Sick palm?

[SDennis]

Hi, I am new to Florida and Palm trees, and looking for some advice. This tree was planted when we purchased our home two years ago. I recently noticed that some of the fronds don’t seem to be completelyopening as well as a white powdery substance. This seems to only be affecting two of the trunks. The third is not exhibiting the same signs. I’ve included pictures, and I am looking for advice as to what the underlying cause may be and treatment to bring the specimen back to health. thank you in advance! 

[Merlyn]

The white spots are mealybugs, and will definitely damage your palm and slow down the growth by 50% or more.  Get rid of those asap.  An insecticidal soap, mixed with an organophosphate like Malathion or Acephate or similar, and a systemic like Dinotefuran or Imadicloprid are all good solutions.  Just washing them off is an easy and quick solution, then check weekly to see if they are trying to come back. 

A good handful of 8-2-12 "palm special" fertilizer will help.  Anything with a formulation similar to PalmGain is a good choice.  Just sprinkle evenly under the "canopy" of fronds and don't chuck it in a pile.  4x per year is what I do here in the swamplands of Florida.  If you only have a couple of palms, then one of the smaller bags of Sunniland 6-1-8 or Vigoro 8-4-8 "palm" fertilizer works fairly well.

[flplantguy]

Red date scale is another one that looks like that.  Same treatment as above with systemics, but the one I encountered was worse off and needed replaced as one trunk was deformed. The infestation was bad enough on thay it essentially defoliated from damage, so I think you can save this one. Manual removal beforehand helps too. Don't miss an application either, if it's scale they are hard to beat but not impossible.