2 Week Old Sylvester Palms Turning Charcoal Black

[Happyklown]

Hello to Everyone!  So glad a forum like this exists!  So, about 2 weeks ago I had two Sylvester Palms installed and literally overnight I woke up to dark black charcoal color on the side facing the sprinklers.  The back of the palms aren’t like this.  They are water using a well pump that does have some rust that discolors the pavers.

Are they waterlogged?  They did spend the night with some new solar landscaping lights hitting the same side.  Weird.  

Is this normal?  What should I do, if anything?

Really, really appreciate you all and any help I can get!

 

[sonoranfans]

mold grows readily in dead plant material and those leafbases are dead.  Unless your crown has somehow shown stress I wouldnt worry about it.  By the way I might water with a soaker hose not a sprinkler.  Is your soil clay or sand or a mix?  ALso I always put down top mulch (in sandy soil especially) because it keeps the soil moist longer near the surface.  Post pics of the full tree to best understand them.

[Happyklown]

Soil has lot of clay mixed in.  What caused in to die so quickly?  Will it regenerate over time?  How do I prevent future or more damage like this?

 

Appreciate it!

[Happyklown]

[SeanK]

Palm looks good. I once saw a video where guys trimmed the boots, then lacquered them to maintain that orange color.

[Happyklown]

Appreciate your input, Sean!

[Happyklown]

So,  should I put any mold remover on the parts of the tree that are black or turning black?  Is this black discoloration on just the front side due to tree shock or transportation damage by the installers?

[SeanK]

Not much help on a remedy, sorry. I do know that most fungi prefer an acidic environment. Perhaps something alkaline mixed in warm water, used as a rinse.

[Harry’s Palms]

That color on the trunk is fine as far as I can see. If you reduce or eliminate the water that soaks the trunk the condition will probably stop. The dark color , if it bothers you , could be cleaned with soapy(mild) scrub. Harry

[Happyklown]

Awesome, Harry, thanks!

[awkonradi]

It's your palm, so please do what you want with it.  But, I think the dark color looks cool.

[floridaPalmMan]

6 hours ago, SeanK said:

Palm looks good. I once saw a video where guys trimmed the boots, then lacquered them to maintain that orange color.

Yea it looks like black soot mold or possibly some other black mold.

I have no experience washing mold off of a palm but yea that's dead tissue and bound to happen eventually.

Just take a look at older sylvesters and p. dactilifera's... they're trunks are all black and rough looking simply from time, mold, age, etc...

The only way I've ever seen someone prolong the beauty of a diamond cut sylvester is from youtube videos of them lacquering or using polyurethane to clear coat the frond scars like @SeanK mentioned above.

And I believe they said they still have to do that every year or so.

[Happyklown]

All of your answers are really helping.  It’s putting my mind at ease which is a good thing in middle age!

[Merlyn]

@Happyklown I'd agree with the others, the trunk is not normally that orange/brown color.  It was probably diamond cut and then dyed that way, similar to how they dye mulch.  I'd guess under the dye is the "normal" grey/brown/black trunk color.  Generally avoid having sprayers hit the trunk anyway, as it can eventually cause trunk rot.  I use drippers or small drip fan sprayers-on-a-stick facing away from the trunk.  Once established a Sylvestros won't need much (if any) supplemental water, except maybe in our May or October droughts.

[Happyklown]

That’s some good information, Merlyn.  So possibly, the sprinklers running a lot directly on them probably eroded the dye prematurely.

[sonoranfans]

looks like a hybrid phoenix with some sylvestris in it.  Sylvestris in florida do not like heavy clay as it dries slowly and we get lots of rain especially this time fo year.  One of the signs of an unhappy overwatered sylvestris and other phoenix is that the leaves dont seem to really open up on older leaves.  Might be you lose 5-6 leaves due to the transplant shock, large transplants often do this after their big root systems are severed.  They just cant take up enough water for all those leaves.   In my neighborhood we have a lake and a road around it.  Ont he outside of the road its sand plus clay, ont he inside its heavy clay to maintain the retention pond/lake.  Sylvestris in the heavy clay soil look stressed while those on the other side of the road look happy.   IF the clay is too heavy and you are in a rainy humid climate, the soil will take a long time to dry out.  Phoenix sylvestris, canariensis, and dactylifera are all very adapted in the desert where I lived for 10 years.  Here in florida they dont look as happy unless you plant them in vey high draining soil.  If I was planting a phoenix that size I'd get a cubic yard of perlite and ammend the clay 30, sand 30, perlite 35% to fill a hole 3x as large as the ball and deeper by 1' at least.  I hope I am wrong and it just kicks in, but my observations here in FL and those partially opened leaflets on older leaves concern me. 

[Happyklown]

Fair enough.  Something to definitely look into.   Appreciate it!