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Richard says Brownsvile = Daytona Beach, give or take. I think his take is mostly true. This event for Florida was probably nothing like 2021 for the RGV, despite the temps. Although I would say that the temps in much of central FL were pretty strikingly low. I think the official temp for central Brownsville in 2021 was 22F but I don't know of any stations other than the airport that measured that. I saw something like 20F in Ocala which seems crazy to me. Difference is I believe it warmed up pretty substantially during the day in FL this go around.

wow that's crazy!

Where are you located?

Y'all remember a couple months ago when I snatched that MASSIVE palmetto inflourecense, and it was full of seed weevils? And I stuck it in the freezer for way too long? Welp I thawed it. And soaked them in water and extra peroxide. I knew there was gonna be some funk involved. I scooped off the floaters from the top. The water turned black. I don't know if it's the peroxide killing the funk, or extra funk, but there's.... Let's just say these don't smell pleasant, it's a peroxide and vinegar stink. These are not rare high demand plants but I wouldn't mind growing another 20 or 30 but I ain't gonna lie. I don't wanna clean them but I also don't want community pots full of rot. So do I just but up and get the bottle of Purell and try and squeeze out a few dozen hard seeds or are the chances of germination so slim at this point that I just chuck them in the woods and let nature run its course and wait to get rarer Sabals?

Thanks, not time to panic yet then.

thank you for posting all of this. I'm very curious to see what survives. I live in Houston TX where temps get to 20s every winter now and some winters even lower. So whatever survives in your yard could be a good zone pushing option for me. I'm impressed at Alfrediis. I really hope they make it.

Probably a good plan to treat palms with peroxide, even if they look OK.

Welp the tissue culture died. I don't think the extra 4 days in New Jersey helped it. I cut my Ensete down to a nub. Hoping it grows back from the corm, I didn't notice that it was wrapped in that stupid plug fabric until it was too late. Big blue Java is on the floor, latest leaf is 14 x35 Red Dacca needs to go on the floor now too. I got my first pup off one of the Cavendish and it's already growing. I've been fighting spider mites for a minute now and it seems like (please don't jinx this) the best treatment so far is to get a damp paper towel and dab full strength neem oil and wipe everything down, and keep cutting off any leaves that feel dusty. They're all throwing a leaf a week so who cares?

Welp, I ended up covering most of the outdoor plants. Got some surprises and some no surprises. We hit lows of around 12-14 and all of my palms are tiny soooooooo Trachycarpus Fortunei - covered with a heavy plastic pot. 2 spears pulled. 1 gallon size. Trachy Princeps x Waggy - even smaller. Covered in a small Styrofoam box. Absolutely fine. It's even pushing a new spear. Big Washy Filibusta - covered with a big Styrofoam box - already frost damaged from before. Spear pull. Small Filibusta - unprotected. Ummm it's very, very brown. Sabal Birmingham - strap leaf. Unprotected. Laughed it off. Sabal Etonia. Unprotected. Laughed it off, it's even growing. Sabal Bermudana - covered with a Styrofoam box. Laughed it off. It's growing, too. Washy Filifera - this plant has looked like crap for so long I honestly can't tell if it's any worse. But it's not dead. The Fortunei surprised me, the Princeps x Waggy REALLY surprised me (it came from @N8ALLRIGHT in KC so I guess it's seen real winter). And what's really cool is I get to cover everything back up in a day or two, but I figured I'd let them get some air and some sun. I think they'd all be cooked if I didn't listen to @Chester B. So I guess the moral of this story is I just need to go balls out with Sabals.

