Tropical Storm Fay brushed over southeastern Florida and shook out twigs, leaves and palm fronds from our tree canopies, but left most of our gardens intact. Large bananas, tall gingers, heliconias and bamboo may have been toppled or snapped, but these tropical plants will come back.

The downside, no doubt, will be the spread of citrus canker, ficus whitefly and other exotic pests that are damaging our vulnerable landscapes.

Otherwise, the storm was a wake-up call for many of us in South Florida: If you have not assessed your tree canopies yet, don't wait.

If your trees lost branches, look for the wounds and use a pruning knife or small saw to even up the jagged wood without enlarging wounds. Don't bother with pruning paint; it will only lock in disease.

Orchid growers who lowered plants to the ground will want to take a couple of steps now. First, if shade cloth was blown away, cover the plants with used shade cloth you have stashed in the garage for emergencies to prevent sunburn.

Then, advises commercial grower Martin Motes, you can spray with Physan, an ammonia product, while wet. Allow them to dry thoroughly for two or three days. If they have been badly buffeted and have gouges in their leaves and roots, spray with a mix of cupric hydroxide or copper (Kocide or Champion), one tablespoon per gallon, plus manzate or Dithane M45, also one tablespoon per gallon, with a spreader-sticker, a product that allows the chemicals to cling to plants.

Motes, author of Florida Orchid Growing Month by Month (Redland Press or Home Depot, $22.50) suggests blending the copper and manzate and allowing the mix to stand for two hours to overnight. Spray the mix on your orchids to prevent bacterial disease.

For palms, pour copper fungicide or Subdue into the crown and around the root zone. Your palms may look fine now, but if they are used as single specimens in the landscape or were hit by strong wind gusts, the interior growing point may be damaged. An application of fungicide or copper can help prevent interior rot of the heart. You won't know for weeks or even months if badly shaken palms will succumb to rot, so treat them now. The longer you wait, the greater the chance that disease can develop.

A warning: Too much copper can be toxic to plants, Motes said. So one or two sprays may work fine, but no more. And keep copper away from bromeliads and ferns.

If using Aliette, another systemic fungicide that works against water molds and bud rot, do not mix it with copper because it can adversely react with metal.

Subdue or Aliette are good products to use on avocado trees that grow in low-lying areas. Avocados do not like ''wet feet,'' and trees that sit in wet areas for more than two or three days may develop root rot. When water recedes, drench roots with the systemic fungicide.

We dropped large hanging baskets as well as orchids to the ground and as a precaution sprinkled snail bait around them. Make sure, when placing baskets of ferns, orchids or anthuriums back into trees or their orchid shelters, that you examine them for snails.

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