Sad Pygmy Date Palms Need Help- Possible pest or fungus?

[SBPygmyPalms]

Hi there,

We've owned our house for the last 7 years and when we bought it we inherited some awesome pygmy palms. Over the years, they have done well in our climate with a little drip irrigation and the sporadic southern California rain. This past fall we rented our house for an extended period and we had all our trees professionally trimmed before leaving. The palm crowns were trimmed drastically as they had received minimal attention and looked very heavy per the tree trimmer. Some palms also seemed to have various nutrient deficiencies so I did my best to feed them with palm spikes before we left.

We had a very heavy and wet winter with lots of rain and I expected to return home to happy palms. However, the suspected nutrient deficiencies (?) in the palms primarily in our front yard have gotten worse with much of the new growth yellowing. More concerning is a possible fungus or pest in the majority of the palms (about a dozen) throughout the backyard. Attached are some photos if anyone has any ideas. The trunks are coated with a white chalky substance halfway up the base towards the crown and new growth seems to be suffering. I took some scrapings and will include a couple of photos of them as well. I did find some insect casings (?), also pictured, among the scrapings but nothing that seemed active that I could identify.

Any help or thoughts is much appreciated!

Dana

[Merlyn]

Hi Dana, welcome to PalmTalk!    The good news is that I don't see anything that looks fatal, but there are probably a couple of issues going on. 

• The yellowing and browning tips are I think common in CA, a combination of low humidity, salt air, maybe not enough water, and a Magnesium deficiency.  Extra water and Magnesium Sulfate granules (a handful per palm) would probably help that issue.  A good balanced "palm special" type fertilizer will usually have all the NPK plus the minor ingredients like Magnesium, Manganese, Boron, Iron, etc.  Adding a little extra Magnesium is probably a good idea.  Roebellini don't particularly like salt air, but that's out of your control.
• The small round dots look like they could be a scale insect.  These aren't normally fatal but do hurt the palm's health.  There are lots of treatments for scale, I tend to use a systemic like Imadicloprid and just make sure I remove any flowers from the palm.  That way there's no risk of bee damage.  Washing off the scale bugs with a hose sprayer is a great first step, as the adults become immobile when they bite into the palm.  Spraying them off effectively kills them.
• The shell I'm not sure about.  It might be the larval shell from some kind of fly?
• The white stuff looks like it could be a kind of mold/fungus.  You can test this by spraying or squirting a little household hydrogen peroxide on it.  If it bubbles up it's definitely a fungus.  Cleaning that off with a hose sprayer is probably a good first step too.  Sometimes you get fungus as a result of aphids.  The honeydew they secrete usually ends up as black mold...not white.  So it's hard to say.  If it's fungus then hydrogen peroxide, a copper-based solution, and other treatments like neem oil or Mancozeb or Fosetyl-Al can work.  If it's not fungus, then of course those things won't do anything useful.  If you do try neem oil, don't ever spray it during the heat of the day.  An evening spray will allow it to soak in and dry overnight.  Doing it in midday will burn the leaves...trust me I know this from experience. 

Hopefully some others here can offer some suggestions!

[Silas_Sancona]

12 hours ago, SBPygmyPalms said:

Hi there,

We've owned our house for the last 7 years and when we bought it we inherited some awesome pygmy palms. Over the years, they have done well in our climate with a little drip irrigation and the sporadic southern California rain. This past fall we rented our house for an extended period and we had all our trees professionally trimmed before leaving. The palm crowns were trimmed drastically as they had received minimal attention and looked very heavy per the tree trimmer. Some palms also seemed to have various nutrient deficiencies so I did my best to feed them with palm spikes before we left.

We had a very heavy and wet winter with lots of rain and I expected to return home to happy palms. However, the suspected nutrient deficiencies (?) in the palms primarily in our front yard have gotten worse with much of the new growth yellowing. More concerning is a possible fungus or pest in the majority of the palms (about a dozen) throughout the backyard. Attached are some photos if anyone has any ideas. The trunks are coated with a white chalky substance halfway up the base towards the crown and new growth seems to be suffering. I took some scrapings and will include a couple of photos of them as well. I did find some insect casings (?), also pictured, among the scrapings but nothing that seemed active that I could identify.

Any help or thoughts is much appreciated!

Dana

Starting from the bottom,

1st two shots are insect frass / castings..  Probably from the insect in the next two shots..


Palms do look a tad dry, and could use a good dose of high K ( K = Potassium ) Fert, and maybe a shot of fast acting Iron.  Now, and again in October would be the best time to feed..  Also recommend a good, slow release fertilizer, spread in a ring directly below the drip line, not up close to the trunk..  

Picture #8 ( from the bottom up ) does look like Scale insect ..Possibly one of the hard - shelled sp.  That said,  seeing all the holes in each little " scale " makes me think something like a parasitic wasp has been controlling it.. Also doesn't look widespread, so i myself would not apply a systemic insecticide.. Because it can kill the  " pest control crew " too.

Can wipe off / hose off the scales if they look bad,  ..and/ or spray a solution of Alcohol ( approx 10% Alcohol to 90% water  ) on them to kill any " crawlers " .. Tech. term used to describe Scale insects in the immature stage.

Whitish stuff on the  trimmed boots ( ..picture 10 ) does look like some type of fungus / mold  but looks superficial and could be removed using hydrogen peroxide.  Don't think it would be causing any issues w/ the palm(s) itself, except how that part of any effected might look.


Other than that, they look pretty happy,  imo...  

Hope this helps.

