By
GregVirginia7
Freezing nighttime temps are arriving over the next 14-consecutive days...predictions have 14-nights below freezing (Fahrenheit) but only two daytime temps below freezing. For the cold hardy, this seems like a reasonable scenario as day temps will allow for recovery from the night’s freezes. In that period, there will be two consecutive days/nights below freezing...one at 25/12 and the next at 30/19. My palms have had worse long-term freezes than this...but I’ll wrap the Trachy’s trunk for the two consecutive days below freezing. The Sabal Brazoria and the Chamaerops Humilis are protected as usual all winter but will let the Sabal Minor straplings tough it out with just frost cloth on the ground around. Both 24-hour, back to back periods below freezing have sun to a degree, so given their nice south face, wrapped umbrella covered cages and frost cloth ground cover I think we’re set for a reasonable episode for my cold hardy palms.
Question...given that glucose storage in evergreen plant cells helps give them the anti-freeze they need to keep their cells from freezing solid and dying, if palms are periodically watered with a mixture of molasses and water (which I do with a gallon watering can spring and summer) is there a chance they take in the glucose in the molasses and move to store it in their cells? Crazy notion and such a regimen, if anything, feeds the bacteria in the soil, thus benefiting the soil...but any expert opinion on the regimen actually resulting in an uptake of glucose by the palm Itself would be appreciated.