Here's the current state of my 5 gal. D. decipiens. I pot planted it last summer and towards the end of summer actually forgot that I had done so and tried to move the pot out of the hole. Anyway, I lost a pretty good root and it has since browned up. That was about 4 months ago, I think.

What you see in the second picture is actual growth of the "spear" which is really just some fibers, but it is actually growing. I'm trying to keep the pill bugs away at night and have given it some superthrive and HP treatment. It hasn't seen much supplemental water and is in full winter sun.

Any suggestions or is it basically done for?

It looks like it should recover as long as it's not neglected any further. Mine looked close to that after last years winter and it slowly bounced back.

Matt,

With this Dypsis you will be surprised. I had a huge 15 gal that I over watered and the spear pulled about 1yr 1/2 ago. I gave up on it when the 3' tall spear pulled. I walked by that thing for almost 2 months. I decided to put some water on it just in case??. 2 months went buy and I threw some water on it again. about 2 weeks later I saw a spear emerging from the dirt. I only watered it slightly once a week when I saw the new growth as not to over water it again. Now the fronds are 3' long, super healthy and it has split into two plants. With Decipies there is always a good chance that it may grow again from a different growth point eventually since this species likes to divide into 2-3 trunks.

I would recommend putting hydrogen peroxide down the spear to help kill the fungus/bacteria that could kill the growth point/bud.

keep us posted Matt

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. It's such an awesome palm and I was so pissed when I realized what I did. I'll keep up with the HP treatment and hopefully have a good report in a few months!

10% chance it will recover. Good luck.

make sure its not suckered down too far into the soil

if the growing point gets below soil level it will rot and die on you.

move away the soil with your hand this summer to keep it above the that line.

put some kelp extract on it mixed with water and some palm plus fert.

when it looks better -water heavy - if you have sandy soil - this summer when its hot

these palms are slow as hell when that size - if it dies buy a much larger one

looking again at the photos -I would get a larger and more vibrant one

these things take years and the little ones are more for a very young person - if you are not in your 20's - toss it

Edited February 11, 201511 yr by trioderob

You might want to think twice about "keeping the pill bugs away." They only eat decayed plant material (never fresh) and will help to keep your meristem/crown area debrided of festering, necrotic tissue. These little crustacea (yes, they are relatives of shrimp and are not insects) are great cleanup-crew critters and are to be encouraged, not reviled...

I am Carl, Killer of Dypsis! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I agree with Rich, it is time to get your affairs in order on that one. If it makes it, it is truly a miracle.

Thanks for all the great info. I will give it some time to recover, but since I'm redoing most of this spot in the garden in the coming months, I may be tempted to just rip it out and start over. It seems ambositrae (which I have ready to go) or saintelucei may be faster alternatives. I'm in my early 30s but patience isn't one of my strongest virtues!

Good luck. Not only are they really slow growers but the die really slow too.

Took me months before I pulled mine out of the ground.

You might want to think twice about "keeping the pill bugs away." They only eat decayed plant material (never fresh) and will help to keep your meristem/crown area debrided of festering, necrotic tissue. These little crustacea (yes, they are relatives of shrimp and are not insects) are great cleanup-crew critters and are to be encouraged, not reviled...

Land Shrimp.

Matt - has it pushed a spear?

I gave up as I recently redid that section of the garden and patience isn't one of my strongest virtues. Here's the post mortem.