Question

fox tail palm - puerto   Hi, I live in Puerto Rico  200 ft from the ocean.  In my back lawn, I have 5 stations of plants and flows each of  10 x 15ft , except one that is 20 x 15. In this one in particular, I have 3 fox tail palms which were planted almost 3 years ago.  They have been growing and doing fine. Except, this last month, I noticed two of the fox tail palms, the leaves have been turning completely brown and the new leaves growing are greeen but the tips grow brown until the whole leave turns brown.  I prune one of the palms to leave only couple of the green leaves but so far it seems it is getting worse. Any idea what this is caused to. I would hate to lose these palms and don't know what to do. We have had quite a bit of rain, but last year we had the tropical storm Irene and the palms did just fine.  Any thoughts?

Answer
Hi Saddia,

I am concerned that your palms may have a plant disease problem.  I cannot tell exactly what the problem is from your image.  I would suggest that you take a look at the images and descriptions at the following web address:
http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/OrnamentalPalms.aspx
This site discusses some of the many problems with palms.

You also may want to contact The Agricultural Experiment Station Crop Protection Department at the University of Puerto Rico.  You can find contact info at the very bottom of the page on this website:
http://www.ladybug.uconn.edu/gardening/documents/PlantClinicsFees-Services3-26-0

Since they are in your local area, they may be able to tell you what is the most common disease on fox tail palms.  I would like to help, but I just cannot be certain of the cause of the problem from an image.  I hope that you contact the Ag Expt Station and that they can offer you some assistance.

Good luck,
--Jen