Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

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tyanthos

Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by tyanthos »

Hello everyone,

I have recently acquired some Trachycarpus fortunei seedlings. They are around 1 year old and about 6 inches tall.
They vary from those with 1 or 2 leaves to those with 5 or 6. Some of the the older leaves have some brown spots on them along with brown tips, however the newer leaves are unmarked.
I am led to believe the plants are hardy and have been growing outside.
After reading from various sources, the probabilities seem to be vitamin deficiency or fungus
I am new to growing anything remotely tropical and would appreciate any suggestions as to the best fertilizer and if I should find some fungicide.

Thanks.
kata

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by kata »

Welcome to the forum Ty!

My older leaves have brown tips, I remember like you I got concerned.

This was one of my brown spears.
trachispear1.jpg
Its done my palm no harm.
spearmarch.jpg
spearmarch.jpg (138.51 KiB) Viewed 4495 times
For vitamin deficiency or fungus someone will maybe be able to help where I can't.

Trachicarpus fortunei in lets say a plant of maybe 3 feet tall (guess) would probably be hardy. I added some about that size after the Spring and they are growing nicely. Seedlings if they were mine I would rear indoors till Spring.

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tyanthos

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by tyanthos »

Thanks for the reply Kate,

My young plants won't be left unprotected over winter for sure.......We have had temperatures down to -20 Celsius here in the winter of 2010 and there were large trees that suffered frost damage.
The seedlings have slightly browned leaf tips.....but only slightly. What concerned me more was the brown spots and if they were symptomatic of trace element deficiency or a fungus.
I was hoping someone might recognize this and suggest a nice easy remedy !!!
Copper hydroxide seems to be a popular choice of treatment for fungus and there are numerous proprietary palm fertilizers with all the trace elements included, however our local garden centres here in South Shropshire don't carry such things.
It really is surprising how few tropical species there are for sale around here.......with our largest garden centre only having a couple of T.Fortunei and a similar number of C.Humilis for sale. Therefore when searching through the shelves of various sprays and plant foods I wasn't surprised to end up empty handed.
I personally enjoy the challenge of growing things and not buying them.......but to each, his own choice.

P.S. Am I allowed to post photos ??? I don't see any facility on the page to do so.....

Thanks once again......
Half Hardy

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by Half Hardy »

Hi tyanthos,welcome icon_salut

Brown tips on trachys are common and nothing to be worried about,as long as the new growth is healthy.If the damage extends further down the leaves,check for red spider mite(there's a lot of it about this year).Older plants are fairly resistant to it,but very young trachys are affected.If you have very young seedlings,recently potted,they are very unlikely to have any trace element deficiency.From what I have read,if the seed is still attached to your palm,it should get all the nutrients it needs from the seed pod,to get it through it's early growth.The brown spots again,shouldn't be any real concern,my c.humilis planted out has a few, every year but the new growth is always healthy.It could be,just that you are overwatering them.

Of course you are allowed to post pics.There are a few ways to do it,I find the easiest is to use the file attachment at the bottom of the post reply page.Use the browse tab,to upload from your images saved on your computer.There is a size limit,so you may have to resize them before you can post them.
kata

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by kata »

I agree about the 'Browse H.H,

I can never understand why the members use on line pic storage when its so easy to do two clicks and its there...unless its their own hosting of course.

There are some new member restrictions in place but not sure what they are.

For suppliers got to this link Ty.

http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... .php?f=126

icon_cheers
tyanthos

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by tyanthos »

Hi there,

You mentioned restrictions on new members......That makes sense because there is no "file attatchment" to click on my "post a reply" page. There is also a block on the link that you left on your last post..... I must read all the conditions thoroughly.
It would have been good to just post a photo.....but rules are rules.

I will keep an eye on the brown spots on T.Fortunei and carry on reading and digesting information.

We usually spend our free time in Southern France or just over the border into Spain........and it has never occurred to me that I could bring back some young plants back........or at the very least, various seed.

We have a friend that lives in the foothills of the Pyrenees with a huge garden full of all sorts of interesting flora. It has only been in the last few months that I've thought of adding palms to our garden which is mostly logs, rocks, ferns, hostas and where the sun gets through a few clematis. We have an unusual large leaved bugleweed(Ajuga reptans).
that provides close ground cover......it has thick very large leathery, dark purple, leaves and grows really well. It is dark green in the sunlight, but in the shaded areas it takes over completely......My wife bought it in a small village in South Western France.

I hope to diversify and introduce anything that will make the transition to South Shropshire.......i'm sure there will be a few interesting additions in the following months. Any suggestions of suitable plants would be appreciated.

Thanks for the replys.....
kata

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by kata »

In my link below you will find Dave Brown, he is admin,

See if when you click on his name you can send him a private message to ask about restrictions you are experiencing.

http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... =5&t=20776

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Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by redsquirrel »

a lot of my seedlings got some brown spots after the very wet summer last year,they appeared after winter but the new leaves are fine so i discounted fungal or deficiency problems
mars ROVER broken down. headgasket faillure
tyanthos

Re: Brown spots on Trachycarpus Fortunei

Post by tyanthos »

Hiya,

I haven't had the young trees very long......I acquired them through a friend of a friend....you know!!!!!

I can see new growth appearing that is unaffected........however because of the slow growth rate, perhaps I should be more patient......

It's getting late in the growing year and I think i'll do my best to get the young trees through the winter and then give them the best conditions I can.....next year.

Thanks for the reply........
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