HELP - Save my royal palm with brown leaves!

Discussion in 'Outdoor Tropicals' started by robburnsefc, Apr 22, 2008.

  1. robburnsefc

    robburnsefc Member

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    Ventura, CA USA
    OK, so my palm is actually a Royal Palm - I did tag it onto a Queen Palm thread earlier.

    THe thing is it has grown in our garden for years and is about 20 feet tall and has a span of about 8 feet per leaf.

    We recently had a second floor added to the house (about 18 months ago). The palm survived the building work, flowered and has grown about 3 or 4 feet since.

    Then I reseeded the lawn and planted some flowers. A bit of miracle gro went on the lawn and flowers, but not much.

    Over the last few weeks the leaves have all turned brown. There is a new spike growing which is green. At the top of the trunk there is green and there is a leafy thing hanging down from behind where the last old leaf fell - also green/white.

    I have put fertilizer spikes in and I am watering these every day to try and get them into the soil.

    Should I remove the brown leaves to try and save the rest of the tree? Will new leaves grow and if so how long will that take? Can anybody suggest what is wrong? Is there a way of giving 'intensive care' and does it need it?
     
  2. edleigh7

    edleigh7 Well-Known Member

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    Location:
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    Can you post a photo?
     
  3. robburnsefc

    robburnsefc Member

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    OK, hope these arent too big, managed to get everything in I think!

    Thanks,
    Rob.
     

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  4. edleigh7

    edleigh7 Well-Known Member

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    Hmmmm...doesn't look too promising. I would chop off the brown fronds and see if that new greenish frond will grow, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting...

    Ed
     
  5. robburnsefc

    robburnsefc Member

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    Well I took off 4 of the brown leaves. I left the 2 that had a little bit of green on them. When I examined the dead leaves I noticed the following -

    1. The central stalk of the leaf is green underneath, but is covered by a layer of dust which resembles the kind of fluff you would find on the top of your VCR or DVD player except it is stuck to the surface and needs to be scraped off.

    2. The leaves (fronds?) are curled over. If you uncurl them there is green inside but the the whole exposed surface is brown and dry.

    3. The branches which i removed were woody at the base where i cut them. They seemed dry and there was no obvious sap.

    Perhaps all it needs is a good wash (joking). What an idea - 1-800-CLEAN-PALM!
     
  6. edleigh7

    edleigh7 Well-Known Member

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    Yes I find that "fluff" on some of my palms new growth also, and have wondered what it was, anyone?
     
  7. guinness1982

    guinness1982 Member

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    Location:
    lapeer michigan
    pollution?
     
  8. joeOC

    joeOC Member

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    Huntington Beach, CA, USA
    With the post starting in April 08', I would venture to say that the palm got severely cold burned from the record low winter we had in Southern California. Lots of people growing tropicals lost their plants from that winter. Ventura probably saw some pretty low numbers. Would be interesting to see if it recovered or not...
     

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