Please Help! Problems with multiple Foxtails

[robsp2000]

A few months ago I noticed a problem on some of my Foxtails. The new spear would open up and the frond and leaflets would look normal. Slowly after a week or so the leaflets on the top of the arch of the frond would start to turn tan and begin to look like straw. Slowly it would spread until the very top of the frond's leaflets looked the same. It appears the leaflets on the bottom on the frond are not affected as badly. It is happening on the new growth only. The lower fronds appear normal.

One of the foxtails is very close to my balcony so I was able to inspect the leaflets. I didn't see any visible signs of insects.

Around 7 of my foxtails have this problem. My two neighbors have foxtails as well and I am noticing this on some of their new fronds as well. Mine are most affected but I also have more foxtails than they do. The other kind of palms in my yard are healthy and are not showing any signs of this problem. I haven't yet been able to find a good tree service so any ideas would be great. Below are photos.

Thanks!

[robsp2000]

More photos

[Capnrey]

Looks like something is eating it . . . a skeletonizer perhaps??

[Moose]

Put some K-Mag on it. It looks like potassium deficiency, a mineral we lack in our Florida soils.

[robsp2000]

Put some K-Mag on it. It looks like potassium deficiency, a mineral we lack in our Florida soils.

Thanks, I will do that!

[Cedric]

We had a temporary (luckily) mild Boron deficiency which was as alarming as this happening to yours. It happened everywhere not just me and only on specific palm species. This can happen after or depending on the length even during a period of extreme wet weather, phoenix palms seem the worst affected. The new spear grows up looking quite green and strong but then opens from the tip a horrible, frazzled, desiccated crispy thing.

Not a thing to do about it once it starts in temporary or seasonal cases, too late just have to let it grow out takes a season for them to bounce back. I had this same time on one of the Wodyetia that had been newly put in the ground as a large palm. The mature established ones were fine.

Our soils are good.

Potassium deficiency starts in the older leaves from what I have observed and learnt. They start getting spotty and necrotic and curly but the newer and newest leaves including the spike are fine.

So Im leaning towards a possible case of early phase "frizzle top" in yours given your area. A much more serious thing which can kill palms before you know it, caused by Manganese deficiency. Your soil Ph is out of whack too alkaline so is blocking vital trace elements. Manganese sulphate at the roots urgently.

K-Mag can't harm either in Florida soils but yours from what I've seen in Key West particularly you could definately do with some mineral and trace element spikes in the ground every couple of years.

Are those palms in pots still? Adding dissolved trace elements will cover everything as its definitely a deficiency. Unless you've got herbicide drift.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Cedric, you are correct sir!

Both potasium and magnesium deficiency show up in the older leaves first. This damage is in the newest leaves so I would either say insect damage or MANGANESE deficiency. The pictures are not clear to me that it is not insect damage so look for caterpillars or beetles.

Palms almost can't get enough of potasium and magnesium so adding those elements is not really a waste of time, but they won't cure the problem.

[mnorell]

I think that's Manganese deficiency, aka 'frizzletop.' When treating with Manganese supplements make sure it is a sulfate or sucrate. Oxides will not be effective in alkaline soils. The problem is not necessarily that we don't have the micronutrients but that the high ph renders them unusable by the roots. Foxtails are a very high maintenance palm here due to their intolerance of our alkaline 'soil.' I've learned my lesson with Roystonea regia, another one that stripes up and frizzles here like crazy when planted on limestone rock. If you don't have a thick layer of acid black soil on top of the limestone I think you are in trouble and relegated to supplementing constantly. If you irrigate you will add to the problem with high-pH municipal water. Florikan is now making some long-span time-release fertilizers made from sucrates, you might look into them as they are a highly regarded brand and sucrates have the longest availability in a high pH environment. It might make your life much easier! Otherwise you might think about replacing with palms adapted to limestone environments.

