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Pygmy Date Palm Help

AthenaP
11 years ago

I have 3 palms in my back yard and my Great Dane decided to chew one of them in half. I was wanting to find out if I can cut it back and it will live or will it end up dying anyway.

Thanks,

Athena

Comments (4)

  • chachacharlie
    11 years ago

    You can trim/cut off the affected fronds and it should be OK - just don't cut off all of them. The more intact leaves you leave on, the faster the palm will recuperate.

  • denninmi
    11 years ago

    I guess it depends on what you mean by "chewed in half" -- if it was just the foliage, and the meristem (growing point) down inside the trunk is intact, it's fine, it will pop out new growth from the center.

    If the trunk itself was chewed, it just depends. A palm actually has sort of the same structure as an onion, where the meristem sits atop the a "basal plate" type structure. If the dog chewed it above this point, it will grow, below, it's toast.

  • AthenaP
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you so much for the comments, after he chewed it there is about 2' left above ground. I will see what happens.

  • lzrddr
    11 years ago

    Well, that trunk is probably dead now, but if there were multiple palms in the group, they should grow back. Some P roebellenii are suckering and will grow back anyway. Some are not and chewing off the head will kill the palm.

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