drobbins

I don't have enough experience to answer all your questions but the guy who's house I drive by cut the tops out of them at about 5 feet. His shot new growth out of the tops of the p-stems. I did the same with mine this year and I notice the p-stems feel pretty soft right now. I think it would be a good idea to put a plastic bag over the top of the stem to keep rain out. Warm weather, rain runs into stem, cold weather and freeze = bad news. We'll see how they do this spring, keeping my fingers crossed.

Dave