Pinanga caesia help - please

[Savannah]

Hello Palmpedia Friends,
I've had this little Pinanga for about two years and was growing fine. This summer he just took a turn for the worse. I re-potted him last month and applied nutricote. Then last week, I tried pouring some hydrogen peroxide (3%) on the crown. Nothing has helped so far. He is in full shade and gets plenty of water with a fast draining soil of peat, sand, perlite and a little cypress sawdust. I would appreciate any advice.
Thank you in advance!

 

[kwtimo]

Hmmm. This is a tough one. In my experience, this is such a slow grower. Patience is going to be your friend here. I use peroxide quite a bit with great results. The strength (3%) you are using is spot on. I've never had it burn anything. You could try to support the living leaf with a bamboo stake. I would repeat the peroxide application, but I would also start to use some kind of growth stimulater such as Verma Plex innoculant (stablilized compost tea derived from worm castings with mychorhizals), or even Superthrive. I've had other Pinanagas crash for various reasons, and they are always very slow to come back. Sometimes I have pulled the plug because in the long run, it did not seem to be worth the effort, or feeling that the palm would always be compromised in either health or appearance. Worse case scenario, I have one of these in a 3 gal that I would be willing to let go of if you were interested in. Hope this helps.

 

[Savannah]

Hmmm. This is a tough one. In my experience, this is such a slow grower. Patience is going to be your friend here. I use peroxide quite a bit with great results. The strength (3%) you are using is spot on. I've never had it burn anything. You could try to support the living leaf with a bamboo stake. I would repeat the peroxide application, but I would also start to use some kind of growth stimulater such as Verma Plex innoculant (stablilized compost tea derived from worm castings with mychorhizals), or even Superthrive. I've had other Pinanagas crash for various reasons, and they are always very slow to come back. Sometimes I have pulled the plug because in the long run, it did not seem to be worth the effort, or feeling that the palm would always be compromised in either health or appearance. Worse case scenario, I have one of these in a 3 gal that I would be willing to let go of if you were interested in. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your advice Tim; I will heed it. I've also been told that it may just need more water. I'll continue to nurse it for a while but I might just take you up on your offer at some point. What would your price be for the 3 gallon?
Thanks again!!!

 

[Moose]

Savannah - difficult to determine what the cause is. It is obviously distressed. You may have some sort of issue with the roots. You've already done pretty much what you can. The problem with palms is sometimes they take awhile to rebound. My only suggestion is to feed it like an orchid, weekly weakly. Use a water soluble fertilizer at half the recommended rate each week. Wet the soil and all sides of the leaves. Preferably in the late evening when the stomata on the leaves have opened and it can get absorbed. The nutricote may not be taken up much from the roots. The foliar feeding may be giving it enough to rebound.

Curious, has this palm been moved? Looks like it was in the shade and then got blasted by the sun. Or one that got knocked over and the soil was kept dry for an extended period?

 

[Savannah]

Savannah - difficult to determine what the cause is. It is obviously distressed. You may have some sort of issue with the roots. You've already done pretty much what you can. The problem with palms is sometimes they take awhile to rebound. My only suggestion is to feed it like an orchid, weekly weakly. Use a water soluble fertilizer at half the recommended rate each week. Wet the soil and all sides of the leaves. Preferably in the late evening when the stomata on the leaves have opened and it can get absorbed. The nutricote may not be taken up much from the roots. The foliar feeding may be giving it enough to rebound.

Curious, has this palm been moved? Looks like it was in the shade and then got blasted by the sun. Or one that got knocked over and the soil was kept dry for an extended period?

Thanks for your advice. I'll try a low dose of water soluble fertilizer. I keep it moist in a shady area and I haven't moved it. It's just strange. I hope it will recover soon.
Thanks again!

 

[Crazy for Crotons]

Hi Savannah,

I lost the main stem of a 4 foot tall Pinanga sp."Blue seed" this year. The plant looked just like yours before it died. The same thing happened last year to a nice Hyospathe elegans I'd had for years. Losses like this always seem to be accompanied by higher than normal amounts of rain in short periods of time. This year, like last, has brought torrential rain after torrential rain. Sometimes, too much water too quickly can cause bud rot.

 

[Savannah]

Hi Savannah,

I lost the main stem of a 4 foot tall Pinanga sp."Blue seed" this year. The plant looked just like yours before it died. The same thing happened last year to a nice Hyospathe elegans I'd had for years. Losses like this always seem to be accompanied by higher than normal amounts of rain in short periods of time. This year, like last, has brought torrential rain after torrential rain. Sometimes, too much water too quickly can cause bud rot.

Hi Ray,
Good point. I hadn't thought about too much water. We have had a lot of rain this season.
Sorry to hear you lost some of your palms.
Thanks!

 

[Dypsisdean]

I think it's a water issue - but no telling if it's too much or too little. Either it got dried out and the roots suffered, or the roots are rotting. That's my guess. In either case, I think it is doomed - sorry.

You said "I keep it moist" - sometimes that is not good - better to let "trees" get close to dry for a short time before drenching, and then let get close to dry again. Especially if you live in a high humidity environment.

 

[Savannah]

I think it's a water issue - but no telling if it's too much or too little. Either it got dried out and the roots suffered, or the roots are rotting. That's my guess. In either case, I think it is doomed - sorry.

You said "I keep it moist" - sometimes that is not good - better to let "trees" get close to dry for a short time before drenching, and then let get close to dry again. Especially if you live in a high humidity environment.

Thanks for advice Dypsisdean. I'll hang on to him as long as I can.