Crown Rot

[Gee.S]

I love nolinas and dasys. I have a Dasy quad that has crown rot, presumably developed thru our brutal past summer. I just pulled about 100 leaves out of the top. Plant is still firmly rooted and has lots of good leaves, and I just drenched it with a systemic fungicide, in addition to spraying the top. What do you think, any chance it may develop a new crown?

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I had thought it was just burned, but apparently not...

[Paul S]

I'd say 'possibly'. After flowering this one develops a new growth point from somewhere other than the apical meristem which then carries on upwards. Sometimes, more rarely, it branches at this stage. So possibly this sort of damage might induce something similar.

Over here it is fairly common to use Hydrogen peroxide to treat such a thing as it is a great disinfectant - saved the life of many a palm after a spear pull.

[Gee.S]

I'd say 'possibly'. After flowering this one develops a new growth point from somewhere other than the apical meristem which then carries on upwards. Sometimes, more rarely, it branches at this stage. So possibly this sort of damage might induce something similar.

Over here it is fairly common to use Hydrogen peroxide to treat such a thing as it is a great disinfectant - saved the life of many a palm after a spear pull.

Just pour some down the hole?

[Paul S]

Yup. If you have such a thing as a jet washer, maybe a high pressure squirt first of all would shift any goo down there but then just pour it in. It will fizz and bubble then settle down, by which time the bacteria/fungi/whatever will be dead. I once saved a Brahea armata by doing this doing this and know several folks who have similarly saved plants in this way.

[Meangreen94z]

All of my Dasylirion Quadrangulatum that started to rot/die, continued, no matter what I tried. Ive lost 3 so far. Hopefully yours is different.

[Gee.S]

Check it out! My Dasy quad has a new core, and it's right where the old one was. Yay!

Dasylirion quadrangulatum

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[Meangreen94z]

Nice, I’ll have to be more patient with mine. Though they generally fall apart after the core pulls for me.

[Gee.S]

My plant always looked healthy from a cursory glance. You had to take a good close look to see otherwise. So I always had a little hope.

[Paul S]

That's great!

[Gee.S]

I suspect it was the systemic fungicide that saved the day. It also saved a couple agaves that had melted last summer, tho each looks a little worse for wear.

[Gee.S]

Slow but steady progress, as might be expected when growing a couple hundred leaves at the same time.

Dasylirion quadrangulatum

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[Gee.S]

Still coming. New leaves now approaching 1' in length.

Dasylirion quadrangulatum

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[sandalaf]

I suspect it was the systemic fungicide that saved the day. It also saved a couple agaves that had melted last summer, tho each looks a little worse for wear.

I have very little direct experience with Agave but I always believed they were indestructible … is the heat in your area normally intolerable for them? I have a friend who may be moving there next year; since all her gardening experience is based in Northern California, I don’t think she’s prepared for how different it will be to establish her garden there. Especially if it can melt an Agave!

[mcvansoest]

If she is from NorCal it will melt her too...

[mcvansoest]

Generally a lot of Agaves and a lot of Cacti are quite capable of weathering the summer here with some extra water here and there, Aloes and other succulents can be a little to a lot iffy, but you can find some that will be OK. However, last year was special...

We can hope that we do not have another two months plus of 110+ F highs, Though this week is an inauspicious start to the heat of summer...

Down to an outright frigid 106F next week if we can believe the forecast, which we generally cannot. 118F today, we are not going to go below 90 tonight, that used to only happen during the height of the monsoon... I think the high night time lows are more of a plant killer than the day time highs... but those day time highs are perfectly capable of doing in many unprepared plants as well.

[Gee.S]

Generally a lot of Agaves and a lot of Cacti are quite capable of weathering the summer here with some extra water here and there, Aloes and other succulents can be a little to a lot iffy, but you can find some that will be OK. However, last year was special...

We can hope that we do not have another two months plus of 110+ F highs, Though this week is an inauspicious start to the heat of summer...

Down to an outright frigid 106F next week if we can believe the forecast, which we generally cannot. 118F today, we are not going to go below 90 tonight, that used to only happen during the height of the monsoon... I think the high night time lows are more of a plant killer than the day time highs... but those day time highs are perfectly capable of doing in many unprepared plants as well.

And that is what causes agaves and other succulent plants to melt -- extended periods of evening lows above mid 80s. As we're enduring right now. And it isn't even summer yet.

[mcvansoest]

I have decided to just let things be and have covered what I can in shade cloth... and I am not watering till (if) the night time lows come down, which they are supposed to, but we will have to see it to believe it...

I am just going to be smarter about watering my trees, which I only barely got through summer last year because I did not water them enough...

[Gee.S]

I have decided to just let things be and have covered what I can in shade cloth... and I am not watering till (if) the night time lows come down, which they are supposed to, but we will have to see it to believe it...

I am just going to be smarter about watering my trees, which I only barely got through summer last year because I did not water them enough...

Yeah, I'm cutting down on watering as well, at least in regard to established plants in the ground. Like you, I am waiting for evening lows to back down.

[sandalaf]

If she is from NorCal it will melt her too...

She lived in Utah for several years, but I think you’re right … she may not yet understand the kind of heat she will be dealing with.

[sandalaf]

Generally a lot of Agaves and a lot of Cacti are quite capable of weathering the summer here with some extra water here and there, Aloes and other succulents can be a little to a lot iffy, but you can find some that will be OK. However, last year was special...

We can hope that we do not have another two months plus of 110+ F highs, Though this week is an inauspicious start to the heat of summer...

Down to an outright frigid 106F next week if we can believe the forecast, which we generally cannot. 118F today, we are not going to go below 90 tonight, that used to only happen during the height of the monsoon... I think the high night time lows are more of a plant killer than the day time highs... but those day time highs are perfectly capable of doing in many unprepared plants as well.

Thank you … I’ll definitely pass this information along to her.

[Gee.S]

Dasy quad is, not surprisingly, getting very strange-looking. New leaves are now about 18" long. I can't help but feel the plant is still vulnerable until it resumes normal growth at some point. Which will probably be next year.

Dasylirion quadrangulatum

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[Bananaguy]

Wondered how this guy was doing. I have one that’s been potted up for years. Tony at PDN has a huge one that’s been growing since the 90’s next to his one house in a microclimate.

[Meangreen94z]

For a Dasylirion they are definitely temperamental and easily upset. They don’t like being moved for sure, I’ve lost 3 now that way. As long as there’s no infestation I would just observe it.

[Gee.S]

New flush now about 2' long.

Dasy quad

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[Gee.S]

I still have some doubt as to whether this plant is going to make it. We've had some nice Spring weather, nice enough to wake up just about everything, but the Dasy quad looks unchanged. What I mean by that is that there is no hint of any new growth/activity in the center of the core since it produced a single wild flush of 150-200 leaves last year after nearly succumbing to rot. These leaves are still about 30 cm short of their predecessors, so it could be that it's still working on them after going dormant for winter, and will continue to do so for the next few months, but I had hoped to see some sort of activity deep in the core this Spring. Fingers crossed. Last week I dosed it with the same systemic fungicide that I credit with its recovery. Figure it can't hurt.