What is killing your palms?

[ruskinPalms]

So.. I’ve managed to kill many a palm over the years but the thing that has killed the most palms in my yard has been disease followed by bugs then cold (and sometimes user error lol).  Perhaps a combo of those things.  CAT 2 hurricane conditions have killed zero here over the years but I know once you hit 3+ they start taking a hit. Nutrition has been less of an issue as I generally fertilize once per year in the spring with a palm specific fertilizer and let it ride. My house is built over a prior orange grove which I’m sure was heavily fertilized for years and years so your mileage may vary with fertilizer needs. Oh yeah and the fill they used here was probably phosphate mine slag lol. Anyway, what is the most common killer of your palms?

[D. Morrowii]

I’d have to say fungus is #1 especially with seedlings. 
#2 would be too much sun so operator error. 
# 3 is probably bugs. Im just not sure if those were the chicken or the egg. 

[amh]

Armadillos are the main baddies for me, but the occasional missed watering is second. 

[Merlyn]

Cold and frost, without a doubt.  Ultimately it's a fungal infection (bud rot, most often) that eventually kills them.  But out of the ~165 palm deaths in my spreadsheet I'd guess that 90% of them were due to temps dipping into the upper 20s.  Many were no more than "big seedling" sized, so having a 2' tall palm killed by the cold isn't too unusual. 

[SeanK]

Living here in the Arctic north, I'd say cold. As for soil, it's easy enough to take samples, mix with distilled water and check pH. Good place to start.

[EJPalm05]

Squirrels

[aztropic]

Extreme heat! 40+ days of 110F - 119F so far this year. 🤷‍♂️

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 
 

[BS Man about Palms]

In pots. - Fungus, then underwatering..

In ground, -fungus, then gophers or bugs.. close race

[awkonradi]

Oh, just general irresponsibility on my part.

[BS Man about Palms]

1 hour ago, BS Man about Palms said:

In pots. - Fungus, then underwatering..

In ground, -fungus, then gophers or bugs.. close race

I should amend that.. bugs are a bigger problem in pots than in the ground.. just annoying in the ground.

[Cindy Adair]

Rhino beetles for sure. 

[Fishinsteeg234]

Squirrels first for the young starter seedlings, then cold down to high 20’s for everything else….

[Looking Glass]

It’s definitely this guy…. 

 

He keeps doing it…

[Xerarch]

4 hours ago, aztropic said:

Extreme heat! 40+ days of 110F - 119F so far this year. 🤷‍♂️

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 
 

What palms are dying of heat? Surely not Phoenix or Washingtonia unless not well established and not watered, I did see in another thread that you posted some fried queens, that's interesting, they rarely look great there but completely toasted is something else.  Anything else croaking in large numbers?

[Xerarch]

Here I'm still seeing large CIDP's up and die in relatively short periods of time, I suppose this is still TPPD wreaking havoc, a real shame, even though there are still a lot of large Phoenix species that look good. Cold is still the biggest threat here for anything on the more tender side.  Although this relentless heat and humidity has really brought my young Archontophoenix spp to a standstill, I water them plenty and have put up a shade structure for them, but I'm not sure they will hold out.  Nothing else seems to be bothered by the heat at all, foxtail, royal, coconut, bizzy, mule, brahea, hyophorbe, etc. are all eating it up.

[Palm and Pool]

On 8/11/2023 at 12:30 AM, amh said:

Armadillos are the main baddies for me, but the occasional missed watering is second. 

What do armadillos do to palms?  We have those here, too. 

[amh]

4 hours ago, Palm and Pool said:

What do armadillos do to palms?  We have those here, too. 

It's the digging. When I have bad drought conditions the armadillos get desperate for food and whatever else, and will dig up plants, shred roots and flatten others.

[andrebazhen]

Cats! Last week, my cats turned 20 Washingtonia seedlings into 20 stumps. Anyway, these guys are pretty tough. Maybe not a “death” case, but I couldn't help but share