Cold Damaged Palm (Click to Enlarge)
Photo by Tom MacCubbin
Many gardeners have Areca (pictured),
Christmas, Foxtail, Royal, Roebelenii and other palms that have been
damaged by the cold. Will they survive? Do you prune of the foliage?
What can you do to help?
According to information released by
Florida’’s palm experts at the University of Florida the best thing to
do is wait. The real secret to whether the palms can make a recovery is
in the trunks. If the one bud per trunk is severely damaged the palm or
at least that one trunk is not going to recover. If it is healthy or
just burnt by the cold a little it could regrow new shoots. But you
won’t know until warmer weather when growth normally occurs.
One
treatment the experts do suggest is a copper fungicide application
following label instructions. This can help keep secondary fungal and
bacterial organisms from encouraging additional decline of injured
foliage and buds. When it comes to pruning it’s alright to take off
the outer brown portions but leave the base on the trunk. This acts as
insulation just in case another freeze returns this winter. And no
fertilizer is applied until early March. If the palms are not growing
they are not going to need fertilizer.
This appears to be a
waiting game for palm owners but with a little luck and a good spring
hopefully most will recover.
