Dec. 1989 freeze photos

[aztropic]

Closeup of trunk damage.

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[fastfeat]

Oy veh! That Phoenix will only become more hazardous with age. I'd suggest removal now; easier than by hurricane later!

[mppalms]

Eric,

Ceiba speciosa regrow from the roots?!   I had no idea.  I just have a hard time imagining something with such a massive water-storing trunk resprouting from the ground.  But, great photos.  Interesting to see that central and even southern FL can get ice.  I've heard of freak snow, but those icicles are unbelievable.

Thanks for the photos and story.

Jason

[ruskinPalms]

I personally think the freezes of the 80s are a stong argument TO plant more marginal palms.  My reasoning is that even palms considered 'safe' like Syagrus were KILLED just as much as Cocos, Adonidia and Roystonea. If we plant our gardens to '89 freeze standards, all we can have is Butia, Sabal and maybe a few others. No thank you. Go ahead and enjoy your marginal plants between the historical freezes.

[NBTX11]

(ruskinPalms @ Mar. 15 2008,23:53)

QUOTE

I personally think the freezes of the 80s are a stong argument TO plant more marginal palms.  My reasoning is that even palms considered 'safe' like Syagrus were KILLED just as much as Cocos, Adonidia and Roystonea. If we plant our gardens to '89 freeze standards, all we can have is Butia, Sabal and maybe a few others. No thank you. Go ahead and enjoy your marginal plants between the historical freezes.

Big Butias look great imo, can't wait until mine gets big.   Plus can't beat the hardiness.  Saw a big 25 footer around here recently and it looked great.

[epicure3]

The thing that strikes me the most about all these pictures is.......how much younger Jeff looks.

[Jeff Searle]

The thing that strikes me the most about all these pictures is.......how much younger Jeff looks.

Hmmm, don't quite know what to say on that. Well I was nearly 20 years younger.Ah, those were the days, the DAYS of struggle!!

Jeff

[epicure3]

The thing that strikes me the most about all these pictures is.......how much younger Jeff looks.

Hmmm, don't quite know what to say on that. Well I was nearly 20 years younger.Ah, those were the days, the DAYS of struggle!!

Jeff

LOL

[zootropical]

Great pictures.

Any informations about Bismarkia nobilis? Does it thrived or has been eradicated?

Sincerely.

JM Dupuyoo

[Alicehunter2000]

1989 Was the last time U.S. Interstate I-10 was closed due to ice.......until this week .

JM....good news on Bizmarkia....Stay tuned to the Freeze Damage section of PalmTalk for the next few months to see how they handled my weather up here during temps of 20 F. (-6.67 C.) and the recent 33 hr. below 32 F. (0 C.).

[Alicehunter2000]

Ficus auriculata

Kigelia pinnata

Markhamia lutea

Ceiba (Chorisia) speciosa

Tabebuia umbellata

Bischofia javanica

Jefferyisis Serlesis

Eric how would you rank the cold hardiness of these species?

PS.... a little reminder on the trade

[edbrown_III]

Darn,

were those the good ole' Days or what --- ?

[zootropical]

Hi David,

33 hours below freezing!That's crazy!

Fingers cross.

JM

[_Keith]

No pictures, but interesting reading for those seeking cold hardy plants.

http://www.palms.org/principes/1994/vol38n2p64-72.pdf

[zootropical]

Thank you for the document.

Jean-Michel

[Alicehunter2000]

Nothing but a tarp to protect it. Almost no damage. Bizmarkia's rock!

[Trópico]

Bizzie benefited from protection by house proximity. I noticed they laugh at prolonged cold even with light freezes but planting one out in the open and exposing it to 25F or below equals one ugly Bizzie.

[Alicehunter2000]

Yes the house may have helped a bit but the tarp was completely frozen solid for 33 hours strait even in close proximity to the house. I have also noticed that Bizmarkia doesn't like to have frost or frozen ice on its fronds. They will turn ugly as you said. The Polar Vortex freeze....the freeze before the last ice storm freeze....temps went down to 20 degrees and was below 25 for many hours...this same Bizzy had nothing but a tarp and a rope light loosely bunched around the trunk. The fronds did not brown at this time either. I have several small ones scattered around and they all have survived with a sheet or a planter bucket thrown over the top. There are a few that had no protection that were given to neighbors....I will find out how everything did and report on it in the Freeze Damage section. Regardless, I am thinking that some individual Bizmarkia's may be able to handle 20 degrees, especially if they have overhead protection from frost.

