Brown/grey tips
my plant seems to create more brown and grey tips. It’s on a watering plan, drainage, light but no direct sunlight… I don’t know what to do! #KentiaPalm
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@Marcella86 —hi there. These are such gorgeous plants and I hope one day to have a space for one. I do have other palms, however, and I’ve spent a lot of time studying them and the foliar diseases I have had to deal with. The markings on your palm are consistent with a fungal pathogen “brown spot” which manifests as brown necrotic lesions start appearing on the plant and they yellow halo around them.
Fungal infections are actually quite common, yet very serious. They occur when there is excess moisture on the plant where the spores can attach to the foliage. Often the genesis of the infection is when water is splashed on the leaves during watering (more on this later). The fungus will eventually infiltrate the plant, going into the stem and metastasizing like cancer, unless the spread is stemmed and the disease brought under control.
To treat the fungus, the Clemson College of Agriculture advises that for the treatment of fungal infections of this sort “sprays of copper soap,” and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens,” are effective. These are available from Bonide under the labels id Copper Fungicide RTU (ready to use) and Revitalize Biofungicide RTU. They are available on Amazon. Revitalize is particularly helpful as it can be used as a preventative measure both as a foliar spray and a soil drench, which treats the fungus living in the soil and provides an immunity defense (mix with water per instructions).
Clemson also recommends removing any infected plant tissue by sterilizing sharp scissors with rubbing alcohol and identify the leaves or plant tissue to remove and then remove the leaves, ensuring that the cuts are clean do not lacerate the plant tissue.
Treating fungus can require several applications. Be sure to quarantine the plant, as the pathogen is contagious. Increase ventilation and space plants apart to prevent an large outbreak. Wipe away an unnecessary moisture when you water and consider using pebbles as a top dressing to reduce exposure between the soil and the leaves.
A paper watering technique safeguards against leaf and brown spot and many potential pests and diseases. Use a watering cam with a long narrow spout and water underneath the foliage.
Moreover preventing fungal infections through sound cultural practices (ensuring proper light, water, etc) is much easier than treating it.—so be sure to adhere to Greg’s tailored recommendations for each plant. Wipe away any moisture splashed on the plant after watering. I often put my plants in front of a fan after I’ve treated them as it is more effective than wiping off the moisture.
One thing to be mindful about as you treat this plant is that pruning is full of pitfalls. Cutting fronds from the crown of the plant will kill it. Some sources I have reviewed advise never to cut off fronds unless they are fully brown (and to wait until they are fully brown). Cutting leaves that are not fully brown can, e.g., in the case of fronds exhibiting the signs of nutrient deficiency, cause that deficiency to affect other parts of the plant. This guidance presents a dilemma when it is necessary to remove diseased plant material to stem the spread of infection within the plant and among other plants. Personally, I think the most prudent thing to do here is just to remove the leaflets growing from the petiole (stem), but not the stem itself.
Lastly here is a scan I from an AI software I have—I do not rely on the AI for diagnosis itself as the technology is nascent, but I do find it helpful as a confirmatory measure.
I hope this helps!
Fungal infections are actually quite common, yet very serious. They occur when there is excess moisture on the plant where the spores can attach to the foliage. Often the genesis of the infection is when water is splashed on the leaves during watering (more on this later). The fungus will eventually infiltrate the plant, going into the stem and metastasizing like cancer, unless the spread is stemmed and the disease brought under control.
To treat the fungus, the Clemson College of Agriculture advises that for the treatment of fungal infections of this sort “sprays of copper soap,” and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens,” are effective. These are available from Bonide under the labels id Copper Fungicide RTU (ready to use) and Revitalize Biofungicide RTU. They are available on Amazon. Revitalize is particularly helpful as it can be used as a preventative measure both as a foliar spray and a soil drench, which treats the fungus living in the soil and provides an immunity defense (mix with water per instructions).
Clemson also recommends removing any infected plant tissue by sterilizing sharp scissors with rubbing alcohol and identify the leaves or plant tissue to remove and then remove the leaves, ensuring that the cuts are clean do not lacerate the plant tissue.
Treating fungus can require several applications. Be sure to quarantine the plant, as the pathogen is contagious. Increase ventilation and space plants apart to prevent an large outbreak. Wipe away an unnecessary moisture when you water and consider using pebbles as a top dressing to reduce exposure between the soil and the leaves.
A paper watering technique safeguards against leaf and brown spot and many potential pests and diseases. Use a watering cam with a long narrow spout and water underneath the foliage.
Moreover preventing fungal infections through sound cultural practices (ensuring proper light, water, etc) is much easier than treating it.—so be sure to adhere to Greg’s tailored recommendations for each plant. Wipe away any moisture splashed on the plant after watering. I often put my plants in front of a fan after I’ve treated them as it is more effective than wiping off the moisture.
