Issues with King palms, disease or grasshopper eating?

[golo]

Hello,

So I'm having these issues with my King palms throughout my backyard of which I have three different sets of multiple trunk king palms.  I'll admit I wasn't taking the best care of them and I believe I wasn't watering them enough and I just recently fertilized them about 3 weeks ago and I've increased the amount of water that they are receiving to a daily watering on a drip feed so they're getting soaked pretty good now compared to before.

 

I've been having these issues with some of the fronds looking like they're being eaten up and some not opening properly and also just turning yellow and dry.. . have a look at the pictures attached and I would appreciate any input on how it can help these trees get back to a good green and healthy status. Thank you!

[awkonradi]

I think you will get useful responses from PalmTalkers wiser than me, but would you like to post some photos of the whole palm?

[SeanK]

How much rain did you get in August?

[Looking Glass]

Those accordion leaves are what Boron deficiency looks like.   It should be in the newest leaves, and as it gets severe new leaves can be stunted and deformed.  Not sure what your soil pH or amount of organics is like.   It shows up very delayed and is sometimes caused transiently by a washout from rain that occurred weeks or months earlier.  

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/EP264#

[golo]

So 

47 minutes ago, Looking Glass said:

Those accordion leaves are what Boron deficiency looks like.   It should be in the newest leaves, and as it gets severe new leaves can be stunted and deformed.  Not sure what your soil pH or amount of organics is like.   It shows up very delayed and is sometimes caused transiently by a washout from rain that occurred weeks or months earlier.  

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/EP264#

So it definitely looks like I have a boron deficiency.  I just fertilized about 3 weeks ago so hopefully I'll see some better results with the new leaves. I also know for the past 8 months plus I haven't been watering enough...   so hopefully with more watering and fertilizer it should clear up the issues. Thank you for your response.  

[Looking Glass]

8 minutes ago, golo said:

So 

So it definitely looks like I have a boron deficiency.  I just fertilized about 3 weeks ago so hopefully I'll see some better results with the new leaves. I also know for the past 8 months plus I haven't been watering enough...   so hopefully with more watering and fertilizer it should clear up the issues. Thank you for your response.  

I’m not super familiar with chronic boron deficiency from underwatering.   I assume keeping things wet and general fertilizer will help.   You can also take a tablespoon of Borax, and dissolve in a watering can, and soak the root zone with it one time.   You don’t repeat that for a bunch of months, as too much boron is toxic also.   

[golo]

3 hours ago, awkonradi said:

I think you will get useful responses from PalmTalkers wiser than me, but would you like to post some photos of the whole palm?

 

[golo]

It's looks like the newer leaves are healthier since I increased the amount of watering per day from 3 minutes to 20 minutes on a drip system about 5 weeks ago... now the soil is very moist compared to before and it also looks like the fertilizer I added about 3-4 weeks ago is kicking in.

[Merlyn]

Normally the breakdown of mulch or other organics provides enough boron, but not always.  And with no rain, the mulch's boron won't seep down into the soil.  Drippers or drip hose might not rinse down nutrients either.  The small drip fan sprayers might help.  You could use one or two of the 90 degree fans-on-a-stick to cover the area, just don't spray directly on the trunk.  That could cause rot over time.

[peachy]

How long have they been in the ground ? When they are young they need good water and regular feeding.  The few I have planted over the years go from seedling to the size of yours in about 18 months and get a much longer crownshaft too. I agree with the others about Boron deficiency, although with that the crownshaft usually starts bending too. I would start adding a monthly dose of a commercial seaweed mixture as well. It's more of a vitamin tonic than food but my palms respond to it quite well.

Peachy

[Looking Glass]

Man those guys look thirsty from a distance.  I'm a big fan of a thick layer of wood mulch for water loving palms.  I'm also not above walking around with a hose and a long watering wand attached, and giving palms a good deep soaking during the hottest part of the day.   Hard to do if you have acres filled with many palms.  But not so hard when you've got a few specific ones that need some attention and extra TLC to see them through hard times.   

59 minutes ago, peachy said:

How long have they been in the ground ? When they are young they need good water and regular feeding.  The few I have planted over the years go from seedling to the size of yours in about 18 months and get a much longer crownshaft too. I agree with the others about Boron deficiency, although with that the crownshaft usually starts bending too. I would start adding a monthly dose of a commercial seaweed mixture as well. It's more of a vitamin tonic than food but my palms respond to it quite well.

