jpfloors

Hi there guys and gals. I have a situation that's happened four times now in my yard and I cannot figure it out. First it started with two palms that were on the side of my house that I had transplanted. I had dug them up VERY carfully and there was very minimal root damage. They were not attached and were about 3' apart. They did fine til about two months later the tops of the new palm leaves just came OUT when I pulled on it (it had a VERY NASTY odor with knats growning on the inside, so know it was dead for a little while).

Then a few weeks ago, a bromeliad (not sure of the variety, but has thin, long green and white stripped leaves, kind of like an AeAe banana) I was noticing that the new leaves were translucent and kind of creamy color. Pulled on those and the same thing, the center of the bromeliad came out rotten.

But yesterday I had almost cried. I was tilling up the space for my veg garden and I had noticed two of my three pineapple plants hadn't grown much in the last few months, but one had a small fruit in the center (maybe 1" in dia.) that came up little over a month ago. I had been growning these for over two years. THE SAME THING HAPPENED!!!! Thank GOD my pineapple plant with the large fruit growning didn't get hurt. Can anyone please help!!?!?!?!?!!!?!??! Any advice would be much appreciated!!!!

Josh

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xavierdlc61887

wow that bites....hope the ice cream u outbidded me on doesnt die on u either :/

jpfloors

Hahaha Thought you were in that one til the end? LOL Well maybe better luck next time... I was going to let it go as well if it got too high as they have those for about $20 at our local nursery, just figured the one from Jarred would be at prime health and since I'm already paying for two other to be shipped, why not right?

But anyways, seems my bananas arn't having any issues, or any other plants for that matter, just the ones listed. But none of them were any where close to each other. The palms were in the front, the bromiliad on the E. side of the back yard, and the pineapples in the W. side of the back.... The only thing I could think of was maybe one night it got too cold for them, but when it would have approx. happened there wasn't any cold spurts here, plus they had survived the cold before. Only way I know around when it happened with the pineapples (at least for one) is due to the baby fruit that had just popped up deep inside the plant, yet never got any bigger. The one I still have living has dcome out and the stem is getting longer and the fruit much bigger. That's why I finally checked the other plants yesterday.

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Lilith

It sounds like rot to me. Root rot to be exact. Like maybe your soil is either too compacted in that area, or there isn't adequate drainage for some other reason.

I see you are in 10a Florida. Is your yard or subdivision perhaps built on top of a coral layer?

Bromeliads planted in the ground like your green and white variegated one need a lot of drainage. If they get too wet around the base, they will rot like yours did, because that type of bromeliad is an epiphyte and doesn;t even need soil, really. Soil is for YOUR convenience, not the bromeliad's.

Pineapple bromeliads, on the other hand, are terrestrial and do need soil.

The other possiibility is, that your bromeliad had bloomed, and after it bloomed, it died, which is 100% natural. Bromeliads only bloom the one time, then they make a new plant to carry on fir the future. The decline can take a long time, or a short time, depending on the species. It sounds like you may be describing a Neoregelia, without photos its hard to know. There are a lot of green and white striped broms in several different genera.

Your palms just may have been sensitive about being planted too close to the foundation of your house. You don't say what type of palms they were...some palms are just extremely sensitive to having their roots disturbed, even if you didn't think you were disturbing them. For whatever reason, it sounds like your palms just didn't re-root...again, could be drainage issues, root damage, soil conditions...its hard to know.

jpfloors

No, it wasn't root rot. The roots were very well intact and established on each of these plants even after their demise and the soil is VERY well drainable as it has a high sand content (I live near the coast). The rot on each of the plants was only on the top portion of the plants in the center where the leaves come from (not the bottom at all except on the palms, but only because they had sat there for about a month until I figured out they had died). Also know for sure that it wasn't the palms being too close to the house, as they were transplanted FAR away from the house by the street (but started about 2-3' away from the house before diggingthem up). But thanks for taking a guess on that. I guess I forgot to mention some of that stuff in the first post. Didn't take a picture of the funerals so I don't have anything to give for a photo autopsy LOL At least there can be some humer in this!

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Lilith

Its always sad when you lose plants! If its recurrent in the same area every time. maybe you should take soil samples down to your local extension office and have them do a soil analysis and check for stuff like burrowing and reniform nematodes.

NanaNut2

I had the same thing happen to a pineapple top with roots that I was trying to start a couple of summers ago. It was in the kitchen, proper light and heat, growing in peat moss. Then the top leaves just came off in a clump. I felt it was a watering problem. But then found webbing in the peat. Spider mite?
NanaNut2

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NanaNut2

jason

WOw sorry to here about that alot of palm trees if moved and if even any of the roots are disturbed just the slightest they will die and with palms they dont really alot of times show signs of not being happy until its to late,,and in return the crown will die and than rot and you will pull on it and it will slide right out and smell like pond water!! Regular deep watering in Summer is required to keep fronds looking their best and applications of potassium, manganese, and magnesium soil amendments as well as other trace elements are required to maintain health. In addition to their fertilizer requirements in your soil, they may also need to be treated with fungicide to prevent bud rot in the crown of the tree,,also if you have a sprinkler system in your yard and your palms and pineapple are getting water in the top center of the plant that will cause rot as well,,,I hope some of this helped -Take care-Jason.

island cassie

That is terrible news Josh. Sounds like wet and cold in the crowns - I know you are in Florida, but perhaps you had a cold snap one night shortly after you had moved them and before they had established themselves.

Cassie

jpfloors

I actually think that both of you may be correct Cassie and nananut2. But after thinking more and more about it, I think for the pineapples it might have been the fact that my mother in law told me to put all of my citrus waste near the plants, and bugs might have infested the plants. Now I'm ONLY putting organic waste into my compost pile.

Cassie, that is EXACTLY what it was like with the palms. It was a smelly mess in the center. I've worked in nursing before and you can smell some very nasty things doing that, but this really sickened me. I ended up replacing the palms with some Chinese Fan Palms from Wal-Mart that were marked half off due to them being "over grown" too much. Thanks for all of the great responces!!

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jpfloors

Yes, it might have been the time of year that I moved them as well, in late Nov. early Dec. (can't remember exactly when I moved them)

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I'll show you my banana if you show me yours!!!