So thought I would throw out this topic to see what the top cycad gurus thought about this. So talking with someone the other day, or maybe reading something, can’t remember, it basically came down to the worry about the stress caused to cycads over time getting their leaves torched every year. Is this true?? I have no idea…which is why I wanted others to chime in. lately we have had really bipolar weather here in dfw…so I have cut the foliage off of mine to cover the caudex for 3 years now. And it seems to me they are actively growing and happy as my weird dieback perennials. Here is a pic of a hybrid rev. that I cut all the leaves off last winter putting on its second flush of the year. Other pics is of one of my employees standing next to it for scale.

 

I'll preface this by saying "I am not a cycad guru."    In general, as long as there's no fungal or bacterial rot due to cold temps, cycads seem to not care about being defoliated.  I have several Encephalartos Laurentianus that get defoliated every single year, and they (so far) reliably grow back around April.  The first flush of leaves is always somewhat small in length and limited in number, but there's a second flush around June-August that's "normal" size for the plant's age.  They don't grow quite as big and robust as ones that don't defoliate.  For example, I have the below Ituriensis that's also not totally hardy here, but is maybe 1-2F hardier than Laurentianus.  So despite being only 15' away from a defoliating Laurentianus, it's only taken a bit of leaf burn and is a monster now.  This picture was in June with 10' fronds and 20' overall diameter:

You can see a few brown leaflets from 2022 and 2023 freezes, but nothing really significant.  Contrast it to this Laurentianus, which is normally a faster grower and much bigger...but barely gets larger each year:

I haven't had any cycads die from defoliation, but I have had a bunch of South African types (Lehmannii, Trispinosus, Arenarius, Horridus, etc) die from root/stem/crown rot after cold fronts.  They seem to be intolerant of winter moisture.  The only Cycas that have died on me are two smaller Pectinata from crown rot after a bad frost.  And I've got 51 Cycas in the ground, including several hybrids like Rev x Deb, Rev x Diannanensis, Rev x Multifrondis, Taitungensis x Deb, and Panzhihuaensis x Deb.

Interesting, winter moisture seems to be an issue with most of my succulents as well, had some nolinas loose their main top crown after one of our worst winters, and they actually started to regrow a new crown, but ended up rotting from excess moisture before they could fully recover. In the growing season, which we have really hot temps, Ive been amazed how much water they can take, same with my cycads, and we have heavy clay. But as you stated, winter moisture is a major problem…