Why did my newly installed King Alexander Palm collapse?

[Tay]

I just had this 24ft king Alexander double installed 2 weeks ago. I woke Up today and the left tree completely collapse and I just Want to cry. The tree seems rotten… can anyone help? I have 3 of these tree installed and this one so far has collapsed. Another one of the trees has this spot on it as well. What can be happening? 
for context, I am In Florida 

[Patrick]

That's bad! That looks to me like it is most likely physical damage to the growth area of the palm during transport and/ or installation. I would be contacting whoever installed these for you as something in their process probably made this damage and subsequently killed the palm. I would be thinking warranty/ small clams/ refund or reimbursement. 

King palms have sensitive/ fragile crown shafts. You have to treat them with care if you are moving them. 

 

 

 

[Patrick]

The bruising on the still upright palm is common to the fall direction of the palm that has failed. I wonder if this was laid down across a bar or the roof or something on the delivery truck and then pushed forward from the back/ base or planter box with some sort of piece of equipment in order to get the palms pushed further up on the flatbed? 

 

That layfown and push forward across the pressure point created by that roof/ bar and then the bouncing up, down, up down, of the travel may have been what caused this. The growth point snapped internally. 

[Merlyn]

@Tay yikes!  If the inside of the trunk is brown/black and full of stringy fibers, it is likely Thielaviopsis.  It is an incurable fungus infection that degrades the structure of the trunk.  It is somewhat common, and difficult to diagnose before the tree dies or collapses, like yours.   Here is a fact sheet with some pictures.   https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP143

Serious physical damage in transportation can also compromise the trunk and make it fall off too. If the company didn't support the trunk in transportation and planting, it's easy to break the crownshaft.  A good way to do that is to have the palms on a flatbed that isn't long enough, with the crown hanging off the end.

Either way I would document and call the company who installed them.  Reputable places will make it right.

[Patrick]

19 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@Tay yikes!  If the inside of the trunk is brown/black and full of stringy fibers, it is likely Thielaviopsis.  It is an incurable fungus infection that degrades the structure of the trunk.  It is somewhat common, and difficult to diagnose before the tree dies or collapses, like yours.   Here is a fact sheet with some pictures.   https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP143

Serious physical damage in transportation can also compromise the trunk and make it fall off too. If the company didn't support the trunk in transportation and planting, it's easy to break the crownshaft.  A good way to do that is to have the palms on a flatbed that isn't long enough, with the crown hanging off the end.

Either way I would document and call the company who installed them.  Reputable places will make it right.

The highly suspect thing here is "installed 2 weeks ago". 

 

I sure hope it's not Thielaviopsis. You guys in Florida get all the fun names (and bugs/ yuk)!

Those green areas on a king are soft tissue. Think of it like a banana. Hit it hard enough or too much pressure in the soft parts on the skin and you get a bruise. I just ate one today (banana, not a king palm)  where it was a small dark line across the skin of it; but it was bruised and rotten In a large area on the inside- well into the center of the fruit. 

[Keybmp]

Yikes , but where in Florida did you find archontophoenixs that large? 

[Harry’s Palms]

I agree , contact installer about replacement(s) . Those look like expensive palms and only two weeks from planting? Something went wrong. Harry

[Merlyn]

@Patrick yeah we get all the fun diseases here.  I agree with you though, 2 weeks after install seems like the super heavy crownshaft got smashed.  I have seen trucks driving around here with palm heads hanging off the end of the truck bed, palms with the crowns propped over the tailgate, etc.  You can get away with it on some palms, like this picture from a member here:

[Bkue]

That is sad. After 2 weeks, it came with problems or was damaged. Call your seller / installer. No way that is acceptable. 

