Quote:
Originally Posted by room237
I am not sure if this has been posted in the correct area, but i have a problem with two of my palm plants.
I had created a garden feature in our back garden and also used at least three pygmy palm plants. Two of which were purchased from a well known DIY store.
The problem is we had a cold winter and the fronds look brown and dead. Nearly the whole plant all the way up and out looks dead. At the base it is still partially green. Can anyone tell me if these plants will grow back into full growth as we approach the summer. Also do i or should i prune every dead frond found or should i leave it?
One of my other pygmy palm plant did sort of go through the same cycle but it is starting to sprout new fronds should i also remove any old frond from that plant too.
I also read that these plants are very prone to infection and that if you cut the frond your cutters must be sterile. What is the correct way to cut the fronds from the plant.
Any help please.
Thank you in advance
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Do you know exactly what you have got? Phoenix roebelenii is commonly known as pygmy date palm. But a "well known DIY centre" is perfectly capable of using "pygmy palm" to mean "a small palm-like plant". A lot of things called "palm" in DIY centres turn out to be cycads or cordylines. And they often sell plants without a correct, or indeed any, species description.
But if you have Ph roebelenii then they are reckoned at best to be hardy to about minus 6C, and that for a well established plant. Considered adventurous if OK in mild corners of Cornwall and central London, if given a sheltered spot, but not a general subject for outdoor cultivation in random gardens across the UK. So if you have that, they are still young, and yours haven't all died following a cold winter, then you are probably doing pretty well.
If it is a dead frond and you are only cutting dead material, I don't see that a cut is going to infect the plant. I would worry more if you were cutting into a still green frond. But all you have to do is sterilise the cutting instrument, for example by dipping it into boiling water for a while.
May as well leave the dead fronds on for now to provide for some frost insulation until risk of frost has passed. Cut them off later at your leisure.
As to whether the one that looks dead at the top is alive - well if it's a real palm they don't usually survive the death of their growing tip. If the top pulls out, then that's probably it. But if it is really a cordyline, say, then it can sprout out from below when it loses the growing tip. Might not be until mid-summer that you see any new shoots, so don't be in a hurry to dig it out.
If you want a real palm that is truly frost hardy, try instead Trachycarpus fortunei. Hardy to about minus 20. Phoenix canariensis also seems to do well across milder areas of Britain without too much trouble, you see them all over the place these days, and I haven't heard of widespread death following the last two winters. There are a few others.