Pink Palm Symptoms

Pink palm, or pink rot, is a fungal disease that affects most species of palm trees. It stems from a fungus called Nalanthamala vermoeseni: a pathogen that cannot live above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. So it mainly attacks weaker palm trees during the winter months in the southern regions of the United States, including California.

Spotting and Rotting

• Spotting and rotting may occur on the branches, leaves, and trunk of the palm tree. Symptoms range from brown rotting spots to large areas of the tree becoming soft with brown rot. The rot normally appears around the leaf tips, bases and trunks of the leaves.

Pink Moss

• Some areas of the palm tree may present a pink mossy-like substance as well as leaking a thick brown substance. If left untreated, this disease can kill weak palm trees.

Conditions of the Palm Trees

• Certain conditions can make a palm tree more susceptible to pink rot including planting the palm tree too deep in the soil, excessive irrigation or poor soil drainage, pest infestations, palm trees already suffering from disease or weakening in other ways, improper transplanting or having the palm tree become extremely stressed during the transplanting process, and excessively cold weather.