Bismarkia Issues

[tinman10101]

What say you?  I think it might be palm weevil ... In any case, I poured about 1.5 gallons of malithion and horticultural oil down the crownshaft.  We will see ...  

If its fungus .. then I will have to treat for that but it may be too late.  Just sad I caught it so late.  

 

[tinman10101]

Good friend recommended imadicloprid soak so that will be my route.  

 

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, tinman10101 said:

Good friend recommended imadicloprid soak so that will be my route.  

 

Tin, I had one leaf on my Bismarckia nobilis show similar signs that emerged this Spring .  I also had damage to a leaf on my Pritchardia hillebrandii which is on the opposite side of the garden in Carlsbad.  Based on timing of it emerging on both, I attributed it to the cold wet winter.  I have also seen similar winter damage before on my Bismarckia in years before the Palm Weevil made it up to North San Diego County, so I knew it was something else in those years.  Your treatment plan sounds good to me.  I didn't do anything this Spring because the emerging spear on mine was just too high up for me to get to with a normal ladder.  Subsequent leaves have pushed out normally on both palms thus far this summer. 

With my Copernicia's that have had problems some winters, I alternate the imidacloprid insecticide soak with an antifungal, and it seems to have worked albeit very slowly.  Being a slower growing palm here it takes a couple of years to snap out of it, compared to the much faster growth you see with a Bismarckia here in Southern California  I guess the one other hopeful note is that I haven't heard about Palm Weevils making it up as far as you are yet.  Key word "yet".  Wish you the best with it and keep us posted on what happens.

[tinman10101]

Thank you @Tracy for sharing your knowledge and experience. I marked the spear and will monitor for new growth.   Stay tuned. 

 

Yes I would be surprised if palm weevil has made it to us yet but I posted out of abundance of caution. I know it's just a matter of time.  I will do the imadiclopid drench tomorrow as well through the roots. It's quite large now and my only greenish Bismarckia which I treasure. 

Cheers

Tin

[Billeb]

Tin, 

Last month I noticed my Kentiopsis Oliviformis what’s a super weird growth point at its spear just coming out of the crown. I immediately poured peroxide down the crown and continued every couple days for nearly 2 weeks. 
 

im happy to say she pushed thru and the spear is close to 6ft long now. It’s got a nasty dead point in it so I’m sure when it opens it will look terrible but I’m happy it’s good. 
 

As @Tracy said, I attributed it to the abnormally wet winter we had and the fact that we didn’t start to warm up until last month as you know. I think your Bismarckia will be ok and grow out if it. Not much else to do other than what you are doing. Takes time. Hopefully it will be ok. 
 

-dale 

[tinman10101]

8 minutes ago, Billeb said:

Tin, 

Last month I noticed my Kentiopsis Oliviformis what’s a super weird growth point at its spear just coming out of the crown. I immediately poured peroxide down the crown and continued every couple days for nearly 2 weeks. 
 

im happy to say she pushed thru and the spear is close to 6ft long now. It’s got a nasty dead point in it so I’m sure when it opens it will look terrible but I’m happy it’s good. 
 

As @Tracy said, I attributed it to the abnormally wet winter we had and the fact that we didn’t start to warm up until last month as you know. I think your Bismarckia will be ok and grow out if it. Not much else to do other than what you are doing. Takes time. Hopefully it will be ok. 
 

-dale 

Thanks for your input Dale.  Yeah mine looks like that too but obviously at a much larger scale.  I hope it will push through it as well and who knows ... maybe its been pushing through it all this time but I have not noticed ... 🤷‍♂️.  I will monitor and see ... the last 2 weeks it's been over 100F here in Santa Clarita.  

Cheers

Tin

[tinman10101]

@Tracy and @Billeb ... I got my 12 foot ladder today and climbed up to take closer pics.  Gentlemen I say you may be correct on your diagnosis.  The necrotic parts are dry and hard as opposed to mushy and looks like new growth is coming through.  Please see pics below.  It is so tall now that I never tend to look at the crownshaft of this bizzie probably only once every month or so.  Thanks again for your opinions and experience.   

