Ptychosperma elegans trauma damage?

[miamicuse]

I have a Ptychosperma elegans that seems to be in trouble.

The green fronds are all dropping to one side.  Here is a picture but may be it's difficult to make it out so I drew five red lines pointing to the slender trunk.

Behind it is a Ficus benjamina, not one, but several.  Six weeks ago I did a major pruning of the ficus, and you can still see the cut ends.  Some of the cuts were directly above the palm. and even the crew lowered some of the heavy branches but things did bounce around a good bit.  I wonder if may be one of the heavy branches hit the crown shaft...didn't see anything at the time but now the fronds seem to be bent and down facing.

I can't even see the crown shaft clearly and no idea if it's still straight up.

I can't get up there to look at the new spear or try to tug on it.

Is there anything I can do besides just waiting with fingers crossed?  Kind of hard to get up there to see the crownshaft and new spear up close, may be possible with a bucket truck or drone.

Edited May 31, 2023 by miamicuse

[miamicuse]

bump!  anyone?

[D. Morrowii]

You’re right it is tough to see whats going on there. To me, it looks like the crownshaft is in line with the trunk so it looks ok from that side. If I had to guess it looks like some petioles might have been damaged? Did it just start looking like that? That new frond could have been damaged but the damage took awhile to show up. If it were me I would trim off any obviously broken fronds and try to get up there and inspect the growth point for bruising or fungus etc. You could always just wait and see if it gets better. 

[miamicuse]

Seven months later...the palm seems to be growing, but all the fronds are leaning to one side.

[D. Morrowii]

That looks like it might be a pretty severe boron deficiency. I guess it could also just be growing away from the ficus since it was so close in the old photos. Apart from the leaning do the fronds look malformed? I think once the crown starts to lean its too late to save it but I’m not sure. If a boron deficiency seems likely and you decide to treat it read up on how to correctly apply since too much can poison the tree. I’ve read that it can take a long time and several applications to correct a severe deficiency. 

[Fishinsteeg234]

My hypothesis is that it looks like the crownshaft could possibly be scraping the cut ficus branch end during high winds causing physical damage to the newly forming spears, resulting in the odd appearance of growth trying to bend away. I would try and get up there to cut away more of the ficus branch that’s scratching the crownshaft. Eventually the palm should grow past it and be OK if it’s no longer being damaged. If that’s not the case, there may be another issue going on like “leaning crown syndrome” related to boron issues. 

[miamicuse]

I doubt it is a boron deficiency because this happened within days of the ficus tree trimming.  They cut the higher branches above the P.  Elegans and let the branches drop to the ground below and some hit the palm.  I got some crotons and philodendrons below that got crushed badly.

I didn't notice the extent of the damage to the palm until weeks later when I noticed all the fronds were bent and the growing point was facing down.

[D. Morrowii]

1 hour ago, miamicuse said:

I doubt it is a boron deficiency because this happened within days of the ficus tree trimming.  They cut the higher branches above the P.  Elegans and let the branches drop to the ground below and some hit the palm.  I got some crotons and philodendrons below that got crushed badly.

I didn't notice the extent of the damage to the palm until weeks later when I noticed all the fronds were bent and the growing point was facing down.

Well the fronds in the pics from last year seem to look pretty normal except for the most obviously damaged one. Its hard to for me to tell in the new pics but they look a little off.
I’d go with the advise that @Fishinsteeg234 gives above and see what happens. If its physical damage then that could certainly have a better outcome. I hope you get it figured out, good luck. 

[miamicuse]

14 hours ago, Fishinsteeg234 said:

My hypothesis is that it looks like the crownshaft could possibly be scraping the cut ficus branch end during high winds causing physical damage to the newly forming spears, resulting in the odd appearance of growth trying to bend away. I would try and get up there to cut away more of the ficus branch that’s scratching the crownshaft. Eventually the palm should grow past it and be OK if it’s no longer being damaged. If that’s not the case, there may be another issue going on like “leaning crown syndrome” related to boron issues. 

The P. Elegans is quite slim, at over 35' tall it's trunk at the base is only 6" or so in diameter so it's not safe to get up there on a ladder leaning on the palm and if I get up to the ficus and look down not sure I can get a good closeup view.  I am about to have another go at cutting back the ficus (my annual battle to keep the ficus jungle under control) more and give more room.

May be a good solution is a drone fitted with a camera for inspection like this.  Give me an excuse to buy new toys/tools.