Disease on my Palm. Treatment

[Carolpalms]

There are yellow spots on my palm.  Thinking treatment might be systemic fungicide, but checking with you guys first for clarification.  What is wrong with this palm and prescribed treatment? 

Thank you, Carol

[SeanK]

This looks like "rust". I don't think this is a palm. It looks more like a fern.

[Jim in Los Altos]

That doesn’t appear to be a palm. May we see the entire plant. It does appear to be a fungal attack though. 

[Tracy]

10 hours ago, Carolpalms said:

There are yellow spots on my palm.  Thinking treatment might be systemic fungicide, but checking with you guys first for clarification.  What is wrong with this palm and prescribed treatment? 

Thank you, Carol

Looks a lot like your plant is a species of Cycas to me.  Below is a Cycas leaf in senescence along with a younger flush on the same plant.  Jim' recommendation of posting the entire plant will be helpful in evaluating what it is as well as a diagnosis. 

[Carolpalms]

Ok, I have found the name as I am not able to remember or pronounce it.  It is a cycas.

Cycas x Daebongensis.  I have 3 of them.  Really not a palm.   This is a pic of the entire plant.

Thank already for the help, Carol

[Tracy]

14 minutes ago, Carolpalms said:

Ok, I have found the name as I am not able to remember or pronounce it.  It is a cycas.

Cycas x Daebongensis.  I have 3 of them.  Really not a palm.   This is a pic of the entire plant.

Thank already for the help, Carol

So Cycads like your Cycas debaoensis hybrid will flush a group of leaves simultaneously.  Older flushes may provide nutrients for the emerging flush.  If this is a new flush showing damage then it could be something other than senescence.  In your photo it appears all the leaves are tied up so it is difficult to assess which are newer and older leaves.

Our palm moderator may move this post to the forum for other tropical plants where the posts on Cycads are included. 

[Carolpalms]

I had to look up senescence.  Appears it means growing old.  One of the cycas has this and is 2 years old.  The one in the picture is approximately 4 years old.  If this is what this means.  Thank you for responding, Carol

[Harry’s Palms]

I only have a few Cycads and the ones I have don’t tend to spot like that when the new flush comes , not like the older fronds on my palms . I have one large Dioon that carries more than one years fronds . It is so big for its space that I cut some of the older fronds before they brown.

  Those that you have are very nice . Harry

[Tracy]

14 hours ago, Carolpalms said:

I had to look up senescence.  Appears it means growing old.  One of the cycas has this and is 2 years old.  The one in the picture is approximately 4 years old.  If this is what this means.  Thank you for responding, Carol

So the senescence I was referring to is of that particular leaf and what you are seeing on the leaflets.  It is not in reference to the plant being old and approaching dying.  I can't speak to how old Cycas debaoensis hybrids may live, but at 2 to 4 years old, yours are merely juvenile plants.  Many Cycads if not most will probably long outlive the average or even long lived human.

Some Cycads may hold multiple flushes, while others may only hold one at a time and potentially lose all their leaves before they flush again (Encephalartos laevefolius is an example in my climate and garden of sometimes having a complete defoliation before flushing again).  One of my Cycas debaoensis hybrids typically holds a couple of flushes, but that may change if it cones, and puts out most of its energy in producing a cone.  The one photographed above, typically will see the previous flush start to shoe signs of senescence shortly after the new flush has emerged.

Depending on weather and winter temps you are seeing it could accelerate the dying off of older leaves as well.  So my suggestion is to assess if this is the most recent flush to emerge that is showing the damaged leaflets, or if it is an older flush or both.

4 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I only have a few Cycads and the ones I have don’t tend to spot like that when the new flush comes , not like the older fronds on my palms . I have one large Dioon that carries more than one years fronds . It is so big for its space that I cut some of the older fronds before they brown.

Harry, the appearance of senescene on leaflets of Cycads can be different with different species.  So even with Cycas as a genus, you have species like the common revoluta with thicker leaflets and others with thinner leaflets like Cycas debaoensis and its hybrids, Cycas micholitzii, Cycas bifida, and even Cycas thouarsii, which will all may show some spotting as the leaflets enter and progress through senescence.

Just for comparison, look at the signs of senescence on the leaflets of the Cycad in the photo I have attached.  It is an Encephalartos natalensis which is in the gardens of Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal.  It is  pretty easy to identify that the lower leaves are fom older flushes in the photo, while the newer leaves all look perfectly healthy.  This plant also speaks to how long Cycads can live, and my point above that I was not alluding to the Cycas debaoensis hybrid going into senescence, only that some of the leaves were going into senescence.  I'll guess that at this size the plant is at least 80 to 100 years old, and probably closer to 120 years old, but I just don't know how fast they grow in Sintra.  Perhaps one of our members/posters from Portugal may know a little more about the plants in this beautiful garden.