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OH NO! My windmill palm died

14 years ago

The spear just pulled out today but it wasnt because of the cold (newly planted in the spring) it was probably from some fungal disease because the plant has a fungus inside.

It was a double windmill palm and the larger of the two was the one that died. The other one is doing fine (so far, fingers crossed). I think ill just leave it their and see how it goes during the winter since its too late to plant a new one if I want it to be established for the winter cold.

~RIP windmill palm

spring '09 ~ August 12,2009

I hardly knew you (lol).

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Comments (12)

rubtherock
14 years ago
Your yard has lost a tremendous asset.

My deepest sympathies.
tropicalzone7
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks.
At least I still have the other one growing with it and a single specimen windmill palm planted near by. Oh well you wil some you lose some I guess.
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User
14 years ago
So why do you think it fungus managed to kill it? Excessive moisture/poor drainage? Prior/delayed winter damage?
knotz
14 years ago
I had that happen with one of my little washy robustas..I left it and new growth came out..Hmmm..
tropicalzone7
Original Author
14 years ago
njoasis...
We got ALOT of rain this year and where I live the soil literally doest drain, but I replaced alot of the bad soil with good draining potting soil. Also the yucca right next to it is still doing fine so it wasnt moisture.
I got the plants from florida (off ebay) so it wasnt any winter damage because this is its first season in the ground.
I only assumed it was a fungus because their was some white fuzzy stuff on the end of the spear when I pulled it out.

Knotz...
Thanks for the info. Ill leave it alone for now and see what happens. Only bad thing is if it does come back to life it might die from the winter if its not fully recovered. I think it will still continue to grow until the middle of november because temps are usually still in the 50s then.
knotz
14 years ago
You are very welcome...The part that "pulled" out of mine had some whitish powder too, but the whole plant looks fine..I never did anything to it or put anything on it.

knotz
tropicalzone7
Original Author
14 years ago
Sounds good to me. Im just going to completely ignore it and maybe some of this warm summer weather (high 80s and maybe some low 90s till early next week with ample sunshine) will motivate it to "come back from the dead".

How long did it take for your washy to recover back from spear pull?
Thanks for your help.
knotz
14 years ago
It only took a week or two then two spears came out at the same time...Amazing, but it looks awesome now...Still don't know what happened...I started that one and another one from seeds.

I hope it grows back for you :)
tropicalzone7
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the info. So far nothing yet (but its only been two days so i wasnt expecting anything). We'll see what happens in the upcoming weeks and if it comes back ill fill everyone in, and if not I still have some posts to write about how i will be protecting my other windmill palms (and my pindo, sabal minor, and needle palm) in the next few months.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it!
and wish me luck :)
josephine_sc
14 years ago
The only time I lost a windmill it turned out the city had a leaky water pipe in its immediate vicinity.
brooklyngreg
14 years ago
Where I live they protected the windmill palm from any moisture with plastic around wood frame - stop water from freezing in the bud. It as worked 10 years in the broolkyn botanical garden.

Are there cold weather palms still surviving in your area that I read about? What methods were successful for winter protection? Do you have any photos?
tropicalzone7
Original Author
14 years ago
I heard about a windmill palm surviving in the brooklyn botanical gardens. I found that pretty cool even though they do protect it, it does show that some people have a knowledge of cold tollerant palms in a zone 7. I also heard of a needle palm surving without protection in the new york city botanical gardens.

In my area their arent any palms in the ground that I know of that are surviving the winter except for one windmill palm on someones front yard, but Im not sure if it has actually been through a winter yet, but I do now their was a washingtionia in its place a few years ago when I past their last. Also definately some musa basjoos around the area that are quite large, and also TONS of southern magnolias some very large and covered in blooms from may to july.

Good luck

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