Spear-pull,some odds and...not the ends(-:

[hardyjim]

With temps going into the 50s again today I checked on a few palms,ferns....

today the mulch is thawed enough to pull off some of the enclosures but
first some spear pullers.


Here's what this(trunk cut Fortunei) palm looked like last Jan 12th

Notice the unhealthy "yellow" coloration of the leaf just opening and
the closed blades on the one that's a little bigger,next to it.




Here it is in April,in addition to the cold damage,you can see the leaf blades are closed up,or
at least beginning to close up,this was/is a sign that the center is rotted where this leaf attaches
and that it is lost,it continued to decline and eventually pulled-wish I had more pictures of the whole process!




This was the signal(in addition to no spear emerging) that something drastic was necessary,
as you guys know,I had to cut to the ground to find any living tissue,I was hopeful but that is
quite a cut to have to make!
A couple days later...something good happened







As you guys know 3 of 5 made a full recovery,
notice the cut at the bottom-does having an established root system help or what!
Other Fortunei


Here's the one pictured above in Oct-the other to recover(the FortxWag)is
right down and to the right,also next to the porch.






Here is the Fortunei today 12-31-10,in good shape this year.



The FortxWag is one of the ones with spear-pull,3 years in a row for various reasons!

Trachys are so tough,you just gotta love them)

Here's the FortxWag-Barb,you can see no surgery is necessary...at this point



Takagii also pulled but is holding steady as well-



C.cerifera....not sprayed with Neem oil!:evil:



Here's the Princeps,also sprayed with Neem oil and also pulled and.....
like a dumb ass,I sprayed it in the sun,yeeeaaa!-that's why the leaves are damaged-
I found another way to kill my palm with neem oil and I knew better!
The good news is,it is happy in it's protection and holding firm!!!!:D




Here is my last Korean Waggie,also pulled(can you guess what happened to the other 2? )

still in good shape though and looky there behind it....the Cordyline Australis,
looking better than ever at this point in the season.
The Cordyline has regrown from the roots for 3 or 4 years now,maybe this year it
can keep going!





I also checked/watered the T.ferns today,temps have been steady through all this cold
(thanks to the Thermocube)from 37-47(F)


Squarossa



Dicksonia Antarctica


Sequoia-looking good




Just a few days ago I posted this-



...and now,it looks like this.




Cactus bed-I cut a hole out while no heat is needed(next 10 days at least)to let some moisture out.









Thanks for looking.

Have a great new years everyone!

[igor.glukhovtsev]

It's so amazing! Thanks for the update, Jim!

[hardyjim]

Thanks Igor


Happy New Year to you!!!!

[ScottyON]

Things are looking good Jim! Not too bad so far. What a huge melt you guys have had. We hit 50f today for a bit!! No snow here as well and I'm loving it.. Thanks for posting the pics.. Happy New Year..

[hardyjim]

Thanks Scotty

HNY to you too!

Looks like the next few weeks will be a little closer to normal here,
which is nice,with no snow on the ground temps will have a chance to moderate some
and go above guidance for a change.

[wxman]

What was the min temp experienced for the ones that spear pulled?

[canadianplant]

everything looks really good dude:D So far winter hasnt been that bad here either. Hope for the best for the next 2 months or so!!!

[lucky1]

Jim, I could look at those pictures 5 times and still not figure out how you can succeed trunk cutting a palm...oops, plural, palms.
Especially since my Nainital attempt bombed

unhealthy "yellow" coloration of the leaf just opening and the closed blades on the one that's a little bigger

Ah...I missed that stage with mine...saw a brown spear and knew it was cooked.
Your closed blades on the same pic look dry...but the telltale trouble sign is that other leaves still looked fine, hinting the problem's at the terminal bud.

And look at that baby today!
Wow.

Agree that you should have taken more photos of the process(es), but it's pretty hard to take a daily pic of a palm that's croaking.

Your trunk cut resembles a pyramid, probably saving more of the center for the sun to warm.

The "other fortunei" pic looks like its growing out of a shoe covered in dog hair

Takagii also pulled but is holding steady

by "holding steady", do you mean it hasn't collapsed? or what?

Sheesh...leave that lovely princeps alone (that's an order, Mr. Neem).

Has that Sequoia ever grown...looking ahead, will you keep it there on the boulevard?
Might have to reroute cars in a few years.

Love that cactus bed pic (you really C U T a hole? )
I remember when the biggest thing shown in a similar photo was your shoes.
Well done, Jim.

You must be itchin' to get started in this new year...
It'll be your best yet!

Thanks for posting the update.
Barb
sorry for the long post

[hardyjim]

Yea Jesse,not to bad here really just consistently pretty cold
although we did see the 50s 4 or five times in December,pretty spread out though.

Let's get winter over with so be can move on to spring,warm weather in Jan-Feb usually just leads to a
****** up spring anyway.As far as I am concerned we turn the corner in Jan,once we are in February
we are in the home stretch!


Tim

I am not sure which spear-pull you are referring too,the spear-pull this year is all because of
neem oil for sure,if not the Chamaerops would have pulled as well,in addition,the palms that
were not sprayed are all fine and even my palms inside(almost all of them were also sprayed)have pulled as well!

