2010 2010_01 - Freeze of Jan. 2010

[jaybo]

In West Palm Beach we had 8 out of nine nights in the 30s. PBI registered 32F one night. I was surprised how little browning was observed compared to the Christmas 89 freeze. Now that we have been warm for a week, more palms are showing some browning of the fronds. But more interestingly, I have notice a few palms that appear damage free started dropping green fronds. Especially the Adonidia merrillii, Heterospathe elata, and Veitchia macdanielsii. This is a new cold damage outcome for me.

[Licuala]

I am use to seeing green leaves fall off dicots, but green leves falling off palms from cold is also a new experience for me. Saturday I woke up to find 8 perfectly good looking leaves having fallen off my Latania loddegesii. It is an old tree with over 8 feet of wood. To see over half the crown laying on the ground was quite a shock. One more leaf has fallen since.

Paul

[Tommy MacLuckie]

Your Rhapis look a tiny bit burned. It got down to 18 degrees by the lake shore (I'm in Mandeville, LA - people go on and on about "radiant heat from the lake" but it was colder by the lake than it was where I am, 1/4 a mile away so so much for that 'radiant heat' theory - 18 degrees is still 18 degrees, lake or not) and I have a Rhapis at my father-in-law's house (about 500 feet? from he lake) and it, along with everything else in his yard, did not get covered (too much to cover). The Rhapis along with the Med Fan, various Sabals and the Windmills are fine.

All the Queens are cooked, the Roeb's are cooked, Chinese fans are burnt pretty bad, the Canary Island has slight burnage on the oldest fronds and both Washingtonia's are turning. A few other things are cooked as well, like all the various bananas of course... etc.

Have to wait to see if there is outright death of the Queens and Roebs. Based on literature I've read, the Roeb's are dead dead. The Queens should be dead. And according to some literature the Sabals should be dead as well but so far they are 100% fine.

There are people here that have planted Foxtails as well as a few other tender palms - I have, as well as other people, Ravenea rivularis. I would think they are outright dead too. In fact, there are huge ones on the Southshore (in New Orleans and Metairie) and those should be dead as well since it got down to 23 there).

[Tala]

same thing goin on here, never seen this before. It has to be a result of the prolonged cold, the Hyphaene coriacea below will normally develop spotting, then brown leaves but never this kind of bending in the petioles. The very new fronds appear to be OK, will have to wait & see.

[gsn]

Another thing I have noticed at least here after 24.4F is the premature opening of new spear fronds.

A good example is my triangle about 16 feet OA, it is opening 3 fronds at the same time. This has never happened before even in last years cold of 28F. This palm always opens one frond at a time,the spear growing until it splits from the other spears ,then starts to open,then about a 5 to 7 weeks later the next spear splits away and begins to open,continuning the same process over. The palm is completely bronzed, all fronds,except for the premature opening fronds.

The same is happening on alot of other crown shafted palms, my foxylady about 22 feet OA has a spear less than 2 feet long and it is trying to open, it usually opens after getting about 6 to 7 feet long. Naturally the spear that opened just before the freeze of course is completely fried...

Does this sound good or bad?

Edited January 25, 2010 by gsn

[Mark@PalmBeach]

I did a search for "Green Fronds Falling" prior to posting a new topic and much to my surprise this exact topic came up. I am also in the West Palm Beach area so it may be just the right cold conditions for this strange thing to be happening. I have had Triangle, Foxtail, Veitchia, Red Latan and Bottle palms all shed green fronds. Quite a larhe clean-up this weekend. The newest fronds look to be okay more or less with some spotting. My Pritchardia Pacifica on the other had is about 80% burned. I hope it recovers. Some of my evergreen fruits trees are also doing this. My wax jambu, star apple, and malay apple are completely defoliated, but the wood appears to be still alive with green just underneath the bark.

For the palms that are dropping green fronds, should they be treated with fungicide? Reaching the crown would be another matter.

