We had our last 5 very large queens cut down today. Our wallets are lighter and our shade garden less shady. All palms were dying of fusarium wilt. I find myself getting paranoid so can anyone tell me whether this wilt infects Bismarckia, Kentiopsis oliviformis, Carpentaria, Archonotophoenix or pygmy dates? I already know my Washingtonia is at risk.

To save money we are moving all debris to the front for pickup. And there is a lot of debris to move. I took the following photos. They aren't for the faint of heart.

Wow, big change...did anything get damaged in the process? Are you expecting sunburn? I'm not sure how much shade a queen casts.

Yeah, have had to do that to more palms than I'd like.

Nothing like the Mary Queen of Scots treatment.

Sorry you had to do that Meg, hopefully the sun will be kind to your palms under those queens.

The FL sun is never kind. Stuff will have to adapt or die but at least it's January. Two of my Howeas took hits after the first queen was taken out in 2013 and have sunburned leaves. I'm already considering replacements for the queens - have a 4' coconut waiting to be planted. And I plan to transplant two solitary D. lutescens. First we got to haul all that debris from the back yard.

Wayne and crew did an excellent job considering how dense my plantings are. Several Chamaedorea tepejilotes were crushed and a Cham cat toppled. Fronds broken here & there. But all that can be replaced. I'm looking forward.

Your queens must of been in the very beginning stages of Fusarium wilt based on the amount of healthy green fronds I'm seeing in your photos! Were your palms tested and confirmed to have Fusarium wilt?

I remember I first learned of this disease (it was originally called Fusarium decline and new queen palm disease) when I attended a garden and landscape conference at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. The Ph.D's showed photos of dead queen palms that some fronds with dead leaves on just one side of the rachis, and other photos showing totally dead queen palms with out collapsed fronds. The palms looked freeze dried.

I only hope fusarium wilt doesn't get spread to my property. I've lost enough mature queens to ganoderma butt rot, and I sure don't need fusarium wilt.

Here's some info -- for what it's worth now.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pp278

Meg, the fusarium is rather host specific so, other than Washies, I think you will be ok. Phoenix are also susceptible, but it's a slightly different strain and it's nearly 100% limited to Canaries. I think Ribbons could be used as a canopy similar to Queens. And they grow really fast once established. I'm not aware of any catastrophic disease that gets them. Of course, phytophthora bud rot and ganoderma can kill any palm.

Walt, we are certain they had FW. We already had 3 that died. Last week we cut down 5 smaller queens that were dead/dying. Of the 5 taken out today, 1 was dead, 3 were dying fast, 1 looked OK but we had it taken out anyway because we had no hope for it. The sick ones had the telltale one-sided die-off and discoloration inside the trunk. Our tree man said FW isn't common but I suspect that will change. An insidious and lethal disease.

Keith, I will check out ribbons or other fast-growing Livistonas, also Archos. Veitchias and Ptychosperma are fast but I worry about cold-hardiness.

It is a palm. Cut it down if you wish, and any other plant in your garden as well. With or without you, they or something else will grow back as if you were never there. In the lifespan of plants we are just dust in the wind.

Keith, I will check out ribbons or other fast-growing Livistonas, also Archos. Veitchias and Ptychosperma are fast but I worry about cold-hardiness.

Didn't Meg say she was going to plant coconuts? If coconuts survive there .....go coconutty!

_{The best thing you ever did for your garden...wilt or no wilt.}

_{The best thing you ever did for your garden...wilt or no wilt.}

sur4z, I grant you that Queens aren't the sexiest palms around, but for those of us in areas too cold for Royals, Queens are one of few options.

Sadly, the new diseases TPPD (killing Sabal palmetto and Phoenix sylvetris), and the recently discovered Fusarium Wilt strain(s) that kill Queens and Washies are having a devastating affect on those of us in the colder palm growing zones. Making matters worse, both TPPD and Fusarium wilt can kill close to 100% of the susceptible specimens in an area. Frankly, its disappointing & discouraging to the max, so much so that on our property here near Winter Haven, FL, we've planted many Bamboos and Eucalypts in hopes of having a tropical appearance with many fewer palms than we'd really like to have. Thank goodness for the Australian Livistonas! But for folks a bit further north, its too cold for them to thrive. We don't know the host range of TPPD, but if its like its close relative, LY, the host range is wider than the 2 species I list. One encouraging sign, however, is that it doesn't seem to cause Sabal mexicana much trouble. Maybe that means other Sabals will have some resistance. Still, the disease pressure here along Florida's west coast is awful right now and losing any otherwise healthy large palm to one of these scourges is a significant disappointment. As these diseases spread, more will writing posts like Meg's! Luckily Meg's climate is better than mine and she has more options.

