You have some form of fungal disease--It may be blight. I do know that the first line of defense is to remove all the infected leaves. You then need a fungicide and I can't advise you there either. When watering try not to get the leaves wet. Most leaf diseases spread the same way. Water splashes on the infected leaf, which splashes on to an uninfected leaf. The water carries the spores of the disease to the new leaf and it becomes infected. Eventually the whole plant dies. In addition some diseases live in the soil. In that case you have to solarize the soil by putting black plastic on it and let the sun kill it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe you can get rid of it if you are vigilant

They won't come up until the ground is really warm, so I wouldn't direct sow them now, unless your winter was a lot warmer than mine. I usually start them in small containers that I set on baker's racks in the sun, then plant them out when the plants have some size on them. As I recall, the seeds are long and skinny, and I just stuck them vertically into the soil with the tops barely covered. Sherry

Hey iblowstuffup - That is great to hear. Yes, your big one will be just fine. Once you see that green growth coming from the middle, you know it'll be fine. Plus, a palm that size...once the green growth starts coming it, it greens up very quickly. *One warning. It is currently (March 29) particularly cold for this time of year at night. The last night and next couple may be near freezing at night. If I were you, I would give the palms - especially that middle, lower "spear" area of growth, some protection in the evenings with burlap, etc. Just keeps them a little warmer and protects against freezing. Even if you don't protect it, it should be OK because it isn't getting much below freezing, however, if anything, protection will help it keep growing quickly come Saturday, Sunday, etc., when the warm temps return. As for your smaller one, I would agree with you that the "rotten" look is reason to be concerned. Typically, that is a possible sign of death for a palm...the rot typically means that the middle spear - the bud area - froze. If you *lightly* tug on the middle spear, as to pull it out, and it slides out (and is slimy, rotten-like, etc.), you know that unfortunately, the palm is dead. If it does not pull out and is just still brown/burnt, it very well may be alive and will come back...just a little slower than the big one. Either way, the good news is that at a minimum one of your two will be just fine and the warmer weather will be fired up again in a few days. I believe this spring/summer will be a particularly warm/hot/dry spring/summer, which while not great unfortunately for the environment, will be very good for your palms' growth. The other good news is that the longer your palms are in the ground, and the more winter(s) here they are in, the more acclimated and aged they will be, and the better their survival range for future years. Best of luck and let us know how they continue to go!

Those nutty brugs! I took mine in for part of the winter and stowed them in a dark unheated garage, just one tiny window, and they bloomed like crazy for a month. They were both so rangy and raggedy looking after that I didn't think they'd survive in there, w/o light or water, oh, I didn't water them either. Anyway, I bought them out one warm day back in early Feb and they have been putting on leaves. Even through the last 2 or 3 freezes. I thought they were delicate, but I was wrong. Also last fall I thought I wanted to start some cuttings and I went through all this hassle to root the stems before detaching them from the branch, carefully planting them in potting mix and being carefull not to leave them in direct sun for too long. Shoot, what a waste of time, I dropped a couple of little stems on the ground in the process and those little buggers rooted too. Seems brugs just aren't all that picky. Cheryl