Bizzy Vs Queen Cold Hardiness N. Florida

[D Palm]

Results are in. 3 queens, 1 dead, 1 with a nasty spear pull today in photo, one with a deformed spear.  
Bizzy, all look the same. Bizzy is in photo,  some foliage damage which has already been removed. No spear pulls or loose spears. They have been producing new fronds over the last month.

No protection for any specimen, Bizzy wins in my yard.

[DAVEinMB]

7 minutes ago, D Palm said:

Results are in. 3 queens, 1 dead, 1 with a nasty spear pull today in photo, one with a deformed spear.  
Bizzy, all look the same. Bizzy is in photo,  some foliage damage which has already been removed. No spear pulls or loose spears. They have been producing new fronds over the last month.

No protection for any specimen, Bizzy wins in my yard.

What was the ultimate low? Any ice?

A nursery here has a bizzie with about 2.5ft of trunk that made it thru two dips to 19F and freezing rain with no protection. 

[D Palm]

Neighbor recorded 1 dip into 19F. Few other nights into low 20’s.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

Bizzys faired much better than queens during Palmageddon. Albeit much smaller sample size for the Bizzies but I believe they are more bud hardy and leaf hardy then queens. I'll plant 3 bizzies to every queen that goes in my yard haha. Now a JxS that will be a whole other story. 

T J 

[JLM]

Yall had it worse over there than we did in NW FL, but i have observed damaged spears on my larger Queens and the younger ones spear pulled. The two that spear pulled eventually got cut back and are now growing again. My official low was about 22F in January if i recal correctly.

My little bizzy seedling (3 straps) was protected on the colder nights, but it lives to see another growing season with minimal damage.

Edit: Even the Majesty did better with no protection than the young Queens, if that says anything. Yes, the fronds all died but it resumed growth as if nothing ever happened to it when we started getting warm temperatures.

Edited May 3, 2022 by JLM

[jg3035]

I had a similar experience in Gainesville, where I got to 24.5 the coldest night (~8 hours below freezing). Two queen palms were damaged (the spears only, and deep down, so only just noticed last week), but the bismarck was fine with a sheet thrown over it.

@D Palm Are either your queens or Bismarck some special variety? I ask since I've seen lots about variability/cold hardiness of specific types (mine are just big box store finds).

[D Palm]

@jg3035 no, just big box store purchases. 

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

Supposedly the green variety of Bizzies are less cold hardy. I wouldn't know as if you were gonna get a bizzie might as well get a Sabal Causiarum instead,  much more cold hardy. 

T J 

[D Palm]

@OC2Texaspalmlvr I have a Sabal Causiarum seedling I placed in the ground last year. The straps were burnt. It was growing this spring but has stunted a bit since.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

6 hours ago, D Palm said:

I have a Sabal Causiarum seedling I placed in the ground last year. The straps were burnt

What kind of Temps did it see ? The first winter in the ground is always the hardest. Bizzies are one of my favorites same with Causiarum,  your off to a good start. 

T J 

[D Palm]

@OC2Texaspalmlvr Scroll up, same as others.  Third winter for Bizzies in ground. 2nd and 3rd for queens.

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

On 5/2/2022 at 4:59 PM, D Palm said:

Neighbor recorded 1 dip into 19F. Few other nights into low 20’s.

I see it now haha Those are pretty good numbers for the Bizzies and not so great for queens. 

T J 

[South Carolina palms]

I just planted two more queen palms, but the one against the house survived the winter coldest it got here was around 24-25

[D Palm]

The Washingtonias in my County were burned except for 2-4 fronds closest to spear. I was in Dothan, AL and Albany, GA this week for work. All of the Washy’s there showed NO damage. Odd how my area received such a cold dip while North and NW did not.

[D Palm]

Update, heading into winter.

[DAVEinMB]

On 5/5/2022 at 8:03 PM, South Carolina palms said:

I just planted two more queen palms, but the one against the house survived the winter coldest it got here was around 24-25

This one up against my house saw 19 twice this past winter. Ended up having to be trunk cut but came back strong this growing season

[D Palm]

13 hours ago, DAVEinMB said:

This one up against my house saw 19 twice this past winter. Ended up having to be trunk cut but came back strong this growing season

Apart of me thinks if I had one up close to the house, I would get the cheap lean-to pop up greenhouse for winter. Watch it rocket ship growth this winter.

[DAVEinMB]

14 minutes ago, D Palm said:

Apart of me thinks if I had one up close to the house, I would get the cheap lean-to pop up greenhouse for winter. Watch it rocket ship growth this winter.

Honestly, not a bad idea...hmmmm 

[South Carolina palms]

On 10/31/2022 at 10:37 AM, DAVEinMB said:

This one up against my house saw 19 twice this past winter. Ended up having to be trunk cut but came back strong this growing season

Looks good! I don’t see it being an issue going forward now that it saw those kind of temps 

[JLM]

On 10/31/2022 at 9:37 AM, DAVEinMB said:

This one up against my house saw 19 twice this past winter. Ended up having to be trunk cut but came back strong this growing season

Prediction: This thing will be over 20 feet tall in less than 4 years.

[Foxpalms]

Bismarckia grow faster than queen's in cooler weather here. Not sure about cold tolerance though for Bismarckia here.

[Tropicdoc]

Bizmarkia might be similar to livistona chinensis…. Fronds sensitive to frost but bud is very hardy.

I chickened out and planted sabal Bermudana instead of bizzy it’s growing extremely well here in South Louisiana