Queen Palm Disease
 

My queen palm is showing signs of the disease with the trunk of the tree rotting at a rapid rate now. A landscaper knocked on my door this afternoon to inform me of the disease which heretofore I had never heard of! Now that I have done some online research, plus read some other threads here (closed, though, I can't post on them), it is obvious I will need to cut down the tree soon. Those who have gone thru the process, can you please advise me how much this is going to cost and also recommend a reliable landscaper to help me. Thank you!

Usually costs about $300 to cut down the tree, remove the trunk and cover the hole. Could be more if an exceptionally tall tree. Rarely less.

I recommend Rupert Cross. Good guy, fair prices. Sorry,you'll have to do a search for his phone number.

I have read that you cannot plant another palm in the same location as the disease is in the soil.

Oh gosh, I don't want to pay 300 bucks. Mine is a short one compared to others in the neighborhood – a tree that was planted by the previous owners of the house. I, also, read that you cannot plant another palm in its place.

Shop around, I had one cut down for $80.00 and another for $100.00 several years later, the last one this past spring. I grabbed a landscaper from a neighbor who was having work done and agreed on a price. It should never be $300.00 or more.

Scam alert. Often unqualified people claiming to be arborists will tell you they'll cut your tree down, when the tree is perfectly healthy. Take pictures of the tree and contact the University of Florida Ifas extension office.
Sumter County Extension Office ? Solutions for Your Life - UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
Perhaps they will give you an email address to send your picture to and advise you by phone.
Plant clinics are held every Monday from 9 to 3 at the 466 sumter co. annex where you can have questions of the sort answered. If your tree needs to be cut down they can also give you a list of certified arborists.

Thank you for your replies. I need more education. The palm fronds look so healthy. Yet, the trunk, is decaying rapidly. I actually wondered if termites had targeted the tree. I am not an expert on either, so I am baffled on what to do.

cutting queen palms
 

we are soooo thankful those trees are gone....constant maintenance...do not miss them at all.

If you want an expert opinion from someone disinterested inmaking money from you, contact ifas as in my previous post. Bafflement begone!

Had 4 of them, all now gone over the last 3 years. For multiple reasons they aren't worth the effort and probably should have never been planted to begin with.

Queen Palms Don't Rule in Florida!

Some of us are on the border of safe zones for freezing queens.
Most of Sumter is in 9A which is not recommended for queen palms.
However, we haven't had a freeze for a while, and the original poster could get the expert answer free for the asking.

Great information. If you have an I pad or phone take a picture of the tree and bring it down to the Extension office. I have done that several times and always get the correct information. When I was down at the Extension office they told me not to plant those kind of palms in this area. They will have all the info.

If you notice you won't see any Queen palms on Villages property. The extension office will tell you why.

I decided to have mine euthanized. Had some guy in a truck take them down. Less than $100 per tree. They did not grind out the stump rather angle cut them leaving a bowl shaped depression at ground level. This gives a great place to put a large planter while the remainder of the below ground level trunk slowly degenerates. Worked well

They freeze.

Someone associated with Massey told me today that the company injects certain chemicals in the trunk to kill the disease. It's the first I've heard of that remedy.

I'm going to. Thank you for the heads-up.

Florida Extension Service agents will tell you that Queen Palms have no chance to survive long term in The Villages. Yet the landscapers keep selling them.

It's the "quick fix" style of landscaping... they're tall and cheap. I hope my neighbor's falls forward and not sideways over our den.

Kitty consistently provides this forum with good information about what is available to us Villagers through the Sumter County extension.

I have attended a couple of the meetings where Master Gardeners speak or answer questions as a panel. On Monday I stopped by the annex with a question about a perennial that is in my yard. They were so helpful and gave me a nice book they have put together, The Florida-Friendly Landscaping Guide to Plant Selection and Landscape Design.

At one of the panel discussions I bought a book, Gardening in Sumter County Month-By-Month. It says September is the time to fertilize palms with an 8-2-12 +4 palm fertilizer. The +4 is magnesium. I did this myself last time with a palm fertilizer I bought at a nursery here -- Fairfield I think it was and I am almost sure the brand was Howard. Can't swear to either of those statements though, but the info is easy enough to track down.

But please keep in mind that I cannot imagine any way you could fertilize an ailing Queen Palm out of its swan song.

I am a stranger in a strange land of gardening here. Midwest girl that I am. But, at least, I know enough to know what I don't know. I am enormously impressed with what the local extension office and the Master Gardeners here try to do for us. (I feel like they are trying to save us transplants from ourselves.) :coolsmiley:

Thank you, Kitty, for keeping us up-to-date on the extension service.

Laurie, there is a master gardener class starting in Couple of weeks. If you are interested, contact office to apply!

I wish the timing worked for me, but it can't right now.

They told me about the class when I was at the annex Monday and I was really surprised to know it is available to anyone interested.

You see, I am in awe of Master Gardeners and I had assumed that to be in the class, you had to come in with some kind of prerequisite-- like being a Master Gardener back where you came from. (I don't know why I thought this. :shrug:)

So anyway, even though I cannot go to this session, I wanted to post here in case there are any others who might have been making the same wrong assumption I was. Turns out we're good to go if we want to.

Kitty, I have always heard that you should not fertilize a plant that is in distress. I wonder, does this hold true for palm trees?

Don't trust any vendor that knocks on your door especially about your trees and landscaping. I had to put a NO Soliciting sign on my window because they want to cut my Queen Palm down, true they are not suitable this far north. I sent a picture of my Queen Palm to the extension and they agreed to leave my diseased looking tree alone and it's beautiful.

Cost of cutting trees
 

We had three palms, cost $225. No disease with ours, we were sick of mess and endless maintenance..... It was a happy day when they were hauled off!... When landscaper asked us how much cutting they needed to do.. The ole boy informed them that they needed to be cut 2 inches below the ground!...Ha!