Bismarkia nobilis wind tolerance

[Rickybobby]

Hey everyone up here in rural Ontario 43 degrees north it gets hot and humid in the spring summer and fall we know that but with being so open and rural here. It gets very windy. Today we had a thunderstorm and then 75 degrees but 35mph winds steady. So can a bismarkia handle these conditions which can be constant daily. Almost like trade winds? I have the opportunity to purchase a 15 gallon palm to put by the pool but I’m not sure if it will get destroyed ? Thanks for your help 

[kinzyjr]

Mine handled the hurricane with 79F temperatures and 100+MPH winds.  We've been having a relatively windy spring with 10-15MPH winds each day.  You should be good to go.

[Rickybobby]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

Mine handled the hurricane with 79F temperatures and 100+MPH winds.  We've been having a relatively windy spring with 10-15MPH winds each day.  You should be good to go.

Ok thanks I’ve had fronds snap off of palms here before. Just wanted to make sure. 

[Merlyn]

Yeah as long as you can keep them upright, the Bismarckia should be fine.  We've had hurricane-force winds here in the Orlando area several times in the last few years, and the Bismarckia are okay.  They have very stout frond bases, far bigger and thicker than many palms.  The biggest problem may be the wind catching in the giant fans and dumping it over.  This is especially true when they grow out of the "thin" phase and the fans start getting really wide.  Some extra weight in rocks or sand in a big pot would be a wise choice, or give it some support until it roots in if you are planting it!   

[GottmitAlex]

30 minutes ago, Merlyn2220 said:

Yeah as long as you can keep them upright, the Bismarckia should be fine.  We've had hurricane-force winds here in the Orlando area several times in the last few years, and the Bismarckia are okay.  They have very stout frond bases, far bigger and thicker than many palms.  The biggest problem may be the wind catching in the giant fans and dumping it over.  This is especially true when they grow out of the "thin" phase and the fans start getting really wide.  Some extra weight in rocks or sand in a big pot would be a wise choice, or give it some support until it roots in if you are planting it!   

So Orlando has recently seen hurricanes?

I did not know that

 

[Merlyn]

4 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

So Orlando has recently seen hurricanes?

Since I've lived here, we've seen Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Wilma and Irma.  These were all pretty much tropical storm force winds in the Orlando area, and hurricane force gusts >75mph and some areas seeing Cat1 winds.  I raced an IronMan distance triathlon in Clermont the day before Wilma hit, fortunately winds were only 30-40mph on the bike course!  The eye of Charley went directly over my house, it was nearly dead silent for about 5 minutes as the winds reversed direction.  Fortunately (for our area) Irma went about 30 miles far enough West that we only got a few big gusts.  One gust was big enough to topple a neighbor's 80 foot tall 8 foot trunk diameter water oak, but it was pretty rotten in the center.

[FishEyeAquaculture]

Irma went right over us and gave my largest Bismarck a nice lean, but not a single frond was lost, broken, or even torn. The lean was somewhat needed though, as I had planted this Bismarck as a 7gal only three feet away from our pool cage (screen). 8yrs later, growing straight up and only a “hurricane cut” to keep from tearing the screen was a disappointment to say the least. Then came Irma, she gave that palm a nice 50-55 degree lean, away from the screen.  Now said palm doesn’t need to be trimmed so high and tight and is the stunner I had hoped for. 

Here is a screen shot of the weather radar that night, blue dot is our property...very fortunate Irma didn’t stay as strong as the forecasts warned. 

[GottmitAlex]

1 hour ago, Merlyn2220 said:

Since I've lived here, we've seen Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Wilma and Irma.  These were all pretty much tropical storm force winds in the Orlando area, and hurricane force gusts >75mph and some areas seeing Cat1 winds.  I raced an IronMan distance triathlon in Clermont the day before Wilma hit, fortunately winds were only 30-40mph on the bike course!  The eye of Charley went directly over my house, it was nearly dead silent for about 5 minutes as the winds reversed direction.  Fortunately (for our area) Irma went about 30 miles far enough West that we only got a few big gusts.  One gust was big enough to topple a neighbor's 80 foot tall 8 foot trunk diameter water oak, but it was pretty rotten in the center.

Tropical storms. Got it. Thank you.

[PalmatierMeg]

Our 6 very large Bizzies took Irma's cat 3 winds with little damage. Our biggest worry was one might be uprooted. We had a few fronds break but they were so large and heavy the wind couldn't detach them so they just hung until we cut them off. In summer we sometimes have thunderstorms with tropical storm/cat 1 strength and the Bizzies laughed them off. A 15g Bismarckia isn't that large. Just make sure it is anchored in the ground - stake if necessary. A silver Bizzy should look fabulous in your yard.

[palmsOrl]

10 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

So Orlando has recently seen hurricanes?

I did not know that

 

The only hurricane that officially brought sustained hurricane force winds to the reporting station (OIA) was ‘04’s Hurricane Charley.  Winds peaked at 77mph gusting to 105!  Frances sustained winds peaked in the 50s somewhere and Jeanne was 61-63mph sustained.  Irma (I believe) peaked at sustained winds of 57mph with higher gusts officially here in Orlando.

[Merlyn]

8 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Tropical storms. Got it. Thank you.

So now this is way off the original topic but I got curious about the recent Orlando area hurricanes.  3 Cat1 in the Orlando area, one of them borderline Cat2:

Charley 2004: Cat1 85mph winds in the Orlando area, the center of the eye went slightly East but straight up I4 through Orlando, with maximum winds dropping from Cat3 (115mph) just South of the Orlando area.  Rainfall was 8-10 inches.

Frances 2004: Cat2 at landfall South of Cocoa Beach, passing just S of Orlando as a borderline Cat1/TS.  Sustained TS winds 50-75mph for about 12 hours straight.  The rainfall was huge here, 10-15 inches.  I had the most damage from this one because the soil was so waterlogged that big oaks just fell over without huge gusts.

Jeanne 2004: Similar to Frances, but Cat3 near landfall and Cat2/Cat1 on the South side of Orlando, with sustained Cat1 winds for about 12 hours.  Rainfall about 5 inches.

Wilma 2004: Memorable to me because of the IM race, but the center went across Lake Okeechobee as a Cat1 and it was moving so fast we only saw TS force winds for a few hours.  We got about 6 inches of rain.

Irma 2017: Orlando lucked out with only the SW side seeing Cat1 winds, the sustained Cat1 edge seems to be around Kissimmee through Clermont/Lake Apopka.  10+ inches of rain is probably why my neighbor's 15,000lb tree fell down...

 

[palmsOrl]

Wunderground.com has always been my go to for official hourly conditions at the airports (and personal weather stations, which I ignore for wind observations because they are seldom accurate).  The records for OIA go back at least as far as the 1950s.  Lately, however, I have had trouble accessing conditions at the airports, I guess it’s a glitch on the site or something.  

I think winds a tad further east than OIA were significantly worse during Charley and could have easily been sustained at 85mph.  In contrast the winds only peaked at 63 mph at Orlando Executive Airport, and this is consistent with what I observed in Maitland.  It was BAD but certainly not sustained at hurricane force at any time.

[Rickybobby]

Thanks everyone for all the info and feedback I will put it out with full west exposure for the growing season. (Here winds usually are from the west. East winds mean very bad)

[tacobender]

It is windy here alot. Lantanias have more wind resistance in my yard. Both are fine though.