queen palm tree disease
 

We had a landscaper stop and tell us one of our palm trees needed to be removed that it was diseased. The tree looks healthy, but the newest growth that comes up the middle looks deformed. We didn't let him remove it since it looks fine other than that. He said that meant it was dying from the inside out.
As I walk around the neighborhood, I have noticed several that look that way. Has anyone heard of a problem like that? The trees have been in 7 years. Thanks.

Contact master Gardener, they have several classes/meetings in the villages. Take pictures of the palm and get their assessment.

I had the same experience. The bottom surface of the tree looks diseased. I have done nothing for a year. Supposedly the tree could eventually be blown over.

You can go by the Sumter County extension service with a photo and seek answers but most have learned the hard way that queen palms cannot tolerate our climate year round, fertilization of lawns that include your landscape designs and our once or twice a week watering of our lawns. Queen Palms thrive south of Orlando. Last year, a palm tree specialist visited the villages at the request of the Sumter Extension service. I talked about the different palm trees that thrive in the Villages but he also said our homes are too close together to plant tall growers. He suggested and provided slide presentation images of an assortment of palms. Then he said, "some of you have the queen palm." That got most of the standing room only crowds attention for what was coming next. He suggested, "if you have any growing in your yard, it started dying the moment it was planted." He then positioned his hand like a stop sign to the nervous crowd and suggested if you have any, have it - them removed to avoid the tree coming down (usually at the base). A landscaper pointed correctly to what we heard that these trees can and do die from its inner core and its only a matter of time. I know that to be true for us because we had the best looking queen palms on our street and admired for their appearance. Our palms were three feet tall when planted and grew steadily 3 - 4 feet a year. Once they reached 10 - 12 feet I was concerned that wind, storms, etc. would bring any and all on our home or our neighbor's homes. We had them cut down and sure enough at the base of each palm within its most inner core each was rotted. Our trees showed no signs of distress so we were surprised. My neighbors were disappointed but I was relieved.

There is a Queen disease unofficially called butt rot. Started at the north end is working its way south. The biggest problem besides worrying that a good wind will bring it down is that disease gets into the ground and you shouldn't plant anything in that hole for at least five years as any new plant will get the disease.

The minute a landscaper recommends putting a Queen Palm in the ground here, I remove them from my recommended list. They are the cheapest palms but can do the most harm. Quite simply, palms really don't belong in central Florida. This is not the tropics.

you have defined the problem well. the zone for queens really ended at the Orlando borderline

Redwitch posted accurately the info provided by the specialist at the monthly meeting I attended before we had our trees cut down. We cut the trees down approximately 2 1/2 years and 2 1/2 years to go before we can plant any other plants. He said it is best to have the tree and roots removed or at the very least cut to the group and stump ground. One other thing, he also said we should not select any tree that exceeds the roof line in full growth. Unfortunately for many the oak is a state protected tree and cannot be removed or cut down unless it meets certain requirements and then you are required to plant a replacement oak. Yuk!

Queen palm disease
 

Had so many berry droppings from palms, we chose another option, cut them down! Now we are happy happy!

Thanks for your responses. I am going to take a picture of it to a master landscaper.

Hummintwo,

Thank you for sharing this excellent information and especially for reporting on the meeting.

I have learned a lot from those meetings provided by the extension office and would suggest that those who are new to owning homes in TV, check the Rec News or The Daily Sun, find a meeting, and attend. Even those who are not gardeners, by nature, can learn things that will keep them from making bad and costly landscaping decisions.

We bought a pre-owned that had been beautifully maintained and landscaped. The Queens were beautiful and healthy and oh soooo Florida-looking. And I saw to it that they got even more beautiful and healthy.

I schlepped big bags of fertilizer to them. I had guys who climbed up and trimmed the the yellow fronds and cut off those scary seedpods. (I foolishly thought I could prevent yellow fronds if I carefully fertilized. Turns out, that's just the nature of the Queen.)

And.....the bigger the tree grew, the bigger the seedpods. -- pointy, heavy things -- precariously hanging up there.......

I was getting pretty tired of all the maintenance.........

AND THEN -- Queenie's fronds grazed our roof.......EEK!.......

DONE! GONE!

I missed how pretty......I missed the surprising amount of shade that had been provided (who knew?). I missed those queens for maybe 20 minutes.

If you are putting in new landscaping and you are thinking about Queen palms or being "sold" on them, please think some more.

And, if you already have Queens, watch 'em.

Boomer the Transplanted Gardener

"Butt Rot" is not just soft areas in the trunk. If there are no mushroom growths in the bottom 4' of trunk. it is most likely NOT "butt rot"

The shriveling new fronds emerging from the center is most likely...

1. In a palm planted in the last year-

A. The palm was dropped or otherwise handled roughly during shipping/planting. Should heal, and subsequent new fronds will look better as the months go by.
B. The root ball has a significant air pocket underneath. You may some improvement with time, but the palm will likely never fully recover, or may continue to slowly die.

2. In a queen palm that has been in for a couple years or more...

A. Frizzle Top is the most common problem. It is considered a disease, but is actually a manganese deficiency, typically caused by constant addition of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) forcing an initial deep green and growth, but depleting the tree of manganese and iron. Add Manganese sulfate and you should see improvement fairly quickly.

We have been growing queen palms in this area for over 100 years now. In the 80s we had two 100 year freezes. Significant freezes (in the teens for several hours) 2 years in a row and lost about 1% of the mature queens the 2nd year North of Leesburg, South of Summerfield.
IF you wished to have a queen palm nursery, it was well known to Florida Nurserymen that Clermont was about as far north as you should do so. BUT once a queen palm is 2 plus years old from seed, they do fine North into zone 9A.
I will take the facts of history over the opinions of so called experts any day. Queen palms are just fine in The Villages, as history has proven.