Windmill palm damage after winterization

[Tropical6b]

Hello fellow palm experts,

After winterizing my windmill palm, it had suffered extensive damage to all of its fronds. But it is still alive. Up to today it has produced 4 new fronds.

My question is where do I go from here. Can I remove all the dead fronds? I would like a thick diameter trunk and read somewhere that one should not remove fronds until they hang below 90 degrees. That this will grow a nice thick trunk, is it true?

Attached below is what the palm looked like after the winter.

Thank you,

Joe

[Alicehunter2000]

Hey Joe...looks pretty beat up. You can cut the dead fronds. I would pull on the center spear area to see if it pulls out....if it does, treat with peroxide down the hole, once a week. I hope it makes it.

[SailorBold]

I would cut off all of the fronds and water daily... should help with the recovery.. don't know if I would fertilize it until its well established.

How did you winterize if I may ask?

[Tropical6b]

Thanks for the response guys. The palm is doing very well, with 4 new fronds within 1 1/2 months. So is it correct to cut the dead fronds?

Sailor the way I winterized was wrong. I placed fence pole around the palm with plastic vis queen. Inside was a (2) 150 watt heat lamp directed toward the palm which is plugged into a thermo cube.

[John Case]

Trop,

You can safely cut all of the dead leaf matter (that is the brown leaves, stems, etc). Do not cut anything still green. If the tips are brown, the middle green and the base brown, only cut the tips.

Trimming the palm will only add to its eye appeal and do nothing to make it 'better'. It is your choice but the palm, if left unattended, will at some time in the future shed its dead leaves in any case, but that may be years.

To clarify, I cut dead leaves off my palms all of the time, but have to this point, not snipped any green matter.

Hope this helps.

JC

[Tropical6b]

JC thank you for the informative response. Very helpful.

Do you know if leavening the fronds attached till they fall off has any impact on the diameter of the trunk?

Thank you,

Joe

[Brad Mondel]

The dead fronds will not contribute to the Palm anymore so it is safe to remove them. You only need to trim below 90 degrees when the Palm is healthy. But if it's damaged by cold it's best aesthetically to remove all brown and damaged fronds.

[Tropical6b]

Great! Thank you Arch for your help.

[John Case]

JC thank you for the informative response. Very helpful.

Do you know if leavening the fronds attached till they fall off has any impact on the diameter of the trunk?

Thank you,

Joe

Since the natural flow of things is that they fall off as the trunk expands, I would think not.......

[Tropical6b]

Ok. Thank you bepah.

[Jimhardy]

Dont know if you are still following this but it probably

overheated in there,I usually put a sensor right at the

crown so I can get an idea of the temps,sunny days in

winter can easily create 120F temps in there.

Sometimes I will strap some cardboard to the

outside of the cover to shade it some,esp if

not around to open the tops on warm days.

[SailorBold]

I would be cautious using any kind of enclosure for an extended period of time.. unless you have serious supplemental heat. If the humidity level gets extremely high inside during a freeze the damage will be much worse it could make heavy frost more prevalent