[gsytch]

I've noticed that many palms and tropicals are showing damage NOW that looked ok last week. Some palms in the area are showing burn - not a disaster - but burning, brown leaves. My crotons that looked ok are dropping leaves left and right. My orchids, most of which were in a covered shadehouse and heated, have dropped leaves (mostly phals and dendrobiums) and my bromeliads all over the yard have browned here and there. Some are fine, most have burning My Foxtails and Fishtails have all turned dark brown but with green stems. This occurred in the past week. I guess it was a looooooooooooooong cold spell that did it! Greg who ENJOYED A BALMY 82f yesterday! Now reality...60's/40 Tue and Wed

[Tala]

Scott if you look at the 2nd pic of my Hyphaene you will see a couple of new leaves (which appear to be fine so far). Despite the cold most maybe all palms in our climate never really go dormant. They continue to pull up water & nutrients from the soil, and after some rain that stuff has to go somewhere, so ... since it cannot go into the now dead leaves it is pumped into the meristem which forces open spear(s). I have a few other palms doing this as well. I have a completely defoliated Corypha utan with nine huge dead fronds. The petioles are thick and have retained their color. As soon as I trim those fronds off, that palm will almost immediately open the three spears it has formed one right after the other. It won't matter if its 80f outside or another cold front, it does it every time.

[freakypalmguy]

My Hyphaene coriacea both defoliate every year, then come back with a vengeance. It's surprising considering how tough these palms look. Knock on wood, this winter has been mild for me so far, so maybe I'll finally get a year without defoliation.

Matt

[Natureguy]

Ok....

So I got over my fear of copper fungicide.... Bought a bottle yesterday. Anyone have any suggestions as to how much to use? I read the instructions and it talks about every plant to use it on, except for Palms. Should I use 4 tsps per gallon? Does anyone have an opinion?

thanks for the advice,

Bob

[bayside mike]

Ok....

So I got over my fear of copper fungicide.... Bought a bottle yesterday. Anyone have any suggestions as to how much to use? I read the instructions and it talks about every plant to use it on, except for Palms. Should I use 4 tsps per gallon? Does anyone have an opinion?

thanks for the advice,

Bob

I read in a different post 1 to 2 tsp.

[gsn]

It depends on the copper fungicide product you purchased?

Some have different amounts(some more ,some less) of active ingredient than others!

[palmsOrl]

The type I purchased is called Phyton, which is supposedly the industry standard for the systemic and contact control of fungus and bacteria. The price certainly reflects this, at $20 for 2 fluid ounces and $332 per gallon! I am using 1 tsp. per gallon for my palms and I'm hoping/wondering if for my palms that are way too tall to treat the crown, I can pour a generous amount around the rootzone and let the systemic action work.

Just to update, many of the palms have manifested much more damage since the above photos were taken. I will post an update within the next few days.

-Michael

[Davidl]

I use 2 tsp myself with the brand I have but I usually make it a little weaker than recommended. I have not killed any palms from using it myself. I would make sure no animals especially birds drink it because its deadly to them.Humans too.

[Don]

: Top of Page : Custom Date Range's Tabular Data 2010 Temp. (°F) Dew Point (°F) Humidity (%) Sea Level Pressure (in) Visibility (mi) Wind (mph) Gust Speed (mph) Precip (in) January high avg low high avg low high avg low high avg low high avg low high avg high sum 1 52 48 38 48 38 28 88 71 52 30.29 - 30.03 - - - 14 4 14 0.94 2 49 40 33 31 27 20 68 58 48 30.32 - 30.20 - - - 13 4 13 0.94 3 46 35 29 22 20 17 66 55 38 30.26 - 30.14 - - - 10 3 10 0.94 4 45 34 28 22 17 14 66 51 41 30.29 - 30.14 - - - 13 2 13 0.94 5 41 31 23 18 15 12 66 53 39 30.38 - 30.23 - - - 11 4 11 0.94 6 48 34 25 22 17 12 66 51 35 30.32 - 30.09 - - - 4 2 4 0.94 7 66 43 28 50 33 17 95 70 50 30.20 - 29.91 - - - 0 0 0 0.94 8 36 31 26 30 17 12 80 55 45 30.31 - 30.10 - - - 13 2 13 0.94 9 37 31 21 18 16 12 65 53 45 30.45 - 30.27 - - - 12 4 12 0.00 10 40 30 22 20 16 13 70 56 42 30.57 - 30.45 - - - 13 2 13 0.00 11 50 33 18 26 19 10 77 58 39 30.51 - 30.33 - - - 8 1 8 0.00 12 56 40 28 32 26 21 81 61 39 30.39 - 30.27 - - - 11 2 11 0.00 13 56 37 27 32 24 18 77 59 40 30.39 - 30.27 - - - 8 1 8 0.00 14 64 39 33 45 31 27 86 73 48 30.27 - 30.15 - - - 10 1 10 0.00 15 67 53 38 54 42 30 95 69 47 30.21 - 30.03 - - - 13 2 13 0.20 16 64 60 54 63 60 54 100 99 95 30.09 - 29.65 - - - 22 5 22 1.65

[Don]

so much for the temperatures ,let me try that again.

