Queen palm fronds turning brown fast. 1 green left

[viper155]

Location - Florida

My queen is dying and I have no idea what to do and that’s because there is no clear instructions on how to take care of it.

Some say it needs a lot of water and others say it can be over watered. Some websites say the fronds are yellow because to much water/not enough water/lack of nutrients….

Like whattttt how do I take care of this thing!

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I have 4 queen palms. The 3 in the back are good but the one in the front doesn’t seem right.

I went away last month for a month and came back to a bunch of the fronds dying(yellow/ brown). I’ll admit that I never water them because everyone told me they are easy and I don’t have to do anything which was obviously wrong.

Once I got back I started slowly watering it for 30 minutes and I can see a new nice green frond coming out the center but the only other good one just started turning brown and it will be dead shortly leaving me with the new one as the last good one!

I did fertilize with palm gain once I noticed it was going yellow about a month ago and i didnt see any change.  It was suggested to me that I try some Epsom Salt so i just sprinkled some of that the other day.

Any advice would be great appreciated as I’ve actually lost a previous queen palm in the exact same spot before.

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by viper155
included wrong pic

[PalmatierMeg]

Several things may be going on:

1. Your palm(s) has been woefully neglected. Queens are water/fertilizer hogs and will decline and die if deprived. Good that you have upped the water. Don’t let up. Depending on where you live in FL you are in fertilizer blackout until Oct. 1. Palms need slow release pelletized fertilizer with minor elements, i.e., no spikes, no cheap blue granular stuff. But you can try organic fish emulsion or seaweed solution in a pinch. You cannot ignore a queen’s demands and this palm is a Class II Invasive in FL.

2. Fusarium wilt - an incurable, fatal disease spread by contaminated garden tools or an insect vector. A form of wilt attacks queens, mule palms and Washies. Characterized by rapid frond death that starts on one side of a frond then spreads to the other. Dead fronds turn a peculiar grayish-brown. Once symptoms show the palm is dead within a few weeks. Remove palm and send out with trash to be incinerated. Do not replant any more of the same species. Generally once wilt takes down a victim, any other queens in the yard are likely to be infected. I lost all my queens, mules and a Washy within 1 year after I first noticed infection. Keep your eyes peeled.

3. Neglect compounded by the extreme heat and drought we’ve had this summer

Considering how stunted and pitiful your palm is seriously consider giving it the chop. Even if you pour water and resources into it now it may never grow to its lush potential or may die regardless. Depending on where you live, FL PTers can recommend possible replacements. Your yard deserves better.

[viper155]

Thank you for the reply.  
Sure looks like Fusarium wilt to me but I’ll keep watering and hope for the best.

 

 

[NickJames]

I think @PalmatierMeg covered it. 

I do not think you can overwater a queen.

Mine sat in a swampy mixture of rainwater, pine bark mulch, and septic tank effluent for two weeks following Hurricane Ian after a nearby City of Deltona pumping station failed.

Very hungry palms, I am constantly fertilizing with timed release granules because my Sandy soil is devoid of any nutrients. However, my queens are in a heavily mulched area so I’m trying to improve my soil over time. 

[NickJames]

On this topic, I do have a little ‘project’ going on at a house about a mile away. They had 3 queens right off a busy road in a prominently displayed area. I drove past them every day and was slowly watching them die from neglect. Frizzle top, etc. 

I contacted the homeowners and asked if I could use them as a test to see if I could revive them. Since they had no intentions of doing anything one way or the other, they said yes. 

2 have shown remarkable improvement since I began to care for them. 1 has not improved. 

[viper155]

Very cool.   Sure wish you lived by me to save this one.   I fear it’s to late tho 

 

 

[Merlyn]

3 hours ago, viper155 said:

Thank you for the reply.  
Sure looks like Fusarium wilt to me but I’ll keep watering and hope for the best.

 

 

Those photos do look a lot like the "one sided death" of Fusarium wilt.  But with the end of the frond still green, it's questionable.  I lost a Queen to Fusarium a few years ago, but it was really obvious when I looked at it.  One side of the frond was totally crispy brown.  Here's an example:

The petiole had a brown streak along the edge that was dead.  I have 8 other big telephone-pole Queens that did not catch it.  On those the old fronds do die somewhat irregularly.  Sometimes I walk past and have to do a double-take, because there's a random block of leaflets that are dead.  *IF* the older fronds are all dying rapidly (i.e. within a couple of weeks) and show the one-sided death, it's probably Fusarium.  That disease is 100% fatal and kills Queens, Washingtonia, and Mules (Queen/Butia hybrid). 

[SeanK]

3 hours ago, viper155 said:

Thank you for the reply.  
Sure looks like Fusarium wilt to me but I’ll keep watering and hope for the best.

