Hello,
I'm living in Tampa, FL. I have a young Christmas Palm out front. We had a unseasonal cold snap a couple weeks ago with a couple nights getting below freezing.
My Christmas Palm is not looking good... I have yellowing leaves and black spots. After doing a little reading I've found I probably have a fungus. I now know that I should have immediately sprayed the tree with a copper fungicide.
It has been 2 weeks... should I still bother with the fungicide spray? Any other tips on what I can do to help bring this guy back to life? Fertilizer or otherwise?
Thanks,
-
thanrose
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 716
- Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:01 am
- Location: Jacksonville, FLZone 9A
IF it was just the frost damage, I hear from other Florida gardeners that you'd have brown tips or even almost entire fronds by now. The yellowing and the black spots, if they are fungal, could be related to the damage inflicted by the freeze.
I hate treating things unseen, but if you are sure there is a fungus and you have an appropriate treatment, use it now before the tree starts to grow new fronds. We're having a cold snap again on the Daytona coast, but if you expect to be a bit more seasonably cool rather than freezing, trim away the frost burnt areas so your fungal treatment gets to the right areas.
Don't fertilize just yet, until you have done the fungal treatment and the trimming. After that, if you still have green in the core of the upper fronds, feeding is okay.
Your palm will look like an Addams Family shrub for a bit, but when you get the first flush of growth, it will be lovely.
I hate treating things unseen, but if you are sure there is a fungus and you have an appropriate treatment, use it now before the tree starts to grow new fronds. We're having a cold snap again on the Daytona coast, but if you expect to be a bit more seasonably cool rather than freezing, trim away the frost burnt areas so your fungal treatment gets to the right areas.
Don't fertilize just yet, until you have done the fungal treatment and the trimming. After that, if you still have green in the core of the upper fronds, feeding is okay.
Your palm will look like an Addams Family shrub for a bit, but when you get the first flush of growth, it will be lovely.