[Eric in Orlando]

Great pictures.

Any informations about Bismarkia nobilis? Does it thrived or has been eradicated?

Sincerely.

JM Dupuyoo

The Bismarckia is still alive and thriving, about 30 ft tall now. It was planted spring 1990 so did not go through the horrible 1989 freeze.

[Eric in Orlando]

Ficus auriculata

Kigelia pinnata

Markhamia lutea

Ceiba (Chorisia) speciosa

Tabebuia umbellata

Bischofia javanica

Jefferyisis Serlesis

Eric how would you rank the cold hardiness of these species?

PS.... a little reminder on the trade

[/quot

Probably the hardiest is the Tabebuia but it will show severe damage in the low 20s. The Ficus is root hardy into zone 8 and is grown as a die back perennial. It can easily grow 5-7ft when froze back. But young shoots freeze below about 29-30F and big wood freezes back around 26-27F. As for the other trees below around 25 will cause severe damage on mature trees. Younger specimens are more tender.

I still have your plants. Just waiting until spring to send them and see if you want anything else for possible replacements.

[Eric in Orlando]

The Jeffreyensis is probably the most cold sensitive since it exists in zone 10.

[Jeff Searle]

What a great topic to look back on.

[_Keith]

What a great topic to look back on.

Sure if Jeff. Defintely a part of horticultural history we lived through and survived, unlike many plants.

[stevethegator]

Wild! Without giving too much away, lets just say I was barely around when this happened.

Scary part is, if it happened once it can happen again!

[Mike in Nelson]

Florida must have one of the most frustrating climates. For 99.9% of the time it's possible to grow almost anything, but every now and then........................

[Alberto]

Ficus auriculata

Kigelia pinnata

Markhamia lutea

Ceiba (Chorisia) speciosa

Tabebuia umbellata

Bischofia javanica

Jefferyisis Serlesis

Eric how would you rank the cold hardiness of these species?

PS.... a little reminder on the trade

Two plants that strangely died with that freeze are Syagrus romanzoffiana or queen palm ("jerivá") and Ceiba speciosa ("paineira")

Both are native to tropical and subtropical forests of south and southeastern Brazil. Provenance in this case is important. For me it sounds strange queens dying with this kind of temperatures. They were probably of tropical origin. I saw freezes here that killed big avocado trees and Eriobotrya trees to the roots and did nothing to the native queens and cultivated very big and old "paineiras"

[Eric in Orlando]

Before the 12/89 freeze, a majority of the queen palms grown in FL were forms from more tropical climates. They weren't the hardy robust southern forms. Most of these queen palms would get leaf damage around 25-26F. After the 3 big freezes of the 1980s killed a majority of the queen palms in central FL, growers starting c9ollecting seed off the robust survivors. I remember seeing surviviors, many had little foliage damage. But they were all thick trunked with f=very dark green fronds that were larger than the "usual" specimens.

[Matthew92]

A couple memories

 

[Matthew92]

TWC archive from this event (don't you wish they still did the weather like this?)

 

[Estlander]

Should temperatures like those ever return, we’ll have almost nothing but the native palms left in northern FL and starting over with palms like Phoenix palms, Chinese Fans, W. Robustas etc. lol. 

[kinzyjr]

11 hours ago, Estlander said:

Should temperatures like those ever return, we’ll have almost nothing but the native palms left in northern FL and starting over with palms like Phoenix palms, Chinese Fans, W. Robustas etc. lol. 

Central Florida would still have most phoenix sp., but it would definitely thin the herd of weak queens, pygmy date palms, and all the new foxtails and at least most of the royals.

[mthteh1916]

12 hours ago, Estlander said:

12 hours ago, Estlander said:

Should temperatures like those ever return, we’ll have almost nothing but the native palms left in northern FL and starting over with palms like Phoenix palms, Chinese Fans, W. Robustas etc. lol. 

