Winter Tips for King Palms (9B)

[Palms916]

Still very new to growing palms, so all advice is greatly appreciated. Just wondering if at this size of the king palms (c), does the occasional mid to low 30’s every now and then require any protection? They receive full sun daily, as they just battled our brutal hot summer sun. Winter over nights usually, down to mid-low 40’s or upper 30’s for a couple hrs. Occasionally dipping down into the low 30’s at worst a few nights throughout December-January. Daytime weather in Dec-January upper 50’s - low 60’s. But plenty of sun light year around

[Palms916]

[PalmCode]

You should be all right, king palms can take the light frost. Have you seen any other king palms in the neighborhood?

[Josue Diaz]

I'm in Fresno, about 200 miles south of you. King palms (archontophoenix) do best in part shade in our inland climate, and they love ample watering. They always burn and have dry tips in full sun. I see you have a queen palm (syagrus) behind the archontophoenix, that one will probably outgrow the archontophoenix and will provide both shade in summer, and frost protection in winter. Be prepared to see quite a bit of frost burn on them, especially as young trees. There is a large specimen in Fresno with about 15+ feet of trunk that survived the 2007 freeze, so as they get some size they will tolerate the cold much better. 

[Jim in Los Altos]

They can take mid 20s and survive if they have overhead canopy otherwise mid 30s with lots of night time/morning frost will cause more damage than lower temps with overhead canopy. I've been growing them for 25 years and they've thrived with only minimal damage with a rare frost. Growing in groves or clumps like yours is an advantage over singles growing out in the open since they tend to protect each other in cold and excessive heat. At that young size it should be easy to throw some frost cloth over them when needed. They get a bit more heat and cold tolerant as they mature.