[jimmy o]

Leaves and branches get their nutrition from soil nutrients up the bark. From your photos your leaves and branches are getting plenty of nutrients. But the trunk of the tree appears to be eaten away. The trunk has nothing to do with nutrient travel but only supports the weight of the tree. Looks to me like your seemingly healthy tree is losing its support and could fall over. Tree Frog will offer great advice.

[Happydaz]

Originally Posted by jimmy o

Leaves and branches get their nutrition from soil nutrients up the bark. From your photos your leaves and branches are getting plenty of nutrients. But the trunk of the tree appears to be eaten away. The trunk has nothing to do with nutrient travel but only supports the weight of the tree. Looks to me like your seemingly healthy tree is losing its support and could fall over. Tree Frog will offer great advice.

The trunk has everything to do with nutrient travel as how else would water and minerals get to the fronds and how would nutrients get back down to the roots? I think what you meant to say is that unlike a regular tree the nutrient and water travel up and down a palm tree is not in the thin layer under the bark but rather throughout the trunk in hundreds of little “straws” that are spread throughout the “trunk.” So with a palm tree if the outside of the trunk is damaged or even girdled it doesn’t kill it. So what that means is the unsightly bottom of those palms doesn’t affect their health as there are hundreds of channels inside the trunk to move nutrients up and down. If you cut a maple tree down you see a thin ring around the tree just below the bark and then a dead wood center with many circular rings. If you cut a palm tree down the trunk has no such rings but instead it has hundreds of little circles or tubes that run up the trunk from the bottom of the tree to the heart of the palm tree that generates the fronds. (It almost looks like someone joined hundreds of straws together to make the trunk.) Most mature Sylvester Palms in The Villages have those extra roots at the bottom. They are not going to fall over.

[Troopie]

My Sylvester Palm seemed to be dying several months ago. I contacted an arborist who was able to figure out what was wrong. It's taking some time, but my tree is getting healthier...I think it will be back to normal by spring. It cost about $300, but it was worth every penny. Here's the information:

Kanani Morris
ISA Certified Arborist PN# 6091

Tree Frog Tree Service
11962 CR 101 Suite 302-202
The Villages, FL 32162
352-446-5043 Main
kmorris@treefrogtreeservice.biz
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