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New Braunfels, Texas


NBTX11

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24 minutes ago, PricklyPearSATC said:

This might make us feel a little bit better about our palm losses

I was in Victoria and Port Lavaca today.  The palms down there do not look any better than the ones here in San Antonio.  Washingtonia sps. with robusta dominant features (tall with thin trunks) all have complete crown collapse.  Washingtonia sps. with filifera dominant features (shorter with fat trunks) still had their crowns, but they were completely brown.  We are seeing the same thing around San Antonio here with the Washingtonia sps.  Phoenix sps. and Butia sps. had completely brown crowns.  All of the Chamaerops humilis that I saw looked straight up dead.  The only palms I saw that looked half-way decent were the Sabal sps. (just like here).  I do not know how cold it got in those locales, but the results are pretty much the same.  Devastating.

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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31 minutes ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

I was in Victoria and Port Lavaca today.  The palms down there do not look any better than the ones here in San Antonio.  Washingtonia sps. with robusta dominant features (tall with thin trunks) all have complete crown collapse.  Washingtonia sps. with filifera dominant features (shorter with fat trunks) still had their crowns, but they were completely brown.  We are seeing the same thing around San Antonio here with the Washingtonia sps.  Phoenix sps. and Butia sps. had completely brown crowns.  All of the Chamaerops humilis that I saw looked straight up dead.  The only palms I saw that looked half-way decent were the Sabal sps. (just like here).  I do not know how cold it got in those locales, but the results are pretty much the same.  Devastating.

I'm not seeing that in New Braunfels, especially in relation to Med fans and Phoenix, most are recovering.  I have inspected many up close.  From a distance they look dead, but up close you can see green.  This is what I am seeing.

W. Robusta - All look dead looking.  I have seen basically none pushing green

Washingtonia Hybrid - Most look dead.  I have seen a few (very few) pushing green.  Like literally 10 or less (out of hundreds probably).

Washingtonia Filifera.  Most look alive.  Some more than others, but I would estimate close to 90 percent are making a recovery at this point.  Some are making a rapid recovery (many green fronds put out), while others are much slower in their recovery.  FOR MANY FILIFERA IT IS VERY OBVIOUS THEY ARE RECOVERING.  Green easily seen in the crowns.

Med Fans here are recovering in a majority of cases.  If you look at the spears, most are green.  Green is definitely being pushed on 80 percent plus.

Virtually all Phoenix Canariensis are recovering.  The ones that have been hurricane cut, you can definitely tell.

Sabal Palmetto looks virtually flawless.

Sabal Mexicana looks damaged some, but all recovering nicely and fine.  No problems here.

Oh and of course queen palms completely toast.

 

Edited by NBTX11
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3 hours ago, PricklyPearSATC said:

What's with the orange Xs.??

It’s still too early to be cutting Robustas down in the San Antonio area. While the percentage of alive ones may be very low, I still Suspect some live. Especially those that look like Robustas but are really filifera hybrids.

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Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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9 hours ago, Jtee said:

It would be cool to see some New Braunfels pics

Concur.

Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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8 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

It’s still too early to be cutting Robustas down in the San Antonio area.

Concur.  I suspect the management of these large commercial properties are not palm enthusiasts like us though.

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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Share on other sites

 

9 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

It’s still too early to be cutting Robustas down in the San Antonio area. While the percentage of alive ones may be very low, I still Suspect some live. Especially those that look like Robustas but are really filifera hybrids.

 Not to provide false hope but they are more resilient than we give them credit for.  Around here, we had some with collapsed crowns that I thought may have been goners but even most of the worst looking ones appear to be pushing green now. 

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20 minutes ago, Sabal_Louisiana said:

 

 Not to provide false hope but they are more resilient than we give them credit for.  Around here, we had some with collapsed crowns that I thought may have been goners but even most of the worst looking ones appear to be pushing green now. 

What city is this? As it’s been pointed out a couple times, by now ( in the past) most Washingtonia that would be defoliated would have some leaves by now. even El Paso after 1F had leaves by now. 

I trunk pruned two robusta, they had a hole in the center of them all the way down. Like allll the way down!

i did a survey of my very tall Washintonia today, nothing. Not even dead fronds trying to come out.

i am giving hope to other parts of Texas that were not nearly as bad, they should have more patience. Mine is wearing thin.

