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Spear Pull on Windmill Palm (Summer)
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 9:11 pm
by dukeofdoom
What would cause the spear to pull on a windmill palm in the summer? It's 3 gallon palm, first year in the ground. It was very dry for a long time here in the summer. Spear pulled with what appears fungus growing at the center. Not sure what I did wrong. Should I avoid watering the palm from the top? That's the only thing I can think of.
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 5:40 pm
by sashaeffer
Must have had too much watering at some point. I have a number of windmills in the ground and one of the smallest ones, and one that has been in the ground 4? winters had it's spear pull first 3 winters but always grew back and finally this spring it didn't pull and palm in general has grown more this year than ever so I think you'll be fine as long as you treat with Hydrogen peroxide and watch your watering and keep in sunny spot.
Re: Spear Pull on Windmill Palm (Summer)
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 7:36 pm
by 905palms
dukeofdoom wrote:What would cause the spear to pull on a windmill palm in the summer? It's 3 gallon palm, first year in the ground. It was very dry for a long time here in the summer. Spear pulled with what appears fungus growing at the center. Not sure what I did wrong. Should I avoid watering the palm from the top? That's the only thing I can think of.
It's been dry here, I don't think you did anything wrong. Sometimes the palms is fussy. Try trunk cutting to under the rotted area and apply Peroxide for a few days, it should spike up!
Send a picture please.
Cheers
Dan
Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 9:28 pm
by Stevea07
Summer spear pull is often caused by phytophthora. I recommend Agri-Fos with active ingredient of Mono- and di-potassium salts of Phosphorous Acid.
Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2016 9:42 pm
by dukeofdoom
Thanks for the help so far. I'll try hydrogen peroxide since I have that handy. I should be able to take some pictures on Monday. I had spear pull on some potted multi trunk european fan palms this year, since I put them out too early. And they got hit by Frost and probably -5C overnight. As an experiment, I sliced off only half of the trunks. So far only the intact trunks seem alive. No new growth, just the old leaves are still staying green.
But no growth from the cut trunks...maybe it's still too early. I'm a little afraid to slice off the windmill palm. Since it has only one trunk.