Queen Palm Crown Leaning - Why?

[Ras]

I recently moved into a house in Riverside, CA, and have 3 mature queen palms that all lean from the crown - quite bizarre. One of them is struggling to push out healthy fronds. Does anyone know what would be causing this? I initially thought maybe strong Santa Ana winds would have pushed them, but they are leaning in different directions.

What in the world could be going on here?

[Merlyn]

There's something people on here call "Leaning Crown Syndrome," I don't know if anyone has figured out a specific cause.  In your case I'd guess lack of fertilizer and the micronutrient Boron.  The fronds look abnormally small for a Queen, with some distorted leaflets.  Usually plants get enough boron from decomposing mulch, but that doesn't always happen.  I'd recommend checking to make sure they get sufficient water, and add some "palm special" type fertilizer like PalmGain, Florikan, or similar formulations.  The recommended dose is 1.5lb of 8-2-12 fertilizer per 100sqft of canopy, 4x per year.  For a queen that would normally be 20' diameter = about 4.7lb per palm.  Personally I'd do smaller amounts spread out 1 dose per month to reduce root burn and improve uptake. 

Here's a description of Boron deficiency, figures 7 and 9 look a lot like your issue:  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ep264

[NickJames]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

There's something people on here call "Leaning Crown Syndrome," I don't know if anyone has figured out a specific cause.  In your case I'd guess lack of fertilizer and the micronutrient Boron.  The fronds look abnormally small for a Queen, with some distorted leaflets.  Usually plants get enough boron from decomposing mulch, but that doesn't always happen.  I'd recommend checking to make sure they get sufficient water, and add some "palm special" type fertilizer like PalmGain, Florikan, or similar formulations.  The recommended dose is 1.5lb of 8-2-12 fertilizer per 100sqft of canopy, 4x per year.  For a queen that would normally be 20' diameter = about 4.7lb per palm.  Personally I'd do smaller amounts spread out 1 dose per month to reduce root burn and improve uptake. 

Here's a description of Boron deficiency, figures 7 and 9 look a lot like your issue:  https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ep264

Agree with this in that it’s likely a boron deficiency!

This reads completely different from my case of livistona ‘leaning crown syndrome’ in which my palms look extremely healthy, have full crowns, but experienced a severe wind event that could be to blame. 

[Ras]

Thank you for the information. Will look into a Boron rich fertilizer.

[Patrick]

Boron, like the other folks said. Also, what happened for me is that the neighbor wanted to kill my queen palm so they drilled a hole in the base of the palm and perhaps even poured in some kind of poison. The crown started leaning/ growing like this. The palm stayed alive but all the leaves came out in an arc bending toward where the injury was. The palm had probably 12-15 feet of trunk, but the injury was at ground level. Check for potential injuries on the trunk. 

 

I doubt your case is like mine, but I just thought I would add my unique experience. Good fertilizer should help you correct your problem.

[Merlyn]

@Rasyou could also follow the IFAS recommendation of adding some borax powder.  Keep in mind that Boron is toxic to plants if you add too much, so "less is more."  They suggest 2-4 oz of Borax in 5 gallons of water and pour it around each palm.  I'd do maybe 1 oz into 5 gallons for each palm, and repeat in a couple of months.  It may take as long as a year to get them growing normally again.  "20 Mule Team Borax" is probably sold as a laundry booster and works fine.  I'll try and get a photo of a nearby Queen suffering from the same thing.

[NickJames]

8 hours ago, Patrick said:

Boron, like the other folks said. Also, what happened for me is that the neighbor wanted to kill my queen palm so they drilled a hole in the base of the palm and perhaps even poured in some kind of poison. The crown started leaning/ growing like this. The palm stayed alive but all the leaves came out in an arc bending toward where the injury was. The palm had probably 12-15 feet of trunk, but the injury was at ground level. Check for potential injuries on the trunk. 

 

I doubt your case is like mine, but I just thought I would add my unique experience. Good fertilizer should help you correct your problem.

Oh, my God. This is horrifying and one of my biggest fears. 

[Alberto]

Both look very unhealthy....