[Don]

Heres some more.

[Don]

And yet more!

[_Keith]

And yet more!

I would have guessed. Actually, I did guess, and was right. :-)

[Don]

Was it evil sunspots?

[Alicehunter2000]

UGLY!

[Tala]

This event an odd one for duration alone, overall lows perfectly within normal range. The two consecutive freezes happened for only 2nd time in my 16 yrs of growing here; and immediately following that was three consecutive freezes, that a new one; one night of 12 hrs at/below 32f following a daytime high of 36f also a record for here. The stats:

12th - 29f, radiational - heavy frost, 2 hrs

11th - 28f, advective - light frost, 9 hrs

10th - 29f, advective - no frost, 12 hrs

8th - 30f, radiational - light frost, - 3 hrs

7th - 31f, advective - no frost, - 3 hrs

NO DAMAGE

Acrocomia totai, Allagoptera arenaria, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana (2), Archontophoenix maxima

Arenga engleri, Arenga micrantha, Bismarckia nobilis (2), Brahea brandegeei, Butia capitata

Butyagrus hybrid, Chamaedora tepejilote, Chamaedorea metallica, Chamaedorea microspadix (2)

Chamaedorea plumosa, Chuniophoenix hainanensis, Chuniophoenix nana, Coccothrinax argentata (Fl.)

Coccothrinax borhidiana, Coccothrinax brevicrinis, Coccothrinax crinita, Coccothrinax inaguensis

Coccothrinax miraguama var. roseocarpa, Coccothrinax spissa, Copernicia alba, Copernicia baileyana

Copernicia gigas, Copernicia hospita, Copernicia macroglossa (2), Cryosophila warscewiczii

Dypsis decipiens (2), Howea forsteriana, Kerriodoxa elegans (2), Leucothrinax morrisii (2)

Livistona australis, Livistona decora, Livistona jenkinsiana, Livistona mariae

Livistona nitida, Livistona rigida, Lytocaryum weddellianum, Nannorrhops ritchiana

Phoenix canariensis, Phoenix loureirii, Phoenix reclinata, Phoenix roebelenii

Phoenix rupicola, Phoenix sylvestris, Pseudophoenix sargentii (Fl.) (2)

Rhapidophyllum hystrix, Rhapis excelsa Tenzan, Rhapis humilis, Sabal causiarum

Sabal domingensis, Sabal minor var. Louisiana, Sabal minor var. Tamaulipas, Sabal uresana

Sabal yapa, Serenoa repens (white), Syagrus romanzoffiana (2), Thrinax excelsa

Trachycarpus latisectus, Wallichia oblongifolia (densiflora), Washingtonia 'filibusta' hybrid

Burretiokentia hapala, Hyphaene compressa, Brahea armata 15g, Tahina spectabilis 1g, Bactrisa setosa 7g (protected)

Borassus FTG hybrid 7g (protected), Calyptronoma rivalis 3g (protected), Jubaeopsis caffra 5g (protected)

Pritchardia affinis 1g (protected), Syagrus botryophora 3g (protected), Syagrus ruschiana 3g (protected)

Bambusa mutabilis, Bambusa oldhamii

Bowenia serrulata, Ceratozamia hildae, Ceratozamia kuesteriana, Dioon edule, Dioon spinulosum

Encephalartos ferox, Macrozamia communis, Zamia inermis, Zamia vasquezii

MINOR DAMAGE (- 10%)

Allagoptera caudescens, Areca triandra, Arenga caudata, Attalea speciosa

Caryota maxima, Coccothrinax argentata hybrid unk., Coccothrinax scoparia

Copernicia yarey, Cryosophila stauracantha, Licuala spinosa

Livistona victoriae, Sabal mauritiiformis, Archontophoenix myolensis

Archontophoenix purpurea, Archontophoenix tuckeri, Copernicia cowellii

Licuala ramsayi, Livistona inermis

Bambusa 'Alphonse Karr' (sp.)?

