Question
We have about 12 20-30 foot palm trees in our back yard. One of them started leaning over about a month ago. Within the last week it worsened. Finally, yesterday it broke in half just above the root. The tree did not appear to be visually affected. Although when we looked inside the tree where it broke into, we saw small white bugs (worms) that were eating away at the palm. They had turned the inside of the tree to a mush which caused the tree to fall over. Is there anything I can do to avoid this happening to our other palms? and does this sound familiar.

Thanks,
Resident Gulf Coast Texas

Answer
Hi Keli, without actually seeing it its hard for me to be definitive, however, it sounds  like the palm succumbed to root rot, common in palms when their roots get too much moisture, the larvae were actually feeding on the dead wood (roots) and not the cause of the demise. The only thing you must be careful of with the others is the roots are not sitting in wet medium. Again, without actually seeing them, I can only speculate. regards Nick