It looks like I have a pattern of asking for advice on my rotted trees. Hopefully others getting into hardy palm gardening can get informed too.

I would cover it with the can and wrap it with lights and wait for sunny weather and warmer days

I agree with what you've already done and with Mike. I would periodically pour peroxide into the crown, maybe again after about a week or so, cover with the trash can only when its raining though. You want to make sure to get air flow into the crown to dry it out when it isn't raining.

One thing you might want to consider is that waiting to see growth can give the crown more time to rot,if there are no leaves left on the palm as it appears in your pictures there may not be any indication as to how far the rot has traveled into the palm.At this point it is a good idea to cut a few inches down the trunk from the top with a very sharp knife,keep going until you see green tissue,when you do treat with fungicde,it may also be usefull to angle your cut slightly,this will help rain run off untill it grows a new spear,this will incourage the new srear to grow,if this was a normal spring you would probably be alright with just lettng it grow out but with all the rain and cool weather the palm may not recover if the crown has serious rot going on-this method also works very well with banana plants.

Now it's rotted trachy that spends rainy days inside.

I'm sorry to hear it didn't recover for you in ground. Has it been showing any signs of recovery since you potted it? One other thing, maybe it has root rot too? Were the roots white when you dug it up? Or were they brown? If they were brown or black, then you probably have root rot in addition to crown rot.

I agree with Islb,every palm I have dug up(or pulled up)with spear pull has dead roots without exception,occasionally you will see where it put out a few little roots but this is decline and palm is extremely unlikely to ever recover.I should also mention that the reason I pulled them up was not only because of spear pull but because they had not grown at all,if I discovered the roots were still alive I would repot as you did, at this point in the season any plants in the ground in this condition need to be replaced with new plants so new plants can get established if there to have a chance to make it through the winter and the removed plant hospitalized indoors untill it recovers to possibly be tryed again next year if it recovers enough

If they don't drain quickly they will hold too much moisture and will rot Rain should not matter if you have your ground acclimated to drain. It will recover it may take 3 or 4 months before it does but it should.

Thanks for the replies. The roots are 100% ok and white. The palm was near a sprinkler head and the rainy days (even though it was covered on those days) made it impossible to dry out in its spot. I cut out all of the soggy fiber material and it's out on the patio now. When I dug it up there was no trapped water to indicate poor damage.

the near defoliation and the crown rot in may and non stop rain is to blame I think

Sounds like the weather was the prob-I would still cut down on the trunk untill you see live tissue,this will not hurt the plant and will encourage it to put out new growth much faster.Palms coming out of winter in cold climates need to gradually be exposed to moisture,cold roots and cold crowns will get them every time as they are low on stored energy coming out of winter.

I did some more cutting and sprinkled copper sulfate on all the white stem material.

ITS ALIVE! Should come back pretty quickly now once sun starts hitting that center area.I would get it all cleaned up now and trim all that dead stuff away.As you probably know you'll need to baby it for at least a year before trying it outside again.Looking better though, Good luck!

For sure, I'll keep it potted and then garage it for the winter and yeah, SPRING too.

I grew a musa basjoo inside in the spring and when I placed it out, the leaves weren't resistand to normal wind and fluctuations in temperature. Would growth on a palm have the same problem? For a basjoo it's not a big deal because it is meant to shed and regrow.

Just let it adjust to sun and wind gradually,I put mine in the ground to quick and burned all but the new leaves!big mistake when you consider this will be the first year in the ground for most,and they are playing catch up all summer,live and learn.I'm curious,don't you have a sunny window for this palm for the winter?

It's fun trying to grow things not meant for colder zones but this just shows how reality plays itself out. Many things have to go right for success.

I had a very similar problem, however, I cut mine to about a foot from ground straight accross 3 1-2" stalks. It recovered in early June and is now starting to grow out of control.

I also thought I was ruined, however, it did recover (had no winter covering). I just assumed it was dead. These are amazing plants if it took this last Winter's beating in SE Michigan and survived.

BTW, my Monkey Puzzle Trees did quite well with no signs of distress. Quite amazing as well.

Aren't monkey puzzles some of the hardiest trees?

I've been told that Monkey Puzzles can tolerate down to -4 F for very brief times. Their native climate is along the coastal mountains of Chile and Peru and can be found at quite high altitudes; however, when it gets really cold there, it recovers very quickly and the plant has adapted.

The real trick is to get them growing without rotting in SE Michigan due to snow cover and horrid humid summer conditions. They can be found more prominantly along the US NW Coast.

Maybe we are embarking on a new trend???

... I hope so!

I was told and warned by a few MP enthusiast that it would not make it even 1 year in SE Michigan.

Congratulations on your palm! The spear on my trachy pulled in spring too after we were out of frost, which was a horrible feeling. if it's gonna pull, let it pull when its 10 degrees out, not 75.

As for monkey puzzles, they are awesome. They grow everywhere in NJ, especially along the in NJ, especially on Asbsecon Island. I know of a few pretty large specimens there.

I just wanted to say that cutting to live material as jimhardy suggested is the way to save palms. I have saved two expensive palms this way. Never give up on a palm. I had a princeps that lost its spear in heat; it also recovered. Good luck.

I have a baby princeps too that has lost its spear,I hope it comes back,I'd hate to loose it!

the tree continued to rot and is now a done deal. Its replacement is on the way and I'll plant it next week.

Good deal,don't be afraid to plant now either,just make sure to work the soil so its loose so those roots can spread out with as little resistance as possible,and as always make sure soil drains well.I think at least as important and maybe more in some ways is keeping it dry(what is your zone and state)in mid fall going in to winter,through the winter and then not giving it to much water rightaway going into spring as roots dry up a little in dry soil you don,t want to overwater.I only watered mine a handfull of times during the winter lightly,and twice I watered it deeper( only when I saw that there was no frigid weather in the foreseeable future),and made sure it was dry before and during any arctic blasts,this does require watching the weather closely,its also important to have big enough openings to let moisture vent after watering.I planted mine Nov 1 and they made it fine,but I did baby them,nothing below 9F and never above 90F,(I wish the 90F would have been less but they did allright anyway)your new one should do fine.B.T.W,CFT nursery on e-bay has sone great deals on trachys etc.GOOD LUCK FRMMI!!!!!!! Here are some pics of mine in april and now-

I hate to see someone lose a windmill palm. We have to realize that palms don't grow here and we must protect them fully in the winter. If you don't, expect to lose the palm sooner then later. ,,Bill