[SBPygmyPalms]

Merlyn and Silas,

Thank you for your welcome to the forum and all of the valuable insights on our palms! I really appreciate your prompt and thoughtful responses. I'm excited to get out in the garden and implement your tips. I am also so glad to hear you don't think our palms have a major problem.

Do you have any recommendations for granular fertilizer and does it tend to do okay with spot drip line irrigation? I attempted to use "TreeHelp" palm spikes before around the natural drip line of the tree (outer edge of the canopy) but ran into trouble due to hardscape being in the way or the ground being rock solid with roots. I ended up drilling holes with an auger bit to make some room to drive them in but felt like I wasnt able to get enough in where needed. Maybe topical granular fertilizer is the way to go and we should switch out our emitters to a broader spray. 

Thank you again for your thoughts.

All the best,

Dana

[Silas_Sancona]

9 minutes ago, SBPygmyPalms said:

Merlyn and Silas,

Thank you for your welcome to the forum and all of the valuable insights on our palms! I really appreciate your prompt and thoughtful responses. I'm excited to get out in the garden and implement your tips. I am also so glad to hear you don't think our palms have a major problem.

Do you have any recommendations for granular fertilizer and does it tend to do okay with spot drip line irrigation? I attempted to use "TreeHelp" palm spikes before around the natural drip line of the tree (outer edge of the canopy) but ran into trouble due to hardscape being in the way or the ground being rock solid with roots. I ended up drilling holes with an auger bit to make some room to drive them in but felt like I wasnt able to get enough in where needed. Maybe topical granular fertilizer is the way to go and we should switch out our emitters to a broader spray. 

Thank you again for your thoughts.

All the best,

Dana

You're welcome,

As far as ferts? ..you really have a lot of options.. 

As long as the basic N - P - K  formulation is similar to this:  8 -2 - 12, with minors,  ( Minors = minor  elements like calcium, manganese, etc )  you'll be good..  I myself use only Organics because Chemical derived ferts can harm / completely kill the micro - flora in the soil,  which is very important for proper health of ..not just the Pygmys, but any / everything else you might be growing..

That said, Using a slow release, chemical fert won't be too harmful either ..Compared to something like a liquid ...like say a Miricle Gro product ( Really bad stuff btw.. ) ..   W/ slow release, you can find formulations that will release the nutrients in them over a 3, 6, or even 12 month time span.

W/ Organics, it may  take a little longer to see results, but, as mentioned, you'll be feeding all the good bacteria / fungi in your soil that help make the nutrients available to the roots of those palms / other stuff  over a longer time frame..

I like too that w/ organics, you can find certain single ingredient things and make your own fert formula if you choose to.

With both options, there are many great brands to research.  Some may a little pricier than others of course.

Hope this helps..
 

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

You're welcome,

As far as ferts? ..you really have a lot of options.. 

As long as the basic N - P - K  formulation is similar to this:  8 -2 - 12, with minors,  ( Minors = minor  elements like calcium, manganese, etc )  you'll be good..  I myself use only Organics because Chemical derived ferts can harm / completely kill the micro - flora in the soil,  which is very important for proper health of ..not just the Pygmys, but any / everything else you might be growing..

That said, Using a slow release, chemical fert won't be too harmful either ..Compared to something like a liquid ...like say a Miricle Gro product ( Really bad stuff btw.. ) ..   W/ slow release, you can find formulations that will release the nutrients in them over a 3, 6, or even 12 month time span.

W/ Organics, it may  take a little longer to see results, but, as mentioned, you'll be feeding all the good bacteria / fungi in your soil that help make the nutrients available to the roots of those palms / other stuff  over a longer time frame..

I like too that w/ organics, you can find certain single ingredient things and make your own fert formula if you choose to.

With both options, there are many great brands to research.  Some may a little pricier than others of course.

Hope this helps..
 

Almost forgot to add ..i too use drip on most of what i have planted ( In a rental atm ) and when i fertilize what needs a little boost, i'll scatter it around the drip line of those plants, and water in.. 

Water from the drip emitters  may wet some of the fertilizer you might apply, but may not wet all of it, which can result in patchy distribution of the nutrients into the soil / roots zone.

You can also add stuff like Leaf mulch or compost around the bases of the palms to add organic matter ( and more nutrients ) to the soil, and keep more moisture around the root zone / keep that area a little cooler.

While Pygmys can endure somewhat drier soils ( Grown all over the place here as mentioned ) they do best with regular amounts of moisture, ..so you can't go wrong tossing said leaf mulch or compost around them. 

[Merlyn]

@SBPygmyPalmsa common recommendation on here is PalmGain or Florikan.  These are slow release granular and should work as long as you get dew or semi-regular rain.  Hand watering occasionally (as Silas mentioned) is a good way to get granular stuff to dissolve...assuming that you are using button drip emitters with the standard 1/4" hose going to specific spots.  I do that here, but in Floriduh we get daily afternoon thunderstorms.  So the biggest concern here is that stuff dissolves way too fast.  My irrigation system is mostly supplemental, i.e. it just makes sure that nothing completely dries out in our normal May and October hot droughts.  But I also use the small sprayers-on-a-stick and bubblers in a few spots that need more water than a dripper, or a wider distribution.  In your case you could do a couple of the small 45/90/180 degree sprayers-on-a-stick on most of those plantings, and maybe a bubbler on the pair that's surrounded by concrete.  Just put them in so they are spraying the nearby ground instead of hitting the trunk.  Sprayers on a trunk can cause rot.  One way to do this is to put the spray head near the trunk and aim it outwards into the nearby soil.