Edited by Collectorpalms

Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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1 hour ago, Collectorpalms said:

What city is this? As it’s been pointed out a couple times, by now ( in the past) most Washingtonia that would be defoliated would have some leaves by now. even El Paso after 1F had leaves by now. 

I trunk pruned two robusta, they had a hole in the center of them all the way down. Like allll the way down!

i did a survey of my very tall Washintonia today, nothing. Not even dead fronds trying to come out.

i am giving hope to other parts of Texas that were not nearly as bad, they should have more patience. Mine is wearing thin.

For Baton Rouge, LA. which had 19-20F but with 50 hrs of ice and below freezing temps. So that would correspond with what much of coastal Texas experienced.

 

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2 hours ago, Sabal_Louisiana said:

For Baton Rouge, LA. which had 19-20F but with 50 hrs of ice and below freezing temps. So that would correspond with what much of coastal Texas experienced.

 

Some baton Rogue Louisiana robustas

1C3D8EE1-2761-4CFE-A09C-F5F3FC218DC8.jpeg

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14 hours ago, Jtee said:

It would be cool to see some New Braunfels pics 

I will post some in a few weeks once I get a better sense of what survived. Since Robusta is like 75 percent of all palms planted, most palms look like trash. I don’t know that I’ve seen any thin trunked Robusta recovering yet. 

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42 minutes ago, Jtee said:

Some baton Rogue Louisiana robustas

1C3D8EE1-2761-4CFE-A09C-F5F3FC218DC8.jpeg

These look way better than most San Antonio area Robusta. 

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2 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

These look way better than most San Antonio area Robusta. 

It was only 19/20F there. They barely burn at 20f. They will be fine despite the hours below 32. I had Queens stay at 26F for 2-3 days in ice before and they didn’t even get burned.

Edited by Collectorpalms

Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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Freeze of 2018,  coldest since 1989, we had 14-15F of short duration. Mortaiity rate on Robustas/hybrids in that event was 10. maybe 20%.

Apparently,  when If it gets below the teens, that's when they are in big trouble.

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3 hours ago, Sabal_Louisiana said:

Freeze of 2018,  coldest since 1989, we had 14-15F of short duration. Mortaiity rate on Robustas/hybrids in that event was 10. maybe 20%.

Apparently,  when If it gets below the teens, that's when they are in big trouble.

Same thing I saw from 16 or so in 2011.  Maybe 5 or 10 percent of Robusta died.  Almost all lived.

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On 4/5/2021 at 3:29 PM, Sabal_Louisiana said:

Freeze of 2018,  coldest since 1989, we had 14-15F of short duration. Mortaiity rate on Robustas/hybrids in that event was 10. maybe 20%.

Apparently,  when If it gets below the teens, that's when they are in big trouble.

That sounds about right.  Houston was 14-15f inside the beltway, and the taller robustas are about 85-90% recovering, 10-15% dead.

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It is the combination of a low daytime high and low. 32/5 high/low is better odds than 20/10 etc..

it seems like mid 20s for a high is a mortality line if the freeze is 48 hours.

I was told this from a coworker 50 years my senior, that saw freezes going back to the 1950s in Texas.

For Houston Hobby.

The coldest day 2/15/21 the average temperature was 22.5 ( Robustas mostly) live

In 1989 12/23/89 the average temperature was 17.5. ( Robustas died)

San Antonio 2/15/21 the Average was 18.5. 

Edited by Collectorpalms

Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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Compare Houston a Hobby 1989 when all Robustas died and Feb 2021 when most lived ( according to those reporting from Houston).

7837B8BD-7422-4358-ABFA-6DBBA961E1B4.jpeg

B9950501-E5FA-4E43-B93C-9CE4B1497F7F.jpeg

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Current Texas Gardening Zone 9a, Mean (1999-2024): 22F Low/104F High. Yearly Precipitation 39.17 inches.

Extremes: Low Min 4F 2021, 13.8F 2024. High Max 112F 2011/2023, Precipitation Max 58 inches 2015, Lowest 19 Inches 2011.

Weather Station: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KTXCOLLE465

Ryan (Paleoclimatologist Since 4 billion Years ago, Meteorologist/Earth Scientist/Physicist Since 1995, Savy Horticulturist Since Birth.)

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This freeze is so disheartening.  I am seeing virtually nothing in terms of Robusta recovery in New Braunfels.  So sad to see all those tall palms just slaughtered.  And in some neighborhoods 90 percent plus of the palms planted were Robusta.

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