Canary Island date palm assistance needed

[Raf76]

This CIDP was installed about a year ago. Recently I was cleaning the bottom of the tree. While doing that I pulled alot of rot and this is how my palm looks. I don't know if it's weevils or fungus. Is there any chance of this palm living?

[Merlyn]

@Raf76 welcome to Palmtalk!  On a first glance I don't think it's weevils or any other bugs.  You probably wouldn't have so many full green fronds if weevils were eating the heart.  It's definitely weird looking, a couple of guesses:

• The old fronds on the right side in the below picture are really stretched out, as though it were grown under >50% shade cloth in a nursery.  The left side fronds are more "normal" length for a full sun young CIDP:

• All palms eventually have the old "boots" or frond bases rot and fall off.  So the cut ends of all of those fronds (the diamond cut stuff) are just dead tissue and not part of the live plant.  Every one of them will rot and fall off over time.
• The above boots might be rotted really fast due to a nearby sprinkler.  I'm just guessing there's a popup sprinkler to the left on the above photo.  Spraying high pressure water will rot old dead boots fast, but can also eventually cut into good live tissue and kill a palm.  I'd re-aim or change the head if you have a sprinkler hitting it.
• In the below photo, it looks like the growing point is tilted off to the side compared to the earlier fronds.  Is this the case?  It almost looks like there are fronds growing out of two independent growing points.  That would be really unusual in a CIDP, but there's a 4-headed Sylvester at Leu Gardens that is pretty unique.  It's also possible it is a hybrid with something like Reclinata.

In the above picture the green tissue and growth looks fairly normal for a young CIDP.  The first thing I'd do is check the sprinkler heads and re-aim them or turn that one off if it's hitting the trunk.  I'd pull off the old boots by hand or with the help of garden shears.  Just don't cut into any "adventitious roots" that may be growing around them.  If they fall off by hand that's fine.  Just don't forcibly yank off any boots.

[Raf76]

Thank you for your response.

--There is a nearby pop-up sprinkler head(not high pressure)as you mentioned set for 3x's/wk due to the hot weather down here in Fl. I will get that sprinkler head capped off asap.

-- Yes, the growing point is tilted and has been growing that way since that new growth started.

--I started taking off the boots prior to sending my first message, but stopped when I got to the rot. 

-- I bought the Canary from a nursery in Oct 2023.

--In November 2023,I sprayed it with Sevin insecticide, a few days to a week later these beetles, that i assume are weevils were dead at the base of the tree.

-- There above photo is showing the start of the tilted (April 2024).  The Canary does get full sun.

--I'm unsure if this Canary is a hybrid. I do fertilize with liquid fertilizer every few weeks and spray insecticide every 2-3 months hoping to deter weevils.

Again, thank you for responding, I thought this was weevils damage and assumed would of had to get rid of the Canary. I'll get the sprinkler head capped off and remove the old  loosened boots as well.

[Merlyn]

@Raf76 gotcha, I would suspect the tilting and some of the rot was the results of weevils.  Those are definitely Palmetto Weevils:

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/palmetto_weevil.htm

Since the active infestation was last year, most likely you managed to kill them before they started to lay a large number of eggs and multiply.  If the palm is still actively growing new fronds then it's probably going to survive the attack.  If you hadn't killed them in November, the palm would definitely be dead already.  As a preventative, you can apply a neonicotinoid like Imadicloprid.  It's one of the few effective systemics against Palmetto Weevils.  Sevin concentrate (Zeta-cypermethrin) is probably a good surface and ~3 month weevil killer too...obviously.   

I'd probably still remove the old boots as you were doing.  Rotting tissue is an attractant to weevils.

In most sprinkler heads you can adjust the throw with a small screw on the top.  Some are small bladed screwdriver, some are torx, etc.  You might be able to just reduce the throw so it isn't spraying the trunk directly.

[Raf76]

Palmetto weevils larvae or grub? Found as i removed a boot.

It looks like I'm adding more damage just by tge way it's looking.

[Merlyn]

@Raf76 that does look like a weevil grub.  I'd just clean up the loose stuff and get an Imadicloprid to use as a soil drench.  That way if there are more grubs (which is likely) then the second they start eating fronds they'll die.  It does look like it's developed a secondary growing point out the side, which is an indication that the original growing point may have been damaged by weevils.  It may look weird for a while, but if you can kill off the weevils it should recover.

[Raf76]

removed as many loose boots as possible, most of them. I sprayed the trunk with Sevin and will apply Monterey systemic when the base dries.  Everything was definitely moist as I removed the boots. I didn't remove the skin i have circled since its pretty tight. Thanks again for the info.

[Merlyn]

@Raf76 looks good to me!  I'd leave the circled stuff alone for now, it'll probably fall off after the bigger fronds on the left slowly die off.  The new growing point on the right looks reasonably healthy.  As long as it keeps growing new fronds then the weevils haven't managed to eat that part of the palm heart.

I looked up the Monterrey once-a-year and it's 1.47% Imadicloprid.  For a soil drench I'd do a mix of about 2.5 gallons and pour it all around the mulched ring area.  From my reading the recommended dose of 21% concentration is 0.1-0.4oz per inch of trunk diameter.  With your 1.47% concentration you'd want ~14x that amount, or 1.4-5.7oz per inch of trunk diameter.  That seems like a lot, but the thinking is probably that it needs to kill a fairly large grub almost instantly to prevent palm heart damage.