Losing the third of a trio

[Cindy Adair]

This is not at all the way I lose palms. 

I can likely hunt up photos from last year but these were typical big healthy looking Verschaffeltias with big cones of stilt roots planted about 7 years ago. 
 

 

I can’t blame rhinoceros beetles or landslides or hurricane winds. 
 

 

I can try for better photos although challenging with the topography and the impressive armature. 
 

Taking sections or core samples would be really a challenge. 
 

This is the last of a formerly impressive trio with each going from looking great to browning (bronzing?) of the oldest leaves to penciling of the crownshaft and lastly bending over of the spear and death. 
 

No palms have ever done this on my land since I moved here. 
 

No real help from extension agents on the rhino beetles due to very limited monetary support for such institutions in Puerto Rico. I have not even yet tried to contact them about this issue. 
 

I read that lethal bronzing is here in the Caribbean and I knew that I wasn’t going to try injections of antibiotics on this trio anyway. 
 

I do have more of this species far from the dead and dying ones including some still in pots. 
 

However there are other palms fairly close even more dear to me.
 

Of course my biggest worry is for the rest of my collection if this is realistically untreatable, with lethal bronzing causing so many losses in nearby Florida and other states.
 

Can you all think of anything else that might cause this rapid loss of three trees (sequentially) in a row with no chemical use or pruning and with my description of events?
 

Thanks!

[idontknowhatnametuse]

My Acrocomia aculeata has a Phytoplasma disease that I think is lethal bronzing since last year. Haplaxius crudus (The vector of LY and LB) is present in my garden though I have been trying to reduce its population naturally by using spiders. Random green frond areas turn yellow and then that yellow rapidly turns brown. It usually starts in the tip of the leaflet and expands to the "inside" of it through the edges of the leaflet, the disease starts in the lower fronds and rapidly expands to the upper fronds. I don't have a photo right now because I changed my phone but I will take a photo tomorrow.

[happypalms]

I was reading your post and went with phyotophera even before I saw @idontknowhatnametuse post. If it is phytophera you will notice it moving in a down hill direction a nasty soil borne disease, it’s wiped many of Australian tree in the bush. Usually from mud on tyres being moved around from one wet area to the next area. National parks have had many roads closed due to spread of the disease to try and stop it spreading through pristine rainforest. 

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks for your responses despite the gloomy news.

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, Cindy Adair said:

Thanks for your responses despite the gloomy news.

You can use agrifos It can be sprayed as foliar or a soil drench. Use as the manufacturers recommended rate. We get a lot of phytophera in the blueberries and macadamias where I work. You can see it move down the rows or in a line over time. In the end we just stop planting in the soil and grow in containers, the blueberries. It is treatable but it’s a battle like any soil borne fungus. Good luck.

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks Happypalms!

[palmnut-fry]

Cindy what a heartache. If it's not one thing it's another, jeez. To hear this and what happy sez about Australia (and the recent devastating coral reef collapse) it is scary af! Everything seems to be getting that way. 

Verschaffeltias

Those are a fav, i hope to see some in habitat down in Costa Rica someday!

[Cindy Adair]

It does lessen the heartbreak to have several in a distant area in the ground and some more overdue for planting.
 

I have gotten much better about having spares when at all possible even before this latest palm threat. 

[Kim]

You've had more than your share of challenges in the garden, Cindy. It must be daunting, and I admire your foresight (luck?) in having lots of backup palms waiting in the wings, and your optimism for better palmy days ahead. Sending positive vibes your way.