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Sunday, September 14, 2014

Palm Trunk Problem at the Base

Q. My palm trees in the back yard seem to have a problem with the trunk next to the ground.  Not sure what is wrong, too much water, bugs, I need help.  These are large palm trees and I would not like to lose them.  I have attached some photos.  I have four large palm trees with this problem.



A. This is typically not a problem for palms because there biology is different from most other trees.
Because palms are monocots a lot of this so-called wood from the outside can slough off without much of a problem. In fact what you are seeing is fairly common.
Make sure when you irrigate these plants that you keep the water away from the trunk and do not water them daily. I would be watering them about 2 to 3 feet from the trunk, not up close to the trunk. These should be watered like any other nondesert tree.


1 comment:

  1. This article gave us a lot of relief. Our Coco plumosa was splitting at the base, like the top picture. We thought it was a goner. Thank you very much for the relieving information.

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