Pandanus utilis (dropped leaves only)

MODERATE DAMAGE (-50%)

Acrocomia crispa, Aiphanes horrida, Arenga tremula, Attalea butyracea

Caryota obtusa, Dypsis mahajanga, Hyophorbe verschaffeltia, Livistona rotundifolia X saribus

Roystonea borinqueana, Syagrus amara, Wodyetia bifurcata, Chambeyronia macrocarpa

Kentiopsis oliviformis, Livistona carinensis, Reinhardtia latisectus, Satakentia liukiuensis

Cycas thouarsii

Bambusa lako

MAJOR DAMAGE (+50%)

Arenga pinnata, Astrocaryum mexicanum, Beccariophoenix 'windows', Caryota mitis

Corypha umbraculifera (3g), Dypsis ankaizinensis, Dypsis decaryi, Elaeis guineensis

Hyophorbe spindle X bottle, Hyphaene coriacea, Licuala grandis, Pinanga kuhlii

Ptychosperma burretianum, Ptychosperma macarthurii, Ravenea glauca, Ravenea rivularis

Syagrus coronata, Syargsu costae hybrid, Thrinax parviflora, Wallichia disticha

Zombia antillarum

Cycas angulata

Bambusa 'Wamin'

DEFOLIATED

Bismarckia nobilis (not reproductive), Corypha utan

Thrinax radiata, Veitchia winin

No pics of everything, heres a few to kind of summarize things.

Wallichia disticha far right, behind it Syagrus costae hybrid, left is Beccariophoenix. These barely had any tip burn until the 5th, final freeze w/ heavy frost. Good cold tolerance but no frost tolerance - the latter a very rare thing indeed.

Beccariophoenix 'windows' - had defoliated at 25f lows, always comes back

only spotty damage to Sy amara, Astrocaryum mexicanum hit bad but should be OK, has seen worse

big female Bis, under it a torched Veitchia winin

lower view, undamaged Leucothrinax, slightly damaged Ravenea glauca, Wallichia, Beccario, these turned for the worse as days went by

into the sun ... L to R: Liv mariae, Acrocomia totai, Mule palm all fine - torched Bambusa 'wamin', pistillate Bis in background

close-up of Copernicia baileyana, dark blotches have faded away. Lots of very cold tolerant palms exhibit this trait incl. various Trachycarpus & Livistona, also observed it on Dypsis decipiens

shot of the front, massive Corypha & Bismarckia 'wimpy' are defoliated. But lots of green in there as well, if you squint hard enough.

Gotta luv live oaks - Cham tepejilote in front of undamaged Monstera, burnt palm in back is Thrinax parviflora - no brown until a wk later! Not even oak canopy can help in advective cold.

[Tala]

heres some Thrinax for your viewing pleasure. Praise be to the phylogenist who pulled morrisii from these mortal wussies.

The big winner is excelsa, undamaged in open!

this parviflora was under oak canopy, starting showing damage after rains a wk later.

hard to believe that radiata grows on mainland, yikes - bud damage as well; it has been "bud hardy" coming back from temps as low as 23f but now that growth bud is above ground it's time here may be short ...

[Tala]

disparaging Dypsis

this is ankaizinensis, most likely a form of common madagascariensis.

next up mahajanga, another form of mada. This performed noticeably better than above brethren.

good ol' standby decaryi, tons of tip burn. I get but 6 fronds per yr from this one, but has always returned just fine. One issue is the cracks in the stem, the old leaf bases will hold moisture up against the wood which in turn rots the outer layer causing cracks & divots.

left these 2 decipiens out in middle of the back, no worries about them even as small 5g containers. As they age I figure they'll surpass native Pseudophoenix sargentii has most cold hardy crownshaft palm.

[Rafael]

My experience was, in a month, two -3,8ºC, one -2,6ºC, and a couple at -1,5ºC.

Two non back to back nights with heavy frost, two others with light frost.

