Spraying Water to Protect from Freeze Damage

[Alicehunter2000]

The following publication got me thinking, has anyone done experiments with palms to find out if spraying water on them during a freeze is beneficial. The publication below explains that in guava, and plants in general, the mechanism for damage in leaf structure is actually dehydration with freezing temps. As we know palms with high drought tolerance also show freeze tolerance for the most part.

If dehydration occurs with a freeze, then adding water to the exterior of the palm should not harm it ...right? Of course I am talking about palms that already can handle higher freezing temps such as queens etc. and not those plants that see damage at the freezing mark. This question has probably been posted before on this forum, but I could not find the post.

This seems like it would be a relatively easy experiment to conduct, but didn't know if there were actually any studies done on palms in particular.

As a side note......the palms in my yard were harmed (I think) primarily by the advective dry freeze with wind (Polar Vortex) and didn't appear to be further damaged much with the wet Ice freeze several weeks later. Of course since damage does not show up till later, it is hard to know for sure if this is indeed true.

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/44/5/1258.full.pdf

[Bill H2DB]

Here is what happens.

http://theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/468/

The problem is that in a prolonged event , the physical damage from the ever thickening ice

will be significant . The water must continually added until Temps rise . Newspapers love the

pictures though .

[Zeeth]

Here is what happens.

http://theweatherprediction.com/habyhints2/468/

The problem is that in a prolonged event , the physical damage from the ever thickening ice

will be significant . The water must continually added until Temps rise . Newspapers love the

pictures though .

Here's a graph that demonstrates the phenomenon

http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/ess/Units/Unit3/u3L13aimage.jpg

The Dave Romney coconut book talks about this method to protect coconut palms on cold days, so it must work somewhat with tropicals that can stand 32 but no lower. The biggest thing to remember is that if you stop the application at any point until the frozen water melts then you will have done more damage than if you didn't use the method at all.

[Brad Mondel]

There is a few negative reasons why not to do this:

- The ice weighs down fronds causing damage.

-Once the ice melts the moisture collects in the crown and causes crown rot. (Cold temperatures and moisture)

Benefits:

- Protection from temperatures below 32f

-Eliminates dehydration from cold winds because the ice locks in moisture.

-looks cool.

Here is what happened after my palms were covered in ice:

-Rhapidophyllum was weighed down significantly but once ice melted there was only minor damage.

-Butia fronds bend and some snapped off in older specimens. Spear pull on 3 young Butia.

-Washingtonia full defoliation and mildew quickly grew in the desiccated spear.

-Phoenix hybrids full crown rot.

-Sabal fronds slightly damaged and larger specimens fronds snapped off.

-Trachycarpus unaffected except smaller plants showed spear pull.

I know that spraying plants with a hose might be less damaging because it doesn't create as thick of ice such as from an ice storm.

Palms will most likely have crown rot and frond damage from this, but other plants this will work with (such as citrus) but I do not recommend it for palms.

Edited February 23, 2014 by ArchAngeL01

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

The following publication got me thinking, has anyone done experiments with palms to find out if spraying water on them during a freeze is beneficial. The publication below explains that in guava, and plants in general, the mechanism for damage in leaf structure is actually dehydration with freezing temps. As we know palms with high drought tolerance also show freeze tolerance for the most part.

If dehydration occurs with a freeze, then adding water to the exterior of the palm should not harm it ...right? Of course I am talking about palms that already can handle higher freezing temps such as queens etc. and not those plants that see damage at the freezing mark. This question has probably been posted before on this forum, but I could not find the post.

This seems like it would be a relatively easy experiment to conduct, but didn't know if there were actually any studies done on palms in particular.

As a side note......the palms in my yard were harmed (I think) primarily by the advective dry freeze with wind (Polar Vortex) and didn't appear to be further damaged much with the wet Ice freeze several weeks later. Of course since damage does not show up till later, it is hard to know for sure if this is indeed true.

http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/44/5/1258.full.pdf

Everone already explained to you how the latent heat is what keeps temps at 32F. You have to keep adding water and after 12 hours the palms will simply collapse under the ice, not to mention freezing water in the spear, which is quite damaging.

I want to address the desiccation issue. Adding an anti-transpirant isn't going to prevent freeze damage Because freezing temperatures draw the water out of the cells into the space in between the cells where the ice crystals form. An anti-transpirant isn't going to prevent this from happening.

[PalmatierMeg]

What Keith said. I can speak from unfortunate experience. One Jan. I forgot off the sprinklers one night when temp fell below freezing. They went off - but only 1 hour total per zone. I woke up to icicles hanging from everything. Spears pulled and palms died - not because of the sprinklers but because once they went on they had to stay on till after sunup/thaw. That's the key to what FL growers do on freezing nights. Never let the flow of warm water stop spraying. If you can meet those requirements consider doing this as a last ditch effort to save your plants. I can't because I don't have enough water pressure to water my whole yard at once.

[Dypsisdean]

I can only offer you this story that I have told before.

