Oregon Butia planted 12+ years ago - dead?

[97008tropics]

I’m in the Portland metro area, usda 9a. About 12 years ago I planted a Butia (tag said Butia capitata but I hear many are labeled wrong). I was able to grow it from about 5 feet to over 15 tall and even wider around. The last 5 years it was too big to build protection very feasibly. 2 winter ago we had a late freeze / colder than normal event with snow. It had a lot of brown and I thought might have been dead but it bounced back and produced twice as many berrys that summer. This last winter we had a really bad cold windstorm followed by snow and lingering cold temps for 4-5 days. I forget exactly how long the temps were low as it was a freaky storm with the wind uprooted a lot of tall conifers, killing and injuring people, and knocking power out for 200000 people. Anyway, it looks like more of a goner now. It is tan/browner than last spring, more droopy, and the center has no green.

Is there anything that can be done to resurrect it? Like maybe one of those deep root watering spikes with some kind of nutrients? I spread some palm fertilizer in March but guessing that was of no use. 
 

Please see attached photos and see it looks like it has a chance, or if there is anything to try. Feel like I should give it a better shot. As far as feather palms planted outside north of the 45th parallel it might be one of the ones making it through the most winters.

 

 

[97008tropics]

reattached photos..

[97008tropics]

Should I have posted this in the cold hardy section - or can we move it there?

Sorry, new here.

[Chester B]

I'm pretty sure its gone, all you can really do is wait.  What a shame.  If you want to get aggressive you can trunk cut it.   

My big one I planted 8 years ago in Clackamas was of similar size or maybe a bit larger than yours when I left this January.  It was never bothered by any of the winters.  I would try and wrap the spear to prevent snow/ice getting in during one of those arctic outbreaks, but I'm not sure how much it actually did.  That bad storm in Jan 2017 it was unprotected and only showed a little bit of spotting in spring.

[Merlyn]

That looks like a classic bud rot, since the oldest fronds are still alive.  It's usually caused by a Phytophthora infection, typical after cold fronts.  First step is to lightly pull on the center fronds.  If they are rotten they'll pull right out.  I'd pour a bunch of hydrogen peroxide down the center of the crown and see if it bubbles up.  If so then follow up in a few hours with a Daconil mix.  Repeat every few days for a week or so.  This has "cured" quite a few palms for myself and other members here.  But if it's been brown in the center for months then the bud may already be dead.  As Chester said, sometimes you can "trunk cut" the top down to clean tissue and it might regrow...but not if the bud is dead.

[97008tropics]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

I'm pretty sure its gone, all you can really do is wait.  What a shame.  If you want to get aggressive you can trunk cut it.   

My big one I planted 8 years ago in Clackamas was of similar size or maybe a bit larger than yours when I left this January.  It was never bothered by any of the winters.  I would try and wrap the spear to prevent snow/ice getting in during one of those arctic outbreaks, but I'm not sure how much it actually did.  That bad storm in Jan 2017 it was unprotected and only showed a little bit of spotting in spring.

Thanks for the reply. The 2017 event was colder for longer and I think after getting past it I was overconfident. In addition getting reclassified as 9a instead of 8b maybe contributed to overconfidence. Temps got down to high teens at my house so that's not 9a lol. And I realize regardless of 9a or 8b our lack of heat & wetter winter make it not a sure thing here even if the plant is rated for it low temp wise.

I think the challenge with 2023 was it was so late in season, but could be wrong. Temp/Snow/Ice of 2024 storm vs 2017 was not as bad but the impact of the storm to the community was like nothing I've seen due to the wind. It wasn't the typical Portlanders can't drive in snow narrative. It was a legitimate dangerous situation due to the wind damage that occurred first. Its not exaggerating to say it was up 60-80mph winds. A lot of tall Douglas Fir, Pine, and Spurce got uprooted damaging power lines and homes. I was one of the luckier ones to not have power for just 3 days vs more than a week for many others. Maybe that wind weakened my palm before the stress of the cold. In the last 12 hours I've read about a things I could have done to better protect it prior to the storm and then after. I probably should have been more proactive in the last few months. With that in mind I should probably feel lucky that I kept it going as many winters as I had here

Today I went out and poured some peroxide down the center. Was curious if the crown wanted to pull out and it did not (at least with a gentle attempt).

Here are some pictures not long after the storm nearby me. One is just around the corner. One tree fell into the street, and another fell from neighbors hard across within feet of front steps all the way across to the next neighbors yard.

 

[97008tropics]

8 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

That looks like a classic bud rot, since the oldest fronds are still alive.  It's usually caused by a Phytophthora infection, typical after cold fronts.  First step is to lightly pull on the center fronds.  If they are rotten they'll pull right out.  I'd pour a bunch of hydrogen peroxide down the center of the crown and see if it bubbles up.  If so then follow up in a few hours with a Daconil mix.  Repeat every few days for a week or so.  This has "cured" quite a few palms for myself and other members here.  But if it's been brown in the center for months then the bud may already be dead.  As Chester said, sometimes you can "trunk cut" the top down to clean tissue and it might regrow...but not if the bud is dead.

Thanks. I did something similar with the hydrogen peroxide today. Had a hard time being sure if I was getting into the center. I need to try a taller ladder to see if I am getting it in center and if it bubbles up or not.

Kicking myself for not doing that months ago. Other things around the house got attention first. Really appreciate the response though.

 

 

[Chester B]

Valentines day storm of 2021 was real bad at my place.  Most of you in Portland got snow we got the devastating ice.  Took out dozens of trees in my neighborhood, but all my palms lived.  No power for days.  Two days later this hit Texas and is now known as Palmageddon.

Christmas bomb cyclone of 2022 was a particularly bad event for me with hurricane force winds.  Out in Beaverton you don't get the gorge winds like we did on the east side so consider yourself lucky.  That freeze dried most of the broad leaf evergreen even those that can be grown in zone 6 or even 5.  This one killed my Butia eriospatha but my odorata was unphased.

[Chester B]

@97008tropics  I've been thinking about your Butia while I'm working outside and I'm totally bummed it's dead.  I was at the point that I thought mine was the only big one around.  I've only seen one other smaller one which died a few years back.  Palmscape had some planted but they died.  So to hear that there was another one out there, that was this big is really awesome.  But to find out this way is bitter sweet.   

[Harry’s Palms]

Hopefully it will come back , against all odds. Harry

[97008tropics]

@Chester B @Harry’s Palms thank you both. 

[97008tropics]

New growth! 

Around when I posted here I trimmed some clearly dead fronds leaving some that maybe had a little green - this was pretty ugly as the ones with potential were lower or in the middle. A couple weeks after posting here the spear pulled. I poured more hydrogen peroxide down the center and nothing bubbled up. Most of the barely greenish fronds not trimmed before continued to turn browner, and it seemed that all but one had no greenish at all. It’s been looking sadder. The pics in first post here don’t do it justice as brown and droopy it had become. But it was looking even worse. So surprised to see some new growth,