Windmill palm has white fuzzy stuff growing on it..

[tlcivi]

I got a 4 ft windmill palm from wal mart 2 weeks ago. Great tree. I noticed some white spots on it after I got it home. Since then 3 of the fonds all at the bottom where turning brown. They went yellow to brown in 1 day so I started wondering alittle. I cut a dead one off tonight. I looked at the bottom of it. It had a white fuzzy fungus on it. So I checked the entire plant. It is on most fonds.. And the stems. It's not alot but it is there. I did some reading and decided to spray the plant with a 50/50 mix of alcohal and water. It's a heathy looking tree with 10 green fonds. I'm in Indiana so it goes out in the day ffor now. I'm going to plant it in spring. I have 5 year old majesty palm that I have grown so I know some of the basics. What should I do about the white stuff? I'm thinking about looking into an oil based spray.
Anyone have experiance with this. Thanks Tony

[hardyjim]

Could be mealy bugs but it is hard to call from a description-
can you post a pic?



Welcome to the forum!

[TerdalFarm]

Tony,
welcome to the forum!
I've been here a year and have learned a lot. I used to kill windmill palms regularly but have not lost one since I started listening to advice here. Jim, and Barb, are our windmill palm experts here. They do need photos to make their diagnoses. Post photos, and do what they say.
Note: these palms are often referred to as "Trachy" or "Trachies" here.
--Erik

[lucky1]

Hi tony, welcome aboard.
USA? Canada? growing zone?
And if you can maintain a 5 foot majesty palm, you can probably give us advice.

With 10 leaves, in addition to spraying every couple of days (especially the frond undersides), you could also wipe (fairly hard) with a cloth soaked in hydrogen peroxide. A beautiful palm is worth the work, but you've got to keep at it every few days. Keep spraying, allowing spray to saturate the top couple of inches of soil in pot (and to get it into hard to reach areas).

Maybe even alternate spray some Neem Oil (also Jim's suggestion)...it's like dormant horticultural oil, perfectly safe for home use (around pets/children).
It suffocates the little beggars. but doesn't kill eggs, so keep at it as they emerge.

Years ago, stuff bought from a nursery didn't need to be Q'tined when we brought it home.
Increasingly, many plants I've brought home are infected with all manner of "stuff".
Barb

[tlcivi]

Thanks. I'm in Indiana. The Majesty palm has been easy. It's indoors when it's under 49 though. I will post pics when I get home. I'm 99% sure it's mealy bugs from the other photos iv seen. It's a beautiful windmill so I will do whatever it takes. I picked it up in Florida on my last trip and had to buy it. It will look great infront of the house.

[lucky1]

Guessing that Indiana will be a great spot for a Trachy, especially near a building.
Trachy leaves get destroyed by strong winds if you're in an exposed (farm acreage) area, where they need to be protected from cold winter winds from the NW. Easier in a subdivision. Mine is on East side of my house to protect from brutal summer heat, which it also doesn't like.

Keep us posted on the bug issue.

[hardyjim]

Thanks. I'm in Indiana. The Majesty palm has been easy. It's indoors when it's under 49 though. I will post pics when I get home. I'm 99% sure it's mealy bugs from the other photos iv seen. It's a beautiful windmill so I will do whatever it takes. I picked it up in Florida on my last trip and had to buy it. It will look great infront of the house.

If it is those dang mealy bugs you can mix in coffee grounds to the soil and
spray with a solution off weak coffee,they will go away fast.

[lucky1]

Coffee works for mealybugs?
I know coffee is #1 for cycad scale, from root zone even to the crown.

[tlcivi]

Here is my Baby








You can still see the white. In the one photo after one treatment the white turned to red and brown spots. There is alot less white. BUT the lower fonds brown day to day. I dont think the spray did it any favors but it has less mealy bugs..

[lucky1]

The red and brown spots come off when you rub them with a fingernail?
Or are the red and brown spots "inside" the leaf?
I think you said you were using 50% rubbing alcohol...I think that's too strong.

There are not very many "white spots" left.
It'd be easy to remove them with an alcohol-soaked cloth or Q-Tip by hand, use your fingernail to make sure they're off.
Spray into the crown where you can't reach.

Hand-pick off any more white thingies every day when you check the palm leaf undersides.

And while it's mild weather, your Trachy could be outdoors on a patio...
Barb

[tlcivi]

Some of the spots come off. I woke up this morning and spent an hour cleaning the plant. I was discouraged at the amount of movement of the bugs from the night before. The plant is outside for the week. We hit the 70's a few days. I was going to wait around 3 days to spray the plant again. After seeing it this morning i put some coffee grounds in the soil, sprayed it with weak coffee and put him outside and watered well.

will these mealy bugs die under 32 degrees?? I feel at this point going untreated for a week a healthy 5 ft trachy could be dead. The bug is impressive.
Im going to look around for a pesticide for mealy bugs today. I dont want to use it but if in a few days its really bad i will have it on hand. Dont want the trachy overwelmed and me not prepared.

[lucky1]

Tony,
I don't know at what temp these bugs would die; likely at the same temps that the Trachy would suffer, so that's not good.

Here are some good pics of both mealybugs and scale and aphids:
http://www.garden-nz.co.nz/garden-docto ... -bugs.html

Barb

[hardyjim]

If you have a pump sprayer load it up with your choice of poison and blast away.


I am through messing around with bugs,form now on they get the death blow before they come in
because I can't really spray them while inside.


I don't use Neem oil on my palms anymore-to many dead palms from spear-pull.

The neem oil gets in the crowns and encourages pathogen growth.

[tlcivi]

Thanks for the pics Barb. the Mealy bug pick is a dead ringer. I do have a pump sprayer BTW. I'm trying natures way this evening. Mother in law is bringing a jar full of ladybugs. I heard they really like the tast of Mealy bugs

[igor.glukhovtsev]

Unlikely if the ladybugs would help. You need the ladybugs worms (larvae). They are the true mealybugs killers. But now it's not a season, is it?

[tlcivi]

It's been along 5 days. The trachy enjoyed all week of 70 degree and sunshine. Also went through alot. Alcohol treatment, coffee treatment, ladybugs then blasted by the garden hose. This morning I treated it with a pesticide. Through all this it's doing well. I would say it's 95% bug free. Now the challenge to keep it alive over the winter. IMO the garden hose blasting was the most effective. But it's impossible to do when it Gets cold. Thanks to everyone for the help. I'm going to wait 5 days and treat it again. Next I will start my hunt for plant food.

[lucky1]

Tony, glad to hear it's improving...
but that 5% are probably egg-laying females, so keep at it.

keep it alive over the winter

That'll be easier than this last week.
Place it near a window.
Would do very well in a cool spare room, not where it gets blasted from a heat source.
A Trachy would love to be misted once a day, but at least once a week.
Don't forget to water it, but less water if it's in a cooler room.
If you get warm weather it can go outdoors, back in at night if you're uncertain.

And by early spring, it's ready to go out.
Good work!
Barb