Pygmy Date Palm - dead trunks

[gutira3]

I have a multi trunk Pygmy date Palm.  I am in the East Bay (El Cerrito) of the San Francisco area. This winter we had very heavy rain and the two largest of trunks got black spots on the new growth coming out of the crown.  Eventually the new growth all dies and stopped appearing.  Both trunks are now dead.  None of the other trunks ever displayed the black spots.  
 

my question is whether I should cut out the dead trunks.  I’m not sure all of the pups are large enough to survive cutting out the dead trunks.  I tried to highlight the dead trunks in red in the photos attached but it’s still pretty hard to see.  
 

Any thoughts or advice is welcome.  

[Fusca]

3 hours ago, gutira3 said:

I have a multi trunk Pygmy date Palm.  I am in the East Bay (El Cerrito) of the San Francisco area. This winter we had very heavy rain and the two largest of trunks got black spots on the new growth coming out of the crown.  Eventually the new growth all dies and stopped appearing.  Both trunks are now dead.  None of the other trunks ever displayed the black spots.  
 

my question is whether I should cut out the dead trunks.  I’m not sure all of the pups are large enough to survive cutting out the dead trunks.  I tried to highlight the dead trunks in red in the photos attached but it’s still pretty hard to see.  
 

Any thoughts or advice is welcome.  

Phoenix roebelenii (pygmy date palms) are solitary palms that are often planted/sold as multiples.  There's a suckering variety but it's rare so probably not the case with yours.  Cutting the dead trunks won't affect the other palms in this case.

Did you treat the affected palms with hydrogen peroxide or copper fungicide?  They are pretty tough palms that like water but probably not in cold winter weather.  My palm recovered nicely after an unusual spear-pull following a couple of nights below freezing (27°F) this past winter after treatment.  Note the couple of deformed fronds in the front that were the newest fronds following the spear-pull and all of the growth since January.  The recent rains since April have really added great growth.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Fusca

[PalmatierMeg]

What @Fuscasays. Multiple solitary palms forced to compete usually don’t end well. You could try to salvage one or more of those palms but Pygmy dates are cheap and easily replaceable so why bother? Maybe consider buying/planting individual palms rather than a forced cluster.

[Tomsky]

This is a true multi-trunk Phoenix roebelenii I got from Reasoner’s Nursery in the 1970s.

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Tomsky

[Merlyn]

The way the side plants seem to grow out and curve up makes me think clustering Roebellini or a part hybrid.  I bought a Roebellini at a local big box store, and it kept growing shoots out at random.  Honestly I am not sure what to do to help gutira3's palm.  Maybe more water, some fertilizer and some fungicide?  Cutting the dead trunks may be okay, I'd think that leaving dead trunks is just a source of more fungi.  Slice them off a bit above the root initiation zone and dust with sulfur powder. 

[gutira3]

Thanks, everyone!  I’ll try separating them and then hit it with fungicide if it comes back.  Wish me luck!