Boron deficiency? Or am I just a worry wart?

[NickJames]

Some leaflets have not opened fully on one of my livistona rigida. 

Is this a boron deficiency or just a still immature frond?

I took a lot of pics so you can see the health of the rest of it.  

these grow FAST in my yard. This entire set of foliage is new for this year. 

[Tom in Tucson]

Overall this looks quite healthy. You don't see many of these in this state. I'm not sure why, as I have a lot of healthy, closely related L. mariae.

The only thing that could potentially be an issue, is the moderate infestation of holiday lights.

Hi 69°, Lo 40°

Edited December 5, 2023 by Tom in Tucson

[NickJames]

An infestation of LED, much to the chagrin of my royals who I’m sure would love the warmth of an incandescent bulb 😂

L. Rigida quickly became one of my favorite palms. While the foliage does not tolerate hurricane winds well, it quickly recovered. I just love the blueish hue…

[Looking Glass]

With the hook leaf, it could be mildly.   It normally affects a point in time, a while back, and would affect both sides of the leaf at that point, not just half.   It’s often transient with heavy rains.  You could just give a hit of borax, just in case.   Or you could just watch and see.  Organics breaking down in soil and mulch, and not washing away, often corrects it if it was transient.  

[NickJames]

5 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

With the hook leaf, it could be mildly.   It normally affects a point in time, a while back, and would affect both sides of the leaf at that point, not just half.   It’s often transient with heavy rains.  You could just give a hit of borax, just in case.   Or you could just watch and see.  Organics breaking down in soil and mulch, and not washing away, often corrects it if it was transient.  

This area does not have organics to break down, at least in the immediate vicinity. This area is around my pool and has Amazon River rock to avoid mulch in the pool. I use rocks in areas like this and immediately touching the house. Everything else is pine bark. 😁

[Looking Glass]

3 hours ago, NickJames said:

This area does not have organics to break down, at least in the immediate vicinity. This area is around my pool and has Amazon River rock to avoid mulch in the pool. I use rocks in areas like this and immediately touching the house. Everything else is pine bark. 😁

I had problems with minor hook leaf on, of all things, two Pseudophoenix Sargentii, in separate locations, planted under shell mulch in sandy soil.   (High calcium can contribute to Boron deficiency.   As they outgrew their small beds, I expanded the beds, I raked up the shell, and put a layer of wood mulch down, hit that with borax, then put a layer of crushed limestone rock and the shells back over that.   That seemed to solve the problem.   In my imagination, the decomposing lower wood layer should help going forward.   

Since it takes my Pseudophoenix around 2+ years to cycle a frond, I get to still see the effects of Boron deficiency for a long time.    I actually went out today and took a pic.   It seems I do have fronds that are half effected.   You do see temporal effects of Boron deficiency, like the lower part of an older front and the tip of a newer frond, that were once adjacent during development, now separated by feet of growth as they matured.  If that makes sense.  
 

[FlaPalmLover]

Any zone-pushing palms in your yard? Deltona is classified as 9b in the newest USDA chart, so there's a few palms where you have to wonder if they would make it here (royals, foxtails, etc.), particularly with population growth and development. My assumption is that royals would be a bad idea since the I4 ones in Sanford are already kind of marginal looking. There are several mature, nice Bismarcks throughout Deltona and Orange City. I have a foxtail that I got that's doing well in a semi-protected spot so far but will have to see how it does through the winter. I just got a copernicia fallaensis as well, as it seems to be 9b safe.

Edited December 6, 2023 by FlaPalmLover

[NickJames]

3 hours ago, FlaPalmLover said:

Any zone-pushing palms in your yard? Deltona is classified as 9b in the newest USDA chart, so there's a few palms where you have to wonder if they would make it here (royals, foxtails, etc.), particularly with population growth and development. My assumption is that royals would be a bad idea since the I4 ones in Sanford are already kind of marginal looking. There are several mature, nice Bismarcks throughout Deltona and Orange City. I have a foxtail that I got that's doing well in a semi-protected spot so far but will have to see how it does through the winter. I just got a copernicia fallaensis as well, as it seems to be 9b safe.

Yes, actually. I have three royals that survived 12/26/2022 when I had a hard freeze of 26 and the royals literally had ice on them because I also kicked on sprinkler foolishly. 

I have Bismarck which also had ice on it but had no damage. 

Unfortunately I am not in a good microclimate but we have coconuts down the road that also survived the freeze out in an open yard. Go figure. Lol. 

[FlaPalmLover]

37 minutes ago, NickJames said:

Yes, actually. I have three royals that survived 12/26/2022 when I had a hard freeze of 26 and the royals literally had ice on them because I also kicked on sprinkler foolishly. 

I have Bismarck which also had ice on it but had no damage. 

Unfortunately I am not in a good microclimate but we have coconuts down the road that also survived the freeze out in an open yard. Go figure. Lol. 

At least where I am, it's hard to say what palms will make it here, because most people just seem to grow queen palms and pindo palms. I guess they see their neighbors with them and just get the same ones. 

[Tom in Tucson]

15 minutes ago, FlaPalmLover said:

At least where I am, it's hard to say what palms will make it here, because most people just seem to grow queen palms and pindo palms. I guess they see their neighbors with them and just get the same ones. 

I have to add that this mindset; "monkey see - monkey do" is tragically omnipresent here as well.

Hi 82°, Lo 43°

Edited December 6, 2023 by Tom in Tucson

[Palmfarmer]

I was also super Paranoid about Micronutrient deficiencies in the beggining of my Palm adventure I would rotate and mix a lot of different ammendmens and fertilizers. Then I found out real soil rarely are deficient in Micronutrients (perhaps very sandy soil is the exception.) 

Still paranoid about my potted palms and palms in a non soil medium. 

[NickJames]

3 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

I was also super Paranoid about Micronutrient deficiencies in the beggining of my Palm adventure I would rotate and mix a lot of different ammendmens and fertilizers. Then I found out real soil rarely are deficient in Micronutrients (perhaps very sandy soil is the exception.) 

Still paranoid about my potted palms and palms in a non soil medium. 

Lucky me - I am very sandy.