Any chance of survival for my Trachycarpus Fortunei?

[Estlander]

Planted this Trachy in January this year. Otherwise looks good, but lately the spears have heen turning brown. The growing point smells very musty as well. No spear pulls yet. They’re still tightly in there.

I hand water it (no sprinklers) and never get the growing point wet with tap water. 

About a month ago, when i first saw dried out spots on an emerging spear, I sprayed it with copper fungicide, but looking at it yesterday it has gotten worse with two newest emerging spears looking pretty bad.

I soaked the growing point with copper fungicide yesterday. 

Considering that this is FL zone 9A with plenty of rain, heat and humid weather still left until cooler weather that these things prefer, do you think this is something that it can grow out of or should i just replace it with something else?

I’m thinking a single trunk Chamaerops Humilis due to a limited space in that spot.

In this spot it also gets a few hours of daytime sun, which may complicate things a bit too.

I wish i had known how difficult these things are to grow and get them to look beautiful in FL before I bought it

 

[kinzyjr]

Sounds like you diagnosed the root cause and the potential solution correctly from what the pictures show, but it may take a while for it to recover (if it recovers).  Someone else with more experience treating fungal infections would have to weigh in on this, but any harm in spraying it more than once?

If it doesn't make it, chamaerops would be a solid choice.  Similar look (I think they are distantly related), cold hardy, and handle nematodes much better.

[Estlander]

I’m leaning towards this palm not making it myself. In a more favorable climate to them it would probably recover. But here they have so many factors working against them. 

If anyone has, in a similar climate or somewhat similar climate, had similar damage to their Trachycarpus palms, I’d love to hear the outcome. 

Edited August 30, 2018 by Estlander

[mdsonofthesouth]

Could try peroxide and some sea kelp/weed on the roots to try and give it a boost. This worked on my chamaerops humils var cerifera that was nearly killed by potting soil. Not saying its a guarantee but worth a try!

[PalmatierMeg]

Definitely try hydrogen peroxide in that area.

[Laaz]

Cut the brown rot off & drench it with hydrogen peroxide. We are just about as hot & humid as you are & they grow like weeds here.

[Estlander]

Thanks guys. Poured peroxide in there as well. I guess I'll leave it alone for a bit, even though I'm kinda itching to plant something else in it's spot, lol.

[Rickybobby]

So what is the scientific issue with Trachycarpus is Florida? There’s been a lot of different theories 

[kinzyjr]

2 hours ago, Rickybobby said:

So what is the scientific issue with Trachycarpus is Florida? There’s been a lot of different theories 

The most likely problem is nematodes.  There has been some debate about heat, humidity, and direct sunlight, but they have that in Central Texas and some places inland in S. Cal. too.  They grow fine there.  We had a conversation about this after I found a few decent ones in Lakeland:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/56607-trachycarpus-in-lakeland/