Should temperatures like those ever return, we’ll have almost nothing but the native palms left in northern FL and starting over with palms like Phoenix palms, Chinese Fans, W. Robustas etc. lol. 

for those of us of a certain age, I remember the 80's well, and was in the South many times. Nothing but sabal palmettos and butia from what I rememeber. Certainly no citrus of any kind could survive those temps. It is what North America does. Hate to tell you all, but sooner or later you are all gonna lose lots of stuff when those temps return as they have every so many decades. You have had a lucky run that is just about up.

[bubba]

Ha! I was in South Florida during this event and I can confirm no damage to Cocos nucifera. Have you ever traveled south of Ocala?

[Matthew92]

Here are a couple of pictures I found of what my hometown in Northwest FL (Niceville) looked like during the Dec 1989 cold event. According to the nearby Eglin AFB weather station, starting on the 22nd of Dec, there were consecutive lows of 22, 15, 13, 26, and 32 degrees with a high of 26deg on the 23rd and a high of 36deg on the 24th. There was also minor snow accumulation on the 23rd.

^Today, there is a nice planting of mature Phoenix dactylifera at this intersection.

^Sabal and Butia in the background is typical of pretty much the only palms you would find in the area back then. I wasn't there to see if they had damage after this event or from 1985 (single digits), but there are old specimens around today that obviously survived. Nowadays, zone 9a plants have crept in.

Photos by Shawn Yorks

Edited December 3, 2018 by Opal92

[Matthew92]

Here's what Jacksonville looked like on Dec 23rd, 1989

Picture source

[kinzyjr]

25 minutes ago, Opal92 said:

Here's what Jacksonville looked like on Dec 23rd, 1989

Looks like a horror movie to me...

[Palmarum]

Just now, Opal92 said:

Here's what Jacksonville looked like on Dec 23rd, 1989 ...

I would have lost my mind if I went outside to that.

Ryan

[Palmaceae]

5 hours ago, Opal92 said:

Here's what Jacksonville looked like on Dec 23rd, 1989

Picture source

Looks like they were Dreaming of a White Christmas! I remember that day well.

[Jeff Searle]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2008‎ ‎9‎:‎27‎:‎36‎, Jeff Searle said:

 

(Palmarum @ Mar. 13 2008,17:50)

QUOTE

These are amazing photos Eric and it is astounding on how fast some palms and plants can recover. I hope the garden goes a long time without another freeze. When I first read the title of your topic, this photo came to mind. I noticed it while organizing some of Jeff's old photos. It was also taken during the painful '89 Freeze at Searle Brothers Nursery, Inc.

 

 

Ryan

To all,

     I haven't seen this picture in many years, I look at it and really think hard about when this happened. All that comes to mind is that I would loose most of my palm collection as I know it if I had it back then, and it's pretty f#&%ing scarry how much ice is on those plants! Damn!

Jeff

Wow....this still scares me. Lol

[kinzyjr]

I rounded up some of the links to articles I had been reading regarding the freezes in the 1980s and decided to share them here:

This link is from 2004, 15 years after the 1989 freeze.  They spoke with some of the citrus growers at Ben Hill Griffin regarding the freeze and talk about the rolling blackouts they were using because of power demand.  This is also one of the officially documented instances of the "urban heat island" effects here in Lakeland, with the city dropping to 21F and outlying areas in the teens:

https://www.theledger.com/news/20041224/a-cold-hard-fact-89-freeze-hit-hard?start=2

This article from 2008 talking about the effects of all of the freezes in the 1980s, with a mention of the 1895 freeze.  It also mentions the freezes as the reason growers started selling land for housing developments:

https://www.theledger.com/article/LK/20081220/News/608137156/LL/

This is an article from 2009, 20 years after the 1989 freeze, that deals mostly with how the citrus industry was affected and why the area north of I-4 on US-27 is now dominated by housing developments instead of orange groves:

https://www.theledger.com/article/LK/20091225/News/608119147/LL/

This is a timeline of major freezes produced by Florida Citrus Mutual:

http://flcitrusmutual.com/render.aspx?p=/industry-issues/weather/freeze_timeline.aspx

This is a PDF file focused on the 1989 freeze and deals with the state-wide impact of the freeze, not focused on power production and citrus:

http://flbrace.org/images/docs/extreme-cold-factsheet.pdf