Florida folks - post your damage here

[junglegalfla]

This section of the forum (frost freeze damage) seems to be set up alphabetically & it gets buried so please tell us how you fared!

http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin....y157749

Mod, any way to make this more visible or can this be moved to the main forum for the time being?

[cfkingfish]

Well, I have been sleeping most of the day and went out to the nursery to check up on plants. I had a Salamander out there which helped a bit, and right now I see no significant damage. At the house I wrapped up a few things in plastic to keep dessication away, but only stuff I could not replace or had no chance. I had minor damage on the following:

Bananas

Veitchias

Coconuts

Actinorhytis

Archontophoenix alexandrae

No damage on the following so far:

Astrocaryum alatum

Syagrus spp.

Carpentaria

Dypsis species

Ravenea spp.

Gaussia maya

Ptychosperma spp.

Borassus

Satakentia

Kentiopsis

Hyophorbe spp.

When I unwrap the rarer stuff, I will let you know.

[ruskinPalms]

I will have some definite damage to post. I think my coconut took a big hit. Also bananas and papayas had significant foliar damage, but no outright meltdowns, yet. They may survive. Dypsis lutescens is likely to show a lot of bronzing over the next week but should make it. My Royal looked pretty decent, but was hard to tell in the light of the setting sun. Hyophorbes and Adonidia look to have survived nearly unscathed but I think there is a lot of damage not visible yet. Majestys look to have had no damage, but they are no taller than 1/2 a meter overall and were well protected by other palms and plants. Hibiscus look like they either took a lot of freeze damage or dessication damage - probably both. Little mango tree looks fine. Ficus elastica looks fine. Schflera tree (sp?) took some definite damage to foliage but I think it will survive. Thrinax radiata looked flawless but it is buried under a bunch of other palms and junk. V. arecina look surprisingly ok, but I think they will suffer significant defoliation before all is over. I have triples on the north, south and east. Of course the ones on the north took the most damage. Foxtails look about the same as they did before the freeze, but I am suspicious... My A. alexandrae that I mistakenly planted on the north side of the house likely will suffer signicant defoliation - maybe death - the crown didn't look too healthy... Bismarckia silver and silver-green not hurt at all. C. metallica is happy. Crotons seem surprisingly happy. Plumeria got burned a little on the tips but if it gets mushy I bet I won't have to cut back too far and it may survive. C. mitis looked like nothing happened. Washies passed. C. humils 'green' looks great. D. decaryi - a little tiny baby - looks ok for now.  Sea grapes look ok. A. cunninghamiana in protected area looks fine. A. Alexandrea in a protected area looks like it will take a moderate defoliation. Oyster plants may have actually taken a little damage. Persian lime looks ok.   I have some pictures, but I think most of the damage is not visible unless you get right up on the palms and look closely. Most of my Z10 palms are indeed damaged in some way. We'll just have to wait and see.

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. No protection provided to palms mentioned.

[ruskinPalms]

A. cunninghaminana not looking too bad right now. A few wilted hibiscus leaves and melted banana leaves creep into the picture.

My more protected A. alexandrae with some "boiled spinach" papaya leaves in the background.

[_Keith]

As you post damage as it reveals itself, please note the low temp seen as well so that I can use it to update this list

http://palmtalk.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboar...=ST;f=1;t=9291;

[ruskinPalms]

Foxtails look ok for now. A little spindle in the picture too.

[ruskinPalms]

The coconut has seen better days:

[ruskinPalms]

Adonidia with northwest exposure looking pretty good, royal in the background, melted bananas in the background of the background.

[ruskinPalms]

Bizzy looks ok, except the wind moves its crown all over the place. Hope it becomes more stable when it forms a trunk:

[ruskinPalms]

Closesups of some of the more damaged leaflets on Adonidia:

[ruskinPalms]

Bronzing starting on D. lutescens

[Davidl]

So far I haven't seen any significant damage but Ill have to check in a few days. I believe we bottomed out at 31 for 3 hours and then back up above freezing after 7:00 am.There was to much wind to have frost.

[ruskinPalms]

R. rivularis looks good:

[ruskinPalms]

Schflera looking ratty:

[ruskinPalms]

Will this fruit still mature even if the leaves are torched???

[ruskinPalms]

[ruskinPalms]

mixed stuff:

[ruskinPalms]

C. mitis

[ruskinPalms]

D. lutescens with north exposure:

[ruskinPalms]

group planting with bottle:

a more exposed bottle:

[ruskinPalms]

Neighbor's stuff:

[ruskinPalms]

group planted spindle

[ruskinPalms]

foxtail:

leaflets

[ruskinPalms]

Adonidia:

[ruskinPalms]

[ruskinPalms]

D. lutescens

[ruskinPalms]

Northside Alex:

[ruskinPalms]

T. radiata:

[ruskinPalms]

inside the coco:

[ruskinPalms]

Tops of my royal palm:

[ruskinPalms]

East side V. arecina:

An exposed spindle frond:

I'm melting...aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

[edbrown_III]

Sad to say all of my damage was self inflicted. I cut alot of leaves ( to  faciilate wrapping of plants)off in anticipation of a very low temp. heavy  frost

Best regards

Ed

[ruskinPalms]

Damage is evolving. The coconut looks crappier today. Mine must not be a particularly hardy specimen as the coconuts in the older neighborhoods in my area look to have escaped unscathed. They are alot bigger than mine though, 1 to several feet of clear trunk. I have an area on the northwest side of my property (near the Schflera) that must have been a cold vortex. Oyster plants are pretty much melted there. Even my Livastona Chinensis got burnt in that spot. A spindle I had in the area looks like it may take a 100% defoliation eventually, may even croak. The banana there lost its foliage but the trunk is firm and steady, I think it will keep growing. Surprisingly, a very little foxtail in that area looks about as good as the day it was planted there. I planted a little royal in that area but I actaully covered it with a trash can and it took no damage other than the damage I inflicted by cramming all its fronds under the trashcan.

