PalmsNorth.com

Hello! I am new at growing Trachycarpus fortunei and have 2 planted in the ground and one in a container. I am a little concerned about one of my plants because some of the fans have a yellow look to them and have brownish spots along the top of the fronds. The new growth coming up looks fine so far but am afraid this will spread somehow. The plant I am talking about is about 3' tall and was just planted in the ground about a month ago. What types of diseases are Trachycarpus fortunei suseptable to and is there anything I can do to treat it if something is wrong. I also wanted to say that I live in southeast Ohio zone 6 and have always wanted to grow palm and banana trees. I have 3 types of banana - basjoo, giant Yunnan and dwarf Orinoco.
Regards,
Tom

Welcome to the forum Bigdog.

I'm not too sure what would be wrong with your trachy. Can you post a picture so maybe we can see it? One of my trachys started to turn a bit yellow and i just used some epsom salt to green it up. Most of the fronds have brown tips on mine also. I hope someone else can help you out on this forum.

Regards,
Jay

Big Dog,

If the spots you are referring to are "shell like," you could have a scale problem. Scale is a tiny parasite about the size of the head of a pen (about the size of a chigger), that lives underneath the brown shell--which looks like a spot. If so, you can rub alcohol on each individual spot (which I know can be tedious, but will do the job!) to kill the scale. If it's not scale, it could be some type of mineral diffeciency. If you have fertilized your Trachy with a fert. high in phosphorus, this can cause a potassium deffeciency. Potassium deffeciency's cause the yellowing of the fronds, and spotting. If you have a pic, I could easily identify the problem.

Regards, Zach

with Zach. Mine also have some yellowing and brown spots. This is usually because of winter and nutrient defiencies.
Just use epsom salts and a good general fertilizer once now and once more a month before your first frost.