Leaning Livistona

[NickJames]

I hope I’m just seeing things, but one of my livistona rigida and one of my livistona nitida appear to have a lean up in the meristem area. Anyone else see this and does it look like all is fine? These palms took a beating last year while being just planted including 2 hurricanes and a hard freeze. The rigida were particularly damaged but recovered extremely rapidly. I actually can’t believe how fast the rigida spit out fronds. 

[Merlyn]

Hurricane damage seems like a definite possibility.  There's been some big discussions here about "Leaning Crown Syndrome" but I think that was mostly out West.  Consistent boron deficiency can cause a bent top, but I'd guess you would see some frond deformation if that were the cause.  I do see a couple of fronds snapped off (or cut off) but nothing that particularly looks like a boron deficiency.  So the short summary is...er...hmmmm...dunno. 

[NickJames]

48 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

Hurricane damage seems like a definite possibility.  There's been some big discussions here about "Leaning Crown Syndrome" but I think that was mostly out West.  Consistent boron deficiency can cause a bent top, but I'd guess you would see some frond deformation if that were the cause.  I do see a couple of fronds snapped off (or cut off) but nothing that particularly looks like a boron deficiency.  So the short summary is...er...hmmmm...dunno. 

I thought about the boron but I feel like I wouldn’t have that issue after a year of fertilizing them so ruled it out. The attached soil sample is a recent reading from an unamended part of my yard so there is definitely not many nutrients that occur organically. The palms were back filled with a mix of the native sand plus organics and such that I brought in. The landscape beds around them are so amazing as a result of being amended with stuff like lobster compost. And of course, I’ve been supplementing with fertilizer granules for 1+ year now. 

it was definitely very sad here during the hurricane with multiple fronds breaking off - either partially or completely. 
 

I guess I’ll keep an eye on it!