How to cut off Cordyline (Torbay Palm) flowers to encourage new leaf growth

We have had loads of flowers on our Cordylines this year - possibly because we had a cold winter and that stressed the Cordyline trees ... and it is said that stressed plants will produce more flowers in an effort to produce seeds.
We do like to collect some Cordyline seeds to start new plants - but we do not need thousands of new Cordylines!!
So, in this video, Roger shows us close up how he cuts away the whole bunch of flowers and we can see straight away how the Cordyline Palm tree starts to produce lots of multi branched new shoots, instead of just one main shoot.
The hope is that by pruning off the large bunch of dead flowers the plant will now be able to put all its energy in to putting on lots of new leaf growth in summer rather than wasting energy on seed production.
If you want to have a go at growing some new Cordylines from seeds, you could leaves a small number of dead flowers on the tree and let the little green seeds matuer over autumn and early winter before picking them when they are a white / pale brown colour here is a link to out video all about how to do this • Experiment - splitting...
If you subscribe to our channel and look our the playlist all about growing hardy exotics and Palms and you will find many useful videos and helpful comments and questions from other subscribers - we hope to hear from you soon - thanks!
#cordyline #UK #long #leaf #hardy #flower #flowers

[@robertjones7182]

Hi rescued a cordiline from a skip last year the bark has been eaten by rodents but still looks healthy enough do you think it will survive with most of bark taken off thank you Rob Jones north wales

[@rogthegardener1]

Hi Rob, thanks for your message, how big is the plant and how do the leaves look (green and healthy?) any new leaves appearing this spring?

[@robertjones7182]

Yes looks really healthy just re potted in to a whisky barrel but if the skin of a normal tree is stripped it will die but is it the case on the cordiline thank you

[@rogthegardener1]

@@robertjones7182 Cordylines are amazingly resilient, they seem to be 'full of life' - I have damaged the outer 'skin' on some of mine over the years and they have been fine ... each case is different of course, but it sounds like yours is happy and healthy - so well done, I have a few 'skip plants with a happy ending' myself. If you get any problems / concerns in the future don't hesitate to get back in touch. Enjoy your garden!

[@geoffisaac3511]

Last year I cut down the branches with seeds on put them in a dark bag in the glass house before the birds had them and had a massive amount of plants this year

[@rogthegardener1]

Oh wow! that's brilliant well done!

[@L.O.R.D.Y]

Hi I’ve just moved into a bungalow in south wales uk and it has a cordyline in the front garden that has 2 flower stems is it to late to cut them off ? If so what is the best time to do this cheers..

[@rogthegardener1]

Hi, whereabouts in south wales are you ( I live in Caerphilly), I think you could do it anytime ... I assume the flowers are gone and all you have now are the old bunches with dead flowers / seeds? How big is your plant?

[@L.O.R.D.Y]

@@rogthegardener1 hi roger I am in Newport Gwent the tree is about 6 foot tall and has lots of seed on it I only noticed the seeds because every day I have lots of birds at the base of it feeding on the seed I’ve never grown one of these before and my wife wants to keep it so I’ve been looking on you tube about pruning and general maintenance and found your channel witch is excellent. Thanks for the reply 👍

[@paulac19Love]

I’m in uk, how do u take shoots growing down low on stem

[@rogthegardener1]

Hiya, thanks for your comment, are you thinking of cutting shoots off to start new plants?

[@paulac19Love]

@@rogthegardener1 yes I’ve about six new ones growing on stem

[@paulac19Love]

@@rogthegardener1 yes

[@rogthegardener1]

@@paulac19Love OK, well I have never done that but will see if I have any suitable shoots low down on any of ours and if we have I will give it a go, and make a video out of it .. and give you a shout out - if thats ok?

[@paulac19Love]

@@rogthegardener1 ok thankyou

[@MrJohnsolomon]

What a shame you cut off its main feature. They will still have new branches even if you don't take the flowers off. They come off easily later in the year. For me the flowering is the most amazing part of its life process.

[@rogthegardener1]

Hi, many thanks for your comment, and yes you are right they will still produce some new growth, but I was hoping to encourage the as much growth as soon as possible so it has time to 'ripen / toughen' up before the winter sets in as in the previous winter we had some very cold weather which damaged a lot of Cordylines with soft new growth around the UK. Just to be clear - we only removed the old flower spike after all the flowers had finished and the seeds were forming. I do agree that the Cordyline flowers are a lovely feature, and am excited to see lots of new flower spikes emerging already so we should have plenty of flowers again this summer! Enjoy your garden

[@MrJohnsolomon]

@@rogthegardener1 I grow mine in Zaragoza Spain. I suppose the climate will influence the growth. At the moment it's flowering all the way round. It's stunning. Last time it went from a main trunk to 13 branches. But I see what you mean now and why you cut them. We have hardly any rain here. I have to do a lot of work to keep it the way it is. Thanks for educating me. Here's mine. I just uploaded to show you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5PLf4Gkmp5kl5Ifeature=shared

[@rogthegardener1]

@@MrJohnsolomon Oooh sunny Spain sounds lovely, will look at your video - thanks"

[@gerardcoultard714]

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