When should I start covering my Trachy?

[palmmandan]

Have a 7 foot Trachy Fortunei in my front flower bed that faces south. Tree is about 4 feet from my house. The nights have been getting into the upper 20's and upper 30's with daytime temps in the 40's. I live in southeast Michigan about 20 miles north of Detroit. Anyway my question is when should i start building something for my Tree? Should I keep my eye on the 10 day forecast and when i see temps in the low teens coming then start protecting it. Don't want to build something around it and find we have a winter like 3 years ago when it never made it below 15 degrees. This is my first year with this tree. I planted it in April.

[hardyjim]

Even if you dont get that cold right now keep all moisture out of the crown,we had .72" of rain here last week and although they were only predicting middle to upper 20s we cleared out one night and hit 18F this may have wiped out my cordylines,I think it would have been tough outside anyway for these but I think now they are goners,we shall see.My T.nainital(a variation of fortunei)had partial spear pull,I don't think the main spear is ready to pull yet but this is tough now as we are heading into winter!I would have bet this one would have made it ahead of anything else I have planted out except maybe wagnerianus,so be care full and at least keep the crown dry and if you have a heavy frost put a cover over it so the water from frost does not drain into the crown and get it the following night.How are you protecting?

[PALMETTOMAN]

Palmandan...

I have only seen about 4 days of light frost so far but I'm close to the lake...

I would start prepping protection for your windmill palm pretty soon, before the weather takes a turn.

I'm in Z6 just along the Lake Ontario shoreline and my windmills trachy's are still unprotected. The shelters I have made are ready to go (once I see a trend of constant cold weather heading our way).

I think I was good up to around the first week of December last year...

Your down in the banana belt-thats what we call Windsor-so you may stretch it further but I'd be at least planning your protection.

Post your pics...

PalmettomanZ6-Ajax, On

[Barrie]

People in your own general area can better advise you on what to build. Regardless of what winter brings you, if you build some protective structure in advance, it'll save you scrambling at the last minute & working in the cold weather.

Cheers, Barrie.

[turtile]

For now, you can wrap the tender new growth (bud tissue). I would also spray with a copper fungicide/bactericide to keep the population down since most deaths don't come directly from cold damage but from bacterial damage as a result of the cold damage. You can cover it now as long as you don't have hot day time highs. One of the most important parts of the plant to protect is the root zone. If it freezes, the palm can no longer take water up to the rest of the plant.

[hardyjim]

That is some dang good advice there! esp what barrie said about not wanting to build your protection during the cold weather-gez,I learned that the hard way also what turtile said about the fungicide 8)I hope you have it mulched well now,you could also put the top of your protection on now this could save its life if you get some rain and unexpected cold like we had here last week,eventhough these palms have survived below 0F rain and then 20F could cause the spear to pull,not the ideal way to head into winter

[Barrie]

For now, you can wrap the tender new growth (bud tissue). I would also spray with a copper fungicide/bactericide to keep the population down since most deaths don't come directly from cold damage but from bacterial damage as a result of the cold damage. You can cover it now as long as you don't have hot day time highs. One of the most important parts of the plant to protect is the root zone. If it freezes, the palm can no longer take water up to the rest of the plant.

As you mentioned, "since most deaths don't come directly from cold damage but from bacterial damage as a result of the cold damage"
I'm not certain as to what your climate is like exactly but here, prematurely wrapping or insulating growth points are the cause of many fungal or bacterial problems. If you're in a dry winter climate, hey, no ploblemo. Wet winter, expect problems if you leave materials in place for too long.

Cheers, Barrie.

[palmmandan]

We had some wet snowflakes tonight. Getting down to 30 tonight. Going to start building something on Monday. We have wet winters here. It could be 50 and raining one day and 20 and snow the next.

Anyone ever use the gutter heater wire around their trunk instead of x-mas lights?

[palmmandan]

[hardyjim]

I think a nice thing about some areas in Mich is that you usually(because of the lakes)don't get the really low temps like we do in Iowa,this really makes your area a good place to just put a plastic greenhouse over it,mainly for keeping the crown dry but also this will get you 40F bump in temp on a sunny day with one layer of plastic,you would just need to open it on sunny days over freezing mark as you don't really need or want temps over 70F during the winter so growth remains steady and cold hardy.Great looking palm!!!

[Windmill Palm guy]

My windmill is pretty much identical to yours in regards to height and apperence, I usually cover mine at the end of December and I live about 3 hours north of you.

They can handle tempatures that are pretty low.


Scott

[palmmandan]

Well I got the palm protection built. A week later and someone complained to the city. City said they can't make me take it down.
Here is my little outhouse.