 

 

My gut reaction was to remove and replace with something nicer, like a Spindle or C.alba. However, if @PalmatierMeg is correct, the recommendation is generally to NOT replace with a palm. I believe it's impossible to rid the soil of the fungus. 

I don't recommend leaving it to decline as it might provide opportunity for spreading. Remove the palm. Clean all gardening tools with a Clorox solution.

[PalmatierMeg]

3 hours ago, viper155 said:

Thank you for the reply.  
Sure looks like Fusarium wilt to me but I’ll keep watering and hope for the best.

 

 

If it is wilt - and it looks like it is - waiting and hoping will accomplish nothing but to facilitate the disease destroying your remaining queens although they may be infected but not showing yet. The disease is fatal and untreatable. As I mentioned earlier queen palms are invasives that hate FL soils but demand kid glove treatment. Hurricane Ian did one favor for Cape Coral. It thrashed all the old, ratty, neglected queen palms planted in the past 30 years so now they are dropping dead by the score. Almost no one plants them now.

[PalmatierMeg]

17 minutes ago, SeanK said:

My gut reaction was to remove and replace with something nicer, like a Spindle or C.alba. However, if @PalmatierMeg is correct, the recommendation is generally to NOT replace with a palm. I believe it's impossible to rid the soil of the fungus. 

I don't recommend leaving it to decline as it might provide opportunity for spreading. Remove the palm. Clean all gardening tools with a Clorox solution.

I believe that ganoderma (also pink rot?) is the disease that puts the kibosh on planting more palms. Not all species of palm are attacked by wilt. I replaced all my wilt-diseased queens, etc. with Cocos, Elaeis, Ptychosperma, Chambeyronia, Livistona and more. 

[viper155]

So the one with wilt is in the front yard and I have 3 decent looking ones in the back.   I Sure hope it can’t spread that far!

[Merlyn]

Mine that died from Fusarium was on the Southeast corner of my house, it was the only one in that area.  I cut it up with a reciprocating saw and bagged everything up for disposal.  I treated the other 8 queens with Banrot, because they claim it's effective on Fusarium.  But I don't think anyone has ever proven if it does or does not actually do anything.  My other Queens are on the West side and SouthWest corner, roughly 60 feet away at a minimum.  Several years later none have caught it.  Here's a couple of additional photos:

 

[viper155]

I’m guessing I gave it the disease from not cleaning my frond cutter but how did it get on there in the first place??

everyone that lives in my neighborhood with queens all look great so 🤷‍♂️.  So much to learn but when I bought it they said I didn’t have to do much….

[SeanK]

On 9/16/2023 at 2:51 PM, PalmatierMeg said:

I believe that ganoderma (also pink rot?) is the disease that puts the kibosh on planting more palms. Not all species of palm are attacked by wilt. I replaced all my wilt-diseased queens, etc. with Cocos, Elaeis, Ptychosperma, Chambeyronia, Livistona and more. 

Are these other species doing OK for you?

[PalmatierMeg]

11 hours ago, SeanK said:

Are these other species doing OK for you?

Yes

[kinzyjr]

On 9/16/2023 at 3:16 PM, viper155 said:

I’m guessing I gave it the disease from not cleaning my frond cutter but how did it get on there in the first place??

everyone that lives in my neighborhood with queens all look great so 🤷‍♂️.  So much to learn but when I bought it they said I didn’t have to do much….

Palm horticulture has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years in Florida.  Before Lethal Bronzing went crazy, you could plant Phoenix canariensis, Phoenix dactylifera, or Phoenix sylvestris in Central Florida and have a palm capable of surviving the worst our climate could throw at a palm.  With all of the diseases like Lethal Bronzing, Fusarium wilt, and Ganoderma very active at the same time, it's been a tougher row to hoe.

Depending on your location on the peninsula, it may be better to go with Roystonea regia and/or Archontophoenix cunninghamiana.  Neither is quite as cold-tolerant as the old reliable palms like Queens/Butia/Phoenix/Washingtonia/Sabal combos that we used to plant since they were bulletproof, but they're generally a better looking palm that will handle most of the decent microclimates in Central Florida.  There are even a few Roystonea regia in Jacksonville in a sheltered, water-modified microclimate.  A lot of new apartments and developments are using them here, Orlando, and Winter Haven since the aforementioned reliable palms are dying so frequently.

If these species won't cut it where you're at or you'd rather have a very low maintenance landscape, better matches would be Livistona chinensis, Livistona nitida, Livistona decora, and maybe Livistona saribus.  Livistona chinensis is generally the hardiest of the bunch, but it does have some susceptibility to Lethal Bronzing.  Livistona decora is probably the most resistant to Lethal Bronzing, but does have some issues with leaf/crown damage from hurricanes.  They generally recover, but don't look all that great for a while.  Livistona nitida is fairly cold-tolerant and is used quite a bit in parking lots and avenue plantings here.  Livistona saribus is the most tropical looking of the group from my point of view, but probably more of a high zone 9a/low zone 9b palm than a true low 20s palm.  The interesting feature of Livistona saribus are the "shark's teeth" armaments on the petioles.  The other species are armed with smaller thorns on the petioles, but Livistona saribus thorns are usually over an inch long.

