Arrgh palm leaf spot!!

[philip kitts]

My butia palm has spotting which I assumed was frost damage ,but I have since discovered is fungal as soon as I found out I used some Rose clear(anti fungal). It is a large 6 ft palm but all the leaves except the new fronds are infected. So I can't remove them all any advise would be appreciated . I am devastated , but also determined to bring it back to rude health please give me the beefit of your advise

[kata]

I can only wish it well. . sounds disastrous.

Hang in there someone will know.

[philip kitts]

I can only wish it well. . sounds disastrous.

Hang in there someone will know.

It's not fatal in it's present form but very unsightly ,I'm loathed to chop of the leaves as that will reduce it's strength ,but I have taken of the worst infected two

[kata]

Don't do anything Phil till them in the know about palms advises you.

[billdango]

i don,t know what is making your butia spotty but i get spots on some of my c humilis most years and they seem okay .
billdango.

[kata]

I wonder is it soil born

[eddie]

Are you sure it's harmfull?

Maybe some stuff from bayer or some other fungicide will be helpfull

Cutting the leafs seems drastic. I don't think spotted leafs will kill your palm

[Conifers]

Did you have the palm wrapped in the winter for cold protection? If yes, then the damp, stagnant air and condensation would provide ideal conditions for the fungus to grow. Chances are, that with warmer drier summer air and good ventilation, it won't spread any further.

[philip kitts]

I bought it in march it was imported in November and sat in a unheated greenhouse with overhead misting. Throughout the winter. The university of Florida advised to remove infected leaves and spray with fungicide.this is a preventive method not a cure I think they simply cut out the affected foliage. I was hoping someone in our climate had successfully battled this fungus, I used to have a date palm with it many years ago. And it never seemed to hurt the plant. But the butia is quite precious to me and I would like it looking it's best

[eddie]

I think in Florida cutting the leafs is a good thing as with the warm climate the palm would make new leafs in a few months time. Just like it's good to cut our native trees, they will grow back quick.

If summer stays as cool as it is here the last couple of days your palm may not grow new leafs as quick, it's just getting stressed and could look awfull the next two years.

It's a gamble, but thats what exotic gardning is about I think

[Conifers]

Just like it's good to cut our native trees

Err, actually, it isn't!

[philip kitts]

So here is what I've done. The palm has not grown since I bought it still sulking from it's move so I took off the worst two leaves and sprayed with fungicide we havnt had rain since I planted it so have watered from the bottom avoiding wetting the leaves, so far no new spots fingers crossed

[redsquirrel]

sounds good phil,hope it does well for you

[eddie]

Just like it's good to cut our native trees

Err, actually, it isn't!

I thought that cutting a tree encourages a tree to grow faster

Could be wrong though...

[Conifers]

Err, actually, it isn't!

I thought that cutting a tree encourages a tree to grow faster

Could be wrong though...

It makes the few replacement new shoots grow faster, but if 5 new shoots grow a metre, that's less new growth than the 500 new shoots each growing 10 cm that you'd get with it not pruned. It takes several years for the new growth to catch up with what it had been before the pruning.