Pritchardia new leaf collapse

[Tracy]

I just was on my deck and noticed an unopened leaf spear had collapsed.  I pulled out a ladder to examine and couldn't determine a reason.  No sign of any trauma, or insects.  The adjacent spear doesn't appear to have any issues.

We haven't experienced unusual strong wind either.   I don't know which species and it hasn't produced flowers yet.  I haven't experienced this with any of my Pritchardia. Anyone else seen this happen?

[SeanK]

I would treat the bud with peroxide. That being said, I have Rhapidophyllum that do that occasionally. One leaf looks like some moisture damage but all the rest are OK.

[Tracy]

Thank you for the input Sean.  The first photo shows the poin where the petiole bent or collapsed.   It isn't in the meristem and the next leaves are still an unsplit spike that appear healthy.   I can't discern any reason the otherwise healthy appearing petiole bent at the point it did.  Very unusual in my experience with this genus.

[quaman58]

Tracy, 

Hopefully, it’s something other than the evil beetle. Unfortunately that’s what happened to one of my Hawaiian fans a few months ago. When I gave the upper growing section a push, it was clear that much of the internal structural integrity was gone. If yours still feel firm, awesome. Say 15 Hail Mary’s and hope for the best. Keep us posted!

[Phoenikakias]

Mine had done exactly  same thing once, when I was struggling to save it from the rpw.  Never used fungicides, just killed the bugs and palm returned to normality. I would remove all leaf boots and sheaths of the dead leaves to check for tunnels in the trunk.

[Tracy]

4 hours ago, quaman58 said:

Tracy, 

Hopefully, it’s something other than the evil beetle. Unfortunately that’s what happened to one of my Hawaiian fans a few months ago. When I gave the upper growing section a push, it was clear that much of the internal structural integrity was gone. If yours still feel firm, awesome. Say 15 Hail Mary’s and hope for the best. Keep us posted!

Bret, after your experience I opted to add my Pritchardia to my Imidacloprid pretreatment routine.   Hopefully it will ward off the sapw.  This palm was part of my preventative treatments along with my Ravenea palms.  That said the sapw was definitely on my radar.

[Phoenikakias]

46 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Bret, after your experience I opted to add my Pritchardia to my Imidacloprid pretreatment routine.   Hopefully it will ward off the sapw.  This palm was part of my preventative treatments along with my Ravenea palms.  That said the sapw was definitely on my radar.

It makes now sense, why this palm is (in case of an infestation) still alive with good odds for recuperation. In which way did you apply imidacloprid? Pls check in the upper part of the still covered trunk for tunnels and inject inside them a dimethoate solution.

[happypalms]

Hi Tracy if it was in Australia i would say a possum would have jumped on it. But it’s not in  Australia. My only thing I could think off is animal damage what I sort I don’t have a clue.  

[Darold Petty]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

Hi Tracy if it was in Australia i would say a possum would have jumped on it. But it’s not in  Australia. My only thing I could think off is animal damage what I sort I don’t have a clue.  

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/opossum

https://www.gingersoftware.com/english-online/spelling-book/confusing-words/possum-opossum

[Tracy]

33 minutes ago, Darold Petty said:

https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/opossum

https://www.gingersoftware.com/english-online/spelling-book/confusing-words/possum-opossum

I can't oppose the opossum theory definitively but would be quite surprised to see one in this palm because it lacks fruit or any other reason for one to climb it.

BTW I have always incorrectly used the possum name for our Virginia marsupial.   I learned something new today.

[Darold Petty]

We have a lot of raccoons in my neighborhood, also.  They are quite adept at climbing any bush or tree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon

[TomJ]

Also a first sign of banana moth ....