Palm Suddenly Not Well

[Another_Conquistador]

Two days ago this Palm was fine… now it’s limp and looks extremely rough. It seems to have spider mites. What’s the best way to kill them and will the palm recover well?

 

[Another_Conquistador]

Here’s the cottony looking webs

[Another_Conquistador]

I’m really upset, it’s the first Palm I’ve ever got and my favorite. It was doing incredible, I’d let it dry and as soon as I watered it this happened.

[ZPalms]

Rinse the entire palm and go over every leaf in the shower; it's a big help if you have a hand-held shower wand so you can get all over it and under the leaves. Try to avoid spraying water directly into the growth points, but this is a really solid way of cleaning the palm and knocking them off. 🤠

I'm just as new to palms but I only have 2 ideas why your palm might be looking sad

• It might not be receiving enough light
• watering might be over or under watered

Edited December 25, 2022 by ZPalms

[Another_Conquistador]

It has been a liiiittle dry lately, and I typically shower them!!! I let them dry then give them a warm shower and they love it. I haven’t had much time to shower them… and of course… the one time I slack a bit… they hit. I’m so pissed and so upset. I really hope it thrives again.

[PalmatierMeg]

What with the current cold weather your heating system is running constantly and maybe the humidity has dropped and the palm is drying out. In winter, most houses are too cold, too dark and too dry for tropical plants. Watering may not be the (main?) issue; raising humidity may be. Does the crock it sits in have drainage holes? If not, you need to drill some or repot the palm. If so, be sure it doesn’t sit in a tray of water long term. If the humidity is low can you run a humidifier to raise it? What kind of substrate is it planted in? It needs a coarse, loose, fast draining soil. A bag of black potting soil from a dollar store won’t cut it.

[Another_Conquistador]

It’s in a nursery coco substrate, which I let dry thoroughly before watering. The pot does have a drainage hole in the bottom, I could raise humidity by showering daily or I could get a humidifier   

[Another_Conquistador]

I just watered it a few days ago until water came out of the bottom of the pot. It’s typically a week and a half to two weeks before it needs watering again. The soil was so dry, which would make sense like with what you said about the dry air. The palm is sooooo limp. I saturated it and let it sit in the warm humid shower and it’s still a little limp

[PalmsandLiszt]

On 12/25/2022 at 12:44 AM, Another_Conquistador said:

Here’s the cottony looking webs

That looks like a bad spider mite case. They generally prefer to attack new fronds if available, which seems to be what they're doing there. I'd get a kitchen sponge soaked in warm, soapy water and manually thoroughly wipe the underside of every leaf to try to physically remove as many as possible and minimise the damage.
Once you've got rid of as many as you can by hand, I'd suggest mass-releasing predatory mites such as Amblyseius or Phytoseiulus spp. to take care of any survivors for the next few months. If you can't get hold of these, it's just more manually dislodging them, which isn't a job I'd like on palms that size, but it's doable.

[Another_Conquistador]

It was time for a repot so I took the palm outside, I cut off the nastiest looking fronds with the most mites and removed the palm from the spot and put a hose on full blast without the nozzle and just hosed down the leaves and trunk really thoroughly, it was also chilly out so I was hoping all the water and the cold would help detach the mites. After about ten minutes of spraying I potted the palm in a new pot with a soil that contains lava rock and some happy frog. I also mixed some orange essential oils with water and sprayed down the entirety of the foliage. It’s been four days with no signs of spider mites, not one fiber of a web. Has anyone used orange essential oils before? Wondering now if that’s a key

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Your palm is a cat palm.  Chamaedorea Cataractum.  I used to keep these indoors when I lived up north. I’m it sure how far north you live but if it gets chilly or cold regularly this will be an ongoing problem.   
 

here is what I used to do with mine up north.    I’d keep the indoor humidity no lower than 60%.   I would give it a shower once every 4-6 days.   Don’t worry much about overwatering these as they are water hogs and usually love lots of it.   Just don’t let it sit in a puddle of water for a long time and it’ll be fine.  Main reason is cooler temps promote the rot it can cause.   Otherwise these palms. Can live in water for a while.  
min their native habitats they often get fully submerged under water for extended periods during floods.  
anyway,  doing these things kept the spider mite issue ad bay for the  most part.    You can also use a systemic insecticide like Bonide.   I have used that with a lot of success.   Easy to use you just mix it into the too inch of soil.   Just be careful not to wash it out when giving your palm a shower.  Hope this helps!  

[Another_Conquistador]

Thank you so much!!! That helps a ton!!!

[Another_Conquistador]

It looks crispy ended but I’m watering it 😓 and misting it a lot

[Another_Conquistador]

How do I fix this?

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

3 hours ago, Another_Conquistador said:

How do I fix this?

Probably damage from spider mites.   By the time you see the webbing, they’ve been there a while.    Unfortunately this is not reversible.   It will stay as it is and all you can do is keep the mites off and let it recover.  It will slowly put out new fresh fronds.   The trick is keeping the mites off.   
 

keep doing what I said worh showers every 5-7 days etc.  I’d also use a systemic insecticide.    That makes the plant poisonous to any big that might eat any part of it.    
 

 

[Another_Conquistador]

I’ve been worried about pesticides as I have a parrot and he nibbles sometimes. I’ve had zero problems with mites though!!! Haven’t seen one web!!! I’m gonna put a humidifier near it too in an attempt to keep it happier

[Patrick]

Put a little dish soap, a few drops, in a spray bottle. Fill it with water. Spray. They will drown. Repeat, repeat, repeat for the next many days. 

The soap breaks down the skin tension (or whatever the sciencey name is for it) if the water. It drowns thise little buggers.... 

Hold the line, be vigilant about the bugs, and the palm ought to come back eventually. Cat palms are tough. I mistreated one for years...

Edited January 15, 2023 by Patrick