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Troubleshooting mule palm issues in Florida


jg3035

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Hi everyone, I'm new to palmtalk (and to palms) and have found this forum extremely helpful and informative so far--thank you all! I originally posted this in cold hardy palms but was encouraged to post here too--sorry for the crossposting.

I moved to Florida (Gainesville/9A) last year and have been updating the landscaping the past few weeks. I bought a mature mule palm at a local nursery, but it was the only one available, and in a rush I might not have ended up with the best looking one. The nursery installed it around two weeks ago, and it has been infested with ants ever since (fire ants, I think; the bites look like big pimples). I first noticed the ants around the base, where there's a slightly hollowed out area of the trunk. The hollowed out area isn't soft, and I know it won't grow back, but I'm fine with it as long as it isn't a sign of something more serious.

Everything I read on here about ants and scale on here combined with the colony in the trunk freaked me out, so I sprinkled fire ant pesticide powder (from Lowe's) over the bottom of the trunk, which forced the ants to migrate up the trunk under the older leaf sheaths. Then I sprinkled pesticide under the leaf sheaths; some were very dried out on the surface, and decomposing against the trunk, so I removed them. A few days later, it seems like the ants have died or moved on (hopefully not to the crown of the tree).

I was wondering anyone has any advice on what I can do to help the mule recover and acclimate to the landscape. It seems like the fronds are showing some magnesium deficiency, and the ends of the lower fronds are flipped over. But there are two new, healthy-looking spears--one with leaflets just opening up, and another spear popping up around a foot below. There's pesticide everywhere, which I hope won't lead to long term issues (with the palm at least). The roots are slightly exposed, but I wanted to deal with the ants before covering with mulch/dirt. And where I've removed the old leaf sheaths have left the trunk newly exposed. The general shape of the fronds doesn't look the best/most consistent, but I hope that's just a sign of the general genetic variability, and maybe winter stress at the nursery. I've tried to troubleshoot by asking the nursery, but no one there is nearly as knowledgeable as all of you.

Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks!

IMG_0012.thumb.jpg.6ad7030ee62cf86b64977773b71f36e4.jpgIMG_0013.thumb.jpg.1f6f88b599c98ed86ca65c4f94fd3b29.jpg

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In general the palm looks fine.  The leaves look pretty typical for a mule, some are slightly droopier than others.  My only concern is that the palm looks like it is planted about 6" or so above the level of nearby ground.  If you are planning on mounding dirt and mulch nearby, then that's probably okay.  Slightly higher might reduce growth rate, but slightly lower may encourage rot.  This is the best explanation of planting depth I've found: http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

Regarding the base of the trunk, as long as it isn't squishy then I wouldn't worry about it.  The base will grow in diameter quite a bit, it may easily double in size from where it is now.  It'll stretch and crack and probably grow adventitious roots from that area. 

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Thanks @Merlyn, the confidence is heartening. There's so much variability with appearance that it's hard to tell if the leaves looked off.

I was worried about covering up the exposed roots before addressing the ant colony, but now that that seems to be gone I'll get to it. Thanks for sharing the tips on mounding. The nursery delivery team planted it slightly higher than the ground level because they started encountering a lot of clay the deeper they dug in that part of the yard.

Had no idea the trunk would grow up to double the size it is now--something to look forward to! Thanks!

 

 

 

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16 hours ago, jg3035 said:

Thanks @Merlyn, the confidence is heartening. There's so much variability with appearance that it's hard to tell if the leaves looked off.

I was worried about covering up the exposed roots before addressing the ant colony, but now that that seems to be gone I'll get to it. Thanks for sharing the tips on mounding. The nursery delivery team planted it slightly higher than the ground level because they started encountering a lot of clay the deeper they dug in that part of the yard.

Had no idea the trunk would grow up to double the size it is now--something to look forward to! Thanks!

 

 

 

Mound the dirt around the exposed roots and it’ll shoot out new roots where they are.

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On 3/30/2021 at 2:57 PM, jg3035 said:

Hi everyone, I'm new to palmtalk (and to palms) and have found this forum extremely helpful and informative so far--thank you all! I originally posted this in cold hardy palms but was encouraged to post here too--sorry for the crossposting.

I moved to Florida (Gainesville/9A) last year and have been updating the landscaping the past few weeks. I bought a mature mule palm at a local nursery, but it was the only one available, and in a rush I might not have ended up with the best looking one. The nursery installed it around two weeks ago, and it has been infested with ants ever since (fire ants, I think; the bites look like big pimples). I first noticed the ants around the base, where there's a slightly hollowed out area of the trunk. The hollowed out area isn't soft, and I know it won't grow back, but I'm fine with it as long as it isn't a sign of something more serious.

Everything I read on here about ants and scale on here combined with the colony in the trunk freaked me out, so I sprinkled fire ant pesticide powder (from Lowe's) over the bottom of the trunk, which forced the ants to migrate up the trunk under the older leaf sheaths. Then I sprinkled pesticide under the leaf sheaths; some were very dried out on the surface, and decomposing against the trunk, so I removed them. A few days later, it seems like the ants have died or moved on (hopefully not to the crown of the tree).

