Bacteria killing Florida Palm Trees

An insect with a disgusting habit is killing palm trees in the Tampa Bay, Florida area, and experts are worried the disease will affect trees around the state. Sightings of Texas Phoenix Palm Decline appeared in Manatee County, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk counties, although experts say Manatee County is still the hardest-hit area.

According to University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, a planthopper insect spreads the disease but the exact kind of bug isn't yet known. The small bacteria, called phytoplasma, affect the bottom palm leaves first. Those leaves turn yellow and eventually die, then the bacterium affects the young spear leaf and eventually the entire tree is killed.

''It's pretty scary,'' said Brian Dick, assistant superintendent for parks in the city of Lakeland. ''We've invested quite heavily in our palm trees over the past 25 years. To have a disease come out of nowhere and kill our palm trees, it's pretty disappointing.''

Dick estimates that 20 to 30 percent of the city's 700 Phoenix palms, a type of tree that includes the expensive and showy Sylvester palm are infected with the disease. An unknown number of sabal palms within the city are also infected, he said.

Monica L. Elliott, a professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, said it's troubling that the state tree, the native sabal palm, is also affected by the disease.

While landscapers and cities can manage the condition with antibiotic injections, that's only likely to happen with expensive trees. It's less feasible to do so in wild sabal palms, she said.

If the condition spreads throughout the state, Elliot said it could change the entire Florida landscape.

''We would be losing a large population of a native palm that is found throughout the entire state. We wouldn't see it in the natural areas,'' she said.