Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

'Uruguay' Queen palm


Tom GA

Recommended Posts

Around the year 2000 I contaced an IPS member in Uruguay and she graciously agreed to send me some seeds of their robust, small-fruited, cold-hardy Queen palm. I grew some up and when I moved to coastal Georgia in 2004, I planted one. It grew like gangbusters for about five years but then slowed down considerably once it reached maturity. It has been through low 20s three times and never been damaged. There are a number of other Queen palms planted near where I live and right now they all seem to exhibit at least some cold damage, but my Uruguay Queen palm looks great.

Here it is in February 2014.

post-9865-0-31332800-1395174219_thumb.jp

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's a keeper. You should probably start selling seeds. My large queens got fried this year with 20 degree low Polar Vortex and low 20's Ice Storm. Do you think it could have handled those events?

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Believe it or not, I think most everything was damaged by the vortex event with 20+ mph 20 degree wind, than the ice event....the ice event was just the topping on the winter cake. This sustained cool/cold/rainy spring has not helped much with recovery either.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys got hit really hard David. We were so blessed on the East Coast to be spared all the ice. This spring has been cold and rainy however and that might be worse for some of our palms. Good luck and I hope that all yours recover well my friend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tom is it similar to Litoralis or Santa Catarina? I know the form of queen that is commonly available is form more tropical sources and is without a doubt not nearly as cold or frost tolerant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...

At the risk of sounding like Debbie Downer, I don't think a Queen palm will survive long term in MB.  Maybe if you're willing to protect it when winter temps dip into the mid teens, as is occasionally the case in MB, it could survive.  I think a Mule palm would fare much better and is, in my opinion, a more attractive palm.  Queen palms struggle in the Fl panhandle, which is milder than MB.  Still, I wish you luck.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, donnacreation said:

At the risk of sounding like Debbie Downer, I don't think a Queen palm will survive long term in MB.  Maybe if you're willing to protect it when winter temps dip into the mid teens, as is occasionally the case in MB, it could survive.  I think a Mule palm would fare much better and is, in my opinion, a more attractive palm.  Queen palms struggle in the Fl panhandle, which is milder than MB.  Still, I wish you luck.

You're definitely not being a Debbie Downer, ur just stating the reality of the situation that it's going to be tough to keep a queen alive here. I definitely know what im getting myself into and hope im able to provide the best possible conditions for success given my location. Hey if I lose it, it was a gamble in the first place ya know. I currently have 5 mules planted around the house in locations that will see much different winter conditions so we'll see how they all do as time goes on. Thanks and I'll keep everyone in the loop on how everything is doing :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm looking forward to seeing future pics.  Who knows, maybe the unusually mild winters will continue for us here in SC.  I do love 80F Jan highs with low humidity.  Our summers are so long and hot and humid, we deserve Fl winters! I'd love to be able to grow zone 9a palms w/o any need for winter protection. I'm always a little peeved when, during very cold winter mornings here in zone 8a, our early morning lows are sometimes even colder than NYC!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, donnacreation said:

I'm looking forward to seeing future pics.  Who knows, maybe the unusually mild winters will continue for us here in SC.  I do love 80F Jan highs with low humidity.  Our summers are so long and hot and humid, we deserve Fl winters! I'd love to be able to grow zone 9a palms w/o any need for winter protection. I'm always a little peeved when, during very cold winter mornings here in zone 8a, our early morning lows are sometimes even colder than NYC!

My hope is that they gain enough size to pull through a bad winter with minimal protection. I've read that mature queens can handle teens given the duration is fairly short. Stats show that myrtle beach is trending towards 9a. That said we should continue to see milder winters as we move towards zone 9. There will always be outliers but hopefully they stay just that. I worked in Dillon for 10 years and would leave my house every morning around 530. I will say that proximity to the coast had a substantial impact on morning temperatures through the winter months. Arriving in Dillon around 7am it was almost always 5-7 degrees colder than my driveway temperature at 530. 

The summers here are so oppressive that you tend to forget that we actually can get pretty cold. I've never compared nyc temps to here before but that is wild! Urban heat effect?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I lived in Phila and NJ for 35 yrs.  I was born and raised in Sumter SC, but attended school at The University of the Arts In Center City Phila, and stayed after graduation, because I liked the town  and its close proximity by train to Manhattan.  The daily high temps in NYC and Phila  in winter are 15 - 20 degrees colder than SC, but during arctic blasts that strike SC, the nights, at least here in the SC midlands, are often just as cold or even a few degrees colder than Washington, DC, Baltimore, Phila, and NYC.  Much is due to the urban heat island effect.  The major difference is our milder winter days allow cold hardy palms to recover from the frigid early morning lows. This is why trunking palms can't survive in the NE Corridor big cities.  Winter highs in the 50's here in the SE vs highs in the 30's up there make all the difference.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problem with the polar events here in the SE, is they are usually combined with freezing rain & ice which gets down into the crowns. That's what happened in the Jan 2018 freeze. I lost a 30 ft robusta that I had grown from a 3 gal. plant & over 15 years old. All of my queens & mules had spear pull, but pull through after a large dose of hydrogen peroxide into the holes. Even my Lyto's pull through with this treatment.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was the Jan. 2018 ice storm & freeze here in Charleston. The Robusta top left never recovered.

 

OLYMPUS-DIGITAL-CAMERA.jpg

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Laaz said:

The problem with the polar events here in the SE, is they are usually combined with freezing rain & ice which gets down into the crowns. That's what happened in the Jan 2018 freeze. I lost a 30 ft robusta that I had grown from a 3 gal. plant & over 15 years old. All of my queens & mules had spear pull, but pull through after a large dose of hydrogen peroxide into the holes. Even my Lyto's pull through with this treatment.

Yea that was a fun drive into work. Ice on the coast, slush a little ways in, then all snow. Given the pictures it's amazing the queens, mules, and lytos recovered given no protection (I'm assuming). Im guessing if the robusta was smaller hydrogen peroxide may have kept it alive as well 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
On 7/8/2020 at 12:37 PM, donnacreation said:

I'm looking forward to seeing future pics.  Who knows, maybe the unusually mild winters will continue for us here in SC.  I do love 80F Jan highs with low humidity.  Our summers are so long and hot and humid, we deserve Fl winters! I'd love to be able to grow zone 9a palms w/o any need for winter protection. I'm always a little peeved when, during very cold winter mornings here in zone 8a, our early morning lows are sometimes even colder than NYC!

I feel the same way I live in NoVa our summers are hot and sticky some years summer can range between mid-May to late-September if we get these hot sticky summers we should get warm winters

Edited by climate change virginia
  • Like 1

"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it."
~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...