Introduction and request for help

[Tim S.]

New here. My name is Tim. I'm in Carlsbsd California, USA.

I have a few palms in my landscaping. Blond Flame Thrower, Teddybear, Bamboo, Kentia, King Kong, Bottle. One or two of each. All not huge. 

Within the last 6 months they have been developing this fibrous stuff on underside along the main vein and the smaller ones off it. This is causing my palms to look unhealthy. The fronds twist and die from tips out. The new unfolded fronds seem to start out with a streak of it before opening. I first thought a beetle or worm. Now lean towards a fungus. I have noticed more palms in my neighborhood getting this as well. I've searched the internet for an id of this but cannot find anything. I've asked local nursery "experts" and they pass the buck. 

Hoping someone here can help.

Pics added

Thank you

 

[Tim S.]

More pictures 

[Tim S.]

[iDesign]

Welcome to Palmtalk neighbor!

I love your palm choices... I own these exact same palms and love them (though my bottle sadly died last winter).  My garden is also relatively young - other than my two King Kong / Fishtail palms, which are very old. Feel free to PM if you'd ever like to take a tour (I'm in La Costa Valley).

There are quite a few of us palm collectors in the Carlsbad/Encinitas area, some of which are new to the hobby. Sadly I don't have any wisdom to share on your question. Your post is in the right place, as there are some amazing palm experts on here who are very happy to help. Hopefully my comment will bump your post back to the top and you'll get some good advice. 🤔

Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing more photos as your garden grows.

[pietropuccio]

Hello, those things that worry you on the underside of the leaf are called ramenta and are perfectly natural, no disease, no parasites.

[Tim S.]

2 hours ago, pietropuccio said:

Hello, those things that worry you on the underside of the leaf are called ramenta and are perfectly natural, no disease, no parasites.

What a relief. I was worried.

What causes the fronds to twist, exposing the underside up? 

Thank you for the help 🙂

[Tracy]

29 minutes ago, Tim S. said:

What a relief. I was worried.

What causes the fronds to twist, exposing the underside up? 

Thank you for the help 🙂

Hello Tim and welcome to the PalmTalk community.   The one in your photos appears to be an Archontophoenix cunninghamiana (aka King palm) opening with a normal twist.  Nothing unusual with that frond which will change its orientation as other new fronds open.  

We are experiencing an unusual winter.   Depending on where you live in Carlsbad you could be experiencing one of our colder winters.  In the coastal zone near the lagoons, the Santa Ana winds deliver our coldest mornings with clear conditions.   Add to the cold, our dry conditions.   Normally my irrigation is turned off for weeks this time of year but with no rain, they are still running.   Bottom line cold temps may induce stress and if you haven't been watering sufficiently that could be another stress.  I lived in southwest Carlsbad for 25 years before moving across Bataquitos lagoons to Leucadia.   I have experience growing all of the palms you mentioned in the Carlsbad garden as well as here in Leucadia and they perform well.

If you have other specific concerns please share photos of the problems.   The palms in your photo appears established and significant in size.  Were these all palms you planted or did you acquire the home with some of these planted?

[Palmerr]

4 hours ago, pietropuccio said:

Hello, those things that worry you on the underside of the leaf are called ramenta and are perfectly natural, no disease, no parasites.

Yeah i was like... Thats normal right? i see that stuff on young foxtails all the time (My Mimi in fl gave me a foxtail seed bunch from her foxtail in Kissimmee FL for christmas LOLLL) anyways its normal no like fungus. The king palms do that twist thing thats also normal i like it when they have a new frond open thats like that but some dont it seems.

[Merlyn]

Agreed with the above comments, tomentum and ramenta are basically little hairy-looking structures that let the fronds slide past each other without sticking.  Some palms have a lot, some a little, but it's all normal.  If I recall correctly, ramenta is the brown stuff you are seeing on the underside of leaves, typically stuck to the center vein.  Tomentum is typically the fuzz near the base of the fronds, like the kind of chalky whitish stuff on the stems in your photos.

Twistiness is somewhat normal too, depending on a bunch of things.  Genetics plays a big role, some palms in the same species will twist more than others.  Lack of water, dry temps, high winds can also make fronds twist in one way or another, seemingly at random.  I noted some dead leaf tips in one photo, which could be an indicator it wants more water or maybe more potassium:

I noted some fronds are a bit irregularly splotchy light/dark green, which is sometimes a sign of potassium deficiency:

[Cindy Adair]

I continue to learn from others on PalmTalk. 
 

Welcome to the Forum Tim S. and thanks to all who take the time to educate all of us!