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Does anything other than crown of palm getting wet and freezing cause a spear pull??



Checked my in the ground (2nd winter) Needle Palm that has heat tape buried around roots, and a 1/2 barrel with plexiglass top on south side of house. With the onset of the bad cold snap I did add a string of 25 Christmas lights inside the enclosure(themocube regulated) to help keep things from getting too cold as the plastic barrel isn't meant for insulating purposes, just to keep severe wind off palm. Palm is about a 5 gallon size.

Last Winter protected same way except Christmas lights, and spear pulled in the spring too, but with the prolonged snowy spring we had it didn't surprise me, plus the spear pull didn't really seem to affect the palm over all and it simply grew a new spear and kept growing this year.

I did use a soil probe and checked for soil moisture and probe said "wet" although needless to say I haven't watered anything. Also the fronds all appear to be partially dried up, so not sure what is going on. I unplugged the Christmas lights, and will leave top off barrel since we aren't going to have as cold as temps for a while so wanted to ask here what all can make a spear pull other than too much water/moisture?

Pics....

Looks like mine from last year, had spear pull, then doused it in HP, within the month a whole new spear emerged and thrived. We had a very wet spring, so that may have helped as the palm looks dehydrated like yours.

Yea, I did put some HP down where the spear pulled. Will keep lid off but plugged Christmas lights back in so the HP doesn't freeze in the hole.

Wonder what causes the drying out of the fronds?? I thought maybe it got too hot in there being on the south side of the house and the Christmas lights etc, but I have a planted in the ground Cape Hatteras Sabal with exact same protection method, except it's on the East side of the house and it looks just fine.

Yeah that's probably what contributed to the dehydration. Mine was unheated and left as is, and treated it like a Rhodo, essentially no heat, just straw and frost cloth. I would keep the lights off at this point.

My S.minor has a burn on one of the stems from a light... perhaps with some real cold tolerant species like those ones, less is more.

I agree. Will leave on for one night so HP doesn't freeze but will keep lid off so heat doesn't build up. Would hate to loose it now after it's gone this far.

mine has some burlap around it and a plastic bag over the crown. we will see how it took -5

I would imagine it has been on the decline since the cold hit due to our wet summer and fall. Failure to properly harden of and then such cold temps can cause bud rot. Hope it pulls through for you. I know this last cold spell will have everything stressed.

Looks like it over heated or got to cold-similar effects either way.
It needs to be kept on the cool side now to keep pathogen growth in check...
this is the real killer of palms-that is why palms out west fair better,the drier
conditions allow the palm TO OUT GROW THE FUNGAL ATTACK AGTER DAMAGE.

Thanks Jim....I did put some HP down where the pull was and backed it up later with some copper fungicide, unplugged the christmas lights but left the clear cover on since freezing rain was forecast...and hope for the best. I did leave the heat tape around the root ball to remain plugged in. it's on it's own internal thermostat.

Scott, weren't you away when the first brutal blast of cold hit?
Looks like cold damage.

Hope it makes it...
Barb

I was, but Needle looked just fine. It had barrell, but no top and root heat was plugged in.

It didn't look dried out until I added the Christmas lights that week around Christmas when it got to below zero and put top on.

Funny thing is Cape Hatteras Sabal looks fine, and even had more insulation around base of it's barrel, and...styrofoam on top of the plexiglas cover I have on it. That barrel is full sized though, where the needle is 1/2 so maybe too much heat from the lights surrounded the fronds and dried them out.

We'll just have to see how it responds in the spring...

Sudden changes, i.e. no top, cold getting trapped inside, then lots of heat applied to fronds probably combined to shock it.

Needles are bunching, generally don't trunk, so you're probably fine.
You'll need a much wider container next Fall.

Barb

Should have left the poor thing alone! But...in my desire to over protect, I think I'm the one that caused the problem. Another lesson learned.

Looks pretty bad...freeze-dried from winter winds, I would say. The damage could have occurred weeks ago but if you're just now experiencing a thaw, then that could explain why the damage is just now showing. But, like Jim and Barb stated previously, it's too hard to tell what caused the damage at this point. Just need to focus on damage control for now. Needles are such slow growers that it may be difficult to turn around, and therefore take more damage each year than it can recover from. The sabal typically won't show damage till it heats up outside, but I bet it won't have much damage - if any. I've always thought sabals were hardier than needles, IMO. Good luck with them, hope we have seen the worst of winter.

I am going to try more Sabals this year. Since the Hatteras is doing just fine in the ground, along with a Mc Curtin seedling I have a Riverside that is still in a pot that I bought from Phil when I was in San Diego in the fall, and have a Louisiana coming next week from Steve Anderson.

A shame really, needles are known for their winter hardiness, what happened here i dont know maybe it didnt need any heating just cover but thats my opinion.. its a nice looking one, hope it recovers!

I'm sure the heat didn't help it at all. It does look better since I took I took lights away and we've had some mild temps.