Black Spots on Pindo Palm

12 years ago

Two of my butia capitata palms developed black spots on the stems and leaves of the lower branches. Afterwards, the branches turn yellow and die. The spots are spreading to more and more branches. I sprayed them with liquid copper three times with a week interval in between, but it did not seem to slow it down.
Out of 8 palms, the two that I mentioned have about 30% of the foliage affected, another 3 palms have very few spots that do not seem to spread, and the rest are not affected. All are pushing new leaves and seem ok otherwise. I planted the palms this summer from 5 gal pots.

Any idea what it is and how it can be fixed?

Thanks!

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Comments (10)

ylmzm
Original Author
12 years ago
and here is another image of the stem:
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
no plant holds it leaves forever ...

the lowest.. are usually the oldest..

and this is why ALL palms are limbed up annually .. [probably a better term than that]

simply remove the old leave.. and your problem is gone ..

no need to do anything else ..

ken
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ylmzm
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks. That what I thought at the beginning. The problem is that one of the palms already lost more than 50% of its leaves. Judging by my other palms, I don't think it is normal.
ronalawn82
12 years ago
ylmzm, the palm is a very conservative (if you will pardon the expression) plant. It will drag nutrients out of the older leaves and translocate them to where nutrients are needed. That is why, in commercial farms, fronds are allowed to go quite brown before they are removed.
If the symptoms are present on younger fronds you might have a deficiency to deal with.

This post was edited by ronalawn82 on Sat, Oct 12, 13 at 20:02
perryr85
9 years ago
ylmzm, Did you ever figure out what the problem was with your pindo palm spotting? I've got a tree that's about 6 feet and is doing the same thing. Looks just like your pic of the spotting on your frond stems. Thanks for any insight.
Whitney Lance
9 years ago
How often are you watering? And are you/have you fed it any kind of palm food lately?
perryr85
9 years ago
Whitney, I recently planted my pindo. It was a large specimen at 34" trunk and 8 foot frond height. The root ball was wrapped so I had to cut a bit to free it up. I planted it in a well drained sandy soil location with adequate sunlight. I refrained from fertilizing as everything I've read said don't fertilize after planting. I've kept it watered weekly but not overwatered. The splotching is exactly like ylmzm's picture depicts on the frond stems. I definitely don't want to lose this specimen after paying $239 for it. Thanks for any insight.
Jay 6a Chicago
9 years ago
If you do find out what's causing it,please ship some to an oil palm plantation in Indonesia.They live in the most beautiful rain forests on earth and yet have no respect for nature.
Amnesty Woodhall
9 years ago
Perry85 I've had the same thing happening with my Pindo started before planting seems to get worse ... have you learned what it was , deficiency or fungus
perryr85
9 years ago
Amnesty, I fertilized mine with palm fertilizer that has Magnesium and Manganese and I added some ironite, and my problem seems to be resolving. All of my new growth is spot free and the palm is doing well.