That's a nice tree. That looks like leafminer damage--the key is the silvery tunnels that form within the leaf and the subsequent deformation/curling of the leaf, followed later by browning of those areas. You can have some areas of leaf curl as well with aphid infestations, and browning patches can also be from significant wind damage, but the trails and the substantial browning point to leafminer. As to control: the party line seems to be that if your tree is 'mature', the damage from leafminer is merely of cosmetic importance, and your tree looks like it has plenty of photosynthetic machinery. But, if it starts to look like it is really hampering your tree or if you are worried about it spreading more than it has, then the agent of choice is apparently spinosad. However, I don't have any experience with it whatsover,and a reasonable choice to look into would be neem oil applied properly ( ie--be wary of burn if it is very hot and sunny). Thats what I would start with in fairly frequent application initally, along with manual squishing of larva and pupae in the trails--they're little nasty worms the size of a grain of rice. The ants don't have a lot to do with this particular problem, but eliminating ants helps if you have any concurrent pest problems like aphids and scale and other tasty things. You can try traps laid out (especially near the colony) if you don't have a risk of pets or kids getting into them--if they don't get watered, then they shouldn't leak any pesticides on your soils. If there are just a few, you can also merely hose them off your tree repeatedly. They tend to get the message. Manual removal of any aphids or scale will discourage the ants too--just disrupt that symbiotic relationship somehow. The relative paleness of the leaves could be a number of things, including nitrogen deficiencies, soil temps, watering issues, lots of youthful leaves, etc. I have no idea what kind of soil you have in your garden but since we Californians have had a very dry spring, I would encourage you to make sure you are getting enough water to the roots. If the roots can't get enough moisture or they are drowning in too much, they can't take up any nutrients. Are the surrounding plants brown from winter cold or is it just really dry?--that will give you a clue as to what you might need to do. Also, you can apply some nitrogen-rich fertilizer if that hasnt been done recently. I use an acidifying fertilizer with iron in it, since I have alkaline clay soils. The proper thing to do though is to get a soil test to see what you might need to do with it. It's normal for citrus to lose a substantial amount of forming fruit, and if they don't drop right away it can just dry up and look like what is in your pictures. That is not directly related to the leafminer nor necessarily pathologic. The dried baby fruit can also be from relative dehydration or from buffeting winds as well--your tree will need enough water to properly fruit. HTH.

Having grown up with paper wasps, I see them somewhat differently. While they leave me alone in the garden, if their nest gets bumped (like in a canoe), they will defend it vigorously, and their stings are really painful. I don't think of them as non-aggressive, but rather as being very aggressive if you give them cause, and willing to leave you alone if you don't. Now mud daubers or dirt daubers have always seemed to me to be much more passive. I've been stung many times over the years by paper wasps, mostly as a child, but never by a mud dauber, even when I was knocking down their nests from doorways, etc. But worst of all are hornets. Oh, my. You do NOT want to bump into a hornet's nest (the ones that look like big paper footballs). Hornets and yellow jackets seem to me to be far more aggressive than the other wasps I'm familiar with. Eeeek. Right after we moved into this house, we had yellow jackets suddenly appearing all over the INSIDE of our windows. We were told they probably had a nest inside the walls and that it could be huge. But they started dying on their own shortly thereafter, and never came back. I was sweeping up piles of yellow jacket bodies for weeks. We were lucky that they expired on their own, I reckon. Might have been a very different story if they had hung around long. Marcia

What Caryota is growing behind the Chamby? Why do so few palm nuts in soufla seem to show no interest in the more tender and exotic Caryota?s..Ive seen some very lacy weepy sp.(photos) in Hawaii that seem to be absent in soufla.

He also sent the same basic message to the CFPACS forum and the Cycad Jungle forum. You must be very enthusiastic about this site if it is not your site because it took a lot of time to search out these sites and send the message to all those people, especially if you have no financial interest in it. Since I see that you are a palm expert, we will all be very happy that you are here, and can answer everyone's palm cultivation questions as time goes on. Having the first post be something commercial just looks bad, but I'm sure we will all see why you are here once you start answering everyone's questions without any commercial content.