First freeze of the year...southern Kansas, zone 7A

[jfrye01@live.com]

Friday night/Saturday morning was our first freeze of the year, didn't really have time to protect everything like I had originally planned. These were hourly temperatures:

8:00-32F

9:00-31F

10:00-29F

11:00-29F

12:00-27F

1:00-25F

2:00-23F

3:00-21F

4:00-20F

5:00-20F

6:00-20F

7:00-21F

8:00-31F

9:00-36F

4' Butia odorata (in the middle of the yard): no damage

2' Chamaerops humilis (in the middle of the yard): no damage

3' Washingtonia robusta (in corner of two brick walls): no damage

2' washingtonia robusta (in the middle of the yard): 1-1.5" of leaflet tips burned

1' Washingtonia "filibusta" (in the middle of the yard): no damage

4' Trachycarpus fortunei (end of driveway, 1/2 mile from the house): no damage

6' Sabal mexicana (NW corner of house): no damage

[Hammer]

Jfrye I don't mean to rain on your parade but there may be more damage done already than meets the eye.

Often times palms take days, weeks or more to manifest the damage from a hard freeze.

No doubt some will be fine but I'd keep a watchful eye along with some hydrogen peroxide at the ready. Get those babies protected soon too if possible.

[jfrye01@live.com]

Got it ready, did a little pretreating with the copper, hopefully all is good...As you said, time will tell...last year's late freeze manifested itself in my Butia about a month afterwards, although it showed some immediate frond damage...and don't worry about raining on my parade, I really appreciate those PT'ers who are more experienced teaching me a thing or two...it really helps!! We'll have to wait and see what happens, and I'll be sure to keep everyone updated:)

[Hammer]

We all stand on the shoulders of others.

[jfrye01@live.com]

Almost a week, no more damage is apparent yet. I'm hoping everyone is ok. Protection is ready to be implemented before next week's forecasted cold snap. I think what may have saved everyone last time is the fact it has been warming up into the 70s and 80s during the day. Cold isn't sticking around, at least yet. Protection method is fairly simple: large plastic drums turned upside down and C9 lights. I tested this on one of my baby washies last weekend. Low was 20 degrees, but it only dropped to 42 inside the enclosure. I was actually pleasantly surprised they would hold heat that well. This method also allows me to pull protection when it is warm, allowing the palms to breathe during the day.

Edited November 7, 2014 by jfrye01@live.com