[viper155]

thank you for that great reply.   

My queen palm still has a green frond coming out of the center but im assuming that it will go brown shortly and die but im still holding out hope.

[viper155]

On 9/20/2023 at 11:57 PM, kinzyjr said:

Palm horticulture has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years in Florida.  Before Lethal Bronzing went crazy, you could plant Phoenix canariensis, Phoenix dactylifera, or Phoenix sylvestris in Central Florida and have a palm capable of surviving the worst our climate could throw at a palm.  With all of the diseases like Lethal Bronzing, Fusarium wilt, and Ganoderma very active at the same time, it's been a tougher row to hoe.

Depending on your location on the peninsula, it may be better to go with Roystonea regia and/or Archontophoenix cunninghamiana.  Neither is quite as cold-tolerant as the old reliable palms like Queens/Butia/Phoenix/Washingtonia/Sabal combos that we used to plant since they were bulletproof, but they're generally a better looking palm that will handle most of the decent microclimates in Central Florida.  There are even a few Roystonea regia in Jacksonville in a sheltered, water-modified microclimate.  A lot of new apartments and developments are using them here, Orlando, and Winter Haven since the aforementioned reliable palms are dying so frequently.

If these species won't cut it where you're at or you'd rather have a very low maintenance landscape, better matches would be Livistona chinensis, Livistona nitida, Livistona decora, and maybe Livistona saribus.  Livistona chinensis is generally the hardiest of the bunch, but it does have some susceptibility to Lethal Bronzing.  Livistona decora is probably the most resistant to Lethal Bronzing, but does have some issues with leaf/crown damage from hurricanes.  They generally recover, but don't look all that great for a while.  Livistona nitida is fairly cold-tolerant and is used quite a bit in parking lots and avenue plantings here.  Livistona saribus is the most tropical looking of the group from my point of view, but probably more of a high zone 9a/low zone 9b palm than a true low 20s palm.  The interesting feature of Livistona saribus are the "shark's teeth" armaments on the petioles.  The other species are armed with smaller thorns on the petioles, but Livistona saribus thorns are usually over an inch long.

So my queen palm finally died and it sure looks like it was from Fusarium wilt.   Do yall think it would be okay to plant a fox tail palm in its spot or is that also Capable of getting the wilt disease?  
 

thanks 

 

[Merlyn]

11 hours ago, viper155 said:

So my queen palm finally died and it sure looks like it was from Fusarium wilt.   Do yall think it would be okay to plant a fox tail palm in its spot or is that also Capable of getting the wilt disease? 

If it was Fusarium then Foxtails are not susceptible.  The Fusarium that kills Queens also kills Washingtonia (Mexican Fan palm) and Mules (Queen x Butia) but nothing else.  There's a different Fusiarium strain that kills Canariensis and sometimes affects other Phoenix species.  I'd dig up the entire stump and dispose of it.  One caution on Foxtails, they are not too cold hardy.  If you are South of the I4 corridor or near the coast and don't see temps below 30F in the winter they'll be pretty hardy.  You could look around your neighborhood and see if there are any healthy Foxtails.  For example, around Orlando there are lots of them South and East of I4, but not very many to the North and West of I4.  I have 3 Foxtails in the 20+ foot tall range, but my other 8 or so were killed by cold fronts + frost in the 24-30F range.

[kinzyjr]

I'd echo what @Merlyn said. 

Foxtails (Wodyetia bifurcata) are hit and miss in Central FL due to the wide range of cold hardiness in that species and the wide range of microclimates.  Before Jan. 2010 I'd have bet on a total kill of Foxtails in an event like that since there was very little data available for events below 30F and they were labeled as a zone 10a palm.  There was thankfully a good sized population of these palms that survived temperatures between 25F and 28F to use as a seed source locally.  Some of the specimens here don't even yellow a leaf at 28F while some others defoliate and collapse.  You may have a similar experience.

[nessa]

I live out in California, and I was losing my queen palms one by one. Lost a total of eight and my two 30 foot palms wilted away. It all happened after I bought a a few queen palms from an established nursery.

I keep questioning and asking myself how we got the disease, my neighbors also have queen palms but their thriving. I never heard of the disease out here so I am surprised. I wanted to ask if your foxtail palms are thriving? I'm also planted a pindo palm so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Are their any palms similar looking to the queen that are immune to the disease?