In article ,
says...

room237;880148 Wrote:
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
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,
Ph roebelenii! I would go as far as saying it can not be grown outside
in the uk without heavy protection, all the people that I know with Ph
roebelenii have lost them, indeed very few small young palms even the
hardy ones like Trachycarpus will survive without winter protection for
the first few years.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea