Trachycarpus fortunei - Dallas

[PDXPalm 3]

8 minutes ago, tlow said:

Where are you located?  I had quite a bit of browning and dying on the fronds, but all but one (RIP Trachy) are pushing spears and repushing the fronds they already were before the storm.. the top part that was exposed is dead, white, but what was in the trunk is green and coming up.  I'm in the DFW area for reference.

I am up in Frisco. I have one small one about a foot high pushing fronds. All others about 6 to 7 no movement. No spear pull but very little green on the new spears.

We have a few hundred in the neighborhood and all look the same. 

[tlow 390]

4 minutes ago, PDXPalm said:

I am up in Frisco. I have one small one about a foot high pushing fronds. All others about 6 to 7 no movement. No spear pull but very little green on the new spears.

We have a few hundred in the neighborhood and all look the same. 

Maybe I got lucky with our little micro-climate here, but ours are pushing and we have plenty of white and what looks dead but they're moving... I don't have much patience so this is the worst part of it all.  Folks have said to give it a few months.. the heat is just starting to kick in soon.  Give them plenty of water too 

[Matt N- Dallas 388]

My trachycarpus in Dallas survived.  Takil fared the best.  Several are starting to push. A wagnerianus w/ 5’ of trunk had spear pull- I cut 6” of trunk off and found live tissue.  

[palmnut-fry 48]

On 3/2/2021 at 6:27 AM, cm05 said:

I’m “up North” and Dallas got colder than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime, which is about 0 degrees. Needles and Sabal minors grow in the open unprotected, they’re just uncommon for whatever reason.

I used to say that, but, in the last 25 years mainly, there's been much more installations by commercial & city projects to the point now where they are much more common. A popular city bike/walking trail has had many planted just in last year. 

The dif now is that so many more growers of the minors & hystrix's are making available to consumers where previously you would have to go to palm sales held by clubs or specialty nurseries. It's finally happened that you are seeing enough to be common site. 

Now about the Great Freeze of '21 I can report that day in and day out as I venture about I see dismal losses of any truly tall specimens, no matter what the species. Even Sabal texanas seem wiped out. Don't find almost any Washies that survived- of dubious distinction between those 2 species. The extended cold was too much, even if petticoated. Thrachys are hit and miss but luckily both mine have tons of flowering structures so...

Alas, my Sabal bermudana I thought made it I noticed had rot so I pulled that spear back which revealed even more from when I looked day before ( and promptly treated with hydrogen perox. Also an organic treatment)..If she is dead, she 'leaves' behind several daughters I managed to protect & seedling right at her base made it UNPROTECTED! Now go figure! Same with a massive needle palm across street- not protected & sorry not sorry~NO DAMAGE ( barely any on my smaller one in yard I did protect as lost a couple of leaves).

Yeah this freeze was the palm tree eliminator for sure up here. So fricken sad but I'll have my memories of palmier times Going on a road trip to Galveston end of month so preparing palm lovin' mind to be super, massively, BUMMED.

Peeps will replant no doubt and the continuance of global warming will see bizarre weather patterns no doubt. I still never thought it would get this cold/snowy again so wth do I know? LOL

[howfam 265]

On 3/20/2021 at 12:38 PM, Will Simpson said:

I planted this Trachy at  a  Mexican Restaurant   about 8 years ago and it would be so much taller if hack landscapers wouldn't  whack off a bunch of fronds off of it most every spring . Thankfully they didn't cut off any fronds this spring , so it should start trunking up  immediately .

Here it is after a good whack .

 

 

The picture above  is before the whack job . It has now fully recovered all the fronds lost in the first picture , and if I fertilize it and water it , it should trunk up 1-2 feet this summer . There's still a chance the landscapers  will show up in the next few weeks , but I hope not . 

 

 

As for the W.  Filibusta in the above picture, how far below 24F did that much damage? They should take more cold than that without significant damage.