Cheers

Tin

PS You can see how large this bizzie is compared to my Tundra below:

 

[Phoenikakias]

20 hours ago, Tracy said:

Tin, I had one leaf on my Bismarckia nobilis show similar signs that emerged this Spring .  I also had damage to a leaf on my Pritchardia hillebrandii which is on the opposite side of the garden in Carlsbad.  Based on timing of it emerging on both, I attributed it to the cold wet winter.  I have also seen similar winter damage before on my Bismarckia in years before the Palm Weevil made it up to North San Diego County, so I knew it was something else in those years.  Your treatment plan sounds good to me.  I didn't do anything this Spring because the emerging spear on mine was just too high up for me to get to with a normal ladder.  Subsequent leaves have pushed out normally on both palms thus far this summer. 

With my Copernicia's that have had problems some winters, I alternate the imidacloprid insecticide soak with an antifungal, and it seems to have worked albeit very slowly.  Being a slower growing palm here it takes a couple of years to snap out of it, compared to the much faster growth you see with a Bismarckia here in Southern California  I guess the one other hopeful note is that I haven't heard about Palm Weevils making it up as far as you are yet.  Key word "yet".  Wish you the best with it and keep us posted on what happens.

Was the applied fungicide Banrot?

Edited August 2, 2023 by Phoenikakias

[Tracy]

4 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Was the applied fungicide Banrot?

No I used Daconil which is readily available here.

[Phoenikakias]

5 hours ago, Tracy said:

No I used Daconil which is readily available here.

I have been thinking that Banrot is more appropriate for meristem infection and Daconil for root infection.

[Tracy]

7 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I have been thinking that Banrot is more appropriate for meristem infection and Daconil for root infection.

Thank you for that insight.  I will have to add Banrot to my arsenal for these situations. 

[Merlyn]

9 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

I have been thinking that Banrot is more appropriate for meristem infection and Daconil for root infection.

Banrot is a systemic, so I suppose it could work for both infection types.  Daconil is surface-only, but is somewhat "sticky" when mixed.  On the recommendation of some people here, I started mixing it with my hydrogen peroxide (4tsp per 32oz of H2O2) and using it as a crown rot treatment.  Theoretically the H2O2 attacks the surface fungus, and what's left is dead fungus and water.  The Daconil stays in the crown as a surface fungicide as the water evaporates or is absorbed by the plant.  This made sense to me, and seems to work well on crown rots.  I've had faster recovery from crown fungal infections since I started using that mix...YMMV.

[tinman10101]

just a quick update ... @Tracy and @Billeb .   spear is moving nicely and thanks for the advice.  it is growing through the defect and i am happy my greenish  bismarkia is gonna make it albeit a few nasty new leaves for this year.  

overall shot of size of bizzie and close up of new growth ...

[sonoranfans]

On 8/3/2023 at 8:27 AM, Merlyn said:

Banrot is a systemic, so I suppose it could work for both infection types.  Daconil is surface-only, but is somewhat "sticky" when mixed.  On the recommendation of some people here, I started mixing it with my hydrogen peroxide (4tsp per 32oz of H2O2) and using it as a crown rot treatment.  Theoretically the H2O2 attacks the surface fungus, and what's left is dead fungus and water.  The Daconil stays in the crown as a surface fungicide as the water evaporates or is absorbed by the plant.  This made sense to me, and seems to work well on crown rots.  I've had faster recovery from crown fungal infections since I started using that mix...YMMV.

I have used daconil successfully but with peroxide first then followed by daconil hours after to allow the pedroxide to react and dissipate.  It worked fine on copernicias C. Pembana and others including seedlings.  I would never mix peroxide with anything that it can attack since peroxide is a fast oxidizer and will attack the fungicide and break it down chemically.  Used alone, peroxide is rapidly consumed as it attacks and breaks down the fungus as it breaks it down and is unstable in air/heat so its effectively gone within an hour.  At that time I add the daconil which can then access the infected plant tissue exposed by the peroxide attack.  I have not lost a palm using this method, I have a 18' copernicia baileyana out front today only because I used this procedure about 7 years ago.  It was recommended to me by another more experienced palmtalker.  I can explain the chemistry because I went to grad school for chemistry, its pretty straight forward.