Young Sabal Palmetto Being Planted on Zone 7a/7b Boarder of Virginia

[PalmTreeDude]

So I am going to be planting a young Sabal Palmetto at a place in Virginia on the boarder of zone 7a/7b. Some of you may have seen it in other posts but it is quite small. I dug it up from the woods, so I will be planting it if it survives. I will be adding little to no protection to it. What do you think? 

[Brad Mondel]

I use to live outside Asheville, N.C and I planted a hurricane cut palmetto (13' tall). It survived the harsh zone 7a winters with minimal protection (cloth wrapped around crown). It survived for two years until I moved away and no one took care of it. It eventually perished in the frosty winters. I think it would be fine as long as you mulch it well and protect it on occasional cold snaps. 

[PalmTreeDude]

9 hours ago, Brad Mondel said:

I use to live outside Asheville, N.C and I planted a hurricane cut palmetto (13' tall). It survived the harsh zone 7a winters with minimal protection (cloth wrapped around crown). It survived for two years until I moved away and no one took care of it. It eventually perished in the frosty winters. I think it would be fine as long as you mulch it well and protect it on occasional cold snaps. 

Yeah, I also think it should be fine, especially once established. I heard that transplanting palms while they are young is the best way/time to transplant them. 

[VA Jeff]

I wouldn't guarantee anything long term.  I live in Hampton Roads border of zone 8/7.  I have 3 palmettoes in the yard that have survived at least a decade.  An xtexensis in a bad exposed site has pretty much bit the dust.  My largest is a sabal riverside that gets damage in bad winters, but it is near a dryer vent.  I have 9 people in my house, so lots of clothes drying in winter and yearround.  I planted it as a 5 gallon probably around 2005.  The trunk is roughly 5-6 feet now, and relatively fat for a palmetto.  In the rare winters when the temps drop below 10 degrees, many of the leaves turn brown.  I suspect if I had it in the open, it would have been toast by now.  A Bald Head Island palmetto does slightly better with no protection, but hasn't trunked because it is underneath a gum tree which sucks the moisture out of the ground and keeps it semi shaded.

 

If you decide to plant a palmetto, choose a hardier variety, give it some protection (not plastic wrap), and let it get rain and sun in the growing season.  A little protection will go a long way.

[PalmTreeDude]

13 hours ago, VA Jeff said:

I wouldn't guarantee anything long term.  I live in Hampton Roads border of zone 8/7.  I have 3 palmettoes in the yard that have survived at least a decade.  An xtexensis in a bad exposed site has pretty much bit the dust.  My largest is a sabal riverside that gets damage in bad winters, but it is near a dryer vent.  I have 9 people in my house, so lots of clothes drying in winter and yearround.  I planted it as a 5 gallon probably around 2005.  The trunk is roughly 5-6 feet now, and relatively fat for a palmetto.  In the rare winters when the temps drop below 10 degrees, many of the leaves turn brown.  I suspect if I had it in the open, it would have been toast by now.  A Bald Head Island palmetto does slightly better with no protection, but hasn't trunked because it is underneath a gum tree which sucks the moisture out of the ground and keeps it semi shaded.

 

If you decide to plant a palmetto, choose a hardier variety, give it some protection (not plastic wrap), and let it get rain and sun in the growing season.  A little protection will go a long way.

I plan on protecting it maybe the first one or two years, but after I may only protect it in winter storms or templates below 10. I have seen one near me that was amazing, it had a nice head full of fronds down to the point were they where even the dead leaves still hanging down. It was not protected and it survived many winters. It got cut down about a year ago, but I do not know why. 

[Alicehunter2000]

They usually don't survive transplantation when small like that....good luck.

[Brad Mondel]

19 minutes ago, Alicehunter2000 said:

They usually don't survive transplantation when small like that....good luck.

I ordered a palmetto on eBay and the person sent a bare root plant. It didn't survive so they replaced it. The second one survived but it took all summer to push growth. 

[Ponds & Palms]

On 8/8/2016, 2:12:33, PalmTreeDude said:

I plan on protecting it maybe the first one or two years, but after I may only protect it in winter storms or templates below 10. I have seen one near me that was amazing, it had a nice head full of fronds down to the point were they where even the dead leaves still hanging down. It was not protected and it survived many winters. It got cut down about a year ago, but I do not know why. 

In NC I notice most palms in that zone do well where there is protection from heavy winds, frost, or rain.  If you plant it I would make sure it gets good morning and afternoon sun that way in the winter it warms up fast and close to a house or barrier to  protect it from any severe weather elements. Just my opinion, good luck dude!! You can do it!!

[PalmTreeDude]

 

4 hours ago, Ponds & Palms said:

In NC I notice most palms in that zone do well where there is protection from heavy winds, frost, or rain.  If you plant it I would make sure it gets good morning and afternoon sun that way in the winter it warms up fast and close to a house or barrier to  protect it from any severe weather elements. Just my opinion, good luck dude!! You can do it!!

The wind won't be a problem for where I plant it! the only thing that is really worrying me is the cold  I am hoping it does not get wiped out by that. 

[cm05]

On August 9, 2016 at 5:07:03 PM, Brad Mondel said:

I ordered a palmetto on eBay and the person sent a bare root plant. It didn't survive so they replaced it. The second one survived but it took all summer to push growth. 

That's my current dilemma with my Sabal louisiana, bare root plant, it instantly lost more than half of its fronds after being planted. It hasn't really budged since, although I recently noticed that its "saxophone" is slowly rising out of the soil, which I assume is a good sign.

[PalmTreeDude]

Like a lot of you said, my bigger Sabal palmetto died. But I was not surprised. I have a smaller one that I dug up and it is doing fine!