Treating a palm with severe winter cold damage
For Palms that are exposed to temperatures that damage or kill the leaves, especially the emerging spear leaf, you MUST treat the palm as soon as possible after the severe cold spell to prevent lethal bud rot. I tend to be conservative and treat after a major cold event, regardless of whether the damage looks very bad. Keep in mind the fronds that were damaged will continue to look worse in the weeks ahead as the cells die. (The palm that looks only slightly damaged may actually have severe winter damage that will only show up weeks later). Again you can save most cold hardy palms if you follow the steps on this page.
Do not cut off any of the damaged fronds for a month or two. Let Mother Nature take its course. In the spring when new growth is pushing up is a better time to cut off the dead or damaged fronds. This also helps prevent further stress to the palm and will allow you to better assess the cold damage to the palm.
Sometime only the tip of the frond (leaf) is damaged. The dead tips may be cut off if you wish to make the palm look better as it recuperates. After two months and if you are sure the fronds are dead you can cut them off as close to the trunk as possible.
a- Most of a Palm’s body is water. If the temperatures drop below the freezing point (32 degrees F) the water can freeze. The formation of ice crystals within the plant tissues can rupture living cells, causing cell death and tissue damage. If damage is superficial or localized the plant can recover, but if most or all of the plant is frozen, the entire plant may die.
- In Palms, the primary (or spear) leaf often is damaged or killed due to freeze damage in the embryonic stem tissue. Most cold hardy palms that lose their spears or that are defoliated due to extreme cold damage still survive and recover the next growing season, if you follow a few simple steps that are listed below.
Treating the cold damaged Palm
b- It is very important that a fungicide/bactericide treatment be sprayed on the damaged leaf foliage and crown or center spear about every two to three weeks or after a rain fall until new spring growth starts to appear. This will control any bacteria that forms from the decaying cells that have died, by doing this you prevent the new or healthy tissue from getting diseased.
- A common product most gardeners have around their homes that will treat most diseases that a palm gets plus treating cold freeze damage is a rose disease control spray like Ortho Rose Pride (formerly called Funginex disease control spray). Bayer and other companies also make similar products.
- By adding a spray adjuvant (antidesiccant) to the fungicide you will help it work better. (See Winter Watering below).
- If you have not fertilized your palm in the past six months using a good quality Palm fertilizer do so NOW. This will help give the palm the micro nutrients it needs to bounce back from the damage.
* To get more information about when and why it is important to fertilize a palm and why only a good Palm fertilizer should be used click on this link www.hookedonpalms.com/fertilizingyourpalms.html
Winter Watering
- This is not as much of a problem in the Pacific NW; however research has shown that root water uptake is much reduced at soil temperatures below 40 degrees.
- Ensure palms enter the winter season well watered.
- To reduce winter water loss from leaves, I recommend the application of antidesiccant sprays (spray adjuvant which makes water wetter which allows moisture to penetrate and additives like fungicides to work better) to the leaf surfaces and stem tissues.
- If you have trouble finding a spray adjuvant you can simply use a drop or two of Ivory dish washing liquid; it is a form of spray adjuvant. Again it only takes a drop or two in your sprayer.
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