[Patrick]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

@Patrick yeah we get all the fun diseases here.  I agree with you though, 2 weeks after install seems like the super heavy crownshaft got smashed.  I have seen trucks driving around here with palm heads hanging off the end of the truck bed, palms with the crowns propped over the tailgate, etc.  You can get away with it on some palms, like this picture from a member here:

Yeah but that's a totally different palm. Not a king. Yeah, you can treat those like trash when it comes to transport. The exposed green crown shaft on a king is an Achilles Heel of sorts....

The boots on that tree keep it together and somewhat protected. If it makes you feel better, my neighbor pays people to cut the hell out of their queens. Well, guess what? They cut the boots too high and tight and the growth point bent over and broke. Now the palm is dead. Maybe it will regrow, but the point is that the growth area needs to be paid attention to. With a queen it is vulnerable if you remove all of its "clothes". With a king, that thing is always naked, of sorts...

[Tay]

I really don’t think it was transportation related. . They were very protected during transport. Here is a picture of how they arrived. Wrapped with 2x4 to get protect them.. maybe it had that disease.. wasn’t sure if it potential over watering as this was just resodded and it was getting water everyday.

[Tay]

@Merlyn do you happen to have a picture of the inside of the a tree trunk with the black stingy things? 

[Merlyn]

@Tay there are a few photos in the link I posted earlier: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP143

[FlaPalmLover]

This is why I suspect it's often wiser,  especially if you're at a forever home, to just plant a 3-15 g and let it grow out over time. 

[Harry’s Palms]

I would doubt overwatering for a couple weeks would cause that. I can literally flood my Archontophoenix and they love it. Of course my climate is much different than Florida , depending on where you are . It is pretty arid here and the palms just love water. Archie’s are almost like Ravenna in that they are water lovers. A newly planted King Palm here would be kept wet for quite a while until new growth appears. Harry

[sonoranfans]

A. Alexandre love water, I have a 30 foot triple that I grew from 1 gallons, cant over water them in the heat.  Large palms are difficult to transport, deliver and plant.   This is where having a real pro with palms is worth it.  24' alexander is a big size, a lot of weight there to be gentle with.  What part of florida are you in?   

[Josue Diaz]

Does looks like severe sunburn to anyone else? The big boxed kings they bring to inland locations in California and plop into full sun surrounded by asphalt look like this after a week in 100F+. They're usually dead within a month.

[James B]

On 8/21/2024 at 7:57 AM, Josue Diaz said:

Does looks like severe sunburn to anyone else? The big boxed kings they bring to inland locations in California and plop into full sun surrounded by asphalt look like this after a week in 100F+. They're usually dead within a month.

Hard to say. I have 20 in my current garden and had no over 30 in my previous one. The only thing I lost any Archontophoenix to was a couple young ones in my old yard were removed due to pink rot that formed over winter. I’ve purchased several 20-25 gallon sized palms over the years and installed them myself from HD all acclimated over time to our sun here.

[Merlyn]

On 8/21/2024 at 10:57 AM, Josue Diaz said:

Does looks like severe sunburn to anyone else? The big boxed kings they bring to inland locations in California and plop into full sun surrounded by asphalt look like this after a week in 100F+. They're usually dead within a month.

Yeah, possibly!  Maybe the nursery "overpruned" them by stripping off older fronds before installation.  If they yanked off the old boots too soon they could have severely weakened the crownshaft, as @Patrick mentioned.  Then they got severe sunburn and collapsed.

[Josue Diaz]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

Yeah, possibly!  Maybe the nursery "overpruned" them by stripping off older fronds before installation.  If they yanked off the old boots too soon they could have severely weakened the crownshaft, as @Patrick mentioned.  Then they got severe sunburn and collapsed.

I was thinking they might have been in a nursery setting where even if the crowns were in sun, the trunks were shaded in a crowded nursery environment. 

[Patrick]

I think whatever was postulated could be refuted, but I sincerely hope the nursery/ planters steps up on this one. 2 weeks and then catastrophic failure is very suspect. A floundering death over many months is arguable.

 

[TampaBayRay]

Are these from the tampa area?  HarneyRd by any chance?