I was wondering anyone has any advice on what I can do to help the mule recover and acclimate to the landscape. It seems like the fronds are showing some magnesium deficiency, and the ends of the lower fronds are flipped over. But there are two new, healthy-looking spears--one with leaflets just opening up, and another spear popping up around a foot below. There's pesticide everywhere, which I hope won't lead to long term issues (with the palm at least). The roots are slightly exposed, but I wanted to deal with the ants before covering with mulch/dirt. And where I've removed the old leaf sheaths have left the trunk newly exposed. The general shape of the fronds doesn't look the best/most consistent, but I hope that's just a sign of the general genetic variability, and maybe winter stress at the nursery. I've tried to troubleshoot by asking the nursery, but no one there is nearly as knowledgeable as all of you.

Any advice or suggestions would be really appreciated. Thanks!

IMG_0012.thumb.jpg.6ad7030ee62cf86b64977773b71f36e4.jpgIMG_0013.thumb.jpg.1f6f88b599c98ed86ca65c4f94fd3b29.jpg

That is a nice looking mule.  I would grow it in my yard, if I currently had one in which to grow it and I have seen many ungainly mules so good looks are not a given.

-Michael

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@palmsOrl Let's hope it only continues to get better with time. The new growth is making some progress so it's definitely happier, whatever the cause!

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  • 4 months later...

Hi everyone, my mule palm is back to not looking so good and I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what I might do to help it out.

After a healthy early summer (pictures below), the mule looks like it is suffering. I've fertilized twice, once in May and once in August (miraclegro and then palmgain), because of a severe potassium deficiency apparent on the existing growth. The new growth looked green and healthy, and it put out 4 or 5 new spears over the summer. I held off on cutting the old leaves until they were fully brown, afraid of fusarium, but just did so this past weekend (~5-6 totally brown fronds, didn't look like fusarium). Some of them looked like the petioles had collapsed on themselves.

Just this morning, one of the newer (and healthier, I thought) petioles collapsed on itself (pictures below). Unless it was planted poorly, it's definitely getting plenty of water with all the rain we get--if anything, it's too wet. There is a huge hackberry tree above it, which I only learned this summer has a bad aphid infestation that drops black sooty mold on everything underneath it, including the mule. The ants seem to be gone, but there is some white webbing underneath old petiole sheaths.

The newest spear is still intact and growing, I think, so hopefully it's not totally over yet. The second to newest leaf has been mostly open for a while (2-3 weeks?), but the leaflets near the tip have remained stuck (if that's a relevant detail).

Any tips, advice, or reassurance would be great!!

 

Photos from mid-May

IMG_0562.HEICIMG_0563.HEIC

Photos from today (collapsed newish petiole, webbing under old petiole sheaths)

IMG_1815.HEICIMG_1814.HEICIMG_1793.HEIC

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Sorry, didn't realize I'd uploaded the images as attachments instead of in-text.

Photos from mid-May

IMG_0562.thumb.jpg.dffad8ac1dd5cf017d5ce67a5e509fdb.jpgimage.thumb.png.0d3d24424b8da1f93efacaa9965cdd1c.png

 

Photos from today (collapsed newish petiole, webbing under old petiole sheaths)

 

image.thumb.png.71e5a0722677874e2890b392c43059a9.pngimage.thumb.png.d8da7dc1f3a25923a27cb695f674313c.pngimage.thumb.png.fec585436e64526bd45f35375e330223.png

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I’m no expert, but Fusarium Wilt would be my first  guess and concern looking at those pictures. Fingers crossed it isn’t that, since Fusarium Wilt is terminal. Hopefully it’s just a minor fungal issue, due to the excessive rain/humidity, which should clear up in time, like during the dry season. That’s certainly the best case scenario for your palm. The worst case scenario being the dreaded Fusarium Wilt, which I am fearful it may be. I’m no expert on Florida palms though. 

Dry-summer Oceanic climate (9a)

Average annual precipitation - 18.7 inches : Average annual sunshine hours - 1725

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Not sure what the palm has got but usually palms in this stage are in end of life care. Mules are usually tough, that one looks like it was possibly overgrown container palm, i'd start hunting for a healthier tree.

Jupiter FL

in the Zone formally known as 10A

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Hi everyone, thanks for the insights. I don't think it's fusarium, because the leaves are browning evenly (not just on one side of the petiole/stem). Since this morning, the newest opened leaf has collapsed at the petiole, and the spear has unfurled. The trunk is oozing liquid that smells like rotting fish (you can see the liquid running down the trunk, and here is a picture of the liquid collecting in an old leaf sheath.

It seems like Thielaviopsis trunk rot, from what I can tell, but does anyone have any thoughts on whether it could be something else? I've accepted that it's probably past saving, but am curious how and how quickly I should try to get the mule out of of the garden.

Thanks for all your help!

Pic 1: Newest leaf with collapsed petiole resting directly on older leaf (on left) and opened spear

65091378916__AA31BDE1-9EF0-4434-B3EA-45F03490C3FE.thumb.jpg.039ab55e98ec93de4562fcddba8826af.jpg

 

Pic 2: Putrid liquid/runoff pooling in old leaf sheath

IMG_1831.thumb.jpg.4cce49496b4bbf79030cb33402f5d189.jpg

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