Spear leaf on Sylvester Palm struggling

[Aprllissier]

The spear leaf of this one Sylvester Palm out of 6 planted a year ago comes out and then repeatedly falls over and browns before spreading out into a green frond. Has anyone seen this happen before? You may be able to see in this photo the difference from its neighbor and how thinned out it looks by comparison. Curious if I have a watering issue, insect, or disease that needs to be addressed before it spreads if that’s the case. 

[D. Morrowii]

Welcome to Palm Talk!

Which palm are we talking about here? The one on the far right? Are you saying the spear falls over to nearly horizontal and then opens? 

 

[Aprllissier]

Yes the one on the far right. The spear comes up and just never spreads out. Then it falls horizontal and turns brown. The tree tries again and sends up another spear but the only thing green are the lower fronds from before this started happening. 

[DonPalm]

Are you using a quality fertilizer formulated for palms?  
As for watering, make sure they get atleast 1 inch per week.

Can you provide another picture of the trunks and surrounding location?

[D. Morrowii]

I don't know a lot about the diseases that are currently killing many species of Phoenix palms but there are others on this board who may be able to help you diagnose something like that. 

If these were my trees I would first check to make sure there isn't some type of fungus in the growth point. You can get some regular 3% Hydrogen peroxide from your local pharmacy and pour some down in the middle where the leaves grow from and see if it bubbles up. I’m not sure how common crown rot is in Phoenix Sylvesteris but it is where I would start. If it does foam up then you can treat it with the peroxide every few days until bubbles stop. Its probably good to give it at least one additional treatment after that. You just need enough to fill what ever space there is in the crown since running down the trunk wont do you much good. As I assume you already know the spines on those palm trees are DEADLY! Not poisonous just long and sharp. So be careful working around the center of these palms.

Looking at your photo I wonder if the roof line right next to the fronds on the affected tree is funneling water onto the fronds and into the crown. If so that wouldn't be good for a palm tree and can definitely cause fungus to grow in there. 

[Merlyn]

On 10/22/2023 at 12:27 AM, Aprllissier said:

Yes the one on the far right. The spear comes up and just never spreads out. Then it falls horizontal and turns brown. The tree tries again and sends up another spear but the only thing green are the lower fronds from before this started happening. 

If you could take closer photos of the new spear that would help us figure out what's going wrong.  Try and post a photo looking down into the center of the crown (near the base of the new spear), a photo of the whole spear, and a picture focused near the top 2 or so feet.  I can say for sure that the 8' tall new spear is really unusual.  On my Sylvesters they usually send out 4-6 new spears at once, and they split apart into individual spears when they are 3-4 feet tall.  They look more like your far left one, where you can see 4 separate spear tips. 

One possible culprit is as @D. Morrowii said, a crown infection that could be cured with hydrogen peroxide, Mancozeb, Daconil, or a copper-based fungicide.  I use hydrogen peroxide and Daconil, though I've been told by a local grower that Mancozeb is his favorite for crown infections.

Another possibility is too much water in that corner, either from the roof, a gutter, the soil, or just from being trapped in a corner.  If the soil stays wet all the time it might have a root problem.  Or if it's flooded with every rainstorm that can wash away Boron.  A lack of Boron can cause leaf tips to be fused together, which might keep all the spears trapped together and prevent them from growing normally.  You can see pictures 5 and 6 in this link with examples of damaged spears: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ep264

[Aprllissier]

Wow! I really appreciate your feedback and suggestions. I'm going to climb up there in the next few days and see what I can see and take more photos. 

[Aprllissier]

[Aprllissier]

Turns out the one huge spear leaf is a clump of fronds seemingly stuck together. By the time they separate everything is yellow or brown before it opens. I can't even see down into the crown as so much growth is trying to come up. It's dense with this one giant clump of fronds that are not opening and turning green. 

These palms are in a raised bed with a french drain type set up that drains to the left of this photo. The bed itself is maybe 4 feet deep before hitting the bottom concrete footing that ties into the stucco wall as support. This palm would conceivably be the driest, although I had been watering it extra when it first noticed it struggling and contacting the nursery I purchased it from. (We're in drought conditions in Louisiana - which is extremely rare). Then I began to think maybe I was watering it too much and cut back. Not its getting 2x per week for 30 minutes on a drip hose irrigation system. 

[Aprllissier]

I also checked to see if the drainage from my neighbors roof would run into the crown and that doesn't look likely even though it may appear so in the photo. 

[DonPalm]

On 10/29/2023 at 3:01 PM, Aprllissier said:

I also checked to see if the drainage from my neighbors roof would run into the crown and that doesn't look likely even though it may appear so in the photo. 

If they have only been in the ground 1 year, then you still have some time before they are fully rooted.
They seem like they are a bit close together.  Typically, Sylvesters need 4-5 feet to spread out.  The one in the corner (the problem child) seems to be the most confined which could explain the fronds not opening properly.  Again, they are still considered newly planted.  Give them another year.

[D. Morrowii]

@Aprllissier Try pouring a little Hydrogen Peroxide into the crown to see if it foams up. It wont hurt anything either way. As mentioned before if it does bubble then treat it every few days with a fungicide like the ones @Merlyn suggested. 

[Merlyn]

I agree with @D. Morrowii, squirt a bunch of household 3% hydrogen peroxide into the crown and see if it bubbles up.  The newer fronds pushing up look normal, so this might have been a crown infection from last winter.  The tall spears you see now probably started growing at least 6 months ago.  An infection from winter could easily hang around and damage new fronds for 6 months or more.  Since the older fronds look totally fine, I'd guess it's in the crown.  I use H2O2 and Daconil for crown infections.  Both are surface-only, which is usually enough.  It's hard to say whether your fronds are infected on the inside, this one makes me think so:

If that's the case, a systemic that works on Phytophthora is a good idea.  I use Banrot for most things, but Aliette (or other Fosetyl-Al types) are also supposed to be good fungicides for Phytophthora.  Here's a good fact sheet on bud rot: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP144

As an FYI the brown papery stuff is normal, it's a "sheath fiber" that helps keep the spears from sticking to each other.  The lime-yellow color on new leaves (the ones you spread apart in the photos) is also normal.  They should turn blue-green after a few days in the sun. 

Having multiple spears "fused" together could be a symptom of the bud rot, and could also be a boron deficiency.  I didn't see the "accordion leaf" in any of the spear photos.  I'd check your fertilizer to make sure it has a small amount of boron.  Something like 0.01% or so is normal for a "palm special" type of fertilizer.  Since your topping is rock the palms won't get the normal tiny dose of boron from rotting mulch.  That just means your fertilizer needs to have a small amount of boron.  You can supplement with Borax powder, but in very small amounts.  Too much boron is toxic.  They say 2-4oz of borax in 5 gallons of water, personally I've done a small amount like 1oz in 5 gallons...something like 2 or 3 tablespoons if I recall correctly.  If your fertilizer has boron and you've been doing doses 4x per year then it's unlikely to be a boron deficiency...but a small amount to supplement won't hurt.