Disaster - Siver Bismarkia on the way out

[Walter John]

Can you believe it ?

I have a silver bizzie I planted as a wee chap in the first year after moving in to my new place here. It has grown on lovely until recently. It appears to be dying, leaves are shrivelling and browning up.

Reasons ? I have two theories, I did do a big degrassing project around a group of palms including this one. Perhaps I went too close too deep and chopped some important roots , plus, right next to the base was a deepish hole left by local marsupial invaders, bandicoots. We get them here a lot. I noticed the lower leaves browning thinking it was just a drought management plan of the bizzie, but today I saw how bad the higher leaves are. Not happy Jan. Photos soon. Not far away is a green bizzie, supposedly harder to grow , and it is in magnificent condition.

[Walter John]

The photos.

[AlekLO]

very beautiful palm tree .... There are a lot of factors as you say ... I hope it will recover ..

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Bandicoots eat roots as well as worms, so chances are they had a meal of your Bismarkia roots, which hapoen to be quite delicious given how much gophers like them here.

[Kennybenjamin]

I think this might still survive Wal, maybe remove the lowest 4 or 5 leaves and soak the ground every couple of days. Add some seaweed solution to the water every now and then and cross your fingers!!

[Phoenikakias]

Yep, signs are those of dehydration and not of fungal disease inside the growing point, meaning further that there is something wrong with the roots, provided soil is adequately moist. So the explanation about the marsupial rodents makes absolutely sense. Degrassing sound not that probable cause, though I do not know how deeply and closely you have bothered its root system. Eitherways Kenny's suggestion is correct.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Bad luck Wal

Looks just like my Taswegian one just before it croaked !

Wonder what got the better of this one ????

[Miccles]

looks like it might be time to duck on out and get yaself a new one there Wal.

[Walter John]

looks like it might be time to duck on out and get yaself a new one there Wal.

I agree. The cause I'm certain of now was perpetrated by the owner, me. I dug too close, too deep around this palm, damaging the root system. I will wait a little while longer for any last chance of remission, but sadly with Bismarkias without a trunk, this is highly unlikely after being cut. I do have two other silver bizzies and one green one, but I would like another silver or blue as some people prefer to describe. A lesson learned.

[Mandrew968]

Wal, a blue bizzy is not hard to come by in Aussie, is it?

[Walter John]

Wal, a blue bizzy is not hard to come by in Aussie, is it?

Very easy to get Andrew, and as long as you dont distub the root zone, very easy to grow in nearly all climates.