Palm Help Post Malibu Fire

[R-Banger]

Hello everyone, been a long time lurker on here. Learned a lot from you all. My home unfortunately burned down in the Palisades fire but some of my trees survived. My question is my alfie has burned fronds and was wondering if I should cut them off. They are singed but some of the stems are still green. Just saw there may be some black spots too today so I am going to go hit it hard with some copper fungicide. Hoping I can save it along with my 2 hyophorbe indicas that made it. Kind of blown away at their resilience along with some of my heliconias. I went back and the heliconias had shoots coming out like crazy so I dug them up and transplanted to our rental. Bummed because I got my rostrata's and angusta's to bloom like crazy this last year after 2 years. Anyway I have some before and after photos. You can see a couple fronds on the alfie have green. In the crown there are 3 new ones slowly pushing and green in the photos, but they have black spots on them now. I added a before photo of my Hilebrandii but it looks like it may be toast unfortunately. Also have a 10ft Pandanus with about 5 feet of trunk that looks like it made it too that I am trying to nurse. Any way any advice to help me save it is very much appreciated! Just wasn't sure if the burned fronds provided any nutrients right now or if I should clean it up to get some sunlight to the bud.

 

 

[DoomsDave]

@R-Banger nice to meet you!

My heart breaks at your pictures and situation. 

Lordy I’ll have to think about some ideas for care; you may well be a pioneer.

I know a couple people who’ve lost homes in the Palisades fire. 😢 

 

[Harry’s Palms]

I am so sorry . I think some palms , amazingly , can come back. I remember the Thomas fire up here burned homes and landscaping in the hillsides above Ventura. There was a palm tree farm on the Coast highway , Rincon Gardens I think it was called. They had large specimens that were blackened with foliage completely burned. Within a year several had new fronds growing . Even the smaller ones in the residential areas that had tragic loss , some of the landscaping started growing again. There may be hope for your palms . I only hope things will get better for you , I can’t imagine the loss you have to endure. Harry

[gyuseppe]

what heliconia is it?

[R-Banger]

I really appreciate the kind words! Fingers crossed, I left the green stems but cleaned off some of the burned leaflets as I wanted more sunsine to make it's way through to the bud. I dumped some copper fungicide down the top and all over the green leaves to be safe. Will upload some more photos later. Wondering if a shot of fertilizer will help get some nutrients to the tree?

[R-Banger]

20 minutes ago, gyuseppe said:

what heliconia is it?

This is Heliconia Angusta "red holiday" blooms for me late winter early spring around March.  You can kind of see my pritchardia to the right behind it. It provided shade for these as they don't love sun. Trying to find photos of my rostrata's as they bloomed like crazy last summer starting June. Only get ike 6ish or so bracts but they looked awesome. Hot Rio nights and Pedro Ortiz did well but I hadn't gotten them to bloom yet. Schiediana did but man that thing was like a weed. Psittacorum grew really fast, bloomed like crazy, but most of them would completely die off. There was always a small patch that was right up against my stucco wall that would make it and then take off again when it warmed up. I don't get that cold where I am in Malibu as we are really close to the water, but we also don't get that hot. Will post up more pics.

[flplantguy]

Im not from California (was born at Vandenburg AFB though) so i think you should defer to others from there except this: make sure the new spear leaf is able to push past any damage.  I think you have one thats iffy with all the burned fronds.  My degree is in horticulture, but the weather is different there and im not sure if the burned foliage will help protect or hinder new growth.  Here its a hindrance but we have more rain and humidity.  Removing it can help if the new growth is trapped, and make sure there is no dead material in the crown to rot away (or just dump peroxide in just in case). As long as the meristem is intact the plant should grow out just like if it was frost burned, so similar cautious care should work.  I hope they all come back and provide something positive amongst the stress you are no doubt dealing with!

[Darold Petty]

R- Banger,   I would cut away any foliage that is completely brown since it no longer can photosynthesize and produce carbs to nourish the plant.  This will also maximize the sunlight exposure to the remaining green tissue.  Keep it up with hydrogen peroxide, 3% or copper sulfate, but hold off on fertilizer, especially synthetic salt fertilizer.    Think of fertilizer as vitamins, not food.

Good luck and keep posting !   

 

 

[SeanK]

I am reminded of forest fires in NoFL about 20 or 25 years ago. With all the Long leaf and Slash pine, fires moved quickly up up the coast. It was remarkable to see the Serenoa recover in the month that followed. 

You palms look pretty good for the beating they took. A little trim and a lot of love and they will be mostly fine by the fall.

[DoomsDave]

4 hours ago, R-Banger said:

I really appreciate the kind words! Fingers crossed, I left the green stems but cleaned off some of the burned leaflets as I wanted more sunsine to make it's way through to the bud. I dumped some copper fungicide down the top and all over the green leaves to be safe. Will upload some more photos later. Wondering if a shot of fertilizer will help get some nutrients to the tree?

Now’s the season to fertilize. I’d mix up a five gallon bucket of Miracle Gro 15-30-15, give the palm a good big drink of water then souse it with the whole bucket full, wait a couple weeks or a month and repeat. 

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

R- Banger,   I would cut away any foliage that is completely brown since it no longer can photosynthesize and produce carbs to nourish the plant.  This will also maximize the sunlight exposure to the remaining green tissue.  Keep it up with hydrogen peroxide, 3% or copper sulfate, but hold off on fertilizer, especially synthetic salt fertilizer.    Think of fertilizer as vitamins, not food.

Good luck and keep posting !   

 

 

I will reinforce Darold's advice.  I wonder if your municipal water is still connected to the property .  If not, then watering this summer would seem to be the greatest challenge.   Good luck with the entire process of permitting,  design & rebuilding.  I am sure that while your palms are a pleasant distraction, their survival is small on your list of priorities. 

[Merlyn]

@R-Banger sorry to hear about the house!  On the Alfredii, I might take a set of garden shears and prune off all the dessicated brown leaves.  When I had a bad frost here and an Arenga Pinnata was mostly defoliated, I snipped off the leaflets and left the green rachis/petiole in place.  It looked a bit odd, but it recovered from defoliation reasonably quickly.  That might help on your Alfredii too.

[Tyrone]

So sorry for your loss. That’s heartbreaking stuff. 
 

As others have said leave the green stuff alone and trim off the dead. My advice would be to go gentle gentle with the fertiliser and maybe head towards the seaweed fish emulsion direction and give them a good drink with that regularly. There’s plant growth hormones in that, which is missing from an NPK fertiliser. They need a tonic to give them the will to live.  That and time will help. 
 

All the best. 

[R-Banger]

I really really appreciate the kind words and all the advice. I will clean her up leaving the green stems. With the peroxide treatment, I should be using 3% peroxide and just dump it on the bud/trunk to make sure any thing that may be getting soft etc. gets coverage to prevent rot correct?

[flplantguy]

3 hours ago, R-Banger said:

I really really appreciate the kind words and all the advice. I will clean her up leaving the green stems. With the peroxide treatment, I should be using 3% peroxide and just dump it on the bud/trunk to make sure any thing that may be getting soft etc. gets coverage to prevent rot correct?

Yes, just use it straight from the bottle at the store, anywhere needed.  Just dont breathe it in if you use a sprayer, but the plant wont notice at all as any microbes die.  And you can use it as often as you need to, its only oxygen and water after it reacts.