Last year's spear-pull was caused more by the temps dropping suddenly with no hardening off
period before the cold hit.
So,not really able to give you temps that cause pull,as moisture in the crown plays a big part as well.


Barb

I cut all the palms so the cut side faces the sun,cut faces south.

You hit it on the head....who want's to take pictures of their dying palms!

The Sequoia will probably grow 3' this year if it is mostly green to start.
They don't grow as large in these parts and this thing will probably brown out every year at best
from our "Arctic breezes"

I will probably keep the Princeps covered from rain until the spear moves in spring but
it does look healthy right now and so do the others.
Usually I lose the small ones to Neem oil,the larger ones grow out of it.
That is what I meant by,holding steady,the newest leaves closest to the bud pull are
still opened up and not declining anymore,so I think they have stabilized.


If you look at the WagxFort,Princeps and Takagii you can see all the upper most leaf
blades still open and healthy,it's when they begin to fold that you know they are in trouble
of losing them.

[canadianplant]

I agree, usualy the everage high temps here jump 5 degrees in february or march. Last year, by march first, alot of the hardy stuff i had started to grow ( lilys, with peoney not to far behid by mid march). Im hoping to uncover my bamboo my march this year as well, same with starting some plants......

I already hae 6 pommegranate seedlings, hopefuly some more things to come:D

[lucky1]

I've certainly learned from your pics what to watch for.

But my hands could never saw a palm down....will just send you a plane ticket next time....
Next time is when my Trachy outgrows the ~10-foot palm hut.
Barb

[oppalm]

great pics Jim. Your stuff looks really good. hopefully january will be a mild one and we can get a little growth going into spring.

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
thanks for the updates!
I'm sorry I missed this thread over the weekend but I'm catching up. I'll just ask things that you haven't already been asked.

Neem oil: I had no idea it could do that. I haven't used any this year and now I won't.
Do you think it has any legitimate use or is it all-around bad stuff for plants?

Cordyline: looks super. I'm sure it will make it through the winter.

T-ferns: amazing. When you have some free time, share these photos on GOTE; the good folks there need to know how to protect them.

--Erik

[hardyjim]

Thanks Kent


Erik

Neem oil is great stuff,I just think for plants with open crowns
there is the danger it sits and festers.

As mentioned,works great on leafy plants.

It was very effective at killing the scale on my lemon tree

I will copy and paste this thread to the GOTE forum

[TerdalFarm]

Jim,
I'll keep the neem oil handy for my Meyer lemon but will keep it off palms and cycads.

Yes, the GOTE folks need t-fern tips.

--Erik

[hardyjim]

Pretty cool to look under the protection and see them exactly like they were when covered.

The Tree ferns really are going to be fun spring/summer/fall!

Fingers crossed!

[lucky1]

After the cold you experienced last winter, you know which protection worked and to what degree.
Good that you don't have any devastating surprises this winter.

And the mornings are lighter already...if only a bit.
Days are getting longer.

Barb

[hardyjim]

Barb

The sun doesn't begin to rise earlier until Jan 10(or there a bouts here),then it starts to move.

The sunset is already about 15 minutes later so far but with the sunrise not cooperating yet
we have been slow so far on extending the day length-getting ready to change though-by the end of the
month we gain 15 minutes on the sunrise alone

[lucky1]

OK, I'm five days out
Seems brighter even on a cloudy day.

This time of year I notice mornings more than afternoons...as in today when it was snowing, felt as though it was getting dark at 2 p.m.
Barb

[hardyjim]

It may be different where you are Barb.

I think in 2 more weeks we start gaining like 2 minutes a day-
that makes a big difference!

[lucky1]

Thanks for not telling me I'm dreaming...after all, this is Canada, LOL

Snowed all day yesterday, snowing again now

Barb

[canadianplant]

Ive noticed a difference too finally. Not much, but up here any difference is welcome

barb, would you like me to play some christmas carols

[lucky1]

play some christmas carols

only if you want to meet your maker...

[canadianplant]

LOL, just think, its ground water for your trachy to exploit

[hardyjim]

Freaking snow is back here,argh!

Just when I was getting used to seeing the ground again!

[canadianplant]

LOL, its missing us up here jim. Places 100km south got a good 10cm of snow.

The only solice i can offer, is that its some insulation
Let it snow let it snow let it snow

[lucky1]

Bite your tongue, canadianplant...we got 12-14 inches of snow the last two days.

Roads were crazy last night, have never seen black ice before

Barb

[canadianplant]

Im used to that here. the only time we hae real problems here is when we get over 50cm. 30cm of snow is nothing here :S ( yes im aware we all dont share the same weather patterns and climate:P)

I agree, when your not used to black ice, its brutal. Im lucky in the fact i dont drive so I dont really have to worry about it.

On a serious note, drive carefuly. Black ice isnt fun, and if you arent used to the conditions its better to stay off the road.......

[lucky1]

stay off the road.

there was a BC JHL hockey game to attend!
Drat...we lost.

Barb

[hardyjim]

Only about 1 1/2" of snow...maybe 2" but I have a feeling this will be around for a while!