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Canary Island Palms - brown powder growth on soil

15 years ago

I'm hoping someone can help me. I am growing a small crop of Canary Island Date Palms. Its a hobby I got into quite by accident, and I'm learning as I go. My palms are almost a year old. I germinated the seeds from a palm in my yard. They are doing well and most have a 2" or better trunk. They are currently in five gallon containers. They seem to be thriving, but I've noticed in a couple of containers that a brown powdery substance (looks like the brown smokey stuff that comes out of those puffy mushrooms when you step on them) is covering the soil. It was just one container at first; now its two others. The plants don't seem affected....yet. Living in Florida with all the recent rain from the hurricanes they have received more watering than I would like. I'm currently building a greenhouse for them to prevent that in the future. However, I'm concerned about this "growth" that appears to be spreading. I can scrape it off the top and still see the potting soil underneath. When I scrape it, it blows away like a light powder. Its the consistency and color of cocoa powder. Does anyone know what this is? If so, is it harmful? Can I get rid of it? I'm worried because I have mothered these 70 plus plants for almost a year, and hate the thought of something happening to them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Comments (2)

davidcf
15 years ago
The brown fungi stuff should dissipate once the soil at the surface dries out. You might want to use your hand and crumble the soil a few inches down to aid with drying out. The soil may have formed a crust and no plants like that.

What are you going to do with all those palms?
sunbiz
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the information. Its good to know that its just fungi and can be dealt with. I'll be sure to loosen the top soil in all the affected pots. I feel much better now. The rain also brought out the little caterpillar looking worms. They are voracious eaters. I found them before they did too much damage. I sprayed the palms with volk oil, and that seems to have taken care of that problem. As far as what I'm going to do with the palms, I'll probably sell most of them. It all started with my just wanting to see if I could germinate a few seeds I gathered from a tree in my front yard. I thought it would be nice to have some smaller palms in decorative pots which could later be planted in the yard. I had heard that it was difficult to germinate the seeds and that it was a lengthy process. With that information, my expectations weren't too high and would have been happy just to be able to have a few germinate. I was in for a surprise. When 70 plus germinated, I decided to plant them all in little plastic cups not knowing if they would all actually mature into plants. Well, to my surprise they did.....lol. I guess somewhere along the way I developed an "emotional attachment" to them and felt a responsibility to nurture them along and watch them develop to their full potential. I think they'll continue to do great if the hurricanes stay away. I've also branched out and have a crop of about 40 sagos now. I love gardening and my little "crops" provide me with a lot of enjoyment. Thanks again for the information of the fungi!
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