[Jeff Wilson]

Sort of difficult to find any damage whatsoever. First, there was a decent cloudcover until 2-3am here, and second, the wind kept up all night keeping any frost from settling. No frost at all! It was bitter cold nevertheless, with the low of 30F at about 4-5am, went below freezing about 3:30am (32) and stayed below freezing until 8:30am when the temp climbed to 33-34F. Somewhat similar to the event in January 2003, but no where near as severe. Had to go to the usual suspects, the wimps, to find some cold damage. It's not much to cry about actually. The small Panama tall coconut had some spotting on the lowermost frond.

A nearby mature dwarf Malayan which is enormous now with 8' of trunk went unscathed (still refuses to produce nuts post Hurricane Charley August 2004.)  A relatively larger Maypan without any wood as of yet also went undamaged. Veitchias, Dypsis sp., Carpentarias, Archontophoenix sp, and others.....nothing! Who knows....sometimes takes a few months for damage to rear its ugly head....knock on wood, tho-, nothing so far.

Here's another wimp that's damaged almost every year because it's exposed.....Caryota mitis - clumping fishtail palm. Would've been much worse with a radiational type freeze with heavy frost. C. mitis just can't take any frost. It's a champ, though; by summer, always looks good again.

Caryota mitis damage is just limited to a few fronds at the very tips:

[Jeff Searle]

To all,

    Your stuff dosen't look bad at all. In comparison to the 89 freeze, all of your plants would already be totally brown and laying on the ground. I saw Phoenix roeb. so brown, it looked like someone took a blow torch to them. And this was in Broward County. I will never forget thhe worst freeze that probably ever hit South Florida.

Jeff

[metalfan]

Don't even worry about those bananas. Mine lose every single leaf they have every year, and come right back as soon as it warms up. Like, in a WEEK they will start pushing out new leaves. And I'm not just talking Basjoo....COlorado, sikkimensis, raja puri, cavendish, Praying Hands...the only ones that wait til March/April to re-shoot are the ornamentals (laterita, velutina, ornata)

My "yard palms" had no damage, but I only have ones hardy for here (L. chinensis, Trachy, needle palm, jelly palm etc)

The greenhouse used a TON or propane but everything in there looks just fine, I checked it today.

[junglegalfla]

I dodged a big bullet here! No real damage in my area of NE St. Pete. A couple unhappy helicona leaves, one unhappy papaya leaf, burnt leaves on a couple musa. NO big deal! Every normal winter they sulk anyway. I thought a couple of hybrid crotons took a hit but they were just dried out in their pots and sprung right back.

This big mounted orchid on my sea grape that I left out still looks the same as this pic BUT today, it is pushing out 3 more flowers. Unreal.

Phew *whipes brow* Maybe I have more of a micro climate than I thought. My windshield wiper fluid froze that morning I left for work so I know it was COLD.

[DoomsDave]

All I can say is OUCH.

I, along with the rest of the Cali Contingent, feel your pain in spades.

I spent the night in Ruskin and wandered around a bit the following morning.  What a charming place!  Full of palms and oaks with spanish moss.

So sad to hear of the freeze, but, hope that like gas, this too shall pass . . . . .

dave

[ruskinPalms]

Thanks Dave. It looks like I only have 1 palm in serious jeopardy: my little northwest spindle. I looks like it will defoliate 75% to 100%. I think it may make a recovery though if this the coldest we see this winter. Unfortunately, we are still in the middle of freeze season. I don't think we will see another advective freeze this year, but I bet we have a few more radiational frost scares. I can't believe how much damage my coconut took. There are other coconuts in the older neighborhoods a block from me that seem untouched. But to be fair, the older neighborhoods have established oaks if not only for canopy but also to break that damn dry wind. A lot of this damage may be from dessication rather than cold. I am happy to say that some of the dark green blotchiness seems to have gone away on palms that had it. My royal and V. arecinas are still green surprisingly. I unwrapped the bottles in the front and they really have no damage to speak of so I think it was worth the effort to wrap them. I don't think it kept them any warmer at night, but I think it helped them warm up faster with first light since I wrapped them with a black landscape cloth. Also probably helped prevent some dessication since I had bound up the fronds. They unfolded beautifully like umbrellas. Hyophorbes are very protectable so in my opinion that are definitely a good choice in areas that will see upper 20's every few years. I am also still surprised that my Adonidias seem to have taken very little damage directly related to this cold. Most of the spots and discolorations were there already from cool, damp, dewy mornings back in November. Really, we were all lucky here. I am also happy to report that all the Foxtails that have planted in Brandon, FL in recent years seem to be in good shape too. Really, my damn spindle and coconut are about the most damaged palms I have seen in the area

[surgeon83]

I bet most of my tender stuff will look as bad as or worse than anything anyone has posted so far, even though it only got down to 38.  It is incredible how much impact continuous cold has.  

Even after the winter that didn't get below 37 (and only below 40 three nights), my Dypsis lutescens were pure yellow (with lots of brown spots), as was my Ravenala.  Nary a hint of green by mid-February.  

Stuff always comes back, though.