What are these black spots on my C. humilis?

[Hardypalms]

It had scale. Is it dead scale?

Pics of normal frond, spotted frond and the palm.

 

Thxs

[Kim]

Sooty mold, perhaps? If you observe ants on the plant, they need to be controlled. Wash with soapy water.

[Merlyn]

Yeah, it could be sooty mold.  That's usually a byproduct of aphids feeding.  They leave the sugary sap behind, which mold black.  Ants love this, and will actually "farm" aphids by carrying them around on plants to get them to feed in more spots.  I'd check for ants.  If you have a jeweler's loupe you can look at it closely to see if there's a bug involved.

[Hardypalms]

Thanks a lot, i m going to take a closer look today and apply soapy water.

 

Pat

[Merlyn]

46 minutes ago, Hardypalms said:

Thanks a lot, i m going to take a closer look today and apply soapy water.

 

Pat

There are also a wide variety of "leaf blights" caused by anthracnose fungi and others.  These pop up in cool wet temperatures and go away in the heat of summer sun.  So if it's just on the older fronds it might just be something they picked up over the winter.  If it's not sooty mold from ants + aphids, a systemic fungicide might prevent it from spreading to newer fronds.  Banrot, Clearys 3336, Fosetyl-Al, or a surface spray of Mancozeb may all help.

[Hardypalms]

21 hours ago, Merlyn said:

There are also a wide variety of "leaf blights" caused by anthracnose fungi and others.  These pop up in cool wet temperatures and go away in the heat of summer sun.  So if it's just on the older fronds it might just be something they picked up over the winter.  If it's not sooty mold from ants + aphids, a systemic fungicide might prevent it from spreading to newer fronds.  Banrot, Clearys 3336, Fosetyl-Al, or a surface spray of Mancozeb may all help.

Yes indeed, it’s only on mid section to lower.

Maybe it’s just something they picked up over winter indeed. I don’t see any form of animal lifd anywhere.

Thank-you