Florida January 2008 Freeze - Photos

[spockvr6 22]

Lets post some preliminary damage photos!  Ill start the thread with some photos taken late this afternoon.

[spockvr6 22]

Heres a positive one.....and one I am shocked at to say the least.

Prichardia pacifica after 29.5F.  Last year 34F mottled this thing fairly ugly on the lower leaves and the damage was evident immediately.

[spockvr6 22]

Another positive....they are still attached (for now)

[spockvr6 22]

Im just feeling like the glass is half full......

Ive got probably 100-150 Crotons around the yard and they all look fine at the current time.

[spockvr6 22]

Jamaican Croton.....well not so fond of the Tarpon Springs cold snap.

[spockvr6 22]

Acalypha (Copperleaf)...also not so fond of the freeze.

[spockvr6 22]

Ive got lots and lots of these Sanchezia plants (they make...or should I say made) great filler/hedge type plants.  They are also the most cold sensitve plant in my yard bar none.  Lower 40's will start to burn the tips.  29.5F just flat out melts them.

[spockvr6 22]

Unknown Pandanus.....mildly/moderately damaged.  It looks worse in the pics than in reality.

[spockvr6 22]

Umbrella Tree.....damaged more than I expected.

[spockvr6 22]

Papayas....well....as Alan says..."boiled Spinach"!

[spockvr6 22]

Hibsicus tiliaceus.....mildly damaged.  The tree is alot bigger than the photo suggests (maybe 25 ft tall), but I could only photo a part of it.

[spockvr6 22]

Completely dessicated Traveller tree leaves...the cold dry wind did a number on these guys.

But others not so bad.....

[spockvr6 22]

Typical Dypsis lutescens bronzing to the highest leaves.  This palm is also bigger than it looks (about 15 ft high or so) an sustained damage to only maybe 3-4 leaves in the overall canopy.

[spockvr6 22]

Oh....this Royal leaf aint gonna look so purdy in a few days.....

[spockvr6 22]

Nor will these ones on this juvenile (maybe 15-16 ft OA with 2-3 ft of trunk).

[spockvr6 22]

Another Royal leaf close up....not gonna look good once things warm up a bit.

[spockvr6 22]

Larger juvenile Royals (6-8 ft of gray wood) that look to be OK, but still with some cosmetic damage, especially to leaf tips which look dessciated.

[spockvr6 22]

Moderately sized Veitchia (7-8 ft of gray wood) with a top leaf thats gonna look nasty in a few days.

[spockvr6 22]

But, the Jatropha didnt even drop a bloom

[spockvr6 22]

Green Bismarckia didnt take much of a hit it appears.  The much larger silver nearby is unfazed.

[spockvr6 22]

Various flowering vines (Clerodendrun, Stictocardia, Alamander, etc)......these things got torched!  I can literally smell them rotting already.

[junglegalfla 33]

Larry,

You got it worse than me & your yard looks good. None of my palms appear damaged besides a few cold spots on the leaves of the more tender like my pinanga cornata.

The only things that look a little sad are a couple hybrid bananas, a couple heliconia & calathea yellow rattleshaker leaves and my Thomas Edison croton (of about 40 in pots!). I'll try and take a couple pics after work tomorrow. Right now, I feel really blessed. Even a large blooming catalaya orchid mounted in my sea grape looks happy as a clam with 9 blooms still going strong.

I was much less optimistic this morning at 7:15 when I sprayed my windshield to clear off the oak dust and it froze!

[fastfeat 120]

Larry--

Looks like you'll just be pruning and raking dead leaves mostly. Congrats on coming through relatively unscathed.

[Palmateer 8]

Unfortunately, no picture can yet show the effect of the freeze on the inner buds of certain susceptible palms.

Only the passage of time will tell that true story. In previous freezes, I've seen palms (triangle palm, for example) with normal looking leaves suffer complete collapse of the crown in tropical winds of the following summer.

[cobra2326 36]

My Monstera deliciosa leaves are fried, although the rhizomes are still green.  Unprotected @ 27.0F low (several hours).  No frost.

Crotons that were protected are fine, unprotected are mushy.

Cordylines are fine, although some of the leaves are slightly burned.  They were covered in plastic, next to the house.  No heat there.

Angel's trumpet leaves look like boiled spinach

My Dypsis lutescens clump very close to my front door has absolutely no damage.

Some of the Adonidia seedlings on the south side of my house are unscathed.  Others are fried.

Bird of paradise in a pot is completely untouched.

