Hello All,

Palm newbie here!

A gardener cut the two lower fronds off of this palm off rather than letting them shed and now my palm spear measurement has not moved in 2 days. I am wondering if the palm could be suffocating a bit because with those lower fronds being cut off rather than shedding, the skin now doesn't have the weight it needs to shed its layers? If it is alive will it eventually be able to push through this and break those layers away or should I cut through the skin to help it?

The palm right next to it IS growing.

The arrows show where the two fronds were cut.

Let not your heart be troubled.

 

It will grow out of it and be fine.

Great! I was thinking eventually it could break through the skin and do what it needs to do if its alive.

So the spear test is not always right. This is good to know!

@Johnny Palmseed I guess my concern is that those lower fronds were cut off about 6-8 weeks ago, so this was not a recent happening. What was recent was me marking the spear,  I did that 2 days ago.

I guess I will just hope the palm is still alive and wait to see if it sheds again, eventually.

Finding a knowledgeable gardener around here seems to be nearly impossible. A person just must turn into one themself!

When green leaves are trimmed, the plant loses some chlorophyll and that will slow it down.  The plant normally retracts the fluid to save it, then the leaf turns brown.  There should be a good reason to remove green leaves, it should not be a matter of trimming practice.  The palm will regain the chlorophyll in time, but each time this is done it can be a bit of a setback, a slowing of growth.  I trim all my own(60+ palms), and I just about never trim a crownshafted palm unless wind damage has left it brown and hanging.  The palm will be fine, I would recommend that you tell your gardener not to remove anything that shows green.

Just now, sonoranfans said:

When green leaves are trimmed, the plant loses some chlorophyll and that will slow it down.  The plant normally retracts the fluid to save it, then the leaf turns brown.  There should be a good reason to remove green leaves, it should not be a matter of trimming practice.  The palm will regain the chlorophyll in time, but each time this is done it can be a bit of a setback, a slowing of growth.  I trim all my own(60+ palms), and I just about never trim a crownshafted palm unless wind damage has left it brown and hanging.  The palm will be fine, I would recommend that you tell your gardener not to remove anything that shows green.

In the past I wasn't watching their every move because I was leaving it up to them to be the experts on how to care for the local fauna. But I've quickly realized that often times strange decisions are made. That gardener no longer works on the property and I've told the current gardener to never cut a palm frond, to let it naturally fall. Thanks for your insight.