Peachy

I've got a couple that get it here.   Cat Palms and Pseudopheonix sargentii of all things.   It starts with just some hook leaf.  That's as far as I let it get before I treat.  Mine is usually the transient type from deluges, I think.  It will progress to accordion leaf and all kinds of weird and stunted new leaf shapes as it gets chronic.   When the crown shaft bends and turns over, it's near death, and perhaps too late.   You'll see that here with some parking lot palms and street plantings that were severely neglected over time.   I'm not sure that there's much recovery at that point.  I like the seaweed tonic idea.  Those palms look hungry as well as thirsty.     

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, Looking Glass said:

Man those guys look thirsty from a distance.  I'm a big fan of a thick layer of wood mulch for water loving palms.  I'm also not above walking around with a hose and a long watering wand attached, and giving palms a good deep soaking during the hottest part of the day.   Hard to do if you have acres filled with many palms.  But not so hard when you've got a few specific ones that need some attention and extra TLC to see them through hard times.   

I've got a couple that get it here.   Cat Palms and Pseudopheonix sargentii of all things.   It starts with just some hook leaf.  That's as far as I let it get before I treat.  Mine is usually the transient type from deluges, I think.  It will progress to accordion leaf and all kinds of weird and stunted new leaf shapes as it gets chronic.   When the crown shaft bends and turns over, it's near death, and perhaps too late.   You'll see that here with some parking lot palms and street plantings that were severely neglected over time.   I'm not sure that there's much recovery at that point.  I like the seaweed tonic idea.  Those palms look hungry as well as thirsty.     

Off topic but we go the beach frequently and collect a trailer full of sea weed and our vegetable garden absolutely loves it so do we in the fresh veggies 

[Tomas]

18 hours ago, happypalms said:

Off topic but we go the beach frequently and collect a trailer full of sea weed and our vegetable garden absolutely loves it so do we in the fresh veggies 

Seaweed is laden with salt, tomato can like it, but the other wegwtables?

[happypalms]

4 minutes ago, Tomas said:

Seaweed is laden with salt, tomato can like it, but the other wegwtables?

Yes correct some say wash it others say don’t worry about it we never wash it but look at the bottom of some plants in a pot the white salt building up on the plastic is salt from the fertiliser which will burn the roots mostly a problem with hydroponics or containers being reused for planting 

[BayAndroid]

On 9/14/2023 at 11:51 PM, peachy said:

How long have they been in the ground ? When they are young they need good water and regular feeding.  The few I have planted over the years go from seedling to the size of yours in about 18 months and get a much longer crownshaft too. I agree with the others about Boron deficiency, although with that the crownshaft usually starts bending too. I would start adding a monthly dose of a commercial seaweed mixture as well. It's more of a vitamin tonic than food but my palms respond to it quite well.

Peachy

Do you feed the seaweed mix through the winter time too, or just in the growing months? 

[happypalms]

48 minutes ago, BayAndroid said:

Do you feed the seaweed mix through the winter time too, or just in the growing months? 

Good question I did do it one winter with not to good a result I ran into trouble with my chambeyronia seedlings so now I only use it in the warmer months I also don’t pot up in winter unless it’s golden cane or some other die hard palm but any of my tropical or rare plants I do not pot up prior to winter or during winter definitely a spring thing 

[peachy]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

Good question I did do it one winter with not to good a result I ran into trouble with my chambeyronia seedlings so now I only use it in the warmer months I also don’t pot up in winter unless it’s golden cane or some other die hard palm but any of my tropical or rare plants I do not pot up prior to winter or during winter definitely a spring thing 

 

4 hours ago, BayAndroid said:

Do you feed the seaweed mix through the winter time too, or just in the growing months? 

I mix it with a fish emulsion food and foliar feed them from the start of spring until mid autumn. I always intend to do them every 2 weeks but it's usually 3 or 4. Also a friend breeds show chickens and I get all the used straw or hay mixed with chicky poos which I use as a mulch. If you cant get any of that the dried pellets mixed into mulch work fine also.

Peachy

[BayAndroid]

2 hours ago, peachy said:

 

I mix it with a fish emulsion food and foliar feed them from the start of spring until mid autumn. I always intend to do them every 2 weeks but it's usually 3 or 4. Also a friend breeds show chickens and I get all the used straw or hay mixed with chicky poos which I use as a mulch. If you cant get any of that the dried pellets mixed into mulch work fine also.

Peachy

I have chickens 😉

Is it basically composted or relatively fresh out of the coop? 

[peachy]

4 hours ago, BayAndroid said:

I have chickens 😉

Is it basically composted or relatively fresh out of the coop? 

 

4 hours ago, BayAndroid said:

I have chickens 😉

Is it basically composted or relatively fresh out of the coop? 

I shove it into big bags and use it as I need it. I don't worry but aging it ...most vintages work quite well.