First frost from down under -Paraná-South Brazil

[Alberto 1,533]

Four weeks ago (27 to 30 june) we had our first freezes of the year. According SIMEPAR metereology the monday morning would be cloudy so frostless. I was horrorzed when I woke up and saw the cloudless sky. Min temp of -3°C near the house and -4.2°C at ground level were this pic was taken the following morning (Tuesday) IAll my young and tender palms weren´t covered and I fear that some will beat the dust!

One of my Butia x Parajubaeas (june28). See the lack of frost below the palm (canopy effect)

[Alberto 1,533]

Young silver Serenoas were covered the second night. They speer pulled two years ago.

[Alberto 1,533]

Frosted Trachicarpus latisectus

[Alberto 1,533]

Trachicarpus wagnerianus

[Alberto 1,533]

Young CIDP

[krishnaraoji88 433]

Wow that is some heavy frost!

-Krishna

[Walt 1,211]

Young CIDP

I was surprised it got so cold (and frosty) at your location, but then I saw that you are at 1,030 meters altitude. That should account, I would think, for maybe 4-5 degrees C colder in nightime low temperatures compared to at sea level at your latitude.

I'm surprised you had spear pull two years ago on silver Serenoa, unless it was colder than the low temperatures you had in June (Of course, there could be other factors at play). I say this as I have about 20 silver Serenoa repens in the ground and they all saw lows of -4 to -6 degrees C this past winter on three separate nights, and none of the spears pulled (to my knowledge). Same goes for the green form of Serenoa.

[Alberto 1,533]

I don´t know the reason why the young Serenoas spear pulled 2 years ago..

Maybe the high humidity.....Generally every freeze here is preceeded by heavy rain....

I thought they were bullet proof so I didn´t cover the young palms two years ago. (not sure how cold it was at ground level)

In Santa Catarina State some places reached -7°C

[Rafael 423]

I am 7 mts above sea level. Get yearly minimums of 26 F, with a couple of heavy frost mornings. Thrithrinax acanthocoma had spear pulled as also :S

[Alberto 1,533]

I am 7 mts above sea level. Get yearly minimums of 26 F, with a couple of heavy frost mornings. Thrithrinax acanthocoma had spear pulled as also :S

I think a lot of hardy palms are sensitive to speer pull when very young. In Nature the seedlings are less exposed then ours in the garden,methinks.

[Nigel 50]

In Santa Catarina State some places reached -7°C

Alberto, I noticed that that all the Cyatheas in the mountains of SC look dead. Do they recover or do they have to grow from the ground again from seed ?

[Alberto 1,533]

In Santa Catarina State some places reached -7°C

Alberto, I noticed that that all the Cyatheas in the mountains of SC look dead. Do they recover or do they have to grow from the ground again from seed ?

Probably only the aerial parts are dead.....they will sprout in spring.

[Ampli 12]

Hi Alberto, I can't believe you had a so cold night in Brazil!!!

Your garden looks like mine in December, when I had a low of -7°C. But I think the day temperature rise-up more quickly in Brazil than in Italy.

What's your high temperature the day after the frost.?

Here I had a max teperature of 2°C after the frost.

[Alberto 1,533]

The days after a freezing night are very sunny and dry ,so temperature are generally 10-13°C.

[Alberto 1,533]

This was the look of my 6 Beccariophoenix alfredii that were exposed to frost. Only some green in central fronds and speerpulled.The ones that have some canopy are fine

[Alberto 1,533]

Cut all the dead fronds.Removed the dead speer and drenched the hole with Água Oxigenada 10 %.

I´m not so hopefull but fingers crossed.....

[Alberto 1,533]

This B.alfredii is growing at the side of the araucaria forest. It´s unfazed!

[Alberto 1,533]

The ´´Urbenville bangalow´´growing nearby, with the same exposition to the sky as the B.alfredii, show some damage.

The Urbenville´s with 100% canopy are OK

[Alberto 1,533]

Difference of hardiness of P .roebellenii (right) and P.rupicola left. Definately : rupicolas are hardier!!!

[Alberto 1,533]

3 Phoenix roebellenii. Totally burned ,but will regrow!

[Alberto 1,533]

3 Phoenix roebellenii. Totally burned ,but will regrow!

[Walt 1,211]

I'm reluctant to plant out cold tender palms at that size, even in a sheltered location, because all other things being equal, at that size they can't take as low temperature and duration of temperature as a more mature size.

If I must plant them out at that size, then I will be prepared to protect them. By protection I mean total enclosure with supplemental heat. Just a crude tent that can capture rising ground heat, even without supplemental heat, should keep temperatures up maybe 2 degree C as opposed to no tent. Further, it should definitely help mitigate frost formation.

As a result of the coldest December (average temperature and even all-time low temperature) I've ever experienced in the 13 plus years I've lived at my current location, I lost lots of relatively cold tender palms, many with a 1-1/2 meters of trunk, to include A. cunninghamiana, A. alexandrae, Wodyetia bifurcata, Ravenea rivularis et al. However, these palms were exposed, whereas these same species in the more sheltered areas of my property were only cosmetically damaged. But a few of these palms, I believe, were seriously cold damaged as their growth rate has slowed down to 1/8 their normal speed, a sure sign of tramatic meristem damage (and possibly trunk damage).

[Alberto 1,533]

Young P.rupicola below some light canopy.

[Alberto 1,533]

The 5 Parajubaea Torallyi var.tor. that speerpulled two years ago,recovered fine,were protected last winter (june / july 2010) and look fine this year after the freeze.

