Palm Tree Worms?

[buck40]

I bought these a few years ago. One has grown up like I thought it would and the other seems to have something odd going on at the base and looks terrible...Anybody know about Palm trees and can help advise. These were pricey and called Phoenix Palms when we bought them.

I love posting pics sideways...sorry

Thanks

[Texas276]

It like is like the root ball didn't get all the way covered up/wasn't planted deep enough. Has dirt washed away from the base?
Also if you can pull those old cut off frond bases (boots) off by hand, go ahead and do so.

[buck40]

If they are roots, they seem to be rising...At first it was just around the very base of the tree but it is moving up as those plates fall off. And I can pull some of them off but they are suprisingly pretty tough to pull so I stopped doing it.