[howfam 265]

On 3/20/2021 at 12:22 PM, Will Simpson said:

I find that even Trachys love a lot of water in warm weather , and I used to water almost every day in the summer , and I never had any of my  Trachys rot , but they seemed to love it . Of course , all the Sabals love all the water they can  get in the summer . I also fertilize twice a year .

So I think people with damaged palms should water a lot in warm weather  , and fertilize a couple times during the growing season , and I think  their  palms will  snap back fast . 

Try an experiment  and water and fertilize some  and not others , and see if there is a difference . 

One thing that I have found about damaged palms is that my palms don't start to trunk again  until they  ave fully recovered the crown mass that they lost due to the cold  . The same happens  when some landscapers trim up green fronds on  Trachys . They don't start trunking again  until they have grown out a full crown of fronds . One exception to this is my Washy filibusta that will grow out a full crown in one season , and trunk up after losing all their fronds to cold . 

 

Here is my Washy last summer :

 

Here it is last winter after a low below 24F :

And here it is today . It will look like the first picture above at some point during the summer , and trunk higher too .

 

 

As for the W.  Filibusta in the above picture, how far below 24F did that much damage? They should take more cold than that without significant damage.

[smatofu 80]

Out of my 3 windmills, 2 survived for sure, and one 50-50.

My 20-ft Sabal Mexicana's (which I thought was a Palmetto) future is very unsure. 

[RCC-DALLAS 7]

I have five 20yr old windmill palms,  the fastest growers are the one most suspect for demise. The slowest has already put on several new fronds. My sabal mexicana is dead.  Out of 4 Chamaedorea Radicalis 3 have lived , the last one is sick. it appears that sabal palmetto specimens looks to have faired better than mexicana.  My needle palm had no damage.

[NBTX11 735]

29 minutes ago, RCC-DALLAS said:

I have five 20yr old windmill palms,  the fastest growers are the one most suspect for demise. The slowest has already put on several new fronds. My sabal mexicana is dead.  Out of 4 Chamaedorea Radicalis 3 have lived , the last one is sick. it appears that sabal palmetto specimens looks to have faired better than mexicana.  My needle palm had no damage.

Sabal Palmetto was the superstar palm around here, faring better than Mexicana.  Palmetto were not damaged.  Mexicana had outer frond cosmetic damage, but are fine.  Crowns remained intact of course.

[kevin54500 3]

hello everyone I live in France in Nancy zone 7b-8a with sometimes severe cold and always wet winters .. some strain of trachycarpus like "tesan" are the most rustic some here we crossed until -18-20  ° during extreme cold!

[RCC-DALLAS 7]

On 4/24/2021 at 7:43 PM, RCC-DALLAS said:

I have five 20yr old windmill palms,  the fastest growers are the one most suspect for demise. The slowest has already put on several new fronds. My sabal mexicana is dead.  Out of 4 Chamaedorea Radicalis 3 have lived , the last one is sick. it appears that sabal palmetto specimens looks to have faired better than mexicana.  My needle palm had no damage.

6 days later I can report all of the Chamaedorea Radicalis are alive and growing.  About two weeks ago I started alternating  with Medina Plus and Medina Molasses with the watering. 

 

[Collectorpalms 2,017]

On 4/24/2021 at 8:14 PM, NBTX11 said:

Sabal Palmetto was the superstar palm around here, faring better than Mexicana.  Palmetto were not damaged.  Mexicana had outer frond cosmetic damage, but are fine.  Crowns remained intact of course.

There are limits to Palmetto and Mexicana. San Antonio and Houston did not get cold enough or cold long enough to really stress them like areas about 20-30 miles north. Areas along the zone 8b/8a were just devastated unlike anything in the recent past. Survival was less than 25 percent it appears right now. But now with notices of palm removal by City officials we will never know if they would have lived.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[NBTX11 735]

9 minutes ago, Collectorpalms said:

There are limits to Palmetto and Mexicana. San Antonio and Houston did not get cold enough or cold long enough to really stress them like areas about 20-30 miles north. Areas along the zone 8b/8a were just devastated unlike anything in the recent past. Survival was less than 25 percent it appears right now. But now with notices of palm removal by City officials we will never know if they would have lived.

