Spider mites on these Queens?

[Christopher Dillman]

Thanks all for the feedback on my mini stunted queen. I've thrown in the towel and decided to have an insured tree service to remove it. $500 to dig it out - SoCal prices.. don't judge. 😆 

 

This tree service then identified that all my other tall Queens should be sprayed for spider mites.

My reaction was.. 🤨.

But then again.. presuming it can't hurt because I believe to spray for mites one uses a horticultural (neem) oil or insecticidal soap. I'm hestitating on the neem oil, because on a hot sunny day it will burn the fronds.

Asking the panel here – Can one detect the evidence of mites here? Best pics I could get since they're 12 to 18ft+ high.

Can't hurt to spray them? Or should I say thanks no thanks.

[happypalms]

Myself personally I would not worry about spraying trees that size. Leave it to Mother Nature to balance the situation out. If you spray trees that size the drift will cover everything in sight destroying the ecosystem and upsetting the natural balance already there. $500 bucks just  get someone with a chainsaw and cut it down a local handyman or ask someone on palm talk in your area to give you a hand in return for a carton of beer or offer to barter in return. I understand nothing is for free nowadays and your situation may require expert advice and help. If someone other than an expert cuts it down just cut it up it will slowly rot away. 

[Christopher Dillman]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

$500 bucks just  get someone with a chainsaw and cut it down a local handyman..

Yup, looked into both.

Palm trunks are fibrous and destroy chains in the saw. This one is not completely dried out.

Gardener or handyman would be ideal. But sadly we live in litigious society and need someone insured. Buddy of mine found out the hard way when he found someone uninsured to take care of his yard.

If I were twenty-years younger I'd dig it out. Back says xnay. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Tyrone]

I doubt very much that there are any spider mites on a Syagrus out in the open with windy conditions like that. That bit of yellowing could just mean they need a good complete fertiliser. I’d give the spider mite treatment a miss myself. 

[Silas_Sancona]

4 hours ago, Christopher Dillman said:

This tree service then identified that all my other tall Queens should be sprayed for spider mites.

My reaction was.. 🤨.

But then again.. presuming it can't hurt because I believe to spray for mites one uses a horticultural (neem) oil or insecticidal soap. I'm hestitating on the neem oil, because on a hot sunny day it will burn the fronds.

If some " Tree Service " dude said this to me,  my response would be the same  ...with the added  "... Can you  explain to me how you think they have spider Mites? .. Any detailed examination / analysis proving / dis-proving the presence of??

Perhaps they don't realize ( ...or were trained to understand )  that spider mites are  ....everywhere...  AKA, they travel from place to place through the air ( Ballooning, like regular Spiders do )  ..so you'll never get rid of them, -if-  present..

If they can't ..or aren't willing to offer up legit proof,  their " advise " is highly suspect, -at best-.



Because they reproduce at an extremely fast rate, chemical solutions only work for so long ..until the " future " generations gain immunity to X or Y chemical control option. 

Then you're back to square one   ...and have likely done more harm to the plants (  Reference to the possibility of Neem burning the fronds )  and any other insects that would help keep the mites in check ( Like Predatory Mites for instance ). 

Healthy plants will typically fend off most Spider Mite / other insect attacks w/ out needing much  -if any-  additional " Human- based "  assistance.


 

[Merlyn]

I'd give them a bit of extra Magnesium Sulfate and skip the likely bogus treatment.

[Harry’s Palms]

@happypalms has great advice . Your other queens look ok to me and cutting the stunted one down is not that big of a job. If I were in your area I would help . You need a couple of guys and a chain saw. Harry

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, Christopher Dillman said:

Yup, looked into both.

Palm trunks are fibrous and destroy chains in the saw. This one is not completely dried out.

Gardener or handyman would be ideal. But sadly we live in litigious society and need someone insured. Buddy of mine found out the hard way when he found someone uninsured to take care of his yard.

If I were twenty-years younger I'd dig it out. Back says xnay. 🤷‍♂️

 

I understand your situation. At worst drill a hole in it and pour some diluted herbicide into the hole over time the palm will die and rot away. That’s one alternative if money is an issue. But please get another quote with the knowledge gained from palm talk and don’t be pushed around by some contractors who have no idea except for taking money of people for very little reason other than ripping them of. Don’t worry about a chain rusting away on the saw you can clean them. Or buy a reciprocating saw with a long sharp saw blade will do the trick just as good that way you will have the saw to keep and save quite a few hundred bucks. No insurance needed cut off at hip height it will rot away or just under the crown. Place a few orchids on it until it rots away. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Christopher Dillman]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

Or buy a reciprocating saw with a long sharp saw blade will do the trick just as good that way you will have the saw to keep and save quite a few hundred bucks. 

I think you've just saved me some Benjamins. 🙏 I've seen those saws but didn't know what they were called. 