[robsp2000]

Thanks for all the responses. These are not in pots, they have been in the ground for two years now. They all have about 4 ft of trunk. The people who put these in really over planted them. They were put in before we bought our house. They were not landscapers and they were planting so the yard looked full at the moment but not understanding how large these would get. Our lot is 35ft wide and they planted 9 double foxtails. Three across the back and three down each side of the yard only about 6 feet apart from each other.

I thought about the possibility that it is an insect but I have not noticed any. Plus this problem is not at all present on any of the older fronds. They are completely healthy. I would have thought that some of the older ones would show symptoms as well if it was insects.

The other part that is baffling me, is that when the spears open, they look great. They open completely and are 100% green. Then about a week later, the leaflets slowly start to change to the straw like appearance. I don't have much experience with frizzle top but I thought it would look brown as soon as the spear opened?

Could the new growth be getting burned by the sun? I do irrigate quite a bit and they aren't showing any signs of lack of water.

Last question, and every single person I have asked at the garden shops down here have answered with the same response "a couple of scoops". It's so bad that I don't even ask it anymore: How much fertilizer should I put down for each palm? They all have about 4 to 5 ft of trunk, maybe 7-9 inches in diameter at the thickest part. How much Manganese should each one get as well? I applied a 20lb bag of manganese evenly amongst the 9 trees about 5 months ago. I have been using fertilzer called Palm Special (8-2-12)

Here are photos of the products I have been using:

Edited August 8, 2014 by robsp2000

[Cedric]

This is very strange? Looks like the damage is on the top or upper part of the leaf, were all the leaflets have been shredded almost like friction damage. As the palms are so close together and its a plumose leaf Is there something rubbing over the top of the fronds when the wind blows, like the mid rib of the other palm species very close in the picture? The lower leaflets look very healthy to me both in colour and shape.

I dont think it can be Manganese then if you have already dosed. Wodyetia shouldn't be sensitive to sun even seedlings can be planted in the full sun and its reasonably humid where you are anyway. It won't be phytotoxicity from over dose of fert or systemic pesticides that looks different and will be uniform first going pale then yellow etc, this looks shredded.

Im going for friction looks like the kind of damage done when a palm is too close to a wall. Or as others have said some kind of chewing insect.

For the Manganese sulphate follow instructions on the packet, usually sprinkle over the width of the canopy and water in, not sure how much they indicate for each palm or how often but if you are using trace elements regularily you shouldnt have any specific problems with any one element.

[Cedric]

The fert looks fine to me is it organic? I even leave out phosphate completely a 0 in the middle. You can sometimes have problems with organic fertiliser and trace elements

[Moose]

I'm familiar with the Diamond R Palm Special - its good stuff. Key West has not had the heavy rains that South Florida has, so a boron deficiency is doubtful. Boron is a trace element which usually will leach out of mulch in sufficient quantities. Plus your Palm Special has boron in it too. Boron leaves Florida soils only during heavy periods of rain fall.

I've seen rows of Foxtails where half look perfect while the others look like yours. It takes awhile for deficiencies to reveal themselves with palms. Diamond R sells K-Mag, 22% potassium 11% Magnesium and its not very expensive. You need to put it down in this 2:1 ratio or these minerals can "get locked up" in the palm can not synthesized for use . Your garden is sitting on a big rock. The K-Mag from Diamond R is Potassium sulfate and Magnesium sulfate will get absorbed.

[Moose]

This is very strange? Looks like the damage is on the top or upper part of the leaf, were all the leaflets have been shredded almost like friction damage. As the palms are so close together and its a plumose leaf Is there something rubbing over the top of the fronds when the wind blows, like the mid rib of the other palm species very close in the picture? The lower leaflets look very healthy to me both in colour and shape.

I dont think it can be Manganese then if you have already dosed. Wodyetia shouldn't be sensitive to sun even seedlings can be planted in the full sun and its reasonably humid where you are anyway. It won't be phytotoxicity from over dose of fert or systemic pesticides that looks different and will be uniform first going pale then yellow etc, this looks shredded.

Im going for friction looks like the kind of damage done when a palm is too close to a wall. Or as others have said some kind of chewing insect.

