Looks like cold damage.

You know Alex, initially I thought the same thing too. It just left me scratching my head because nothing else in my yard suffered any cold damage whatsoever. I thought perhaps its some sort of deficiency, not sure though. Thanks.

Shuan-

My guess is an infection of some sort from cool weather. I have seen this one a few palms (Coconuts and some Kings palms in my fathers yard) as well. This seems to happen more when the spear area stays damp/wet during cool weather. One doesnt seem to see the affliction until months later when the palm starts growing faster. As was advised to me, I have treated this before with nothing but a few good dousings of hydrogen peroxide from the drug store. I just dump a bottle of it right into the crown a couple of times over a few weeks.

Thanks Larry. I'll grab a few bottles on the way home today. I used this same tactic with a sluggish bismarck last year and it has really flourished. Time to grab the ladder as my crown is starting to get up there. I really dislike stunted fronds! lol

How's everything in your yard?

Shaun

Shaun-
You are on the very edge of where a coconut can servive outdoors. You may want to cover the spear in the winter when it's rainy and 50s. I kept mine dry and low-mid 60s this past winter and it bought the farm. My two younger ones look terrible. In the winter of 05-06 I kept my house at 70 and my coconut excelled and grew all winter. This past winter gas went up and I was out of work. I kept the house at 65 and they did not like it. Amazing what a diffirence 5 degrees over 5 months can make.

Andy-Unfortunately covering the spear isn't an option. They grow to about 7-9 feet and there is no way I could reach it. :)

I think it was sort of a freak thing. Every other palm of mine, including younger coconuts, went through this winter unscathed.

We rarely receive rain in the winter months, which works out great. Oh well. I'll try and treat this and let the heat work its magic.

I had a similiar problem with my coconut palm too. I think it was you that advised me to use palm fertilizer and I did plus I mulched really well and the palm is sending up two very green spears now. The brand I used was vigro and it seems to be making the palm more green.
None of my other palms have any brown on them at all including christmas palm witch is pretty cold sensitive too. My lowest temp this past winter was about 40F I had a very light frost on my car windshield that morning. Other coconuts in my area in mid pinellas not affected some even fruiting throuout the winter. Seems like once they get up past 10ft they dont care about cold any more.

Hey Dan, glad to see your coconut is doing well.

Yeah, its weird because my coconut has about 3-4 feet of trunk and, before these stunted fronds, about 10-12 foot long fronds. I've poured/sprayed hydrogen peroxide a couple times in the last week so hopefully it will help. There are 3 fronds coming in now. 2 partially fanned out and one still an intact spear. That spear has only a little browning at the tip and the rest looks good, so looks like it shouldn't be too long until its back on its feet.

I have this little coconut that's just a rocket. Its been transplanted twice and it hasn't skipped a beat. I'll have to post some pictures soon.

Hey palmshaun and dangrows--

Where are some good places to purchase larger coco palms down there in Florida? I'll be moving to the SW Orlando suburbs in a few months and will be planting a coconut palm next spring. Any suggestions on places to get something of pretty good size?

Thanks!

I got my large coconut at Lowes. It was a steal at $190 and had about 2-3 feet of trunk. This year I saw similar coconuts at Lowes for $389. I don't know of any nurseries or growers out there in Central Florida. Hopefully one of the guys/gals from that area can fill you in.

Shaun

Thanks for the tip Shaun! If I can't find them in Central FL, I'll just make a trip down further south to a nursery that grows them. I wouldn't think it'd be more than a couple hours drive before getting into coconut nursery territory.

New to this forum, I have been on the pool forum lately. Tonight I was walking around the front yard and immediatey noticed our sylvester palm is doing the same thing...the newest growth is brown on the top. I swear it wasnt like this last week. It doesnt appear to have any bugs, that I can see, but it is hard to get inside the plant. We paid a lot of money for this plant last summer. Never had any problems until now. Could it be from a lack of water? We are in pinellas county and its been dry except for last weekend. The sprinklers might be missing this palm....my husband redirected some heads to avoid hitting the house. In his attempt to save the house, he might have taken some life off the tree??? Would a lack of water cause the newest fronds to brown from the top down?

Thanks

Take the pictures to your local County Extension Service office and ask the horticulturalist what the problem is. The Florida Agricultural Extension Service is great and they have even sent packets of good information to me over here in Texas. They have a publication on "Treating Cold Damaged Ornamental Palms". It is excellent, and I highly recommend it. They suggest using a Copper fungicide to treat palms and a Boron treatment after a bad freeze. If tropical palms are properly treated, they can recover from a bad freeze. I have heard of a few coconut palms surviving the mid 20's in Central Florida.

I just recently moved to the Lower Rio Grande Valley near Harlingen, and this area had its first snowstorm in about 105 years at Christmas of 2004. Coconut palms and royal palms here were covered with about an inch and half of snow and some of them actually recovered!

Looks like maganese defiency

i concur