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With a global temperature rise of 1°C since 1880, I doubt that’s been the main reason for a few area’s planting zones going up. There are many factors involved. The earth was MUCH warmer and with much more plant life at a point in prehistoric time. My area is a zone 10a, not 10b but we’ve been fortunate to have 10b winter lows most winters since 2007.

Welcome to PalmTalk. Would you like to share pictures of the nursery? I think that would be cool to see.

This is the most it has ever grown this early . I know it's because I kept the incandescent lights on it with the blankets into April , and I forced it to grow faster . It is almost respectable and it's only April . I know many have seen this palm , but it is my baby and I have been so impressed with its growth . I say I'm in 7B but I'm actually a few hundred yards into 8A now . But I'm sure I'll have more 7B temps in the future . Sorry I don't have Shaylen modeling . Will This picture below was earlier when I just took off the blankets :

This conversation has led me down quite an unexpected rabbit hole. @swolf I found this thread below that you were part of back in 2008. I know Merrill is no longer with us but I have to imagine that someone from this group knows a thing or two about the specific palms I posted pictures of. Tank seems like a good person to ask but it appears it’s been about six months since he was last on. Beyond that, this thread has a really impressive list of unique palms that have taken 10 degrees. I’m sure some people would enjoy reading it.

It's starting to get hot here and I have a huge unshaded south facing backyard. I'll be putting in an island bed and planting with some small Sabals but they're going to take years to get big. Any suggestions for a tree to provide some shade? The plan would be to remove the tree in 5 years or so. Requirements are: 1) Creates dappled shade, not heavy shade 2) Tropical looking 3) Fast growing 4) Cold hardy for Houston 5) Spread out or vase shaped growth 6) can be deciduous or evergreen I was thinking something similar to a Mimosa (Albizia) but not a Mimosa. I'm interested to see what you can all come up with.

"No skirt leads to dark hole" Just be sure to pick the right hole

The fronds got zapped by the Christmas morning freeze year before last ( 6F ) but I was wondering if I should leave them on to form a skirt or not ?

no, never seen a tamarind. But I have seen many mature and fruiting inga and mangoes

Great way to honor Palm Day, EJPalm05!

Theres our awful soil moisture retention showing up. The state would be very different with clay soil, everyone would still be swimming there! Looks like the pattern switched but with april and spring in full swing hopefully the subtle signs of rainy season will be showing up soon. My yard is green for the first time all last year from this past winter, and i have good new growth on the trees that never grew last year with the drought. I thought i would lose things that now are pushing almost a foot of new tip growth.

The idea that it behaves height wise is part of why we don't see them in taller specimens for sale then. I wonder if they will even attain a decent height outside their native range like many species tend to do (most plenars we see are significantly shorter in cultivation) I prefer the slower to get tall habit too, less heavy lifting of dead stuff over time. Maybe one day they will be good shade palms here.

I agree with @bruce Steele on the mule palms. Consider growing some cold-hardy stock that can be trucked to mom-and-pop retailers in z8 north of you. Maybe get some field palmettos and drop them into 50- or 100-gal pots to regrow roots prior to selling farther north. Toe-in the pots so you're not always watering by hand. For the local market, consider what isn't typical. Pseudophoenix and Cytostachis grown under some shade cloth for z10 customers.

Perhaps a 1/2 cup of fertilizer would help. Maybe a little Fe? Please snap a photo and upload.

Congratulations on selling your Sylvesters and on getting a farm to plan around. I have a farm in S. Cal. and growing some crops allows tax advantages re. deductions for farm expenses. You do need to show some profit in two out of seven years but if you plan on selling future palms it would be nice if some money came in sometime before you need to show some profit. I am trying to plant a bunch of Jubaea in the hope that ten or twenty years from now I ( or somebody else ) can did them up and box them for sale. Long time horizon project . Have you considered a planting of mule palms? Fast, beautiful and probably happy where you live . I am not from Florida so get local advice on how mules might do. Palms grown in grow bags might be something you could get to market faster than trees that needed digging.

I'm 18 and going to Cal Poly next year, very cool to have an alum on here. Any palms of note in the area? I saw a good sized Roystonea with some other more rare palms planted by an outdoor seating court on campus. I look forward to going there and being in such a nice and palmy climate (I'm from Maryland). I will be filming palms in the area on my YouTube channel, Palm Planet. Thanks!

I've always been a fan of the skirt! There are a few near a mall in town that looked fantastic in a Boulevard that they recently trimmed down to only a few fronds 😕

Here it’s dry as a bone. Grass is drying up despite frequent irrigation. Some palms are not thrilled. I just hand watered all the palms deeply, and am right now running irrigation over that. Super dry sand all the way down here. We need a decent soak pretty bad. Water bill ain’t gonna be pretty this month, and nothing on the horizon for now. I call this time of year, “The Starving Time”. Usually around now I start wishing I planted more Caribbean/Cuban and native palms as they tolerate the dry spells well.

Med Fans are some of the most forgiving Palms they will regrow from spear pulls, sun damage, overwatering and freeze damage. They are tough as nails once they get well established they are solid Palms that basically grow themselves. The only Palm more care-free would be a Washy. Here on the N. Padre Island 100s of Med Fans survive and even thrive without proper care (nothing but seasonal rain water).

10b is everyone's dream, jealous of you! I feel guilty for being happy that winters become warmer, global warming is a disaster, but I can't help being happy that I am now zone 10a. Hopefully some more species will be accessible to me now. As you said though, the length of cool/cold spells is still the main issue.

You're right, I'll go for it!

Those look better. Keep in mind there's no magic cutoff size. Larger=higher survivability 🙂

Trachycarpus look good with a medium sized skirt like the ones in Vancouver

Hi all, just purchased 15 acres in South Florida, zone 11a - the property has a crop of field grown Sylvester Palms ready for market. Previous owners have been selling them (uncertified) for a while, but there are about 150 nice ones left that are 4-8' clear trunk. We do have irrigation throughout, so these are nice trees and within a week of moving in a few folks started poking around about buying the rest of the crop. I try to do things by the book, so got our state inspection/certification and am ready to sell. I have a guy who will buy the lot for $50 per foot of clear trunk, which seems low avg for wholesale but he will do all the work. This will provide a nice one time bit of cash to cover some decent equipment and new stock... My question is what to replant with? I found Sylvester stock at a reasonable price, but with the spread of lethal bronzing, slow growth rate, and overall the level of care needed for these trees I am not sure they are worth the hassle at the current price point. Also if I plant now, it will be 5-7 years to get them to market... Trying to think of other good options - willing to consider any profitable crop, but field grown palms are appealing since this is a side gig. Not really looking for profits, but some extra income to help with land taxes and maybe cover equipment, ect would be nice. Whatever I plant, Low labor is key and relatively high resistances. Any input on what might make for a good tree crop?

It's a shame you don't see more. I find it depends on the palm though as to how well it will skirt. I have seen some beautiful specimens but one by me never had the fronds lay totally flat and the lowest fronds got worn off leaving the petioles sticking out 90 degrees. That was one that needed a little trimming.

It's definitely a little worse for wear, as I threw it in the garage in November because they were calling for a frost. It stayed in there for 3 months with little light, water and I had a unnoticed pest infestation spread through my small potted palms. I dragged it and its sibling down here and cleared everything up. A couple of the new fronds got damaged and broke off, but both are growing on strongly now so I put the first one in the ground,