[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[dayaz at cox.net]

David & Janet Day
85338
dayaz at cox.net

"Queen Palms"  
Firstly, we have 7 Queens grouped in two different locations that were planted about 9 years ago.  They were beautiful for the first several years and then we suffered through 4+ years with them unable to keep their center fronds from falling over.  We used Bordeaux religiously as prescribed by landscaper but to no avail.  They were just beginning to bounce back in the last year from the stumpy, dwarfed center stem state to what appeared to be a normal frond when the larger trees started having difficulty keeping their center stem upright.  About a month ago one of the smaller Queens center stem fell over before it opened and started burning brown.  Very soon thereafter and all fronds started turning brown, and   within 2-3 weeks it became apparently it the tree was dying.  We are now seeing the exact symptoms on the tree next to this one (also one of the smaller ones)  and we are afraid we are loosing it too.  Is this something contagious?  Will we loose all of my trees?  Is there anything we can do?  Now none are able to maintain their new center stems although they still appear green.  Our neighbor immediately behind us has 2 dead Queens that are approximately 10 feet from ours - is there a connection?  Also, if they are all infected with something and we lose them, can we plant new Queens in same locations?
Thank you for your assistance
David & Janet Day