[spockvr6 22]

(cobra2326 @ Jan. 04 2008,15:20)

QUOTE

Crotons that were protected are fine, unprotected are mushy.

Jon-

The Crotons were a big surprise for me.  I have loads of them of various varieties, many in the wide open which were subjected to the full brunt of the cold, and none seem to have any damage at all!  Unless they are waiting me out and will have a massive leaf drop in a few more days.......

[BS Man about Palms 2,344]

I would suggest fungicides as a preventative measure over the next few weeks..........

[gsytch 31]

I also noticed that anything under trees looks good. In the open of the back, not so good. Angels Trumpets need pruning anyway, and my large heliconia clumps were way overgrown. I usually clip them but good in late Feb. My Hibiscus tileascus (sp?) also is fried, about 18' high and wide. However, the wood is fine and it will recover nicely. All Phoenix fine, Triangle out front fine, Areca fine, just superficial reallt anywhere. The Majesty Palms in a rather open area are unsctahed as of now. Last year, 33F w/frost they got browned a little. Weird freeze! Greg in New Port Richey

[ruskinPalms 468]

Larry, How is the P. pacifica doing? Your Royals?

[spockvr6 22]

(ruskinPalms @ Jan. 05 2008,22:09)

QUOTE

Larry, How is the P. pacifica doing? Your Royals?

Bill-

Beautifully!

At this time----

The pacifica has some very minor spotting on the lower leaves, and the Royals have just some minor leaf burn form those nasty cold dry winds.

[falcon1988 4]

Here's what I got so far this season due to the dry winds on January 3  low between 35-37F

Archotophoenix  cunninghamiana, Maxima, myolensis, no damage

archotophoenix purpurea 10% damage less the a year in the ground

Adonidia merrillii no damage

Beccariophoenix madagascariensis 10% damage less then a year in the ground

Bismarckia nobilis no damage

Chambeyronia macrocarpa no damage

Dictyosperma album X 2 10% damage other one no damage due to a oak tree plus an older palm

Dypsis Decary No damage

Dypsis lutescens only two fronds exposed to the dry wind (wind burned)

Dypsis Lastelliana no damage

Dypsis sp Mayotte no damage

Howea Forsteriana x 3 no damage

Hyophorbe Indica red form no damage

Hyophorbe lagenicaulia no damage

Hyophorbe verschaffeltii 20% leaf wind burn

Ravenea Rivularis no damage

Rhapsis Excelsa  no damage

Roystonea elata  no damage

Satakenita liukiuensis  no damage

Veitchia Arecina  no damage

Wodyetia bifurcata no damage

wodyetia x veitcha no damage

I fertilize them in october with extra potassium and water 2 days before the low

temps and it does pay off will post some pics

[Dave-Vero 622]

My place is near Vero Beach airport.  Temperatures reached about 34 degrees with lots of wind.  The yard was moist pre-cold and humidity/showers returned within a day of the cold snap.  I've seen no palm damage:

Allagoptera arenaria

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana

Archontophoenix tuckeri

Bismarckia nobilis (potted)

Carpentaria

Chuniophoenix nana

Chamaedorea metallica

Cryosophila warscewiczii

Coconuts in the neighborhood look fine

Dypsis decaryi

Dypsis lutescens Plants near my yard look fine

Dypsis saintelucei.  

Rhapsis excelsa  

Rhapis humilis

Rhapis laosensis

Roystonea elata  no damage noticed in the area

Satakentia liukiuensis  (3 plants)

[Trópico 73]

I'm surprised that I did get some cosmetic damage to my 3 adonidias, while a R. borinquena seedling that I left outside on purpose did not even get a hint of damage.

R. borinquena: +1

[ruskinPalms 468]

