Hurricane Ian damage to Bismarck

[Venice Strong]

Last week’s Hurricane Ian pounded Venice FL with 115+ mph winds.  Our beautiful 25 foot Bismarck suffered extensive damage to the northerly facing fronds.  Several southern facing fronds are still attached.  Our landscaper said that the center top frond was lost (containing the white spongey core material) and has no chance of survival.  Has anyone had experience with this center core loss and what are it’s chance of survival?

[Jimbean]

If the bud is still intact (which I assume it is) then the palm can absolutely survive.  If you can, post a photo of the bud, where the new growth comes from the center so we can take a good look at it. 

[Venice Strong]

This photo, I believe is the center portion, possibly the bud.  It is down and that’s what is concerning.

If it were to survive, how long should we expect to see new growth from the top….we would certainly like to give it a chance.

[Jimbean]

2 minutes ago, Venice Strong said:

This photo, I believe is the center portion, possibly the bud.  It is down and that’s what is concerning.

If it were to survive, how long should we expect to see new growth from the top….we would certainly like to give it a chance.

Ouch

That piece that came off, is the plant materiel woody at the center? 

[Venice Strong]

Yes, white spongy material when it came down, starting to darken in the days following….do you think there is a chance?

If so, how long should we give it?

[Jimbean]

33 minutes ago, Venice Strong said:

Yes, white spongy material when it came down, starting to darken in the days following….do you think there is a chance?

If so, how long should we give it?

It will be an eye sore on your property for at least a while if you keep it there, if it does recover, it will take a few months.  It could also very well not recover from that kind of damage.  If it were me, I'd leave it in there and see what happens.  I've seen palms recover from that kind of damage before, but then again I've seen them bite the dust too.  When the core bud is that exposed it is susceptible to fungal rot, you may want to treat it with a fungicide. 

 

I'd like to see other forum members chime in on their opinions. 

[Eric in Orlando]

I would definitely treat it with a systemic insecticide too,  like imidacloprid. It is going to be very susceptible to palmetto weevils since it is stressed. 

[sonoranfans]

Wow, that one saw some serious wind velocity.  The weevils will be attracted by all the palm damage in the area.   They smell the stress related chemical emissions by injured or sick palms, and it leads them to the stressed tree(s) where they breed.  I would probably plant a new one as that one is older, has very serious damage and may never recover fully if it does survive.  These palms also grow very fast in florida.  My 11 years from a 3 gallon 1' tall palm is about 30' tall.  IF you do decide to try and save it, I second imidacloprid treatments.

[mnorell]

Bismarckias fared poorly overall in our area of the Florida Keys (Big Pine Key and the surrounding islands) in Irma five years ago. Many, many of them looked similar to the palm pictured above...and few if any of those made it. I have tried to talk several people out of planting Bismarcks and choosing instead to use Blue Latans, which are so much better suited to average residential landscapes in scale...though I could rarely convince anyone unless they saw the results for their own eyes. The Latanias planted in the Lower Keys, including at our house and in our neighborhood--which received the full wrath of the eyewall plus its surge/waves--were completely unharmed. And I mean completely...didn't lose a leaf and looked just the same before and after...to this day. As several have noted above, Bismarckia is also known for weevil/beetle attacks, particularly when compromised, which may lead to the possibility of having the entire crown (I think the size and weight of a Volkswagen) crashing down onto whatever may lie in its path below. To my mind, similar to planting a solitary Caryota in striking distance of a structure (maybe worse).

[NoPo Strong]

Venice Strong - any update?  Have a similar issue here in North Port.  Bizmarks survived Ian... pretty ripped up but survived.  One recently started showing disease and I treated last month but it was weaken and Idalia ripped most of the top off.

[PalmatierMeg]

On 9/9/2023 at 1:53 PM, NoPo Strong said:

Venice Strong - any update?  Have a similar issue here in North Port.  Bizmarks survived Ian... pretty ripped up but survived.  One recently started showing disease and I treated last month but it was weaken and Idalia ripped most of the top off.

That's a dead Bismarck. I lost 4 of my 6 Bizzies to Hurricane Ian. Of the 2 survivors so far, the short one seems to be doing OK, the larger one is still on life support. Bismarckia are prone to catastrophic failure when hit by anything over cat 3. We lost our oldest/largest Bizzie a year after Hurricane Irma (cat 3) when palm weevils destroyed the weakened palm. Did you find any weevil larvae/adults in the heart of the palm? If so, cut up the palm, put it in trash bags and send it out with the garbage to be incinerated. Don't give the weevils a chance to spread. No more Bismarckia for us.

[sonoranfans]

We should have a thread on what palms survive a cat 3 hurricane.  Obviously bismarckia are not good in cat 3.  Mine in cat 1(IAN, IRMA) has been ok, never lost the bud or newest spear which my livistona decora did.  The 30' decora had very similar wind exposure to my bismarckia but it is much slower coming back.  I am going to guess that my bismarckia lost 40% of leaves(to the windward side) and will recover by the end of next year perhaps.  The view from the leeward side it looks recovered, but if you walk around the tree its at best half recovered.  WInd exposure is key, a have a frail sabal mauritiiformis that was snugged up to and protected by a larger magnolia tree to the windward side in IAN and IRMA and it had little damage.  But it is well know the mauritiiformis is a poor performer in wind.  I see weevils attacking bismarckia, sabal palmettos and royals in my area and all the ones attacked are stressed.  With the royals it looks like not enough water(pinched trunks, crownshafts) in sandy soil that weakens them.  

[PalmatierMeg]

My remaining 2 Bismarckia are still hanging in. With all the intense heat this summer they may be showing some growth. I'm still quite concerned that palm weevils will get them like what happened to our oldest Bizzie after Irma. It collapsed full of weevils 18 months later. I recognize the symptoms of infestation now but still hope the palms make it. Rather pointless, I suspect, because this palm cannot hack repeated cat 3+ storms and probably should have been taken out last year. But we lost so much stuff.......

Other palms/trees subject to major hurricane destruction:

Dypsis/Chyrsalidocarpus pembana - shattered or ripped totally out of the ground

Beccariophoenix, esp. alfredii (prior to trunk formation) - body of palm ripped off growing plate

Elaeis guineensis (trunking) - killed outright. Mutant leaf Elaeis survived

Attalea sp (except maybe phalerata) - blown down

Butia yatay - blown down. I would try again if I could find one. Beautiful palms

Caryota mitis - ripped out of ground, took the dwarf Buddha belly bamboo with it

Pandanus/screw pine - ripped out of the ground

Silk floss tree/Ceibus speciosa (also related species) - blown over. My husband saved one trunk, I wanted it gone

Delonix regia - 1/2 tree shattered again. I wanted it gone, was overruled so it lives on to trash our yard in the future

Dwarf poinciana - shattered. Got rid of that one.

Eucalyptus (all species but esp rainbow). They rip right out of the ground

Ficus - all species including fig leaf, religiosa. Rip right out of the ground. Roots continue to send up volunteers for many months

Mahoe - unruly, invasive large tree that hurricanes rip out of the ground

Snakewood tree/two-faced tree - large, weak tropical tree that shatters in storms

Japanese fern tree - shattered

Pachypodium spp (large) - Ian either killed outright and the rest died within a year

Pachira aquatica/glabra - shattered. Fortunately doesn't get large so we may replace it with offspring. Seeds/nuts sell well in US