaped dead at trunk!!! Thoughts?

[Chris WCT]

Hello 

Planted 3 - 25 gallon 4.5' OA height,  Buccaneer palms in Treasure Island, FL (costal Pinellas county). One of them today snaped at the base. There was white fuzz covering the interior void in the trunk where the tree snaped. Trunk was soft and orange as you look past the fuzz, there was little odor. When the root ball was pulled from the ground there was some standing water. The ground conditions are very sandy and shelly, very little organic material in the ground other then what the palms where grown in when potted. Not well draining but not far off from natural growing conditions of the Pseudophoenix sargentii.  Other two Buccaneers are doing well. 

Attached is the photo of trunk at the break. Any hypothesis greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you

Chris 

  

[Fishinsteeg234]

@Chris WCT sorry for your loss on this one. Without other photos showing how it was originally growing; including position, planting depth, shade, sun, water and other environmental surroundings, it may be tough to diagnosis the true problem. When was it planted? If it was recently planted just before winter, it may not have recovered and wasn’t established enough to withstand the shock from this winter’s cold spell? Another possibility considering the breakage being so low on the trunk is from trunk rot related to planting too deep, along with chronic wet soil at the base of the trunk? You mentioned standing water at the rootball when you removed, that’s probably the issue. This palm likes fast draining porous limestone dunes similar to the florida keys and Cuba beaches. I hope your others will be just fine going forward. 

[Chris WCT]

Thank you Alex for your feedback. All three palms were planted in Sept 2022 in full sun, they are irrigated three times a week as part of the irrigation system through bubblers at the base of the palmss. We turned all three bubblers off, I think they will get plenty of water through nearby drip irrigation of other plants. We replaced with another Pseudophoenix sargentii today but placed 75lb of river gravel at the bottom of the hole in hopes of better drainage.   

[mnorell]

You shouldn't need to irrigate Pseudophoenix...I had several at our garden on Big Pine Key, watered just initially for establishment then forgot them, and it's drier in the Keys than it is in St. Pete. I think they are indeed sensitive to overwatering, though it's anyone's guess what happened to your palm, I have a feeling something else might have been going on with yours. Also the crownshafts are delicate at their junction with the trunk, our arborist's crew accidentally caught one in a rope while working on a nearby mass of foliage and the crown snapped right off. I had lost two previous ones through physical accidents as well (one got its crownshaft snapped off in Irma by a falling tree). My motto...Set 'em, forget 'em, but don't ever mess with 'em!

[Looking Glass]

Man, that sucks….  These are some of my favorite palms.   When you look at some of the wild specimens out there, they grow in some very arid and open sun-exposed areas in terrible “soil” that is more like limestone rock and/or calcareous sand.  They may get inundated with rain, but normally during the hot summer months.  

You shouldn’t have to irrigate them at all after establishment, but extra water and fertilizer seems to speed them up.  I wouldn’t call them slow here, in the hot months, though they slow quite a bit in the winter dry season.   

I hand water mine twice a week in the heat of summer, and they are in high-dry spots in the yard.  They shouldn’t need much water at all in the dry season here.  I also give them extra dolomite and garnish with seashells, though this might be overkill.  

I agree with others that you should air on the dry side with these.  I’d keep them far away from regular irrigation sources.  If you’ve got a wet hole there, there are other palms that would love that.  

But these are great palms!  So happy normally in our crap soils and brutal sun.  Maybe you killed it with kindness…. I do that sometimes too.  I’m now going to water mine less after reading this.   I’ve got 2 in the ground and 3 more in pots.