Black Plastic Bags

[bgodwin1987]

Hi it's been a while since iv been on here. So I wrapped two small Trachys with heavy duty black plastic bags. Cut a slit in the bottom of the bags then used rocks and bricks to weight them down then put straw in the bags and tied the top. Will the black plastic kill the palm cause it to turn yellow and rot or will it be ok? Do palms need light during the winter? I have used clear plastic and bubble wrap before but never black plastic bags. Just wondering if it will be ok. I did not have a lot of time and this was the quickest thing I could come up with for now.

[lucky1]

Depends on your historical lows, and the duration of cold.
Palm fronds shouldn't touch cold plastic.
In a cold climate, a simple string of C-9 Christmas lights (not touching the stem or fronds) will get you through.
But adding some insulation to that provides even better odds.

Barb

[DesertZone]

I would not use garbage bags, I have killed everything I have ever wrapped with black garbage bags. Maybe they are better now, but no luck for me.

[Stevea07]

You need a source of heat under the plastic, otherwise the temperature under the plastic will be the same as the outside air.

[bgodwin1987]

Thanks I prob will take off protection around the end of February. I have never used heat at all for any of my palms, and some have been in the ground for 6 yrs. I have only had one winter so far where in got so cold that the the trachys lost their leaves. -5 F is about as cold as it gets here but thats rare it usually gets down to 0 or a little lower only for a few days during the winter. The palms are small and the plastic is not touching the leaves or fronds the bag is filled with straw. Might take the bags off soon and change it out for another method. I have used tomato cages in the past wrapped in bubble wrap and stuffed with straw and dried leaves with a black heavy duty trash bag over them and had no problems. They could still get some light since the trash bag was only on the top half.

[bgodwin1987]

I decided to ditch the plastic bags and used my tomato cage bubble wrap method I had been using for the Trachys. Going to leave my Sabal Minors and my Needle palms to fend for themselves this year as an experiment, it has gotten down to 6F and they don't have any damage yet.

[hardyjim]

I think one of the most useful items you can have is a remote thermometer.....

even if you dont want to have 8 of them going,it is a good idea to move one around
to the different forms of protect(if app)to know how they will behave.

One of my rose cones was 20F warmer(checked withe probe) than the outside temp in the sun the other day...
this was good to know as I was considering turning the heat/X-mas lights on during the day-
definitely need to watch that-thats why I am going to run everything off thermocubes in the next week or so
and try to get out of town this winter for a change!