Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

Spear pulls


Brad Mondel

Recommended Posts

The past week was horrific, temps of 15F every night and never above freezing during the day! My potted palms froze solid and I lost a Butia and Chamaerops in the ground. Frozen to the core! We stayed frozen for three days straight! My Sabal Louisiana spear pulled, young Sabal Palmetto, even a young Rhapidopyllum spear pulled! I’ve never experienced this before and I’m in shock. The only things that survived were some large potted Chamaerops, Rhapidophyllum, and Trachycarpus. All of my rare palms in the greenhouse were heated. Thank the stars. 

Los Angeles, CA and Myrtle Beach, SC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:o was 15 the ultimate low? Sounds like a lot of damage for 15. 

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your Needle Palm spear pulled? What?! My low here was 5 degrees and I was under freezing temperatures for 8 days and mine is fine! That is insane! 

PalmTreeDude

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear this... it might be bad now but I bet most if not all will recover? Unless they are totally dead which only time will tell. Hoping for the best! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow Brad......sorry to hear it.  Surprising to hear pulls on the sabals and needle.  Feeling the pain here too - so far, spear pulls on 7-8 palms with death expected for most.   Fortunately I also got all the larger potted palms inside.  The surprises here were: 

Washingtonia filibusta - 100% burn, spear pulled, likely dead.  I expected better.

Livistona chinensis - Surprisingly NOT dead. 100% burn except for the spear, which is green and solid.  Not out of the woods yet, but way better than expected.

Sabal causarium - no damage evident

Steve

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow Steve! No damage whatsoever on the Sabal causarium?  I am very interested to see if that palm is capable of taking such severe cold.  How big is it?

Sorry about your filibusta, I nearly lost mine years ago but thank goodness it came back from spear pull and all fronds frozen to a crisp... Hope yours comes back too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes! A dry 15 also! I’m about to give up on palms except for Trachycarpus. I’ve spent so much money on these palms and every winter they just die or get set back... Butia in the ground is totally dead and Chamaerops in the ground is dead, robustas are fried but might come back. One Trachycarpus spear pulled out of 4. Even bald head Island Sabal Palmetto died. 

 

Steve Livistona chinensis is extremely hardy, it used to come back for me when I lived in zone 7. Of course it will never be a huge tree but the foliage is nice. 

Los Angeles, CA and Myrtle Beach, SC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brad there's got to be something else going on.  Maybe soil type?  Soil temperature?  Duration of freezing?  Transplanted recently? Struggling to think why you got damage to the sabals & needle given that absolute lows were similar.

I am seeing damage to all of my small (2 gallon and under) Trachycarpus and no harm to needles or Sabals.  I know Trachycarpus seem to like the very clay rich soils of the piedmont/upstate, while other palms hate it. 

Another (potential) positive surprise is Trithrinax brasiliensis.  I had a half dozen 2-leaf seedlings in liners that got left out - two are dead, but the others look OK so far.  They might yet die, but it's worth noting that there was no obvious leaf burn - it looks to be that the growth point died.  If hardiness increases with size these are worth pursuit. 

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My needle spear pulled last winter at -10C (the suckers are fine) and I know a few other examples where they gave up the ghost at temps that surprised everyone.

Edited by Flow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ive seen trachycarpus spear pull at 18F (less that 2 hours bellow 25F). 

LOWS 16/17 12F, 17/18 3F, 18/19 7F, 19/20 20F

Palms growing in my garden: Trachycarpus Fortunei, Chamaerops Humilis, Chamaerops Humilis var. Cerifera, Rhapidophyllum Hystrix, Sabal Palmetto 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a needle spear pull once at about 16 degrees, I was surprised but prior to that it had been in warm temperatures so it was a shock. It wasn’t just one spear though, every single spear on the clump pulled. Applied H2O2, waited, no result, waited. Finally I cut all the fronds back and top of trunk back until I exposed the growing point, I got immediate results, as in the next day I could tell that it resumed growth. Now to look at it you would never tell anything ever happened unless you got up really close and knew what to look for.  

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spear pull in needles never really seem to bother them. Same with windmills as both species never seem to get plugged when growing out like Jubaea, Butia or washingtonia. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Spear pull in needles never really seem to bother them. Same with windmills as both species never seem to get plugged when growing out like Jubaea, Butia or washingtonia. 

 

I sure hope thats the case with mine as the biggest and best one is one of the 2 that pulled, while all the others that didnt grow nearly as much are still stout.

4 hours ago, Xerarch said:

I had a needle spear pull once at about 16 degrees, I was surprised but prior to that it had been in warm temperatures so it was a shock. It wasn’t just one spear though, every single spear on the clump pulled. Applied H2O2, waited, no result, waited. Finally I cut all the fronds back and top of trunk back until I exposed the growing point, I got immediate results, as in the next day I could tell that it resumed growth. Now to look at it you would never tell anything ever happened unless you got up really close and knew what to look for.  

 

See this is the problem Im worried about here on the fall line. Take for instance this week. We have been in the 50s and 60s and sat and sun will  e back in the 30s with lows well bellow average then back to normal 40s. I cant even fathom the amount of times we have gone from snow and arctic bellow average to damn near summer weather in the dead of winter. I always lagh when folks think its weird, when its 100% normal for us here in the DMV. 

Edited by mdsonofthesouth

LOWS 16/17 12F, 17/18 3F, 18/19 7F, 19/20 20F

Palms growing in my garden: Trachycarpus Fortunei, Chamaerops Humilis, Chamaerops Humilis var. Cerifera, Rhapidophyllum Hystrix, Sabal Palmetto 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are there publicly planted Sabal palmetto in Greenville? I remember seeing some, not many, there. At the time that I saw them they had full heads. But, this was years ago... 

Edited by PalmTreeDude

PalmTreeDude

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Are there publicly planted Sabal palmetto in Greenville? I remember seeing some, not many, there. At the time that I saw them they had full heads. But, this was years ago... 

Yes there are plenty you just have to look for them. More Trachycarpus though it seems and maybe a few Butias. My baby trachies in the ground are unscathed by the cold. 

Edited by Brad Mondel

Los Angeles, CA and Myrtle Beach, SC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopefully most push through and make it. I’m not investing anymore in palms until I can purchase a home and actually plant them in ground. I might get small seedlings I can protect in the greenhouse or start seeds but that’s it. 

Los Angeles, CA and Myrtle Beach, SC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...