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What is Lethal Bronzing Disease?
Discovered in Tampa Florida in 2006, Lethal Bronzing Disease is an infection spread through small planthoppers, that causes palms to decline quickly. It is an untreatable and fatal disease; once a palm is infected there is no cure.
Lethal bronzing is caused by a phytoplasma, a unique type of bacteria.
The first symptoms of LBD are early fruit drop or flower blackening (necrosis), followed by discoloration beginning with the oldest leaves, and progressing upward. The foliage turns a bronze-like brown and dries, this symptom is where the "bronzing" in lethal bronzing comes from.
What does LBD look like?
How is it transmitted?
Lethal Bronzing Disease is spread by a little planthopper beetle called the "Haplaxius crudus".
This tiny beetle is less than 5mm in length in adults!
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