Spring is here and that means new growth on your plants and multiplying insects looking for homes on that new growth. Australian Brush Cherry (Eugenia or Szygium) are hosts to the Eugenia Psyllid adults, eggs, and nymphs (crawlers). Psyllids suck plant juices, produce sticky honeydew which attracts sooty mold and distort and discolor new leaf growth, eventually causing defoliation and die back.

Lately, as I’ve been driving around, I’ve noticed a number houses that have Queen Palms with yellow fronds and, you know what? It doesn’t have to be that way. I just want to go knock on their doors and give them the 411 on palm care. These palms are not happy. They’re hungry, they need some food…unfortunately, for these guys, their fronds are doomed to stay yellow. Palms don’t react to fertilizers like other plants. If the fronds grow out as yellow, they stay yellow. It will only be the new growth that will grow out green after getting fed…and most likely what they need is manganese.