This TOPIC was about the speerpull of the same tortors two years ago:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=19453&st=0&p=324273&hl=+se%20+arrependimento&fromsearch=1&#entry324273

[Alberto 1,533]

My 6 D.decipiens looks all OK .The biggest of the six and another tinier plant.

[Alberto 1,533]

First: burned Ravenea xerophylla(open position) and second pristine R.glauca below canopy

[Alberto 1,533]

First and second pic: T. martianus Khasia hills.

Third pic: T. martianus Nepal (younger palm) undamaged with same exposition.

[Walter John 217]

Four weeks ago (27 to 30 june) we had our first freezes of the year. According SIMEPAR metereology the monday morning would be cloudy so frostless. I was horrorzed when I woke up and saw the cloudless sky. Min temp of -3°C near the house and -4.2°C at ground level were this pic was taken the following morning (Tuesday) IAll my young and tender palms weren´t covered and I fear that some will beat the dust!

One of my Butia x Parajubaeas (june28). See the lack of frost below the palm (canopy effect)

I too am amazed to see the frost and never expect anywhere in Brazil to get frost, that is my ignorance, very similar to how people perceive Australia sometimes.

Now being the good samaritan that I am Alberto, I am going to help you with some of the english you have written here. This is so you know in future, okay ?. I thought you might appreciate this, just helping out, because you post really great threads on the board and we love to hear from you.

"horrorzed" should be spelt "horrified"

For "beat the dust!", the correct saying is "bite the dust".

Cheers brother and good luck with the recovery for your palms.

[Walt 1,211]

I only have one Phoenix rupicola palm, and it got frost burned. However, it's a fairly fast grower of new fronds, as shown in the second photo below.

Note: The date stamp (year) in the first photo is wrong, it should be 2011.

Edited July 26, 2011 by Walt

[Tyrone 1,974]

I take my hat off to everyone who grows their tender palms in frosty areas. I just don't know if I could handle seeing my palms getting burnt like that every year or so. All the best Alberto and I hope you get a real 10 out 10 summer for growth this year.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Alberto 1,533]

First pic:big Livistona chinensis Below canopy

Second :L.chinensis exposed. Interesting that only the hanging filaments burns in freezes and the rest of the leaves not......(?)

[Alberto 1,533]

"horrorzed" should be spelt "horrified"

For "beat the dust!", the correct saying is "bite the dust".

Cheers brother and good luck with the recovery for your palms.

[/quote

Thanks for the English lesson!!! :-) Sometimes I only see my errors when I read the post the following day.

Please correct me when you find errors! This would not be difficult :-) Thanks!

[Alberto 1,533]

First pic:Burned D. albofarinosa and D.onilahensis :waiting for the canopy...:-) Brahea brandegei is OK of course!

Halve of the X Cycas sp below canopy is green!

Caryotoa gigas: is it alive?

[Alberto 1,533]

Syagrus cardenasii: they don´t look that happy!

Second pic: Arenga engleri show some cosmetic damage.

[Alberto 1,533]

First pic: Young T. latisectus with some minor damage. Mature plants are OK.

Second pic: D.onilahensis near the house opening a new frond

[Alberto 1,533]

Thanks Walt and Tyrone!

Walt ,it´s strange that your Accoelorraphe wrighttii (paurotis) is totally green and your P.rupicola at the same spot is burned.

My paurotis palms all show some burned leaves and P.rupicolas less then yours...Go figure...?????

Tomorrow I´ll show the difference between native tableland queen from Paraná and a palm from seeds from São Paulo State.

[Gileno Machado 200]

Oi Alberto,

I saw on the news here the reports on the low temps and frosts (geadas) down in the South and thought about your garden. It seems the weather prediction guys need some vacations in Paraná... Anyway, all your palms have grown up a lot since i last saw pix of them. Condolences on the casualties but I guess most of them will gradually recover when spring comes, hopefully soon. I see a lot of Dioon edule...they seem to be from a very cold hardy variety, hmm? How did the northern Acrocomia and Encephalartos face this Argentinean blast? and the Trithrinax campestris? BTW, lovely Trachy wagnerianus...I should send mine here to your place...

Abraços...and heres the Butia x Jubaea strap leaf seedling you gave me at the biennial, remember? How's the mother plant doing?

[Walt 1,211]

Thanks Walt and Tyrone!

Walt ,it´s strange that your Accoelorraphe wrighttii (paurotis) is totally green and your P.rupicola at the same spot is burned.

My paurotis palms all show some burned leaves and P.rupicolas less then yours...Go figure...?????

Tomorrow I´ll show the difference between native tableland queen from Paraná and a palm from seeds from São Paulo State.

Alberto: My paurotis palm did get some burn on the most exposed fronds. However, about a week ago I gave the entire clump a hard trim, removing all of the burned fronds. But note, since last winter my paurotis regrew lots of new fronds, so my palm looks full. However, my paurotis palm wasn't nearly as frost burned as my P.rupicola.

[Alberto 1,533]

Walt,normally I cover my young palms the first winters (sometimes with some heat) but this time I believed the site of the meterology station that said the frost would happen only on the follwing morning......

Gileno your Butia eriospatha X Jubaea looks fantastic! I hope the eriospatha genes will make it more suitable for your tropical climate!

[krishnaraoji88 433]

First pic:Burned D. albofarinosa and D.onilahensis :waiting for the canopy...:-) Brahea brandegei is OK of course!

Halve of the X Cycas sp below canopy is green!

Caryotoa gigas: is it alive?

Caryota have been good about coming back from total defoliation for me.

-krishna