Cabbage Palm - What to do?

My cabbage palm took a bit of a hammering this last winter but made it through. Unlike a lot of others.

It is in a raised planter but the bottom is open to the ground.

It's a bit tatty buy is growing well so will green up fine.

It has flowered as can be seen from the first pic.

It has sprouted about a third of the way up the trunk.

My questions are -

1. What do I do with the flower stalk? Do I cut it off once it's spent?

2. Is it ok to leave the side sprout? Will it develop into a split trunk?

3. As the long term forecast is for further severe winters, is there anything I can do to protect it in the winter?

4. Is it worth feeding it up prior to the winter?

Thanks,
Gaz

 

Hi Gaz,

1. Yes you cut off the flower stalk close to main stem after flowering.

2. Whether to leave the side shoot is purely a matter of taste! If you want a tall stem with a single head, remove it. if you want a multi headed plant, leave it. You ought to look at a few images of different shaped plants and decide what you want to do.

3. As your plant managed to survive the coldest winter on record...lets hope you'll continue being lucky. Fleece over the head and bubble wrap around the planter might help a bit...but this only slows down the speed of the temp dropping, so when we have day and night of freezing temps for a long spell, it doesn't really help.

4. I wouldn't feed it up as winter is coming - you don't want a lot of fresh weak growth in time for the frosts. Feed it through the growing season if you think it needs it. Your plant looks good to me as it is for now.

 

Hang on... it's only July... what month does winter begin where you are living?

 

I would cut off the flower now, On smaller plants such as yours flowering can take a lo out of a cordyline and set it back.

The side shoot could be an indication of damage elsewhere in the plant from last winter, so I would leave it on in case you do get problems emerging later.

Agreed on wrapping the pot, also consider pulling it up against a house wall for winter - ideally south facing.

As for feeding, it is now getting late in the season to be feeding plants such as cordylines and agree with Julie, start feeding in the spring from April to June, you probably would be ok if you fed now, but certainly not into August.