One thing to be mindful about as you treat this plant is that pruning is full of pitfalls. Cutting fronds from the crown of the plant will kill it. Some sources I have reviewed advise never to cut off fronds unless they are fully brown (and to wait until they are fully brown). Cutting leaves that are not fully brown can, e.g., in the case of fronds exhibiting the signs of nutrient deficiency, cause that deficiency to affect other parts of the plant. This guidance presents a dilemma when it is necessary to remove diseased plant material to stem the spread of infection within the plant and among other plants. Personally, I think the most prudent thing to do here is just to remove the leaflets growing from the petiole (stem), but not the stem itself.
Lastly here is a scan I from an AI software I have—I do not rely on the AI for diagnosis itself as the technology is nascent, but I do find it helpful as a confirmatory measure.
I hope this helps!
@Marcella86 btw I looked at your “oasis” and you have such a gorgeous collection, beautifully styled. I don’t often see collections where as much thought is put into the style as yours has. Love it
The usual culprits are low humidity, cold damage or underwatering 🫶 Seeing as your live in Auckland (hello neighbour 🤗I’m in Australia) you have summer now and good humidity, so I’m guessing underwatering or possibly over fertilising (palms are sensitive to too much fertiliser and can brown to this too) how often are you watering her atm? Is she fully dry or still somewhat moist? Do you fertilise her at all? 💚
@HoyaAddict hi neighbour!! I water her every 6 or 7 days. I wait until the top soil is all dry and water it around 550ml. It drains out some water after watering. Ive now put in a water bird thingy that should help the plant to get water when needed. Also, the answer above I’ll take into account that it might be a fungal thing. Thanks for your comment!!
@TexanExpat this is great!! Thank you so much for your comment. I’ll go to the garden center to get some stuff for it. It’s so sad to see her like this 😅 thanks again, much appreciated!
@Marcella86 Good luck 🤞 I hope it all works out for you! Took me a whole summer to understand my parlor palm last year 😅 Nearly lost her! Phew 😮💨 Happy growing 🫶
@HoyaAddict hahah I struggle to beat the humidity, rain and heat here. It’s been a spring and summer like I’ve not seen before. Soooo wet and when the sun is out it’s so freaking hot 😂😅 Good to hear you figured it out! That gives me hope haha!
@Marcella86 It’s been insane here too 🥲 A spring of just rain rain rain and then bam hot 🥵 😂 Poor plants have no idea what’s happening! My succulents all got mildew issues due to the high humidity for so long (and I’m not even in a tropical state hahaha) apparently it was La Niña 🙄 Hopefully we get better weather next year 💚
@HoyaAddict can you elaborate on your parlor palm issues? This is one of my favorite plants, but I never have luck with them. I don’t know whether my issue has been the sourcing of the parlor palms I have bought or the species itself, but they have been plagued with fungal issues. Once there is a fungal issue, the plant takes so long to rebound; they have never turned out right. I have bought them from places like Home Depot, and I even paid top dollar at wekevia foliage, which seem to kinda be palm specialty given the range of their palm offerings. Yet the plant arrived with so much fungus on it that by the time I pruned off all the infected plant matter, it was like a Charley Brown Christmas tree. The bigger disappointment though was that it arrived like that in the first place. It confounds me that a grower with this type of investment in its operations sends out diseased plants—-I wouldn’t even know where to try to buy a decent sized parlor palm (it’s a mystery to me why nobody seems to sell larger then 6” parlor palms).
@TexanExpat More than happy to help! I never had fungal issues so I’m sorry I can’t help you with that. But mine does live in a high ceiling room with ceiling fans on during hot or humid days. Throughout last summer I realised my plant kept getting bleached leaves, brown tips and was losing ‘stems’ rapidly. I panicked for a long time and thought it was pests. My plant deteriorated quickly, After trial and error I discovered it hated being close to bright light especially any direct light (I even tried morning sun and it hated it) I pulled it back two meters from the window and watered it a lot less (about 25 ml every 10 day in summer! And every 3 weeks in winter for a 9cm pot 😳) It has been so happy 😃 It constantly grows and no brown tips or white leaves. It’s finally bushing out and it couldn’t have made me happier. I rarely see them as la egg e plants either but when I do they’re pretty expensive! 😰
@HoyaAddict I hope the secret to your success will be mine too. I wonder if I had too many grow lights on it and also whethet the southwest window is too much. I will investigate :)
@TexanExpat You can see in the pic how far from the north facing window (I’m in Australia so south facing if you live in northern hemisphere) and she is and is super happy! She used to be right next to an east facing (morning sun here) and was not happy haha. Good luck 🧚 I hope it also works for you 🫶
