Lethal bronzing is a bacterial disease that has been moving through the Tampa Bay area for years and it kills the palms it infects. The tell is the order of symptoms: premature fruit drop, then the spear leaf dies while older fronds are still green. There is no cure once a palm is symptomatic, and infected palms should be removed rather than left standing as a source of further spread.
How to recognise it
The sequence matters more than any single symptom. Fruit and flowers drop early. Then the newest spear leaf browns and dies while the older fronds below it are still green, which is backwards from ordinary decline and from nutrient deficiency. After that the canopy browns downward and the palm dies, usually within months.
Which palms it hits
Sabal, queen and date palms are the ones we see most in this area, and the sabal is Florida's state tree and the most common palm on Tampa properties. It is spread by a planthopper insect, which is why it moves through a neighbourhood rather than appearing at random.
Why an infected palm should come out
Not because the palm can be saved by acting fast, but because it cannot. A symptomatic palm is going to die and while it stands it is a reservoir the insect can carry from. Removing it protects the other palms on your property and your neighbours'. This is one of the few cases where we will recommend removal without hesitation.
What it is not
Plenty of unhappy palms in Tampa are simply potassium or magnesium deficient, which shows as yellowing or spotting on the oldest fronds first and is correctable with the right fertiliser. Salt-stressed palms near the water are in the wrong place rather than diseased. The spear-leaf-first pattern is what separates lethal bronzing from all of that, and it is worth having someone look before you take a palm out.