I was told the problem with my Bismarckia was water and fertilizer! I have worked on that but I know it will take time!! Some fronds were falling off and I noticed it looked like something had been chewing on the petiole and frond joint then I noticed a hole in the trunk and it looks like something has been chewing on a bloom base and some petioles are just petioles with no fronds!! Any ideas?Chewed area at base of bloomHole in trunkFronds that appear to be chewed on The end of a petiole that has no frond

Kind of weevil? Bismarckia is preferred by palmetto weevil in Florida and rpw in southern Europe. So why not also by s.a.p.w. ? But how did it get to AZ, having crossed a surrounding desert (? I am admittedly not familiar with local geography, just an assumption). If it is indeed a weevil I would start searching for the 'Trojan horse' in the vicinity.

WHen my bismarckia was hit by palmetto weevils, the newest leaves blanched and wrinkled a bit. No sign of trunk damage at all they went in through the newer leafbases. When it was cut down the inside near the grow point was eaten, hollowed. I have no idea how other beatles/weevils hit palms. The eating of leaflets was not in evidence at all. By the time you notice damage it has 2-3 weeks to live at most. Might be desert heat/humidity slows them down, saw you had 117F the other day, brings back memories of slipping around while auto tires melt as you drive.

34 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

WHen my bismarckia was hit by palmetto weevils, the newest leaves blanched and wrinkled a bit. No sign of trunk damage at all they went in through the newer leafbases. When it was cut down the inside near the grow point was eaten, hollowed. I have no idea how other beatles/weevils hit palms. The eating of leaflets was not in evidence at all. By the time you notice damage it has 2-3 weeks to live at most. Might be desert heat/humidity slows them down, saw you had 117F the other day, brings back memories of slipping around while auto tires melt as you drive.

Blanched fronds means desiccated ones in Bismarckia. Unlike other palm spp dried fronds appear papery white in Bismarckia. Weevil infestation causes a secondary fungal infection and Bismarckia is quite frail, when a fungal disease breaks out inside the bud.

This palm has had trouble for a long time I posted it not long ago and @sonoranfans said it might be a boron and water problem so that’s easy to take care of and it’s not going to be a quick fix,but then I noticed this frond that I forgot to post earlier and got me to start wondering what is going on?Looks to me like something was chewing on it!!

Interesting that it looks chewed but not recently and it appears blackened. Might be fungal rot. Sick palms are the ones that get the bad fungal infections. It could be another insect pest that I have no idea about. I grew 4 bizzies in the AZ desert for 7 years./ They grew well and were on irrigation timer so they got plenty of water(30-40 gallons delivered overnight in 5 hrs) 2-3 times a week depending on season. I had one due of a root rot fungus, too near the more frequently irrigated flower bed. It died in winter after a 21-22F short cold event. When I dug it up the roots told me all I needed to know, the smell was not pleasant. I never saw the symptoms you are seeing. I wonder if those beetles can even survive in the arizona desert.

I don’t think it’s beetles it’s been going on for years! If it was beetles I would think it would be dead by now!! I’m just stumped!!

I probably have 15 or more bizzies and this is the only problem one