Palm Plant With Dead Leaf Ends

Healthy palm fronds are green throughout.

Healthy palm fronds are green throughout.

It can be alarming when your palm’s leaf tips die. Often the tips die because of cultural problems that aren’t fatal, but occasionally dead leaf tips can indicate a potentially lethal disease. There are more than 2,500 species of palm, and most prefer tropical climates of U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 10.

Insufficient Water

Palms need to be consistently moist, but not soaked. The leaves on palms that don’t get enough water may begin to die, starting at the tips. To avoid this, water your palm tree as soon as soil feels dry to the touch. Palms generally need a good soaking at the base of the tree about twice monthly. You can allow the soil to get slightly drier during the winter. If you’re growing your palm in a container, water the soil until it drains out the holes in the bottom of the pot. Dump the tray or saucer beneath the pot so that your palm’s roots are not standing in water.

Nutritional Problems

Palm trees suffering from too little or too much of various nutrients often show signs of this in their leaves. For example, potassium, iron and manganese deficiencies show as dead tissue at the leaf tips. Potassium deficiency can be fatal, and begins with translucent yellow-orange or necrotic leaf spotting and wilting of older leaves, particularly at the tips and margins. Too much nitrogen may cause leaf burn, where the tips of the lower fronds brown and then die. Palm trees need a slow-release, granular palm fertilizer that contains nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous, and trace amounts of iron, manganese, zinc, copper and boron. These are available at nurseries and garden centers with nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium ratios of 12-4-12 or 8-2-12. Apply at a rate of 1 1/2 pounds of granular fertilizer per 100 square feet of canopy four times per year, or 1 pound per 100 square feet of canopy six times per year.

Cold Damage

Chilling injury occurs in tropical palm trees that are acclimated to warmer nighttime temperatures, but are suddenly subjected to cooler temperatures. For example, leaf tips may die if a palm acclimated to night temperatures of 70 degrees Fahrenheit is suddenly subjected to a night that drops to 45 F. If the leaf surface, or the air around the palm drops below 32 F, frost or freeze damage occurs, which can result in dead leaf tissue. Keep indoor plants away from drafty windows, and bring outdoor container palms inside when temperatures are expected to drop. The damage is not usually fatal, and new growth is usually normal.

Palm Decline

Palm decline, also referred to as Texas Phoenix palm decline, begins with yellowing of older leaf tips. Flowers also die and the fruit drops. Leaves eventually turn reddish-brown to dark brown or gray. The roots soften as they decay and the spear leaf eventually dies, causing the palm to stop producing new growth. Palm decline is caused by the bacteria Phytoplasma. When the disease has progressed far enough that the palm no longer produces new leaves, or more one-fourth of the foliage is affected, it is not treatable. Palms that are newly infected with either disease can be treated with oxytetracycline HCl, an antibiotic that must be administered every four months for the life of the tree.

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