After several days of -4°C / 24.8 F and one day of -5°C / 23 F on the balcony in january 2026 albeit only for a short time each time, here is a brief report. Report 3.2. 2026: Caryota mitis – all have moderate to severe damage from frost and stress – trunk is healthy, sprouting new leaves Phoenix roebellini – both have survived well – but also show damage – sprouting new leaves from the heart Phoenix canariensis – the largest – also has leaf damage from frost and stress – but is sprouting several new fronds – will survive well, exciting The smallest is almost in the best condition – okay, we still have to wait – conclusion – all are only sprouting fronds Chamaedorea metallica – all have moderate damage from frost and stress – leaves severely damaged – but sprouting new fronds and trunk is in good condition – conclusion – will recover Howea foresteriana - all have moderate damage from frost and stress - sprouting new fronds - not sure yet - should make it Chamaedorea radicalis - no damage - are fit and lively Chamaedorea elegans - some moderate damage - new fronds sprouting on many - some look badly affected, to say the least Washingtonia robusta – looks good so far – moderate damage – sprouting new fronds – multi-stemmed and in good condition. Cycas revoluta – has had more trouble than expected – moderate leaf damage due to frost and stress – recovering. Agave americana variegata – some leaf damage – heart healthy – sprouting new leaves – will survive. Phönix reclinata - in better condition then thougt - and only little damage on leaves Trachycarpus fortunai - some leaf damage Trachycarpus fortunai young plant - no damage Olea europea - in good condition - no damage Yucca gigantea (3) - in good condition - no damage Oh dear, I almost forgot about dear Saribus rotundafolia. It's still so tightly wrapped—the stem is firm and new fronds are sprouting from the heart. I hope it makes it, the cute little prickly mouse, as Sabine calls it 😁 It looks like most of them are managing to sprout and recover, thanks in part to milder temperatures. We measured 15°C in the shade on the balcony yesterday and today, and 10°C the day before yesterday.

The three burnt coconut trees in the back have distinctly yellow/orange nuts, the one in the foreground has green ones. That is some good information on the cold hardiness of your Panama tall vs Malayan dwarves, thanks for that. I had a bizarre experience with some cold weather and Malayan dwarves that may be interesting. Not sure of the year, maybe 2004, a strong cold front came through followed by high winds and extremely dry air. I had just planted 4 Malayan dwarves in my front yard, walmart specials. My bright idea was to points a strong stream of water into the wind so that it would blow back over the coconuts, thinking this would keep everything warmer. When I woke up the next morning there was no freeze and the neighbor's plants mostly undamaged, but my front yard was a winter wonderland coated in ice, I guess because of evaporative cooling in the dry air. The coconuts stayed green for a couple of weeks but they were goners.

@Jonathan Interesting! I read that Lepi and Hedy were 'cousins' on some other website...obviously not an authoritative one 😆 Thanks.

Apparently the most common coconut in Florida are malayan dwarves. I have not had good experience with malayan dwarf varieties. They used to get damaged with below 7⁰C temperatures and 2021 wiped out my last one. In the other side, the orange panama tall that I brought from Isla Mujeres doesn't get damaged with that, only gets damaged when it drops below -1⁰C and with rain. This is it after being exposed 0⁰C for some hours with very light protection (a trash bag) and 1⁰C the day before, also for some hours.

Don't judge me for the hashtag and title. I did that just to see if it got me more views 😂 Burle Marx that I JUST potted up. Jesus, I don't know how big these things get but yikes. More elephant ear pups aka spider mite food. Red Lady papaya #2 into a 5g pot. This leaf is 14"x35". Oh. I forgot I chopped and propped these when I made the YouTube. 2 are spoken for. I guess the last one's for sale once it warms up. Orange/mandarin/fire flash/whatever spider plant. I'm sure it has a scientific Latin name but I'm dumb. I do not want to clean these seeds. They sat in my freezer for weeks. Then I thawed them and soaked them in peroxide and water and skimmed the dead and rotten ones off the top, the water turned black. I might just guerilla plant them around the property. I might just do a few community pots. These things smell like piss and vinegar. I don't particularly want to handle them and the demand for them isn't enough to justify my hands stinking for a couple hours. Found this guy. Unofficial grow room mascot.

Carpentaria acuminata

Those are good questions. Not sure of the variety. I think coconut is even more sensitive to cold weather that Adonidia merrillii. Even though it never froze here in 2010, my rough estimate is about 70% coconut mortality by 2011 after the long cool spells of 2010 and again in 2011. According to UF/IFAS (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST658) Christmas palms are considered to be cold hardy down to about 30°F. As Zeeth suggests maybe the Adonidia are slower to show the full extent of damage. Many here inland who keep their coconuts alive through freezing weather have far more experience than me, but I can't imagine coconuts can tolerate freezing temperature for more that a couple of hours, much less the 9-10 hour freeze we just experienced.

