Central Growth Bright Yellow in Palm

Q. Hello, I’m hoping you might offer a suggestion for a
sick/ugly palm tree.  I have a Mexican
fan palm in my back yard in Mesquite that was planted from a 24″ box
nearly five years ago (in December, by the way).  About this time last year, it developed what I
called the “bald man” look, with the top fronds curving down much
earlier than normal, leaving only the emerging (newly opened or unopened)
fronds sticking up.  When they emerged,
they were a uniform yellow color – the older fronds’ color is fine, except for
the curved stalk. 

When summer came this
year, it returned to normal and looked great all summer.  Now, it is doing the same thing again this
year.  Coincidentally, last year and this
year were the only times it’s produced the strands of seeds/berries.  If it’s going to look terrible during the
cooler months (which is when we are at this home), I’m probably going to have
it removed and replaced with something else. 
Before I take that drastic step, I thought I’d see if perhaps you could
offer suggestions to “cure” this problem.I thought I’d write for your
advice and include a photo.  I’d
appreciate any suggestions you can make.

A. That sort of yellowing in the growing point of the palm is usually a sign that the central bud is going to die. Once the bud dies
of a single trunk palm, the palm dies. The fact that it was yellow and
recovered kind of surprises me. It is usually an indicator that the central bud
is diseased.

This is a queen palm with new, immature fronds coming from the central bud.

On another note, Palm trees should never be planted during late
fall or the winter months. They usually have a higher mortality if planted
during this time of the year. The best time to plant them is when there is good
weather for a couple of months after they have been planted. Typically palm trees
do quite well when planted during the summer months. If you want to try
something, you can use a fungicide poured over the top of the central Bud to
see if you can arrest the problem.

Another possible problem could be nutritional. I would
apply some iron chelate around the base of the tree and water it in now.

Another palm, one of the date palms, with the central fronds coming from the bud yellowing.

Another possible problem might be keeping the soil too wet or the soil might
not be draining water very well. Soils that hold too much water can cause this
type of yellowing as well. Even another possibility might be that the palm was
planted too deeply. If the palm was planted more deeply than it was growing in
a nursery then you can develop yellowing like this as well. Make sure the soil
drains easily. If the palm may have been planted too deeply or is in a low spot
in the yard, you might have to move it somewhere else where the water does not
accumulate.

Thirdly, apply a landscape fertilizer in the spring or late winter
along with an iron chelate. The iron chelate should contain EDDHA as the chelate
in the ingredients.