My adonidias have had no damage from this cold event. The spotting and discolorations have come from cool, damp mornings. My royals, which are presumably R. regia/elata had little to no damage. My R. rivularis have had 0 damage. A. cunninghamiana had 0 damage from this event. A. alexandrae which was 100% exposed to the north winds took only 25% to 50% foliar damage so far and is very quickly pushing a new spear. Looking at weather stations in my area including NWS, Balm Fawn and Wunderground stations, it may have been as cool as 28F here that night. My my lowest station recorded 29.7F, the other 30.1F. Not sure I believe either all that much though as my yard looks pretty torched (my plants other than palms). I have ordered a new sensor for my station that reports to Wunderground because the one I have gets completely messed up by humidity and becomes very inaccurate reading false high temperatures.... That being said, it may not have been too far off that night because the dewpoint was in the single digits at times and the 2 stations were fairly close together. Back to palms. I have observed a lot of inconsistencies in damage between species of my palms and what others reported. I have a spindle in my yard that looks to have taken a 90% to 100% bronzing. While others, even more exposed, look to have taken only maybe 0% to 20% bronzing. Same with bottles. Proteced 3 of mine in a very prominent and exposed area of my front landscape bed. They look no worse than before. I left one in the front unproteced, but it is closer to the house and under a queen palm and well proteced on all sides with other plants - 0% damage - must be one of my better microclimate areas. One that I planted late in the season in area in the back completely exposed to the north took about 75% bronzing, one near the same area about 5 feet away, but buried in other plants took about 25% bronzing, a spindle 2 feet away took 25% bronzing. Malayan dwarf coconut took about 25 to 50% foliage burn, lots of green and still pushing a new frond. Thank god for this string of days around 80F after the freeze. I think this is why there are coconuts here and there in central FL, no prolonged cold. V. arecina are starting to show thier weakness. My stupidly planted north side triple is at 50% burn, southside nearly 25%-50% also. East side V. arecina triple buried in other plantings, 0% to 10% burn. Happy about that one! C. mitis took maybe 5% to 10% burn. Tiny D. decaryi took maybe 0% to 5% burn on a newly opening spear.  Foxtails! They have rocked so far with this event. Near my 100% bronzed spindle, a little foxtail took 0% to 10% damage from this event. A stupidly planted double on the northeast corner of my house took 0% to 10% damage. My largest double in the back to 0% to 10% damage. A triple on the southeast corner of the house took 0% to 10% foliar damage. Bismarckia blue and blue-green - 0% damage. Queen 0%. Washingtonia 0%. Young L. chinensis 10% burn! C. metallica 0% damage. D. lutescens 10% to 20% bronzing here and there. T. radiata buried under other plantings 0% damage. C. humilis 0% damage. Non palms: More tropical hibiscus heading for 100% defoliation, less tropical 50% defoliations, all are starting to grow new leaves. Big Schflera heading for 75% defoliation, already starting to push new leaves. Arboricola 0% damage. Crotons some dessication here and there, really no freeze damage, most look flawless. Bananas - moderately damaged, no meltdowns of the mid ribs of the leaves or the pseudostems, most of the fruit is still in good shape, but not sure what will happen without the leaves, pups on the fruiting banana corm not damaged, medium sized off the corm minimally damaged. Papayas 100% defoliation, no meltdowns of the trunks, most starting to push new leaves already. Oysterplants up to 100% meltdown near the 100% bronzed spindle, otherwise around 50% damage. Ti plants - more exposed to winds up to 25% damage, less exposed 0% damage. The one Jamaican dwarf heliconia I have took 0% damage from this freeze, but is in a pretty protected spot- but it had already caught fungus earlier this winter and I had cut most of it out - the new shoots took no damage though. What I think is an alocasia surprising did not get killed and it was in a pretty exposed area. Diffenbachia (sp?) I thought were heading for a meltdown seem to be alive but 50% damaged. Sea grapes - 0% to 10% damage! Happy about that one too. F. elastica - starting to show some weakness - likely heading for 25 to 50% defoliation. Dracenea marginata 0% damage. The big common philodendrons took 0% damage.  'Xanadu' was covered in the front and took maybe 5% bronzing. Monstera potted on my back porch 0% damage.  Mango tree - 0% damage! Happy about that too. Ixora took about 10% leaf damage here and there. That's all I can think of right now.

Edit: Went below 32F at 330am, went back above 32F by 830am. 5 total hours of freezing temperatures. Ultimate low of 29.7F with 7.6 "freezing degree hours" calculated as discussed in the weather forum. Moderate winds varying from NNW to NNE all night, dewpoints in low teens, no frost. No overhead canopy in my yard.

[ruskinPalms 468]

By the way Larry, every freeze that your P. pacifica survives, makes me think that I can plant a P. thurstonii in a protected spot at my house

[spockvr6 22]

(ruskinPalms @ Jan. 08 2008,10:56)

QUOTE

By the way Larry, every freeze that your P. pacifica survives, makes me think that I can plant a P. thurstonii in a protected spot at my house

I also forgot to mention that about a month ago I planted a small P. hillebrandii right next to the pacifica.  It didnt even spot up in the cold!

And yes...this pacifica is far harider than I thought, especially as its aged.  Its seen 29.5F, 34F and 34F and is still here and doing fine!