How to prune a freeze-damaged ponytail palm

My 10 year old ponytail palm froze during a short 2 day winter storm. It was about 25 degrees, and the palm is on the covered patio. All the fronds died, and I have a stub protruding from the woody base of the palm that is about 5 inches tall. I scraped a small spot of the woody base and it is green, but I have not seen any new growth emerge from the stub. Am I supposed to cut the stub down to the woody base of just leave it. There is some slight green color visible on the stub, but it’s mostly brown.

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1 Comment To "How to prune a freeze-damaged ponytail palm"

#1 Comment By Downtoearthdigs On 03/21/2018 @ 8:27 pm

The best course of action right now is probably to leave the plant alone. Cutting it back more will just open it up to disease and damage from any more freak temperature drops. Ponytail palms are pretty tough, and given time there’s a good chance it will grow back.
You can read more about pruning ponytail palms here:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/ponytail-palm/pruning-ponytail-palms.htm ^[1]
You can read more about saving plants from cold damage here:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/tips-for-saving-cold-damaged-plants.htm ^[2]

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[1] https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/ponytail-palm/pruning-ponytail-palms.htm: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/ponytail-palm/pruning-ponytail-palms.htm

[2] https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/tips-for-saving-cold-damaged-plants.htm: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/tips-for-saving-cold-damaged-plants.htm

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