Bismarckia recovery after hurricane Irma

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

We have 3 Bismarckia planted on our property.  All were put in the ground in fall of 2012 and planted from 25 gallon pots.  Two were planted in the front yard, one in the back.  The tree in this photo has been the fastest growing and now has a couple of feet of legitimate trunk.  The other one planted in the front has grown slowly all along.  The one in the back kept being undermined by Armadillos (nasty things) though they hadn't been a problem for a year or so when the storm struck.  

When Irma waltzed through our hood, her winds were high for about 18-24 hours.  For about an hour  as the eye wall remnants passed directly over us, the winds were gusting over 100 mph and the two front yard Bizzys were fully exposed to the worst.  The one in the back wasn't.  None of the trees developed an "Irmalean" or were noticeably wobbly after the storm.  This summer has been wet (a blessing after 3 years of "dry" rainy seasons).  Despite the rains, and downright hot weather, even for FL, the growth rate on the two front yard trees is slower than last summer.  you can see about 1/2 of the fronds are new, the rest are old, shredded droopy leaves from Irma.  In contrast, the plant in the back yard is having a stellar summer and will probably have a foot of trunk by end of the year.  I'm wondering if the winds jiggled these two front yard trees so much that they are having to rebuild below ground too.  I'm one of those people that doesn't like to remove fronds until they are completely dead...an occasional source of tension with the other half...but its interesting to see how many fronds this tree will produce in one year.    

[pj_orlando_z9b]

3 hours ago, Keith in SoJax said:

We have 3 Bismarckia planted on our property.  All were put in the ground in fall of 2012 and planted from 25 gallon pots.  Two were planted in the front yard, one in the back.  The tree in this photo has been the fastest growing and now has a couple of feet of legitimate trunk.  The other one planted in the front has grown slowly all along.  The one in the back kept being undermined by Armadillos (nasty things) though they hadn't been a problem for a year or so when the storm struck.  

When Irma waltzed through our hood, her winds were high for about 18-24 hours.  For about an hour  as the eye wall remnants passed directly over us, the winds were gusting over 100 mph and the two front yard Bizzys were fully exposed to the worst.  The one in the back wasn't.  None of the trees developed an "Irmalean" or were noticeably wobbly after the storm.  This summer has been wet (a blessing after 3 years of "dry" rainy seasons).  Despite the rains, and downright hot weather, even for FL, the growth rate on the two front yard trees is slower than last summer.  you can see about 1/2 of the fronds are new, the rest are old, shredded droopy leaves from Irma.  In contrast, the plant in the back yard is having a stellar summer and will probably have a foot of trunk by end of the year.  I'm wondering if the winds jiggled these two front yard trees so much that they are having to rebuild below ground too.  I'm one of those people that doesn't like to remove fronds until they are completely dead...an occasional source of tension with the other half...but its interesting to see how many fronds this tree will produce in one year.    

Very interesting. It still looks good Keith. How are the coconuts doing. Mine are finally taking shape although I had signs of boron deficiency after the June deluge. Put fertilizer stakes plus additional fertilizer down and they seem to be doing well. 

[JimStPete]

I have one Bismark palm.  Mine looks just like yours after Irma passed just to the east of us.  Mine has about 15' of trunk on it.  All the palms took a while to recover from the hurricane.  One of my Ribbon Palms had 'leaning crown' for the second time after Irma...it has now fully recovered again.  Many palms just sat there and put out little to no growth at all for several months.  They are all growing normally now.  Irma was the worst storm my yard had been through in the 30 years I've lived here.  Bismarks have a reputation for blowing over in Hurricanes...I'm thankful that didn't happen to mine and I'm glad it didn't happen to yours either. 

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

For PJ, the Coconut...not very inspiring and almost sure to die this winter.  I assume its easy to tell the recently frozen from the current pic.  :-)