Serenoa Repens (silver) cold damage...

[JayW 34]

I have some growing out in the field, after yesterdays 19.6* low, they were covered in frost, and today, I noticed they are very spotty... I'm hoping they will be ok?

This was taken at around 8:30 am on 1-7-10

Edited January 9, 2010 by JayW

[Dave-Vero 656]

That's a lot of frost, but the species is native into southern South Carolina. Of course saw palmettos usually inhabit locations with frequent low-intensity fires, as often as once a year. The plants are extremely good at quickly building new leaves to replace the toasted ones.

[JayW 34]

I guess tonight will be the real test? We'll see how cold it really gets... I'm hoping for some wind!

[_Keith 757]

I am guessing, in the long run, they won't even be fazed by this.

[JayW 34]

Well, I noticed yesterday, that as of right now, there are 6 silver ones and 5 green ones that have lost the spear! I was looking close and noticed it had dried and curled up, I gently pulled and they came out with ease and were brown at the point of where it broke off and shriveled up. It's from the cold and possibly rain during and after. I treated them with peroxide yesterday and have my fingers crossed. Anyone ever see this with Saw Palmettos? Low was 16.7* and 2 other days were at 19*.

[gsn 21]

Jay,

I have heard these develop more cold tolerence as they get older,but can be somewhat more tender at an early age,unfortunately. Had they been mature palms I don't think those temps would have bothered them to much?

They are pretty tuff palms and will most likely recover from spear pull, as and added bonus this is a suckering palm,so they might come back from the roots,even if the main stems die.I hope they recover for you, as it takes them a pretty good while even to get to the size of yours!

Edited January 21, 2010 by gsn

[JayW 34]

Jay,

I have heard these develop more cold tolerence as they get older,but can be somewhat more tender at an early age,unfortunately. Had they been mature palms I don't think those temps would have bothered them to much?

They are pretty tuff palms and will most likely recover from spear pull, as and added bonus this is a suckering palm,so they might come back from the roots,even if the main stems die.I hope they recover for you, as it takes them a pretty good while even to get to the size of yours!

I've heard the same thing, that they get more cold tolerant with age... I just hope the ones with the spear pulls can come back from this years cold. There still seem to be a lot of them that were not affected, but 1 out of 5 probably have spear pull. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[jayfro6 8]

Hey Jay,

I bought 15 potted silver Serenoa repens from a nursery nearby that probably got down in the upper teens last winter. They all looked good, but more than half had spear-pull on one of the growing points. They all recovered very quickly with new growth, with only one of the "branches" actually dying. I wouldn't worry too much, because I have close to 50 Serenoa plants, and they will just up and die out of the blue for no apparent reason even after growing fine for 2 years. The others will catch on and branch off in every direction to fill in the void eventually. I've seen some greenish-silver Serenoa repens growing naturally as far inland as St. Cloud, but never in any zone 8 areas, so chances are it's more tender than the green form.

Here is the St. Cloud version. Not my favorite silver color, but I like them all.

[JayW 34]

Hey Jay,

I bought 15 potted silver Serenoa repens from a nursery nearby that probably got down in the upper teens last winter. They all looked good, but more than half had spear-pull on one of the growing points. They all recovered very quickly with new growth, with only one of the "branches" actually dying. I wouldn't worry too much, because I have close to 50 Serenoa plants, and they will just up and die out of the blue for no apparent reason even after growing fine for 2 years. The others will catch on and branch off in every direction to fill in the void eventually. I've seen some greenish-silver Serenoa repens growing naturally as far inland as St. Cloud, but never in any zone 8 areas, so chances are it's more tender than the green form.

Thanks for the info, Jay. The plants still look pretty good, I was just really surprised to find some of the new spears all dried up like that after they looked to have made it through just fine. As for my Bismarkia, that's another story. All of the leaves were toast and spongy and starting to break. I cut them all back and now have a fried spear and am keeping my fingers crossed. My Sabal Minors, Sabal Louisiana's, Sabal Lisa's, Sabal Palmettos, Needles, Euro and windmill are all untouched. I took in about 90% of the 1 gallon Sabal Lisa's and left the rest outside, but under my carport just to see how they'd fair. They all look the same and were untouched!

Jay

[Dave-Vero 656]

Saw palmettos are notoriously difficult to transplant. About 2005, I bought a beautiful container-grown silver from an excellent native plant grower. For the first year, it died back until it looked ready to die. Then the surviving growing tips came back to life. Now it's a thriving clump, maybe 5 feet across and 4 feet tall.

[gsn 21]

I have some growing out in the field, after yesterdays 19.6* low, they were covered in frost, and today, I noticed they are very spotty... I'm hoping they will be ok?

This was taken at around 8:30 am on 1-7-10

I have NEVER had any problem transplanting serenoa from a pot into the ground.

However transplanting from being in the ground to another ground location is a whole different story,success rate is very low.

They do NOT like to have their roots cut,they bleed from doing so.

Jays'saw palmetos look like they were growing extremely well before the freeze as this pic shows.

Again I hope they make it Jay!

[Austinpalm 175]

One 5-10-gallon sized plant under live oak canopy exhibited 30% defoliation (oldest fronds) after a low of 16F with several other nighttime lows in the upper 20's and low 30's. No additional protection was given.

[Plott Palm Trees 1]

This has been a very interesting post, thank you all that shared. I am always intrigued by the cold hardy palms and how much Cold they can take...I always thought that Saw Palmettos in general could survive below zero, but I guess not and would you say that a Sabal Palm is more Cold hardy than the Saw Palmetto? Just Curious, hope to hear from some one.

[TexasColdHardyPalms 3,174]

 Zero burn on these tiny, virtually white specimens after 12F and 30 hours straight below freezing.