Where was this?  I've yet to see one Palmetto that had any damage in my location.  Sabal Mexicana had some burning of outer fronds, but retained it's crown and the interior stayed green. 

[Collectorpalms 2,017]

6 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

Where was this?  I've yet to see one Palmetto that had any damage in my location.  Sabal Mexicana had some burning of outer fronds, but retained it's crown and the interior stayed green. 

This was today. This is not zone of 8b/9a. (Your area)

You Missed out, this was zone 8a/8b in central Texas.

However, in 1949, this what it would look like in San Antonio. Zero!

Edited April 30, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[Jimhardy 665]

On 3/21/2021 at 8:08 PM, Matt N- Dallas said:

My trachycarpus in Dallas survived.  Takil fared the best.  Several are starting to push. A wagnerianus w/ 5’ of trunk had spear pull- I cut 6” of trunk off and found live tissue.  

 

 

Where is the Takil?

[Matt N- Dallas 388]

The takil is in Dallas- N Oakcliff. 

[smatofu 80]

On 4/29/2021 at 11:18 PM, Collectorpalms said:

Areas along the zone 8b/8a were just devastated unlike anything in the recent past. Survival was less than 25 percent it appears right now.

Unfortunately, you are so right!  I walk/drive by, maybe, 20 sabals in my Dallas/DFW neighborhood. None has anything green. Also, nobody did any deep cutting and therefore any medication has very limited effectiveness, if at all. Coming warm weather will accelerate rot. 

My Sabal Mexicana is growing but very slow. 

[GregVirginia7 384]

On 4/24/2021 at 8:43 PM, RCC-DALLAS said:

I have five 20yr old windmill palms,  the fastest growers are the one most suspect for demise. The slowest has already put on several new fronds. My sabal mexicana is dead.  Out of 4 Chamaedorea Radicalis 3 have lived , the last one is sick. it appears that sabal palmetto specimens looks to have faired better than mexicana.  My needle palm had no damage.

 

On 4/29/2021 at 11:20 PM, RCC-DALLAS said:

6 days later I can report all of the Chamaedorea Radicalis are alive and growing.  About two weeks ago I started alternating  with Medina Plus and Medina Molasses with the watering. 

 

Nice to see a molasses user...will have to order that brand...been using grocery store unsulphured molasses for years on my very heavy clay soil and it really seems to make the microbes happy around my palm bases...

[Will Simpson 911]

On 4/15/2021 at 8:44 PM, howfam said:

As for the W.  Filibusta in the above picture, how far below 24F did that much damage? They should take more cold than that without significant damage.

Unfortunately its fronds get zapped at 23F , but the trunk is hardy to probably 15F . Last winter I had one night in the teens at 16F . 

[Will Simpson 911]

On 4/15/2021 at 8:40 PM, howfam said:

As for the W.  Filibusta in the above picture, how far below 24F did that much damage? They should take more cold than that without significant damage.

Here it is a couple weeks ago . They didn't hack it up this spring . It's a male .

[Matt N- Dallas 388]

On 3/1/2021 at 6:59 PM, Ben OK said:

One of the big problem with growing them farther north is that events like the one we just experienced (around -15F in OKC) will generally kill anything green above the ground or snow. Sabal minor can definitely recover from this event, but they grow slow. It will be a couple of years or more before they look good again. So you might be able to grow them in a place like Kansas City or St Louis but you would probably run into a couple of problems. The first problem is that this kind of cold would be much more common. So even if marginal plants may survive the once a decade or once every 1/4 century cold event, they may not survive those events if they happen every year or every other year. The other issue is even if they survive with significant leaf burn every year, they may never look any good in a landscape if they are always just clinging to life.

Sabal minor ‘Mc Curtain County’ have been growing in Kansas City, Missouri z6 since 1996.  Sure, long duration cold events can damage the leaves, but most winters have not.  They continue to grow, produce seed and thrive.  S. minors have been growing in Wichita, KS for decades.