"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.
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