Drying leaves

Wakeman · Post by **Wakeman** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:48 am

I have a problem with some of my Trachycarpus seedlings which I keep at the windowsill during the winter. The tips of the fronds seems to dry up while remaining green. My guess is that its caused by either under or over watering which has resulted in root problems, but it could also be dry air. Has anyone had this problem before? I find it a bit odd since I couldnt see any of this last winter.

damir · Post by **damir** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:56 am

cut this dryed parts of the leaves and it will stop dieing. i have experience with this problem. it happened to my trachys, date palms,butia.... etc seedlings. that shows up when there is lack of the sun in overwintering time. the temperature in the room where you keep it is not low,so palm doesen't stops to grow,it grows slowly,and it dryes because of the lack of the sun and light. if you have lower temps in the room, that will not appear.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:17 pm

The palm looks like it's too distressed. I agree that it's best if you can keep it some what cooler in winter. Do you plan to plant it outside in spring?

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:05 pm

Check the underside of the leaves for white spider mites.....
you may need a magnifying glass.

Wakeman · Post by **Wakeman** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 3:42 pm

How could I forget to look underneath the leaves... Ive had trouble with these bugs before but thought I had gotten rid of them, apparently not.

Thanks for your help.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:14 pm

Hi Wakeman, welcome aboard.

In your first pic, center near the rib, you'll see beigey-browney flattish bumps...that's scale.
Use your fingernail, holding the other part of your hand behind the leaf to steady it, and pull scale off with your nail.
They're a soft bodied sucking insect with a hard shell over the top, but you can squish them easily.

I've just spent hours and hours battling a huge scale infestation that wasn't there a month ago.
It took me 2 and a half hours just to do one large leaf on the bottle palm...two types of scale.
Made me wish I had all fan palms...

In an act of desperation I finally cut all the leaves off my big palms, except the spear.

Back to yours wakeman...once the palms are clean of bugs, get some 3% hydrogen peroxide and soak a cloth with it, wipe bottom and top of all palm leaves regularly.

Let us know how it goes.
Barb

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:30 am

I have a question about getting ride of any bugs that infest inside palms/plants....cant you just spray the plant with insecticide that is meant for inside your house?? The kind that comes in 1 gallon jugs with the spray mister on the end of a hose?

So far (knock on wood) I haven't seen any issues with sucking bugs, just fungus gnats...and even those haven't been bad) about once a month I spray each plant with Spectracide Bug Stop for inside homes, especially new plant arrivals. Also have used when making new potting soil Bonide Systemic insecticide granules mixed in.

Used Neem oil (I know barb hates it!) lol in watering as well. Doesn't smell the best, but I'm all for keeping palm killing bugs away from all my plants.

Or maybe it's because inside humidity is always around 50-60%??

Wakeman · Post by **Wakeman** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:33 pm

I spent some time today to inspect my palms and it seems only a few of them had been invaded by the bugs, but when I noticed some on my 3-4 years old Princeps I got pissed. So I started by washing all of my indoor palms good with water and those with bugs I used soap water and a towel to clean carefully. I will do this again in a few days to make sure they are not coming back.

Im glad my indoor palms are not very big, I wouldnt have the patient to spend 2 and a half hours for one leaf like you Barb. I would probably go with the "kill it with fire" instead

By the way, does anyone know at which temperature these bugs die? Im thinking since most of my palms are cold hardy I could freeze them to death?

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:44 pm

at which temperature these bugs die? Im thinking since most of my palms are cold hardy I could freeze them to death?

The palms would die first if they're outside in a pot.

Re scale...if you've got any ants on your sundeck/patio in the summer, scale will be back for sure.
There's a symbiotic relationship between ants and scale, and ants and aphids.

Ants actually "look after/farm" scale and aphids, and take them into their own nests in the Fall.
In Spring they bring them back out and place them on your plants when it's warm.
The honeydew is what ants are after.
Scale and aphids produce honeydew, and ants take the honeydew back to their own colony as food.

http://insects.about.com/od/coolandunus ... aphids.htm

So while we're fighting scale all summer long, be sure to include ant bait/poison outside too (away from pets/kids).

Uphill battle.

Barb