Looking at purchasing a mule palm in the Phoenix area, we went to look at some today at a local nursery and lots had these black spots on them. Are these ok still? What causes it and is there a fix for the spots if we bought them

Edited March 9, 20251 yr by ddavis113
Less clickbait sounding title 😂

Would anyone be able to assist with this? We are looking at purchasing 3 mules for our back yard but seeing those black spots makes me a little nervous. I asked the kid that was working there and he said it is normal. 

@ddavis113 it looks like a fairly common "rachis blight."  Usually it is just cosmetic damage, sometimes caused by palms growing together without enough airflow.  See this fact sheet on it:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP145

The only time it is a big concern is with Fusarium, which can infect Syagrus (mostly Queens), Washingtonia, and sometimes Mules (Queen x Pindo).  Fusarium is 100% fatal and untreatable.  BUT the photos there do not look like Fusarium, which typically have a one-sided death that you can see in the above link.  I would carefully check the nursery's stock for signs of the 1-sided frond death.  Fusarium is easy to transmit between palms, so it one has it, assume they all have it.  If they look clean, then it is probably just a cosmetic fungal blight.