Wondering if this washingtonia is okay

[palmofmyhand]

This is one of 4 washingtonia robustas that I purchased this year and repotted. This is the only one that has a new spear with browning and softness to it. Can anyone tell if it will survive and be okay? Only possible cause I could think of would be pool water getting sprayed into the soil from the robot cleaner. The other fronds look good still, the newest frond looks like a healthy green. The second newest frond looks unhealthy and yellow. But that spear doesn’t look good. The trunk is still firm of course and the rest of the palm looks fine besides that spear and second newest frond. Can anyone give any insight to this issue? Will it be fine?

[SeanK]

If it's in there tight it's ok.

 

[palmofmyhand]

16 hours ago, SeanK said:

If it's in there tight it's ok.

 

do you have any idea of what could’ve caused it? I don’t think it was freeze damage but it went through a 28 degree freeze after it came in while in the original 3 gallon pot. One of the fronds went half brown after that freeze but I didn’t think it affected anything else and it pushed 2 good looking fronds out before this spear was apparent to me. All of the other ones look just fine though so this one is an outlier, but this one was also the only one to take any damage from that freeze. Would it be possible for freeze damage to not show until 2 finished fronds later? Or do you think the problem was more of a water issue?

[palmofmyhand]

17 hours ago, SeanK said:

If it's in there tight it's ok.

 

the spear is still firm which is good news I hope all these new washingtonias grow throughout this summer 🤞🏼 I have seen a good amount of large washingtonias in my area that have survived and thrived throughout the conditions. I would just try to grow sabal palmettos but they grow slower and I don’t find any way to grow them except for from seed or buying a 5-6ft size tree. I lost all my sylvesters which was devastating to me so I’m really hoping these washingtonias, and my new windmills, and sagos can do well.

[SeanK]

It was in the pot, outside on a 28°F night?

[palmofmyhand]

2 minutes ago, SeanK said:

It was in the pot, outside on a 28°F night?

yea only a few days after they got shipped to me in the original pots they were all outside at 28 F and I noticed this one had browning on half of that one frond after, while none of the others reacted to it.

[palmofmyhand]

3 minutes ago, SeanK said:

It was in the pot, outside on a 28°F night?

but I think it could possibly be an unrelated issue like pool water contamination or underwatering but I really can’t say for sure. I’m going to move it further away from the pool incase it is pool related.

[Harry’s Palms]

Washingtonia are one Genus that can easily handle set backs and come out the other side. Harry

[palmofmyhand]

3 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Washingtonia are one Genus that can easily handle set backs and come out the other side. Harry

Thanks I’ve been hoping so that’s exactly why I chose to get those over a new set of Sylvestris. I heard some guy up in Virginia had a small one that survived the snow and everything without protection this past winter in a zone 7 something.

[Merlyn]

@palmofmyhand I'd squirt some hydrogen peroxide down in the center, just to check if there's an active fungal infection.  It looks like the lower end of the new leaf is green in one photo, but maybe brown in another.  If it's growing out steadily then the palm will probably be fine.  It's common for palms to get fungal infections after winter, even if they are hardy. 

[palmofmyhand]

21 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@palmofmyhand I'd squirt some hydrogen peroxide down in the center, just to check if there's an active fungal infection.  It looks like the lower end of the new leaf is green in one photo, but maybe brown in another.  If it's growing out steadily then the palm will probably be fine.  It's common for palms to get fungal infections after winter, even if they are hardy. 

yea it appears to be green at the bottom so that does seem like a good sign, thank you for the help as always.

[Chester B]

I don't leave any potted palms out in pots if it gets below freezing.  It could be delayed cold damage or could be sulking after the repot.  Don't mess with the roots on these just place them in as is into a large container or the ground.  

In my experience I've never had luck with Washingtonia in pots, they are so damn finicky and you miss one day watering or look at them wrong and they'll start killing off fronds.  In the ground is a totally different story.

[Mazat]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

I don't leave any potted palms out in pots if it gets below freezing.  It could be delayed cold damage or could be sulking after the repot.  Don't mess with the roots on these just place them in as is into a large container or the ground.  

In my experience I've never had luck with Washingtonia in pots, they are so damn finicky and you miss one day watering or look at them wrong and they'll start killing off fronds.  In the ground is a totally different story.

experienced the same as you ☹️

[palmofmyhand]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

I don't leave any potted palms out in pots if it gets below freezing.  It could be delayed cold damage or could be sulking after the repot.  Don't mess with the roots on these just place them in as is into a large container or the ground.  

In my experience I've never had luck with Washingtonia in pots, they are so damn finicky and you miss one day watering or look at them wrong and they'll start killing off fronds.  In the ground is a totally different story.

after hearing you guys’ feedback it makes me wish I put them straight in the ground even more. It was kind of a quick solution to all of the oversized palms in the 3 gallon pots falling over constantly while leaving them outside.

[mlovecan]

Your damage may well be cold related. The brown part of your spear would have been the primary "growth area" inside the crown at the time of the cold.

As mentioned above, as long as the spear doesn't come right out, all should be fine. Even if the spear does pull out in the near future, the tree should be recoverable with a bit of H2O2 poured down the center. It's growing season now and all should be forgotten soon.

Washingtonias are as tough as they get.  A few years ago, during Greek Easter bonfire celebrations at a monestary in the next village,  about 10 or 12 washingtonias caught fire. I thought they were toast. Just chareed leafless trunks. By the end of the season, they all had new crowns. A year later no sign of the fire remained.

[palmofmyhand]

2 hours ago, mlovecan said:

Your damage may well be cold related. The brown part of your spear would have been the primary "growth area" inside the crown at the time of the cold.

As mentioned above, as long as the spear doesn't come right out, all should be fine. Even if the spear does pull out in the near future, the tree should be recoverable with a bit of H2O2 poured down the center. It's growing season now and all should be forgotten soon.

Washingtonias are as tough as they get.  A few years ago, during Greek Easter bonfire celebrations at a monestary in the next village,  about 10 or 12 washingtonias caught fire. I thought they were toast. Just chareed leafless trunks. By the end of the season, they all had new crowns. A year later no sign of the fire remained.

that’s awesome they came back, I also burned some leaves of a big tree on accident recently on a windy day while burning some wood. I think sabal palmettos are extremely durable too also aren’t they? Those are the most common palms in the upper southeast coastal region (where I live and frequently visit). I prefer the look of the Washingtonias more though and I know they grow taller and faster also. 

[mlovecan]

sabal palmettos actually respond to fire with stronger growth: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FR478