Potassium Deficiency in Palms

This document is about symptoms of potassium (K) deficiency among palm species. This disease appears first on the oldest leaves. Older leaflets of some palms such as Dictyosperma album (hurricane palm) are mottled with yellowish spots that are translucent when viewed from below. In other palms such as Dypsis cabadae (cabada palm), Howea spp. (kentia palms) and Roystonea spp. (royal palms), symptoms appear on older leaves as marginal or tip necrosis with little or no yellowish spotting present (Figures 2 and 3). The leaflets in Roystonea, Dypsis, and other pinnate-leaved species showing marginal or tip necrosis often appear withered and frizzled.