I even recall seeing a YT of someone sticking one of those saws in the ground to create a perimeter hole around the trunk, thereby cutting the roots around it and freeing the rootball.

I'll load up on my Doan's pills this weekend. 🤒

[Phoenikakias]

During summer of 2023 I had mite epidemic in my garden, prob because of underwatering and extremely high temps on some days. Affected most had been Brahea aculeata (yes Brahea!), Livistona jenkinsiana, Pritchardia spp and Sabal bermudana (yes Sabal!) All affected palms were fan ones and not a single pinnate sp, not even Howea, Ravenea, Chambeyronia, Dypsis or Gaussia. Of course also not Arecastrum.

[SeanK]

14 hours ago, Christopher Dillman said:

Yup, looked into both.

Palm trunks are fibrous and destroy chains in the saw. This one is not completely dried out.

Gardener or handyman would be ideal. But sadly we live in litigious society and need someone insured. Buddy of mine found out the hard way when he found someone uninsured to take care of his yard.

If I were twenty-years younger I'd dig it out. Back says xnay. 🤷‍♂️

 

A saw chain is $35

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

Do not pay the $500. It's a rip off as is the spray. Maybe you can carve a tiki face in it if complete removal is not needed. Or carve holes in it and plant other small plants in the holes. Might need to be drought tolerant plants unless you irrigate it (and that will help it rot). Or plant a vining plant on it to cover it and help it rot. 

[Merlyn]

12 hours ago, Christopher Dillman said:

I think you've just saved me some Benjamins. 🙏 I've seen those saws but didn't know what they were called. 

I even recall seeing a YT of someone sticking one of those saws in the ground to create a perimeter hole around the trunk, thereby cutting the roots around it and freeing the rootball.

I'll load up on my Doan's pills this weekend. 🤒

I'd buy a Bosch RS325 saw, I got one from Lowe's in April for $99.  For hard soil you can't beat the Diablo 3TPI carbide tipped pruning blades.  I use a 12" for deeper cuts.  The regular steel blades just get dull a bit quicker, but are much cheaper.  I also like the Milwaukee 5tpi Pruning blades, a 5 pack is $23 around here.  A single 5 pack is more than enough, you might break a blade if you have some rocks in there.

As far as cutting the stump out goes, I'd leave a 4' tall "lever" height of trunk above ground.  Then cut a big square straight down into the dirt, maybe an inch from the base of the trunk.  Then on the easiest sides cut an angled "wedge" into the dirt to intersect your square.  This gives you a good wedge spot to pry out with a shovel.  Once you have it clear, just cut down underneath it on both sides to cut the bottom roots.  Push on the 4' trunk to lever it back and forth until it's loose enough to snip any remaining roots with the saw.  After I did about 6 queens on the West side, I had it down to a science and it took ~15 minutes to chop out a trunk:

I cut the trunk in half afterwards so it was easy to move.  Here you can see on a different trunk the vertical cuts and then my angled cuts to take out the main root section:

Here is a non-artistic rendering of the main cuts I make.  The red are the first straight down ones, then the green angled cuts, then remove the orange crosshatched wedges, then cut underneath.

[Christopher Dillman]

4 hours ago, Merlyn said:

I'd leave a 4' tall "lever" height of trunk above ground.  Then cut a big square straight down into the dirt, maybe an inch from the base of the trunk.  

Here is a non-artistic rendering of the main cuts I make.  The red are the first straight down ones, then the green angled cuts, then remove the orange crosshatched wedges, then cut underneath.

I'm liking your strategy there. The other method I see a lot is saw cut into four quadrants and splitting the stump with wood wedges. Your technique is looking easier if I can sway the 4 ft' stump out of the hole, cutting into the dirt as you describe.

 

[Merlyn]

@Christopher Dillman yeah the split to quadrants would work too.  My soil here is all sand, so cutting through it is fairly easy.  Clay might not be too bad, but rocks of any decent size will make the blade bounce around uncontrollably.  Don't be afraid to just toss a dull blade, if you force a dull blade it'll probably just snap at the base anyway.  

[Merlyn]

@Christopher Dillman I forgot one critical piece of advice...do NOT...I repeat do NOT use rubberized gloves while using a reciprocating saw.  I sliced up and extracted about 20 water oak stumps using mostly the reciprocating saw, and at the time I was using the cheap HD padded cloth gloves.  Very rarely did I get a blister.  When I went to go cut down the Queens on the West side of the house I just randomly grabbed the rubberized gloves that I use for most yard jobs these days.  Bad mistake.  On the very first cut I got 2 big blisters. 

[Christopher Dillman]

3 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@Christopher Dillman..I just randomly grabbed the rubberized gloves that I use for most yard jobs these days.  Bad mistake.  On the very first cut I got 2 big blisters. 

Duly noted! I intend to post pics of this project. $67 project with Harbor Freight tools vs a $500 tree service.