For the Manganese sulphate follow instructions on the packet, usually sprinkle over the width of the canopy and water in, not sure how much they indicate for each palm or how often but if you are using trace elements regularily you shouldnt have any specific problems with any one element.

Enlarging the photos I see what Cedric is saying. It looks like what a palm looks like when you stand it up in the back of a Pick Up Truck and do 70 mph. Or someone got on a ladder with a string trimmer?

[robsp2000]

I'm familiar with the Diamond R Palm Special - its good stuff. Key West has not had the heavy rains that South Florida has, so a boron deficiency is doubtful. Boron is a trace element which usually will leach out of mulch in sufficient quantities. Plus your Palm Special has boron in it too. Boron leaves Florida soils only during heavy periods of rain fall.

I've seen rows of Foxtails where half look perfect while the others look like yours. It takes awhile for deficiencies to reveal themselves with palms. Diamond R sells K-Mag, 22% potassium 11% Magnesium and its not very expensive. You need to put it down in this 2:1 ratio or these minerals can "get locked up" in the palm can not synthesized for use . Your garden is sitting on a big rock. The K-Mag from Diamond R is Potassium sulfate and Magnesium sulfate will get absorbed.

Thanks, I'm heading out tomorrow to pick this up. We only have two garden stores so I'm hoping one of them has it.

[Cedric]

Its honestly not, well IMO potassium and magnesium looking at the pattern of damage, but it wont harm where you are. The older leaves are honestly affected first turning spotty then crispy curly dry a silver grey colour. That damage doesn't follow a K-Mag deficiency pattern you don't get shredding. Besides that your "palm special" fert has that covered completely, I can read that on the ingredients as clear as day.

You say you "do irrigate quite a bit" do you have constant drip irrigation or are you watering a lot, is the soil wet all the time? If it is its not a good thing you could be leaching everything out or It could still be "frizzle top" if not one sided friction. Is the drainage good? I assume it is on your soil but you never know in a new house soil compaction, rubble etc.

I've seen them growing on the water edge doing extremely well but on the edge is not in a bog garden. The rest of the leaflets on yours look good

[Cedric]

PS I just cant read if Boron is even in the ingriedients.

[robsp2000]

So I find this cool book online called "Disorders and Diseases of Ornamental Palms, 2nd Edition". I ordered it and was excited because I want to read up and try to get a better understanding when issues pop up. I didn't look very close at the photo, expected it to be a normal book. Here is the original photo and one that shows the scale of my book. My wife was crying laughing when I showed it to her.

Edited August 14, 2014 by robsp2000

[palmislandRandy]

Well, at least it's written by THE expert. I think I'd need my glasses to read that.

-Randy

[robsp2000]

Figured out what is happening to my palms. Our neighbors put in Fishtail palms which have attracted a community of roof rats who enjoy the fruit from their palms then come over to my foxtails for some fresh greens. We are trying traps as well as hanging fake owls all over the place.

[Danilopez89]

Rats all along!!!? At least I learned that foxtails and r. regia like a lower PH. I was wondering if I can add some acidic top soil to them? I just saw that they sell big bags of organic acidic soil at my local nursery and wanted to try some out for my crotons.

[Josh-O]

yikes!!!

[robsp2000]

Yeah, this one was a tough one to figure out. What really threw me off was it was new growth only but it turns out those leafs are what the rats like most. We had a few tree services out and they had no idea. I guess there is an extension of the university of miami down here that helps with these kind of things. That was the only person who mentioned rats.

What really helped was finding little rat droppings all over our deck. When we got in a ladder up in the trees to set traps, the droppings were everywhere in the crownshaft. We had to take a couple down that were too close to our house because from what we learned they really can cause extensive damage if they get into your house. Even chew through metal pipes to get water! We only got one so far with the traps but I think the fake owls are helping.

In case anyone else has a similar problem, here are my findings. They love fresh Foxtail leaflets, will eat fresh Alexander ones in a pinch and only prefer the fruit from Fishtail palms.

[Ben in Norcal]

I thought fishtail seeds were poisonous?