Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

[freakypalmguy 309]

27F and many hours and nights at or below freezing. Three foot tall Illawara 80% brown. Central spear was just starting to unfurl and is looking bad.

[SouthSeaNate 122]

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, rather stupidly growing in England

2 @ approx 9ft tall with no overhead canopy have badly burnt & "bronzed" fronds, mostly on the highest ones. Lowest temperature -2C (28F), plus a few other nights down to freezing or just below. One night it was below freezing for around 15 hours! They are still very much alive, they had horticultural fleece wrapped around them & a duvet cover over the top. Unfortunately they had already been damaged before I decided to wrap them...

2 smaller ones, 1 @ approx 2ft tall & another @ 5ft, received no protection other than natural canopy above & suffered no real damage...

[tikitiki 12]

triple in the ground for about 3 years. Ranging from 1ft of trunk to 3 foot. Little protection. It started to show some browning after the first night at 32f with no frost. Now after the 2nd and some frost it is looking worse. Still just cosmectic damage at this point.l I hope.

[Dave-Vero 622]

31-32 degrees from 9:30 pm until near dawn, 30 at dawn. Dry air, no frost. My A. cunninghamiana with maybe 4 feet of trunk, total height at least 15 feet suffered no visible damage. We'll see how tonight (probably a bit warmer) goes.

[ruskinPalms 468]

Low of 27.3, radiational freeze, no wind, unprotected. below freezing from approximately 12:30 AM to 8:15 AM. Lots of frost. Pictures 36 hours after the freeze.

OK condition so far...very minor browning.

[Rafael 423]

Could anyone tell me if cunninghamiana is stronger than alexandrae facing frost and freeze. And how much stronger.

[velutina 58]

I have a 3' trunk A. cunninghamiana that has just survived it's second winter here with minimal protection (christmas lights). It has seen temps between 26-28F and no damage.

[Sutter Bob 27]

Here are a few young ones (3 winters) after being hacked by me after typical winter damage.

R. baueri in middle.

Low 27F.

[Dave-Vero 622]

Our low temperature in December was 26 F (-3 C) with lots of wind at the airport, less than a mile away. 28 degrees two weeks later.

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, with partial sky blockage from a tall oak but clear sky directly overhead, suffered no significant damage, only barely-noticeable leaf browning.

Archontophoenix tuckeri, next to it, suffered maybe 50% leaf browning, unsightly but not very harmful to the tree, which, along with two others, has resumed normal growth.

This is a rather bad photo of my tree, which is the tall feather-leaf hiding behind an Acoelorraphe wrightii and a native Simpson stopper bush (Myricianthes fragrans). To the rear, you can see damaged leaves from Syagrus schizophylla and Satakentia liukiuensis (pretty much ruined). In the foreground, a Zamia pumila is shedding leaflets.

[Sutter Bob 27]

Had a low of 20F six months ago. Lost about five cunninghamianas - all in the open. The three shown above under cover of tall pine all doing fine.

Others rebounding with moderate defoliation. I'm definitely on the borderland for this one, but under tall cover or south side of house worth a try.

[ghar41 201]

Hi Bob,

Ive had good success with Daconil poured right down the throat of burnt A. cunninghamiana spears and have saved them that way. More recently Ive taken the advice given here on palmtalk to use Hydrogen Peroxide the same way- it works well also and is cheaper and non toxic. See post #31 on the following thread:

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32990

[enigma99 567]

I also live in the area. (Rocklin/Roseville) My Kings have been around for a few winters now. I used to wrap them and use hydrogen peroxide after freezes, but now I just use propane. One 89.99 Home Depot patio heater 48,000 btu, can warm a huge part of the yard. And how often does it get below freezing? Or below 30 when the Kings start burning? A couple nights a winter.

[Sutter Bob 27]

Used peroxide on some last winter after the deep freeze and suspect it might have made a difference.

Like the idea of the propane heater but am getting lazier and just letting them fend for themselves this year.

[zootropical 10]

Dear all,

Any news after the last cold snap in west USA?

Sincerely.

JM

[Tropicdoc 328]

South Louisiana- 2 nights at 26 F. First night wet with advective freeze very windy. Second night radiation freeze. A. Cunningham no clear trunk, 7 foot tall overall, under heavy live oak canopy. Bud protected with xmas lights and bubble foil. Some leaves exposed sticking out of the top. Exposed leaves are about 50% browned, one rachis wilted. The palm is alive and doing ok and is working on opening a new frond.

[Sandy Loam 313]

On 7/11/2012, 8:41:20, ghar41 said:

On 7/11/2012, 8:41:20, ghar41 said:

Hi Bob,

 

Ive had good success with Daconil poured right down the throat of burnt A. cunninghamiana spears and have saved them that way. More recently Ive taken the advice given here on palmtalk to use Hydrogen Peroxide the same way- it works well also and is cheaper and non toxic. See post #31 on the following thread:

 

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=32990

 

-------------

What does this mean? (The "Throat" ). There is no opening, per se, to drop peroxide into a palm's bud.  Only if I harm it by slicing it open will the bud be exposed.

--------------

 

 

[Sandy Loam 313]

.... Also, there are a lot of people posting here on damage the morning following a freeze. Isn't Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana one of those palms which will look fine for a month+ after a freeze, but then starts to decline then?

[RedRabbit 1,611]

No damage from 28f.

Additional info can be found here: http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/55520-2018-freeze-in-central-florida/&do=findComment&comment=834723

 

[Sandy Loam 313]

Mine all had a lot of frond damage at 23 F in the extreme freeze this January.  However, the crownshafts look fine, so I think they will pull through and start to look normal again in the late spring.

[Sandy Loam 313]

Update as of May 2018 :

- of my five larger archontophoenix cunninghamiana, only three are now producing new green growth at the spear.  I won't pronounce the other two dead yet though.  I will continue to wait until next year even. "Large" = the crownshaft is about as tall as my head, or slightly higher.

- the medium-sized one is also growing out a new spear, although very slowly and reluctantly

- all of my very tiny/juvenile archontophoenix cunninghamiana were killed

This January was certainly my worst cold event in eight years. It consisted of two freezes, a week and half apart:  27 Fahrenheit the first time and 23 Fahrenheit the second time.  The 27 F event was worse because the below-freezing temperatures lasted so many hours, although it always went above freezing after at least 10:00 or 11:00 am. The 23 F event was also much quicker.  Either way, the back-to-back impact of these two freezes was the absolute limit of what this palm can tolerate.  Recovery will be slow in the survivors.

The new growth that I see in the palms mentioned above is very slow, reluctant growth.  They are barely clinging onto life.  It is a zone 9b palm, not a zone 9a palm. 

[Lou-StAugFL 140]

Now that summer is in full swing I can see that my a. cunninghamiana looks like it is coming back normally from some cold damage this past winter in zone 9A.  The emerging frond during the cold was damaged and stunted you can see that in the first photo, but you can see the new one is full size.  This tree is under some live oak canopy so it is very protected but not close to the house. 

Edited July 22, 2018 by Lou-StAugFL

[Lou-StAugFL 140]

Here is a far away and close up shot so you can see the crownshaft of my Archontophoenix here in St. Augustine, Florida.  We didn't have a freeze or frost this year.  I think it has been in the ground for maybe 5 years now.  So they do well in a protected area here in St. Augustine.  I am just a few blocks from the intracoastal waterway.  There is live oak and cedar tree on the northside of the palm so it is somewhat protected. I am 5'10" tall for perspective on the size of the tree.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Lou-StAugFL