My Cordyline australis (palm tree) has been damaged by the frosts. Can it be revived?

My Cordyline australis (palm tree) has been damaged by the frosts. Can it be revived?

It seems to me that every one of these threes in the country looks dead.

They're a good indicator of where the cold weather hit. Parents in Cork have one and it's fine, next door neighbour to me in Leinster chopped theirs down last week as it was dead. I've seen some start to sprout leaves about 2-3 feet from the top, I presume that's a good sign as I've seen others with no growth at all. I'd say if you haven't seen anything by now, it 's had it

ajapale if the centre of the plant is dead/rotten, it's a goner I'm afraid. Growth in palm-like plants comes from the heart, even if outer leaves are ok, the plant will die. If the cordyline has more than one branch, and other hearts have survived, cut down the dead one, the remaining parts of the plant will survive.

As a by the by, frost sensitive plants should be protected in severe cold. Use old blankets or buy specialised plant protectors (this is cheap & looks like a see thro sheet) from the garden centre. If the plant is smallish, bank around with mulch/bark which will retain heat. The natural decomposition of mulch generates heat & protects the plant.

There's a thread over on boards.ie regarding this topic - found it while researching the reason for the demise of my own cordylines!

They're only frost-hardy to about -5 degrees, so the prolonged cold spell has done for them!

Here's the link: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055801106

I had a beautiful 12 year old one but the 2009 cold spell killed it.

I left it thinking it might recover but I will have to be realistic and have it taken out this year. Not a green shoot in sight.

Marion

ajapale said:

My Cordyline australis (palm tree) has been damaged by the frosts. Can it be revived?

It seems to me that every one of these threes in the country looks dead.

Click to expand...

My god, Aj! That's some back garden you've got there!!!

I've done a lot of suburban walking over the last month or so and I've seen dozens and dozens of damaged ones in people's gardens also. Most of them look like they won't recover..............

Our's in Cork has lost all it's leaves and the end (three trunks) are oozing red / white stuff. Should we cut our losses and cut it down? Have noticed lots in the area have suffered.

No!

mine are seven years old and think I will just cut them down as the look awful when driving through the gates and will do so i reckon for many a month still.

I had four of them in my garden. They were severely damaged in the 2009 freeze. The two smaller ones didn't survive. The two taller ones did, and the leaves came through the trunk, which didn't look great. Its looks like this winter has killed them both off, but I'm giving them a few more weeks to see if there is any sign of recovery. One of them is oozing white stuff, which I am taking as a bad sign.

Just noticed new growth about 6 inches from base of my Cordylines - had given up on them and put in 3 new plants just a few weeks ago after I noticed the old trunks had a smell like rotten silage !!!

They were discussing this on gardeners world a few weeks ago. That smell is typical of the bacteria which have started to grow in the damaged fibers of the trunk as a result of frost damage. They suggested cutting it down to about four feet and giving it a year to see if new growth will appear.

Weather forcaasters are predicting on-going arctic winters for the next 50 yrs! I'd cut my losses on these trees unless you can protect them or live near the coast, which should moderate low temps.