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Winter-damaged Trachycarpus Nainital...Need Help

islandbreeze
11 years ago

I have a small Nainital, about 5" of trunk, beat up by winter. When I uncovered it, the leaves were burnt and the spear pulled. But the petioles are still green.

Can I cut the green petioles off? Should I trunk cut? Like I mentioned, it doesn't have much of a trunk as it is. I already treated the spear pull with peroxide.

Comments (12)

  • jimhardy
    11 years ago

    Post a picture of it first-my Nainital is the same dark
    green variety as yours and pulled almost every year
    early on-look at the newest leaves after the part that
    pulled and see if the fans are open or closed.....
    treat it now with dry copper fungicide powder.

    Don't operate just yet-it is the warmer temps that will
    speed up the fungal growth-lets see how the other leaves
    are first...

  • tropicalzone7
    11 years ago

    I wouldn't take anything off that's green. My pindo palm has the same problem this year but the petioles are still green and the center is still green (as well as one random frond) so I have a little bit of hope that it will pull through (but this weather has to warm up!). Trachys are a lot more tolerable of damage than pindo palms and a lot more willing to give up (and recover from) spear pull. I left a small potted trachy seedling out this winter in the middle of my deck with no protection and it was almost completely burnt and the spear pulled but it looks like a new one is popping up now.

    Good luck and keep us updated!
    -Alex

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Here are a few pics...tell me what u guys think.

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    And another....

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    And another

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    And the last one...

  • jimhardy
    11 years ago

    Its hard to tell with the leaf damage if the core is affected/ or soon will be when temps warm.
    Try to keep it as dry as possible in the center area without increasing the heat around it-it may take a while to come back as we need some warm weather to warm up the soil.

    You will just have to trust your own instincts in regard to trunk cutting,try removing all the dead tissue off it for starters and then take a closer look at the leaves to see if the fans are open or closed near the center-this will be harder to observe with the amount of leaf damage.

    Heres is what to look for-

    Notice the leaf at 2 o'clock has blades that are closing up and the one in the upper left has the blades open?

    When they start to close like that you know where the petioles connect to the trunk is dead,watch very closely and if you are not sure you can always begin cutting down on the trunk a little at a time at an angle to the sun to see if there is live tissue down there.

    Here it is later in the spring.

    You may be able to see the fans blades are starting to close up on this leaf.

    I thought this one was o.k. but the spear pulled here too.

    I ended up having to go this far down(next picture) to find live tissue....
    the warmer weather will cause the fungal infection to speed up so watch it closely-keep it dry and use(preferably)a dry fungicide treatment as you really don't want more moisture in there-good luck..

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks guys.

    I ended up leaving the green petioles, but cutting off the browned leaves. I gave it another dose of peroxide and covered it with a trash can while we had some rain. Now it's supposed to be dry for the next few days, with highs around 50, so I'm leaving it uncovered to let it dry out.

    Hope this works. I've been growing this thing for several years and would hate to have to start over, especially with a palm as promising as a Nainital.

  • Kokomo-JB
    11 years ago

    Hey Islandbreeze!

    I gave MikeTropic a home-made formula which seemed to revive his palm. I can tell you what to get, how to prepare and apply it if you are interested. Mike seemed happy with the results. Let me know, I'm happy to help.

  • islandbreeze
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hi Kokomo, any helpful recipes or remedies would be appreciated. I don't have much to lose. Thanks

  • Kokomo-JB
    11 years ago

    I found this to work in the past on other tropical flowers. It is a simple formula that contains a multitude of vitamins and minerals that plants need for all aspects of it's life processes.

    Once again, it seems to have worked for MikeTropic and maybe it's his opinion you want to also seek. While it has yielded positive results-I promise nothing but hope at this point...and can't guaranty any outcomes.

    Go to the supermarket and buy:

    1 Can of "Sliced Beets"
    2 Bananas

    This is the proportion, if you need to make more in one shot, add proportionately IE: 2 cans of Sliced Beets/4 Bananas

    Put it all in a blender as set it for "Puree". This stuff truly needs to come out as liquified as possible.

    Take any container/cup that you would use for watering. Pour in 1/3 mixture to 2/3 very warm water and mix well. Keep unused mix in refrigerator as you will need to repeat this process everyday for 5-7 days.

    Pour it all over the soil so that it spreads out to reach the entire root system.

    Depending on the condition of the roots, you should see it perk up in a day or 2.

    Good Luck and let me know what happens.

  • Kokomo-JB
    11 years ago

    Just Checking in...did you try it?

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