Boots Rotting/Falling Off a Sabal Palmetto

[kleeCHS]

Hi everyone -

About a month ago, we installed a fully booted, refoliated Sabal palmetto in front of our house in coastal Charleston, SC (USA). The tree is about 9' tall. We wanted the boots on the tree to provide an attractive accent instead of a smooth trunk for this location. However, since the tree was installed, the boots along the bottom of the tree have been rotting away and falling off. Please reference the attached photos. We have been watering the tree with drip irrigation around the base, so no water is being sprayed onto the trunk or saturating this area of the tree. I contacted the owner of the company that installed the tree. He said this is normal, so I wanted to check with this community to see what people think. I'm disappointed in how the tree looks now, and I worry that this process will continue and make the tree look even worse.

Thanks for weighing in... I'm grateful for your opinion!

-Kyle

[sonoranfans]

Mature sabal palmettos will very rarely hold boots down low.  Boots are dead plant material and dead plant material decomposes ;like mulch.  I do agree that in very dry climates boots on many palms tend to persist longer, but your climate is humid subtropical, not dry.  

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

I agree with sonoranfans this is a normal process. Personally that would not bother me but we all have our preferences. It will slow down and leave some upper boots. Never heard of anyone doing it, but you could try hot glue, in an inconspicuous area, to attach boots to each other but i would not glue to the trunk itself.