Multiple plants/trees suffering from unknown disease or deficiency please help!

[Mike in Merced]

Hi, this is my first post and am going to need a little help first identifying what plants I’m dealing with exactly, but I’ll start with a basic outline of my issues and follow up with some photographs.

First, I’m in Merced California. Very hot summers. Much of the damage may be from not watering much during our drought. I have multiple palm trees and palm bushes that I can not yet identify that appear to be suffering from some type of mold, fungus, scale or insect infestation or nutrient deficiency. I also have another tree that I can’t identify that comes on strong in the spring, healthy foliage that develops brown spots and an unhealthy hue on its leaves by early summer. I have watered extensively this year to try and avoid this problem, but it is returning. I am a renter and my landlord does not seem the least bit concerned, but I feel it is my responsibility to try and correct the problem and return the plants to health, or remove them and replace them with something else. I hesitate to call a professional only because I am a renter, but I will if it turns out to be necessary.


Can anyone identify these trees and or what they are suffering from? Thanks in advance. I’m losing a lot of sleep over this.

 

[Bob White]

Looks like a couple of issues. I believe the white stuff on the stems of the Pygmy palms is normal, I see it on all of them. The spots on the palm fronds in nutritional. Palms are like grass in the way they use nutrients and just like grass and needs a ton to look good. Get a palm mix and feed it feed it several times a year (3 to 5, but I've never seen a palm over fertilized). The old leaves wont get better, but the new ones will look good and last longer. The alder looks like it has some kind of fungal leaf spot, best treated in the spring with a fungicidal spray as the new leaves are developing. Hope this helps.