Foxtail Palm dying

[Cherie]

Hi! We have a foxtail Palm that is dying. We’ve had it injected with nutrients and not helping. The fronds are crinkled, brown, there are black spots on the leaves, black all over the new shoots and old stems of the palm leaves.  Any knowledge or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[byuind]

I am not sure that the black fuzz is actually related to your issue. I found out a ways back that this fuzz is present on many Foxtail and Fishtail specimens. You can also find it on Bismarck variants as well.

 

I can’t tell from the photo but here’s two questions that you would need to answer:

 

1.) is there a new spear growing, and have you marked it to see it’s rate of growth?

 

2.) how cold did it get by you this winter? 
 

3.) have you provided it any anti fungal treatment such as copper or H202?

 

if you can provide a couple more photos of the whole tree that might be helpful as well

[Phoenikakias]

Apparently you are killing instead of saving it...

[Merlyn]

The black fuzz is called "tomentum" and is generally normal.  The crinkled leaves are not, they are called "accordion leaf" and are a symptom of a boron deficiency.  Figure 10 in the below link shows the same symptom:  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ep264

Usually palm fertilizer like PalmGain will contain some boron, and this usually avoids deficiencies.  But cold temps and soil pH also affect Boron uptake.  What I'd do is:

• Mark the new spear horizontally with a sharpie, so you can tell if it's growing regularly.
• Add some boron to the soil in maybe a 10 ft diameter around the trunk of the palm. 

UFAS/EDIS recommends:

Current recommendations for correcting B deficiencies in palms are intentionally conservative because of the potential for toxicity. Dissolve about 2–4 oz of Solubor® or Borax in 5 gallons of water and drench this into the soil under the canopy of a single palm. Do not attempt to apply dry B fertilizers to the soil, because turfgrass or other groundcovers in contact with it may be killed. Do not repeat this for at least 5 months, because it will take this long to see the results of the first application.

Personally I'd do a couple of applications of 1oz each, spaced apart at least a few weeks.  This is because boron washes away quickly with rain.

[Patrick]

Yeah, the black fuzz is normal. What are you currently doing for fertilizer? I see what appears to be light green fronds which basically indicates you just need some fertilizer. Foxtails are pigs, so feed it. The injection, I doubt that was really needed; but I'm a CA guy not FL; so you guys may do some things out there that we may not do here...

 

Take it easy, I think your palm is not dying, it just needs a little food.