Extended below freezing - worrisome?

[ColumbusPalm 215]

Hey All,

 

I haven’t protected my minors or needle since the low has only been 11F here. Nothing lower is forecasted but there is about 5 days in a row below freezing coming up. 
 

Is that cause of concern for them or should they be ok? 
 

Thanks in advance 

 

Nate 

[ky_palm064 71]

38 minutes ago, ColumbusPalm said:

Hey All,

 

I haven’t protected my minors or needle since the low has only been 11F here. Nothing lower is forecasted but there is about 5 days in a row below freezing coming up. 
 

Is that cause of concern for them or should they be ok? 
 

Thanks in advance 

 

Nate 

Nate,

I've seen your palms on this forum, but i can't remember how many winters the've been in the ground. If its been 3 or more winters, from my experience, minors and needles should be ok with 5 degrees f and above, and less than 2 weeks below freezing. If there's too much cold wind, my deep south sourced minors will show more or less leaf burn, but will look fine a summer or 2 later.

In the upper South/ lower Midwest, the winter of 1977-78 (and 1917-18) had almost 2 months below freezing!- I don't want to see a test like that.

[teddytn 1,564]

People will argue this and that’s ok. I know the hardiness of Sabal minor and needle palm, unrivaled period. I have adopted as a rule, first year in the ground everything will get some form of protection. At my house Sabal minors and needle palms going through their first winter got pine needles in the crown/ around the base. Needle palms in my experience are very spear sensitive their first winter and are prone to spear pull if the weather gets bad. All I did was pile pine needles around the spear. If all this is for nothing so be it, but imo better safe than sorry. 

[ColumbusPalm 215]

Ok thank you both! Easy enough for me to wrap them today so I’ll do it since it is their first winter. They were planted in March so had a very nice growing season but I’d rather be safe than sorry.