Impromptu cold tolerance experiment...

kspalmguy · Post by **kspalmguy** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:00 am

Past few days, the weather has been very nice for this time of year, daytime highs in the 70s and nighttime lows in the high 30s, so I have placed my potted Trachy and Butia on the back patio and left them there...anyway, last night, the temperature was forecast to drop to 33F, but instead, it dropped to 25F at my house...I woke up this morning, looked at the palms, and they still looked happy, but as we know, cold damage can take some time to set in, especially if the roots are damaged...I'm not worried about the Trachy as much as I am the Butia, but I'll keep everyone posted...

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:13 am

They should be fine,the roots are less cold hardy than the foliage.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:14 am

Potted palm roots get as cold as the fronds.
But I doubt one night will set them back.

Enjoy your 70's.

Barb

kspalmguy · Post by **kspalmguy** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 9:05 am

Haha! Thanks! May not make it up to the 70s today, it's cloudy and supposed to rain tonight:/ That brings up another question, if I leave the palms out, cool (high 30's fahrenheit) rain won't hurt them, will it? Just wondering...I'd like them to get the moisture, but I don't want to encourage fungal growth...

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:26 pm

If they've been inside all winter, they probably do need a drink now.
But rain is cold this time of year.
I let a bucket of water sit for a day to get to room temp (and dissipate chlorine..yuk!)

There might be a lot of winter left so I wouldn't put them out in cold rain.
An area of the patio with a partial roof would be perfect, protected from cool nights, yet warms up nicely during the day.

70's during the day, they are going to need some water.

Barb

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:19 am

More this winter than ever before.....I will never rely on the weather forecast again.

kspalmguy · Post by **kspalmguy** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 9:12 am

I learned the hard way:( Temperature dropped to 20F one night, Trachy is fine after 4 days, however, the butia is showing a lot of leaf burn, but I think it'll be ok. Live and learn:P

turtile · Post by **turtile** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 7:53 pm

Windmills can tolerate cold roots better than any other palm. Pindos not much at all...

kspalmguy · Post by **kspalmguy** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:26 pm

Been two weeks now, Trachy is completely happy and healthy! Butia lost two fronds, possibly unrelated, but I doubt it...However, the remaining three fronds on the Butia are completely green except for the last couple inches on the tips, but we're pushing up three new fronds, so I have high hopes;) Only a month or so before these guys go in the ground:))

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:08 pm

Got to appreciate Trachy. Really, if you are going down to Dallas to spend big $ on a palm, I suggest Trachy over Butia.

Zabola · Post by **Zabola** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 1:32 am

Agree, Trachycarpus is so common and wide spread all over the globe it has the best cold tolerance genes and is beautifull too. I was always looking for Sabals and Rhapidophyllum (needle) in the first place because they are rare here but just soon started to love the Trachy too.

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:16 am

I've had zero success with Needles(3 so far), and didn't care for them much anyway. But the Trachys and now Sabals have proven their worth in over wintering in my area so going to focus on planting more this spring.

kspalmguy · Post by **kspalmguy** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 11:59 am

Don't get me wrong, I love the Trachy and plan to definitely buy more, I just want to at least give some others a chance here...if they don't make it, well that's that...but if they, by some outside chance do, I'll have some nice variety;)

sashaeffer · Post by **sashaeffer** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:10 pm

^^^^ Exactly!

Making a major solo road trip to San Diego in May with my truck and going to be stopping at PLENTY of box stores along the way. No reason to drive back to Omaha empty!

When I flew there last fall I eyeballed some Walmarts in California that had 3/4 ft tall Trachey's for $25 Not going to pass that up. Blue Mexican Fan plams are a plenty around there as well.

kspalmguy · Post by **kspalmguy** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:23 pm

sashaeffer wrote:^^^^ Exactly!

Making a major solo road trip to San Diego in May with my truck and going to be stopping at PLENTY of box stores along the way. No reason to drive back to Omaha empty!

When I flew there last fall I eyeballed some Walmarts in California that had 3/4 ft tall Trachey's for $25 Not going to pass that up. Blue Mexican Fan plams are a plenty around there as well.

Lucky!! I need to make a good palm road trip one of these days, just to see what I can find...I guess I'm pretty lucky, I hop on I-35 and head south about 250 miles and palms galore!

Zabola · Post by **Zabola** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 3:08 am

sashaeffer wrote:I've had zero success with Needles(3 so far), and didn't care for them much anyway. But the Trachys and now Sabals have proven their worth in over wintering in my area so going to focus on planting more this spring.

I dont get it, 3 are too much, some dont protect them here at all.. zone 6, Just dry the soil around your Sabals before protecting and they will do just fine, moist kills over winter.

PalmsNorth.com

Impromptu cold tolerance experiment...

Impromptu cold tolerance experiment...

Who is online