Houston isn't anywhere near the latitude of central Florida or Orlando. It falls right around St Augustine and long term is pretty analogous to that region of northeastern Florida. All time record lows in the 1980s and 1890s are very similar in Houston-Galveston and Jacksonville-St Augustine. A 2021 event in Florida would have snow on the ground in Jacksonville for days with consecutive freezing hours numbering in the days, not hours. With a low somewhere in the low-mid teens. The January 2025 snowstorm that nuked Louisiana through to the western FL Panhandle was pretty similar. Florida really starts to diverge temp-wise relative to latitude deeper in the peninsula with increasing water moderation. Roughly around a line from Daytona to Ocala to the Gulf +/-. All places south of there are warmer or much warmer than the equivalent latitude in TX. Nothing to debate there. Extreme southern Texas might draw comparisons to central Florida, not Miami. Miami/southeast Florida especially is crazy crazy warm, one of the most anomalously warm places on earth. It's warmer there than 21-22 degrees latitude in Mexico along the Gulf, coastal Vietnam at 18 degrees latitude, etc. A continental location at 25-26 degrees latitude with a nearly 70 degree average mean temp in January is absolutely bonkers. Some winters don't even drop below 50F. Don't want to detail this thread into some climate debate comparison. Hopefully winter is over for all of us!

I knew we were f’ed as soon as the weather channel released their (weekly) long range forecast with most of Florida being within the above average/much above average gradients. They’ve since moved the warmer gradients West(big surprise there) but still have Florida as “above average” for February, which means we are still in the shit pipe…

@Kiplin if the lower part of the spear is still green I'd mark it horizontally against a nearby frond with a sharpie. That way you can see if it's pushing growth next week. As long as it keeps moving then the bud is alive. Don't cut anything off or give up until it's stationary for several weeks straight. Some stuff might not really grow until well into March. Likewise if the leaflets are dead but the frond stem (rachis and/or petiole) is still green then don't cut it off. For recovery any palm will need nutrients, and anything green still provides nutrients. My treatment for bud rot is a big squirt of hydrogen peroxide, followed up later with Daconil. I got that from other people on PalmTalk and it's been pretty effective. Another PT'er said to use Mancozeb on crown rots. Halley said this was very effective on his Alfredii seedlings. I've bought some but haven't tried it yet. For some of your palms, this is my experience from repeated 27-30F frosts and one night at 24.4F with frost: Pembana, Lutescens, Christmas, Macrocarpa and K.O. (now changed to C.O.) - all had problems with crown/bud rot after cold fronts. They did ok with defoliation and recovery, but some caught a bud rot and died. Pembana and Lutescens I lost trunks out of the cluster but most of the time they grew back. I did lose one big Pembana cluster from upper trunk rot (likely Thielaviopsis). Archontophoenix - Most grew back from defoliation in the upper 20s, with one Tuckeri surviving 24.4F + frost and still growing fine. Hopefully these are "bud hardy" even if they get defoliated. Royal - I've seen these get torched in Lake Mary/Sanford and grow a new frond a few weeks later. Maybe these are "leaf wimpy" but "bud hardy?" Buccaneer - very tough. I lost a small one to a random summer bud rot, unrelated to cold. Otherwise tough to 20? Areca Vestiaria - now that's unusual. Most Areca are absolute wimps to cold. If that survives 26F at your place I need to plant one here!!! Some stuff that was a sickly olive green has turned crispy brown today. For sure it'll be bonfire time in a few weeks...

Surprised how fried the Royals look! Meanwhile my Adonidia looks great lol..... I have some Banrot and Copper fungicide coming today and plan to apply tomorrow. Banrot to the soil as a drench and copper sprayed up into the bud zone. Guess the fungal target is Phytophthora palmivora. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PP144 Too early to know the extent of things. But trying to do what I can while I wait......🤔

After more than four hours of hard work, not including tidying up, the room is now sealed. We are very, very happy about this and would like to thank Otto once again, as well as my father-in-law Küde, Sabine, and myself for managing to sand down the frame, which was too big at the beginning, fix it at the entrance, and then seal the entire length on the sides. Finally...

Otto also gave us a small camellia as a good luck charm, so to speak. We have always been extremely fond of this style 🤗

Nasty cold pocket in east of Naples / Collier county. 22 degrees. Wonder if anyone has pics out that way? Probably a massacre smh.

I don't have any experience in really cold weather, but my Japonica cruised right through 22.6F like nothing happened. I'll probably try this one in some more spots in my 9b/9a borderline area.