This is a little off topic from our usual Landscape Lighting discussions, but I wanted to help people who stumbled across the same problem I did at my home.

We had a beautiful Canary Island Date Palm in our front center island. These are prized (and expensive trees) that generally run around $600/foot wholesale. Ours had 15' of clear trunk and was about 25' overall, so when it showed signs of disease and eventually died, it was a big disappointment. I did not find much online regarding photos and documentation of diseases fro the Canary Date Palm (Phoenix Canariensis), so I wanted to share ours in hopes that it will help someone.

History: We moved into our house in 2002 and the tree was already there. Starting in about 2004 the began a slow decline until we had it removed 9/09.

First new fronds (sprouting at the top) were getting shorter, then old fronds began dying (turning a freeze dried brown) before they even got to horizontal. We had to trim off dead fronds but that meant the canary's fronds never went to horizontal (and you are not supposed to trim them above horizontal). We babied the tree and gave it proper attention with both watering, fertilizer, but nothing stopped the deterioration.

The problems:
1. The previous owner/landscape company had the misting sprinklers aimed at the tree trunk which kept the trunk continually moist (a no-no). This caused ants and insects to attack the lower trunk. When we noticed this in 2004, we changed the sprinklers to drip irrigation and spread insecticide to kill the ants. But the damage was done, holes, insects and moisture made the palm susceptible to disease.
2. A variety of diseases from Lethal Yellowing to Butt Rot have been spreading throughout florida and attacking date palms. Its is possible it would have died anyways, but it is likly that the disease came from either the insects and holes in trunk (due to watering the trunk), or from the tree co that trims the branches and did not bleach sterilize the blades in between jobs.

Results: Gradual decline over 4 years that could not be corrected even with special attention and proper care.

Right before the tree was removed, the lower 4' of the trunk sounded hollow when to tapped on it. You could even push your fingers thru the bark and into the tree which was now soft and rotted. It however never produced a "conch" -- a mushroom like growth on the trunk that is a sure sign of butt rot.

The photos of tree removal showed:
-cross section of the canary date palm showed the outer third of the trunk was rotten and had turned from solid wood white/yellow in color to soft rot that was brown/black in color. The rot looked like dirt.
-The top of the tree (where the frond grew from) just fell from the trunk. The inside had the consistency of oatmeal--all mush and had a terrible smell.
-Most of the fronds (except for the very top newest growth) was freeze dried, dead brown, Fronds would quickly turn from green to brown -- and did not turn the typical yellow first as shown in lethal yellowing disease or potassium deficiency.

Here's a video slide show with pictures of a Canary Date Palm (Phoenix Canariensis) that appears to have butt rot.

Labels: butt rot, canary date palm disease, lethal yellowing, phoenix canariensis