Symtoms
- Middle aged palms are more fatally affected
- Palms bear profusely just prior to and at the initiation of symptoms
- Outer whorl of leaves wither and droop with yellowing and browning.
- The outer whorl of leaves remaining suspended vertically around the stem for a long time to form a skirt of dead leaves around the trunk
- Leaves break or buckle very close to their bases
- Successively produced leaves are smaller and the crown is reduced to a mere handful of short erect yellow leaves
- Apex of the trunk tapers
- Drooped leaves fall off one by one leaving only a few smaller leaves at the apex
- The newly formed leaves are pale and smaller in size
- Finally smaller leaves wither and bud decays
- Crown is easily blown off by wind
- Rotting of the basal portion of the stem is very characteristic
- Brittle bark often gets peeled off in flakes leaving open cracks and crevices
- Bleeding of reddish brown viscous fluid with the decayed tissues beneath. It is restricted to basal portion of the stem (0.1-1.5 m) from the base
- The internal tissues are discoloured, disintegrated and emitting a bad smell
- Bole decays rapidly resulting in the formation of large cavities
- Extensive damage of the root system following rotting and disintegration of cortical tissues
- Necrosis of male flowers and poorly developed few female flowers in the inflorescence, arrest the development of bunches and barren nuts
- Bracket shaped shiny waxy brown frutification of the fungus at the base of the trunk after the death of the palm
Control Measures
- Completely remove dead palms and palms in advanced stage of the disease. Burn the boles and root bits of the palms
- Isolate the affected palm from the healthy ones by digging a trench of 1m deep and 50cm wide at 2.0m away from the bole of the infected palm
- Add 50 kg farmyard manure or green leaves per palm per year
- Apply 5 kg neem cake per palm per year
- Reduce fertilizer application to one fourth of the recommended dose
- Drench the basin with 40 litres of 1% Bordeaux mixture after soaking soil, at quarterly interval for one year
- Root feeding of 2 g Aureofungin-sol + 1g of Copper sulphate in 100 ml of water or Calixin 2ml in 100 ml water at quarterly interval
- Avoid flood irrigation or ploughing in infected gardens to prevent spread of inoculums
- Regularly irrigate basins during summer months or conserve moisture by coconut husk burial
- Avoid growing leguminous crops in and around the garden
- Apply Trichoderma harzianum fortified in neem cake /compost / vermicompost / other organic wastes
Dept of Agriculture Development 
SFAC Kerala