Meg, there are Ptychosperma, Veitchia and Carpentaria that got blasted up here in 2010 and came back from the "dead". If it's even remotely possible here, you will have no problem for many years to come.

There are Ptychosperma and Carpentaria growing up by USF in inland Tampa that survived 2010. I think they're hardier than they get credit for.

Thanks for all the support. Life will go one without the queens. I already have some Veitchias & Ptychos, Kentiopsis, a Tri-bear, Archos and Dypsis cabadae that I hope will really come into their own. On the west side of the walk I have some large Chambies, 2 Becarriophoenix, a coconut and D. pembana that I hope will be liberated.

My husband is out moving stuff. Sun is coming out so I will dress warm & join him. We still haven't figured out how to move the huge "blocks" that encase the meristem - many 100s of pounds each.

I see allot of potential bar stools sitting on the ground

Walt, we are certain they had FW. We already had 3 that died. Last week we cut down 5 smaller queens that were dead/dying. Of the 5 taken out today, 1 was dead, 3 were dying fast, 1 looked OK but we had it taken out anyway because we had no hope for it. The sick ones had the telltale one-sided die-off and discoloration inside the trunk. Our tree man said FW isn't common but I suspect that will change. An insidious and lethal disease.

Keith, I will check out ribbons or other fast-growing Livistonas, also Archos. Veitchias and Ptychosperma are fast but I worry about cold-hardiness.

Meg - Hmmmm, I have a thought. There are two well known Palm Talkers (one in Broward, one in Miami-Dade) that have some very robust field grown Kentiopsis olivformis that could immediately replace your canopy probably close to the cost you spent removing your poor queens.

Thanks for all the support. Life will go one without the queens. I already have some Veitchias & Ptychos, Kentiopsis, a Tri-bear, Archos and Dypsis cabadae that I hope will really come into their own. On the west side of the walk I have some large Chambies, 2 Becarriophoenix, a coconut and D. pembana that I hope will be liberated.

My husband is out moving stuff. Sun is coming out so I will dress warm & join him. We still haven't figured out how to move the huge "blocks" that encase the meristem - many 100s of pounds each.

Meg - Hand truck with big pneumatic tires. Then there are the Rubber Maid brown carts with bycycle style tires with a 300 lb capacity and are available at the big box stores for @ &190.00. Tilt down the front of the cart, flip in the log, tilt back up then away you go. The 20 inch tires make it so easy and the pathway does not have to be so level, rolls over stuff well. That is what I use when heavy stuff needs to be moved with minimal effort.

Where to buy Hand trucks with big pneumatic tires?.........or landscaping hand trucks?

We still haven't figured out how to move the huge "blocks" that encase the meristem - many 100s of pounds each.

Roll them down the hill into the canal? Kidding...sort of. Does that disease killing Sabals affect the Caribbean Sabal species too? North Florida would look very different without Sabal palmettos.

We still haven't figured out how to move the huge "blocks" that encase the meristem - many 100s of pounds each.

Roll them down the hill into the canal? Kidding...sort of. Does that disease killing Sabals affect the Caribbean Sabal species too? North Florida would look very different without Sabal palmettos.

Too early to tell Redbeard.

That was probably a difficult change to face, but once you make that kind of decision, it's surprisingly easy to put it behind you, and like you have already said, look forward. I'm not especially crazy about queens, but seeing them chopped up is still painful! Good luck with your new plantings, may they live long and healthy lives!

Thanks, Kim. We really had no choice - our queens were doomed. We hope by yanking them out ASAP we might still save our Washie, which is 40-50' tall and might need a cherry picker to take out. That would cost a fortune. Ironically, I had probably the largest, most bodacious queens in Cape Coral because I bothered to take care of them. Didn't help them resist this disease.

Ron, I think I know who you are talking about. Right now we've been hit with some major expenses that make buying large replacement palms prohibitive. But I'd love to do it.

We got the fronds and small debris out of the way. My husband stacked some of the trunk pieces but we will need our hand truck and wagon to haul them out. I'd like to help more but am having rotator cuff issues and have been told not to pick up really heavy objects. Other pieces are so huge that we have to leave them in place and hope they dry out.

I lost about six queen palms in boca raton, FL just after hurricanes wilma and francis in 2004 - 2005. They declined far more slowly and it turned out to be thielaviopsis. I heard that Fusiarm wilt in Queens kills those palms very quickly compared to most of the other diseases like thielaviopsis.
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Edited January 17, 201511 yr by palmwhisperer