Trimming the cold damage off of pygmy date palms

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It's February and it's time to start trimming the cold-damaged leaves from your pygmy date palms (Phoenix roebelienni). We had a serious cold snap in January here in the Phoenix area, and there is a lot of damage to trim away.

In order to do this, trim away as much as you can, all the way to the last remaining few leaves at the center, which should be green. If there are no green leaves at the center, or if the center is mushy, the plant is dead. Palm trees only grow from the heart, so there is no chance that it will suddenly start sprouting out leaves from the sides.

Other than that it looks bad, there is no hurry to trim the leaves. In fact, most harm is done to the plant if the damaged leaves are trimmed off too soon. During the last few days of January, those leaves were protecting the heart and keeping it warm. But the weather has now warmed up quite a bit, especially the nighttime temperatures, so it's safe now. You can do it all the way until summer, if you want to. It's a miserable job to do in the heat, so I'd plan it for finishing it up within the next couple of months.

While you're at it, trim back the stubs from last year's growth. Again, it's just a matter of how it looks, but pygmy date palms look best when the trunk is trimmed back neatly. Unlike Mexican Fan palms, you don't "skin" the trunk, but you cut the stubs down as flush as you can. It's a good idea to keep some nice sharp pruning shears around as doing this makes a nice "busy work" job at your leisure.

You can see that I have more to do. I'd better get cracking!

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