Spotting on Kentiopsis oliviformis

[MattyB]

Most K. oliviformis exhibit leaf spotting. This occurs on the older leaves and progressively gets worse and worse until there are necrotic spots all over the leaf and it eventually falls off. Since I've seen this spotting, even in tropical climates, I just assumed that it was something natural with the way this particular palm's leaves age. Last year I heard a local collector talking about how he was spraying fungicide up into the crowns and it was stopping the leaf spotting. Hmmmmmm. That got me thinking. If it is strictly a leaf fungus then I'll just ignore it, because no way am I spraying fungicide up into the air all over the place. But what if the spotting starts off as a lack of nutrients, like potassium deficiency, and then the yellow spots sunburn and rot away leaving you with oportunistic leaf fungus. Instead of treating the fungus, maybe we should be treating the deficiency. Anyway, I'm just going on a hunch, but this year I've been adding SulPoMag (Sulfur, Potassium, Magnesium) to my K. oliviformis to see if I can mitigate the leaf spotting. I think it'll take another year to find out if it works, until the entire crown is replaced, but one thing I have noticed is that the palm is holding more leaves than it has in the past. Currently it has 6 leaves, which I think is pretty good for K.o., and all the upper leaves look pretty good so far, with no spotting.

I'd love to hear of your experiences and thoughts on this.

[CardiffPalmNut]

Matt - interesting, I have the same issue, and it sounds like you have seen some improvement. Where did you get the SulProMag?

[LJG]

Matt, I tried spraying Daconil onto my two KO and other palms that do this frequently like my foxtail. It helped the foxtail significantly. I saw results with my KO but it still had the spotting and it actually continued through summer on one of my trees. I have since moved to a minor issues like you. I hit my KOs with dolomitic lime in early summer. One tree seems to have slowed the spotting. The real test will be this winter. I will just keep trying different things till I figure it out as it drives me nuts for some reason.

Also, I do not see this happening in tropics like you have. Maybe the bottom leaf, but the rest look great. By end of winter all but the top two leaves will have major spotting for me in SoCal.

[richnorm]

Looks like lack of winter heat to me which is not what I want to see! KO must be just about the most heat requiring New Cal palm and there is a point when you can do no more and just have to accept a seasonal garden or reduce your palette. Best thing is to maximise summer growth but that will depend on the particular limiting factors at your site. Still, your observations are very interesting and I wish you luck.

[LJG]

How do you figure it is the most heat requiring NewCal? It is a staple NewCal palm. Also, this spotting happens year round. It just takes off in winter.

[MattyB]

Len, I saw it in Florida. I guess that's not the tropics.

Here they are looking pretty fricken perfect at Ho'Omaluhia on Oahu. But what doesn't look perfect at Ho'Omaluhia?

BTW, the most leaves I can count on these guys is 6, which is the same as mine, so I must be doing something right.

[MattyB]

I was going to start adding the SulPoMag to my Foxtails too because I have spotting pretty bad. I don't think Paul has much of a spotting problem with his Foxtails. I wonder why.

Bill, I got the SulPoMag at Kniffing's Nursery out in East County. I bet you could find it at Andersen's.

[palmislandRandy]

Matty,

My K. oliviformis are potassium hogs. I use a lot of K-Mag on mine which is just potassium & magnesium & have not seen any temperature damage even with the two nasty Florida winters we've had. All my palms get a good dose of it.

[redant]

I have 6 and none seem to have had this problem with just regular palm fert. One of my top palms in the garden, I really love the looks of these.

Edited November 7, 2012 by redant

[richnorm]

How do you figure it is the most heat requiring NewCal? It is a staple palm in NewCal. Also, this spotting happens year round. It just takes off in winter.

From grower experiences here in NZ where it has been quite widely tried without success. It also has one of the lowest maximum altitude distributions for a New Cal palm (max 300m) and comes from drier (possibly warmer?) areas than most of the available species. Given heat I understand that this is quite a fast palm but here we get one leaf a year outside. So yes, from our perspective, I feel confident that this is one of the most heat demanding New Cal species of those relatively available.

[LJG]

How do you figure it is the most heat requiring NewCal? It is a staple palm in NewCal. Also, this spotting happens year round. It just takes off in winter.

