Texas Queens Palms After Freeze 2021

[OC2Texaspalmlvr 1,132]

So in my travels which is basically South Houston League City to Texas City. I have found 3 queens that have survived 2 in Santa Fe and 1 in Texas City. There are still some out there that may still pull thru. None in League City so far tho =/ 

T J 

[Keys6505 386]

23 minutes ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

So in my travels which is basically South Houston League City to Texas City. I have found 3 queens that have survived 2 in Santa Fe and 1 in Texas City. There are still some out there that may still pull thru. None in League City so far tho =/ 

T J 

There's 2 right on Center Point Drive in Centerpoint that just started pushing green around July 1st.  

[Xenon 2,417]

There are more in Clear Lake and along the bay front. Here is one on Bayshore Dr south of Kemah, photo taken back in early May. Presumably has a few more leaves by now.

There are some inside 610-ish and along the I-10 corridor as far west as BW8. Most are dead though 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Xenon

[necturus 565]

This is the only one I'm aware of in my neighborhood, but I haven't exhaustively surveyed the area. Just outside the SW loop, near Post Oak/Meyerland/Westbury. Some were already removed in June. Most "robusta" are coming back, but one house with many super tall, skinny robusta looks to have upwards of 70% mortality.

I've seen a few pushing growth inside the loop in the Bellaire/West U/Med Center area but not many. 

[Xenon 2,417]

Spotted @ West Loop near Washington Ave 

[Manalto 751]

Are these anything like Texas Bronx Palms?

[thyerr01 17]

Given how few are queen palms are recovering, especially considering how widely planted they were in Houston, I think there is some value in keeping track of any survivors - at least for the next couple of winters to see if any survive and set fruit. The silver lining of this zone resetting event is that it provides a unique opportunity to try and identify a more freeze/cold tolerant lineage of queen palms. The duration of the freeze and associated power outages also negated folks ability to protect their large palms, which makes for a fairer comparison.

Perhaps ~20 palms could be identified within BW8 (and further North or West if any) to keep an eye on? I'd also be keen to see any surviving larger Bismarckia (if any) or Arenga within this area kept track of. There is obviously a limited window to identify survivors before new queen palms are planted - I've seen several replacements planted in the Myerland area already.

I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on this from other folks in Houston.

@necturus@Xenon

[Xenon 2,417]

4 minutes ago, thyerr01 said:

 

Perhaps ~20 palms could be identified within BW8 (and further North or West if any) to keep an eye on?

There are much more than 20 queen palms alive (currently pushing green leaves) within BW8 imo. 5-10% of thousands of queen palms is still a lot of palms. Odds of long-term survival due to trunk scarring and rot is something we'll just have to wait and see. Nonetheless queens are not impacting the overall landscape as they did before and won't be at least for a few years it seems. 

[thyerr01 17]

True, there are many more than 20 alive, although I would place the number well below 5% of the pre-freeze population. We are also biased in observing/reporting on large specimens which have higher chances of survival as opposed to the many small specimens which are just less noticeable. I was thinking 20 specimens with easy access/visibility to check for trunk rot etc. and are mature enough to set fruit.

Given the widespread interest in queen palm cultivars or provenances with greater cold tolerance, most of which are anecdotal or limited to a only a few reports, I think this is a good opportunity to add some new data points. Inge Hoffman king palms and perhaps the Uruguayan queen palms would be other examples with similar history.

[Xenon 2,417]

2 hours ago, thyerr01 said:

True, there are many more than 20 alive, although I would place the number well below 5% of the pre-freeze population. We are also biased in observing/reporting on large specimens which have higher chances of survival as opposed to the many small specimens which are just less noticeable. I was thinking 20 specimens with easy access/visibility to check for trunk rot etc. and are mature enough to set fruit.

5-10% is a reasonable estimate for trunking queen palms in the W and SW 610 Loop Areas which have the strongest heat island effect. The warmest area covers Montrose, Midtown, the Museum District, TMC, and Rice. Survival probably drops to near zero north of 610/Heights and west of Galleria Area-Bellaire. 

[strongbad635 94]

 

Spotted in Houston, just north of I-10, east of TC Jester Blvd.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by strongbad635

[Xenon 2,417]

No idea how this queen is alive...but here it is. Pretty decent recovery too. 95% of the robusta around it are dead and so are the other 3 queens planted along side it. Low was 11-12F. It's a few blocks north of I-10 near SH 99 so definitely the farthest west I've seen one recovering by far, though I suspect there are some in the Cinco Ranch Area too (a warm spot). 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by Xenon

[DAVEinMB 2,011]

1 hour ago, Xenon said:

No idea how this queen is alive...but here it is. Pretty decent recovery too. 95% of the robusta around it are dead and so are the other 3 queens planted along side it. Low was 11-12F. It's a few blocks north of I-10 near SH 99 so definitely the farthest west I've seen one recovering by far, though I suspect there are some in the Cinco Ranch Area too (a warm spot). 

 

And it looks to be very exposed, that's some good stuff right there

[OC2Texaspalmlvr 1,132]

23 hours ago, Xenon said:

No idea how this queen is alive

This palm should have its seeds harvested one day and passed around the PT community =) 

T J 

[Meangreen94z 1,716]

There are a bunch along the shore in Clearlake that survived. It looks like this is the only picture I kept from in May. Edit* found a second

[Xenon 2,417]

Another west Houston Area queen in the mega-suburb of Katy. This is on S Fry and Westheimer Pkwy. This queen dates to at least 2007 on streetview and is probably approaching 20 years old so it has seen all of the "big" post-89 freezes. Katy heat island??? (population grew from 80k to 400k in the last 30 years) 

[thyerr01 17]

Found three queen palms recovering well in Bellaire (just off Renwick street). There were another two dead (one visible in the centre), but it looks like several more were removed. Street view from Dec 2020 shows a group of a least 9 which looked really good.

[Keys6505 386]

One of the queens in my neighborhood I was watching that started pushing green around 7/1 has regressed and turned all brown.  I'll try to get pics.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Keys6505

[thyerr01 17]

That's unfortunate. The one I saw in Westheimer (Houston) which started pushing new leaves also stalled out and died.

[Xenon 2,417]

3 minutes ago, thyerr01 said:

That's unfortunate. The one I saw in Westheimer (Houston) which started pushing new leaves also stalled out and died.

Seen this a lot too. Seems like half of the queens that do anything do anything end up stalling followed by the crown collapsing. The ones that are able to push out at least two leaves look a lot more promising. 

[Keys6505 386]

Another League City one.  I've seen several now, although I some are regressing already.

[Collectorpalms 2,014]

From my experience the trunk rot takes a couple seasons on the survivors, and the homeowners will be horrified. They aren’t going to be kept if they care about appearances. Even a moderate tropicaL storm May take out many softened palms. 
 

Mules inherited the trunk rot issue by the way. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Collectorpalms