What is Lethal Bronzing Disease?

In 2006, a new plant disease was discovered in Florida affecting several types of palm trees, including date palms, Canary Island palms, and Queen palms. This disease was later found to be the same one affecting palms in Texas, originally called Texas Phoenix Palm Decline. As the disease spread to other states and was found in palms outside the Phoenix genus, the name was changed to "lethal bronzing" to better describe the symptoms seen across different host plants.

Lethal bronzing disease is caused by a type of bacteria called a phytoplasma. Phytoplasmas live inside the sap-carrying parts of plants and are spread between plants by sap-feeding insects like planthoppers and leafhoppers. The insects pick up the phytoplasmas and then spread them to other plants as they feed. Phytoplasmas can't survive on their own outside of a plant or insect host.

The disease has now been identified in the Gulf Coast Region, and in and around the City of Apalachicola and beyond. We see it affecting the Sabal palm species and would not be surprised to see the damage move beyond this species to other palm varieties.

Learn more about this disease: Visit University of Florida | IFAS Extension

Palm tree inoculation is a fairly new practice and it has been an effective solution to thwart the spread in other parts of the state. We are confident treatment will protect existing trees provided they are treated in full (quarterly for 2-years) before exposure. We believe treatment is better than no treatment, but because this is a new industry practice, only time will tell, and we are unable to make a full guarantee. Please contact us if you’re interested in this service.