small King Palm turning black at base, now leaching up the tree trunk.

[JulieBell]

We bought a group of 4 King Palms and about 2 years after planting the smallest is turning black at the base & black is starting to leach up the tree trunk.  If anyone knows what this is caused by & if it can be saved would love your opinion.  Love my palms!

We have added fertilizer, more palm-healthy soil & watered more often.  The other 3 are perfect so not sure if the high temperature this summer affected the small one.

JulieBell

[Tracy]

47 minutes ago, JulieBell said:

We bought a group of 4 King Palms and about 2 years after planting the smallest is turning black at the base & black is starting to leach up the tree trunk.  If anyone knows what this is caused by & if it can be saved would love your opinion.

Julie if you can share a photo of the top of the tree and it's leaves that would be helpful.  From where I sit, it would appear that you have a little bit of sunburn going on the base of the trunk, but that's an initial impression without seeing the rest of the plant.  These are normally a solitary species, so what you have is a group planting.  Sometimes in group plantings some of the plants will out compete the others for nutrients and water, resulting in a more stunted appearance on one or more of the trunks.  Additional questions are where are you growing this?  My suspicion of sunburn will relate to it's sun exposure, 

It does look like you have a sandy draining soil looking at the top dressing.  These are a thirsty species, so the other question, location dependent is how much water are you giving it?  Others will be able to share and elaborate based on any additional photos and info you can provide.  Welcome to PalmTalk too!

[BigWaveDav3]

More water and organic matter added to soil may be beneficial...But as Tracy has said, sunburn looks to be the cause of the coloration concern. Also the boots will turn brown as they are using nutrients from the old fronds for new growth (a good reason not to pull them off prematurely for cosmetic reasons). That could also be a factor in what you are seeing.