Question
QUESTION: Hi Nick,
Our palm trees took a week long blast of temps in the teens. We cut back all the brown palms and left only the few at the top and the sprout of new growth coming from the center.  Now those have turned brown even though the weather is in the 50/60's. I am a novice so I am not sure what to do. Do I cut straight across the top essentially capping it off or do I cut those last leaves where they meet the main trunk? They were very healthy and beautiful prior to the frost but now I am afraid that they will not come back. I just want to make sure I prune them correctly. Please help.

ANSWER: Hi Lisa, all you can do at this point is wait and see, you definitely do not want to take any more fronds off, regardless of color; the heart of the Palm is the key at this point, if it is at all still viable, it will eventually send out healthy new growth, but if the emerging spear from the center is brown (as you indicate...) then it doesn't look good. Make certain that you continue to water it properly and good luck...Nick

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QUESTION: Thank you Nick.  As far as my Banana trees, treat them the same? Those seem to grow like Bamboo - continuously. My neighbor said to cut those down completely and new pups will emerge. Any advice on those?

Answer
...Bananas are different, your neighbor is partially correct, pups will always emerge from the underground "Corm" (Rhizome), but it isn't necessary to cut the Parent plant down to soil level, you can just remove all the melted leaves and allow the main stem (which is known as a pseudostem, because it is actually just concentric leaf tissue..) to remain , and new growth will emerge from the top,..now if you want to, you can cut the pseudostem at any level, and new growth will commence within days from the center of the cut. I leave mine alone, so as to maintain the original height. Water them though, because they need it even more then the Palms. Nick