Canary Island Palm help

[tton]

 

Above pic is from last week.  Below is from today.  Tree was planted back in March and started having the crown leaning the last few weeks.  I was told I was overwatering it.  Houston TX area.  Watered 3x a week for 15 mins on a bubbler system.  I have cut back the watering last week and it looks worse.  Any ideas or help?

[PalmatierMeg]

 I suspect fusarium wilt. There is a wilt disease that was first IDed in TX and targets CIDPS. That said, I hope I am wrong because wilt is always lethal. Leaves tend to die off quickly starting with the oldest and from the time you first notice symptoms the palm is dead in a matter of weeks. If it is wilt do not install another CIDP.

I also hope more PTers will chime in with their assessments.

[Merlyn]

@tton it might also have some kind of fungal crown infection.  It looks *severely* overpruned, which is a good way for the palm to get a fungal infection like Phytophthora (crown rot) or Fusarium (stem/xylem wilt) and end up dying.  I don't see a new spear in the photos, which is a sign of a bud rot.  Since it's not too tall I'd squirt a little hydrogen peroxide into the crown and see if it bubbles up.  If so there's a fungal infection that needs to be treated.  Mancozeb, hydrogen peroxide, Daconil, and copper-based fungicides are all good options.  I use 4tsp of Daconil concentrate in 32oz of regular household 3% hydrogen peroxide.  Unfortunately, with the condition of it in the photos, there's a good chance it's already dead.

[tton]

 

There are a few spears that are newer in the middle, but they are drooping as well.  I sprayed with hydrogen peroxide and nothing is bubbling up.

[Gottagrowemall]

So my first question is when was the last time the crown wasn't leaning like that? And then what happened to cause it to go that way? If it were me, I'd buy or find some super long bamboo poles or 2 x 4s and make an x with them to support the crown being straight up and down somehow. The more the crown moves the less likely it is to survive. I have a sylvester in my front yard that was transplanted with just a shovel and it took major shock but is now acclimated. I clipped about 6 of the brown fronds off and left the rest and those are essential to helping the tree survive big winds or really any damage. Even CIDP do not like being trimmed up that tight, it puts a ton of pressure on those outer fronds to hang on and protect the new growth from too much sun too soon or wind.

[tton]

 

This is from about 2.5 months ago.  I will say that it started leaning like that maybe two weeks ago?  Around 2 months ago I upped the watering a bit as we have been having consistent 100f+ days with no rain.  Aside from that no changes since 2 months ago

[tton]

 

Looks like its on its way out.  Is it worth trimming off the whole canopy and seeing if it comes back?

[Frankpalm]

17 hours ago, tton said:

 

Looks like its on its way out.  Is it worth trimming off the whole canopy and seeing if it comes back?

What a shame, so sorry for your canary palm! I don’t have any advice as I’m still learning on palm trees myself. 

[tton]

Thanks.  Anyone else have any advice?

[AZ_Palm_Guy]

@tton I'm sorry about your palm. There is really no worse feeling than losing one especially to enthusiast. When that CIDP was planted was there a large rootball that came with it? If not it would make it extremely difficult for a palm that big to make it especially if it was underwatered. Where you are located how is your soil? Sand? Clay? I would say that the palm has no shot of recovering and your best bet would be to not plant a similar species of palm in that hole. I would to start with something a little smaller. I know it takes forever but if you lose a smaller one it doesn't sting as much. Just my 2 cents. If it was a disease, I have copied a link from the University of Florida on CIDP.

 

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST439

[tton]

The root ball was probably 6-12 inches wider than the diameter than the trunk itself.  The soil here is more clay based when you get 2-3 foot down.  Do you think there is any shot of recovery or regrowth down the road?  Leave it for several months to see if anything sprouts out of the crown or does this look like there is no coming back at all?

I've had sago and dwarf pygmy palms lose all their canopy during a freeze and came back the next season, but different circumstances than this one as I'm not totally sure the cause.

 

[RFun]

Probably diseased and not coming back.

[JacoPalmsCo]

On 9/5/2023 at 5:29 PM, tton said:

 

Looks like its on its way out.  Is it worth trimming off the whole canopy and seeing if it comes back?

So sorry, I hate when palms die. I’ve had many robolenii just die within days and there was just nothing I could do.

[AZ_Palm_Guy]

@tton unfortunately with it struggling this much about to go into winter it's survival is probably extremely low. With it being clay and watering 2-3x a week can be bad. I'm in AZ and have heavy clay. I only deep water once a week even with the temps hitting 105+