Caryota maxima himalaya -- please help

[Palm and Pool]

I hope someone can give me some advice for my caryota maxima.  I am in the Houston,  TX area.  I have had this palm about two years.  It's about five feet tall.  It came through the freeze (15 degrees) in December pretty well.  It was completely covered with frost blanket, string lights and a cardboard box. It had only a tiny bit of leaf damage.  However, it did not put out new growth after that, but the leaves it had grew a little higher .  Now the last leaf looks like it is dying.  We had a lot of rain this spring and I gave it some palm gain a couple of times.  It is in a raised bed about six inches higher than the surrounding lawn, so it is well drained.  I water it every day.   There are bananas in the adjacent bed which are about six inches higher. I don't know if that matters. 

I would appreciate any advice you could offer. 

Thanks so much

[PalmatierMeg]

We need photos

[Merlyn]

@Palm and Poolphotos would definitely help.  From the description it sounds like the palm may not have grown any new "spears" or new fronds since December 2022.  If that's correct then it might have gotten a bud infection (Phytophthora) that can damage or kill the growing point.

FWIW - I have a Caryota Urens that was about 5 feet tall.  It was completely defoliated in the Christmas night freeze at about 27F, and I thought it was dead.  I just hadn't gotten around to digging it up and trashing it yet, and this weekend I spotted a distorted green frond sticking out of the top!  I was really surprised to see it alive after over 6 months of being a dead brown stick.

[Palm and Pool]

I will take and post a photo tomorrow when it is light. 

7 hours ago, Merlyn said:

I was really surprised to see it alive after over 6 months of being a dead brown stick.

oh, thanks so much for this.  It gives me hope.e

I have considered spraying it with Consan in case it has some sort of rot.  I have revived house plants that way.  Anyone have experience with consan on palms?

[Merlyn]

8 hours ago, Palm and Pool said:

I will take and post a photo tomorrow when it is light. 

oh, thanks so much for this.  It gives me hope.e

I have considered spraying it with Consan in case it has some sort of rot.  I have revived house plants that way.  Anyone have experience with consan on palms?

I haven't heard of Consan before, it looks like an Alkyl-based antimicrobial soap mixture.  It may work on surface problems like leaf blight.  Photos of the whole plant and detail of the new spear leaf would definitely help.

[Palm and Pool]

It has one remaining green leaf, one dead leaf, and no new spear.

very sad

[PalmatierMeg]

My thought on this: if that were my palm seedling I would grow it in a pot for at least a year or two before planting it. I've never had good outcomes when I hurry to plant very young palms directly in the ground. If it is in a pot you are better able to control conditions like soil, water and to move it to different locations as needed.

[Merlyn]

I have a Caryota Gigas/Obtusa that went pale after a bad cold front in January 2022, and it never really improved over the summer.  I ended up spraying it with Southern Ag Palm Nutritional Spray last fall, twice.  It did improve the color a bit, but the cold front on Christmas weekend and the 2nd week of January turned it pale again.  The visual symptoms are a severe iron deficiency.  I need to buy some EDDHA iron and try that.  It might help yours.

[thyerr01]

How many leaves did the palm grow in the two years prior to the freeze and did it grow continuously? If it needs heat to get moving again it's starting to get it. 

Also, are they some Cat palms back there behind the Caryota? How did they survive the winter freeze for you?

[Palm and Pool]

Yes, I think I will keep the babies in pots longer from now on.

That Southern ag spray sounds promising.  It could use it on other palms, too.

No cat palms. those ate pygmy date palms in pots, so I can bring them in during winter

[Palm and Pool]

3 hours ago, thyerr01 said:

How many leaves did the palm grow in the two years prior to the freeze and did it grow continuously? If it needs heat to get moving again it's starting to get it.

It was in a pot for a few months and grew a few leaves.  Then in the ground and continued growing new leaves.  it grew a couple feet taller, which made me think it was doing really well.