Back around 1980 I had a thousand Kentia (Howea) palms in containers. We had two severe freeze events in two consecutive years. I lost hundreds in the first one. In the second one I turned the overhead sprinklers on about 2-3am (when I assumed it would begin to get really dangerous) to see if the water would save me - along the lines that I heard citrus farmers would do. I heard that a coating of ice on citrus act as a insulator - and since damage to the fruit and leaves don't happen until the mid twenties, the insulation kept them above that temp and closer to 32 degrees.

When I got up early I saw 3 inch icicles hanging from the fronds, my thought was, "Oh well, I tried." But not only did I not lose one palm, there was no damage to the leaves.

Now this may only apply to Kentias (and of course wouldn't apply to palms that show damage at 32 degrees, and this may only be pertinent in SoCal freezes which are almost always accompanied by very low humidity - adding credence to the dehydration theory being a large part of the equation as related to damage. In SoCal the bud rot issue can be a real problem in winter, but I think the extremely low humidity during these events mitigates a lot of that potential problem. And at any rate, is it any better to lose your palm by freezing than by fungus?

[NorthFlpalmguy]

As suggested before you have to leave the irrigation on until it completely thaws. I run mine for at least a 12 hour period.

I would rather not do this method on larger butias (7gal+) container stock unless it dips below 20 degrees for an extended period because the weight of the ice will do more damage and tip plants over. I have come to find that it saves a lot of spear pulling on smaller 3gal sized butia container stock though.

[Alicehunter2000]

Very interesting....more studies need to be done it seems. There appears to be two schools of thought as to what is most damaging.

[_Keith]

OR, you can just grow things right for the climate, and let nature take its course while you sit inside in the warmth sipping a warm beverage and watching a movie with the family.

[palm tree man]

We have done it here for years and many citrus growers do it. Yes, it does work because ice can work as an insulating agent but the effects are limited and continual irrigation must be put in place until temperatures are once again above freezing. We would use center pivot irrigation systems on more tender crops if a surprise late season freeze or near freeze occurred. It seems to work with cycads better than palms however from my own experience, the Cyas species that I am field growing experienced no damage when I used this method. They are trunk hardy species but do have leaves that can burn if temps dip much below freezing and a medium frost does occur. It is worth a try however, I always try to fertilize with a good liquid fertilizer ten days to two weeks before a freeze. There are different thoughts on it but i learned the technique from Dave Witt years ago; he is a very wise man and knows a great deal about palms.

[NorthFlpalmguy]

OR, you can just grow things right for the climate, and let nature take its course while you sit inside in the warmth sipping a warm beverage and watching a movie with the family.

My situation (like others) is a little different. My palms have to look great to be sold. Growers in my area cannot compete with the central and south Fl growers with most palms so the few we can compete with (pindos, windmills, euro fans, etc) have to look great.

[spockvr6]

OR, you can just grow things right for the climate, and let nature take its course while you sit inside in the warmth sipping a warm beverage and watching a movie with the family.

Exactly.

I was one of the worst zone pushers on the board a number of years back. No more! Its too much work!

Plus not be a be a downer, but in the end all protection measures will fail as palms have a habit of getting tall

Edited February 26, 2014 by spockvr6

[stevethegator]

I like to think of marginal plants as perennials you have to replace once and awhile like annuals!

If people will replace their whole yards with those box store bedding flowers every year, I see nothing wrong with growing a few marginally hardy things for as long as they'll last and then just replanting.

Of course there is the cost factor/sentimental value of an older palm getting fried, and it's absolutely devastating when your entire landscape that you've put so much into gets destroyed, but heck if we all planted to our record lows most of us would barely be able to have needles here in the South.

Half the fun is in watching new plants grow IMO, and seeing what does/doesn't work

Edited February 26, 2014 by stevethegator

[spockvr6]

I like to think of marginal plants as perennials you have to replace once and awhile like annuals!

Yes....it is fun with such an approach

The only thing I didnt like (and this goes for monocarpic palms as well, which I no longer plant) is that the removal is not easy. Pulling out some impatiens that have run their Spring course is one thing, but a 25 ft tall palm is another matter that involves chainsaws, ladders, and a big debris pile

[stevethegator]

I like to think of marginal plants as perennials you have to replace once and awhile like annuals!

Yes....it is fun with such an approach

The only thing I didnt like (and this goes for monocarpic palms as well, which I no longer plant) is that the removal is not easy. Pulling out some impatiens that have run their Spring course is one thing, but a 25 ft tall palm is another matter that involves chainsaws, ladders, and a big debris pile

True!

[palm tree man]

There are many different ideas and sentiments on this subject of zone pushing. In the South because we lack the protection of a high mountain range to block the cold air from Canada it is somewhat necessary to protect many different landscape plants during a freak event. I would recommend planting a solid foundation of hardy, rock solid species then have your experimental area that might need protection every few years. This ideolology isn't for everyone however and that is understandable. Tender zone pushing plants are a great deal of work.