Coconut palm deficiency or cold damage how to fix

[Gecrabill]

So we only had one real cold night in Sarasota this year in mid february. The last week and a half have been great 80's, 60's at night. I am thinking it is a potassium deficiency but these are my first experence with coconuts. It seems to be getting worse so I have a feeling that it isnt cold damage as some fronds that looked fine after the cold now have the brown showing up. It also appears that almost every frond has browned tips. Has anyone had any luck with using fallen florida oak leaves under the canopy to help with nutrients, used as almost a compost starter? I also just put some 6-1-8 down tonight. Thanks

[Jim in Los Altos]

How cold did it get. Cold damage often shows much up later in some palms. What did those leaves look like before the cold night? If they looked fine then it was the cold that damaged them. Potassium deficiency shows up gradually starting with older leaves and progresses up the crown as it becomes more severe.

[Gecrabill]

I put two green malayans in right about a year ago. They both have only kept about 8-10 fronds on at a time. 2 or 3 remaining nice and green. The others showing necrotic spotting that then turns into this. At first I thought transplant shock, but now were into the second year with the same problem. I got down to 37 one night here.

[Gecrabill]

Also, these palms have about 4' of greywood each, so not youngsters

[Zeeth]

It looks like cold damage to me. I've got the same damage appearing on one of my coconuts that looks the same. It's not too bad so I wouldn't worry too much, just water and fertilize well while the weather is warm again.

[Walt]

I believe it's potassium deficiency. My coconut palm goes into K deficiency every winter and many of the oldest, bottommost fronds start to die off, notwithstanding I fertilized heavily going into winter with 8-2-12.

The only fronds that are totally green are the highest, newest fronds from the 10-2 o'clock position. However, now that the soil is warming, air warming, more hours of sun, etc., my coconut palm will start taking up K again and grow out of the deficiency. It does so every year for the past 10 years now.

[Gecrabill]

Has anyone tried mulching with dried up oak leaves? Any pro's or con's? I know my soil is not so great.

[Palmaceae]

Looks like a bit of both, cold damage and potassium deficiency. When the soil gets cold the palm can not absorb potassium from the soil, hence the damage. Plus the fronds will be damaged below 40. The palm will recover nicely.

[IHB1979]

Keep an eye on the new spear. If it's not pushing new growth you might have some bud rot.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

What's the best way to get a coconut palm to recover from bud rot? I have only had one or two over the years to recover from bud rot or at least what I thought was bud rot, since I lost the entire crown, including the new spear, but didn't give up on the palm, and months later, it started growing again!

[IHB1979]

Great question and I'm not sure. I have had it happen a couple times on my coconuts and I remove the palm.

Coconut looked like the above photos, every leaf was affected at same time except the spear. Total time from visually noticing health decline to removal was about 6-7 weeks. The browning moved from the outside of the fronds to the petiole. Most fronds still had a little green remaining near where the leaflets meet the petiole. Noticed a lot of irregular browning/rot on the frond rachis. I had marked the spear with a marker and noticed the spear began moving the wrong way, falling back into the bud. I gave the spear a pull and it came out! Smelled horrible. Removed the plant shortly after.

There's always a chance of recovery but I prefer to remove and replace. Get something healthy in the ground and watch it take off, especially this time of the year.

For me, the silver lining is that I planted so many of the same sized palms at the same time several years ago, having to replace one helps with getting some different heights in my garden for the time being.