I'm sure many of you have noticed that we keep losing Canary Island date palms here in Galveston.  Big, established palms are dying all over town.  It's not every palm, but a good number have succumbed.  I would like to explain what is going on. 

 

There is a disease that is being seen more and more in Galveston that affects the date palms.  It affects many species of date palm from the Medjools to the Sylvestris to the Canary Islands.  However, the Canary Island is one of the most susceptible species to this disease.  It is called Texas Phoenix Palm Decline (TPPD) and is caused by a phytoplasm.  Unfortunately, this is a fatal disease that cannot be killed by fungicide or other treatment.  Unaffected but susceptible palms can be given an inoculation, available online from several resources, at least once a year for the rest of the palm's life, but that is not going to help our Canary Island date palms.  It is not known what spreads TPPD, although one thought is that a planthopper, an insect, spreads it, but there is not definitive evidence of that, in Texas or elsewhere. 

 

Signs of the Disease

It may be too late to save the palms you have, but there are other types of palms that are not dying from this disease here in Galveston.  The fan palms are a great alternative, from the taller Mexican and Chinese fan palms to the smaller Mediterranean fan palm.  I have read that the phytoplasm has been seen in cabbage palms and queen palms, but I haven't seen any of those die around town.  It's a similar story with TPPD affecting the small pygmy date palms, so those landscape gems are still thriving on