From grower experiences here in NZ where it has been quite widely tried without success. It also has one of the lowest maximum altitude distributions for a New Cal palm (max 300m) and comes from drier (possibly warmer?) areas than most of the available species. Given heat I understand that this is quite a fast palm but here we get one leaf a year outside. So yes, from our perspective, I feel confident that this is one of the most heat demanding New Cal species of those relatively available.

I do agree KO does like the heat. But I don't think heat is the limiting factor here in SoCal. Too many other NewCals do fine under the same conditions. I think it is really going to come down to it being a much greater nutrient hog - especially on the minor side (my guess now). It really is an odd thing. I have 22 different NewCal species planted out in my garden and KO is the only one to do this major spotting. All 5 of my plants do it too. Glad Matt is frustrated too and trying to find a solution.

How do Basselinia's do for you in NZ?

[richnorm]

How do you figure it is the most heat requiring NewCal? It is a staple palm in NewCal. Also, this spotting happens year round. It just takes off in winter.

From grower experiences here in NZ where it has been quite widely tried without success. It also has one of the lowest maximum altitude distributions for a New Cal palm (max 300m) and comes from drier (possibly warmer?) areas than most of the available species. Given heat I understand that this is quite a fast palm but here we get one leaf a year outside. So yes, from our perspective, I feel confident that this is one of the most heat demanding New Cal species of those relatively available.

I do agree KO does like the heat. But I don't think heat is the limiting factor here in SoCal. Too many other NewCals do fine under the same conditions. I think it is really going to come down to it being a much greater nutrient hog - especially on the minor side (my guess now). It really is an odd thing. I have 22 different NewCal species planted out in my garden and KO is the only one to do this major spotting. All 5 of my plants do it too. Glad Matt is frustrated too and trying to find a solution.

How do Basselinia's do for you in NZ?

It could be a threshold thing, and we're just below it so KO for us is really only a collectors' item rather than viable as a landscape subject. I rescued one last year from a friends garden which was planted in shade. It was getting smaller and smaller but I have managed to reverse this trend by moving it into a sunny spot so here's hoping. Basselinias seem to be tough to germinate and tricky as seedlings but from memory gracilis, eriostachys, pancheri, and favieri are doing OK here but of course are slow as elsewhere.

cheers

Richard

[CardiffPalmNut]

Thanks Matty, I had a friend come by yesterday who is a commercial grower and he suggested CalMag as a cure with some chelated iron, curious to know the difference in make up between that and the SulProMag.

[Jeff Searle]

I agree with Len, you really don't see this problem in more tropical areas. And not really a problem here in south Florida. Sorry if ours look better.

[BS Man about Palms]

I agree with Len, you really don't see this problem in more tropical areas. And not really a problem here in south Florida. Sorry if ours look better.

I remember you coming here a while back Jeff and laughing when you said "So Cal doesn't have any big Kentiopsis Oliviformis'".... right up until you saw Jim Wrights with about 16'+ of bare trunk...

[LJG]

Thanks Matty, I had a friend come by yesterday who is a commercial grower and he suggested CalMag as a cure with some chelated iron, curious to know the difference in make up between that and the SulProMag.

This is why I am trying dolomitic lime (basically CalMag). It has worked great on other tricky plants. I guess I will find out how the KO does as it was treated in early summer with dolomitic lime.

[Palmdude]

Bump

Matty, what were your results with the sulpomag? Did your spots go away on your new growth? I'm about to put some down in the garden, having the same issues with my KO and some other palms and bamboo.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Palmdude

[neoflora]

Seems to be 2 variations of KO. Mine don't seem to have the problem. Also much more white all over!

[MattyB]

Hi Ron. I don't remember ever seeing different variations of KO. Got any pics?

[Ben in Norcal]

More importantly, Matty, did any supplementation resolve the spotting?

[Jeff Searle]

I also never have seen or heard of two forms. And would love to see pic's of the different ones.

As far as growing these in my areas, they show no signs of spotting what so ever.

Jeff

[MattyB]

More importantly, Matty, did any supplementation resolve the spotting?

No, I still have the spotting, but the plant is healthy, robust, and beautiful. The spotting only occurs on the older fronds. Must be our climate.

[Ben in Norcal]

Yeah, same up here...

[Pete in Paradise Hills]

More importantly, Matty, did any supplementation resolve the spotting?

No, I still have the spotting, but the plant is healthy, robust, and beautiful. The spotting only occurs on the older fronds. Must be our climate.

I agree. I get the same on my KO and some of my other palms like Veitchia Arecina and even my foxtail...