My archontophoenix, wich i thought was cunninghamiana (but maybe is an hybrid), 100% burned, however spear's base stills green (you can find the topic down here).

I only understand this behaviour considering it as an hybrid, not a cunninghamiana...

[Tala]

can't beat the natives. Pseudo sargentii on left, Cocco argentata on right - they cruised thru the cold.

among the nice surprises Cocco inaguensis from the Bahamas.

Burretiokentia hapala looks good, now have to try viellardi.

this Kerriodoxa in 3g pot, alittle beat up but mostly green. Also close relatives Chuniophoenix (both hainensis & nana) had no problems, as of course Nannorrhops as well.

also left out one of my Tahina in 1g's, sister to Kerriodoxa I think. This might mean nothing but could mean something...

[Tala]

Acrocomia (formerly Gastrococos) crispa. Only the ends are burned bad. This has been a real slow grower for me.

little baby totai in 1g's. They laugh at this kind of cold. Many still pushing simple leaves up after a yr, gotta get Dr. Henderson to see this.

another spiny palm Aiphanes horrida. Lousy pic, lots of green on it.

on left are Cryosophila warscewiczii undamaged, on R is Caryota maxima some damage. These Cryo's have some potential!

Crysophila stauracantha, helped by "wall heat" methinks. Only slight damage.

[Tala]

This Hyophorbe spindle X bottle hybrid defoliated underneath a large Grapefruit tree; already in recovery mode, new frond emerging.

This is Archonto maxima, no damage then or now.

This Archonto myolensis. Not bad, only some tip burn.

same for Kentiopsis oliviformis

and Satakentia liukiuensis

[Tala]

finally some Wodyetia, did better than Roystonea but not as well as Archontophoenix.

even under heavy oak canopy Pinanga kuhlii leaves emerged, then turned brown.

Ravenea glauca and Ravenea rivularis

Pandanus utilis (I know not a palm but...) no damage to leaves but it threw tons of green leaves on the ground this past wk.

Bambusa 'wamin' - yikes

more Bamboo, these are cold hardy - mutabilis on L, note no low leaves just culms, and oldhamii on R. In between very tall Copernicia alba, undamaged of course. Defoliated Sea Grape in foreground.

[Tala]

nice surprise here Areca triandra mixed in w/ Rhapis. Barely a mark on it, still holding seed as well.

subterranean Attalea humilis, Chunio hainanensis in background.

Brahea brandegeei in back, Copernicia macroglossa in front

Allagoptera arenaria and Encephalartos ferox, both no problems.

this Cocco borhidiana was beside the Wamin bamboo, looks good.

Phoenix loureirii and rupicola, lucked out with it.

[BigBpalms]

Thats a great collection Tala - what part of Orlando r u in ?

[Tala]

Thats a great collection Tala - what part of Orlando r u in ?

I live a few miles away from Universal Studios, in the Dr. Phillips area. All that on a typical 1/4 acre lot as well; wish I had more room, to plant multiple specimens, somethings I have are dioecious but only planted one of them. Lots I would change if I could start over but it is what it is now.

[epicure3]

Defoliated Sea Grape in foreground.

That makes me sad. It will come back, though.

[Davidl]

Dave your stuff looks good for such cold temps and frost. You have some nice specimens. Is your big bismarkia seeding yet ?

[Tala]

Defoliated Sea Grape in foreground.

That makes me sad. It will come back, though.

well some of it will - the top thinner portions of wood have already cracked open, those are dead for sure; my current plan is to cut it down about head hgt. , start this yr as a small tree. Its hard to get one up in the air when you're off the coasts. They remind me of the beach, its why I planted it.

[Tala]

Dave your stuff looks good for such cold temps and frost. You have some nice specimens. Is your big bismarkia seeding yet ?

thanks David. Yes the female has been seeding for 3 yrs now - these are most certainly the northernmost fruiting Bis in Fla. I got lucky, bought her in Sarasota as a 7g, the male as a 7g from Rockledge a few yrs later. Both have been down to 23f with barely a blemish, the seedlings have inherited this as well - no damage to them, I leave'em out in citrus pots all winter. So I have guaranteed color & cold hardiness, no other place can match - as popular as they are someone else's will eventually do this up here, but for now mine are the champs. Little victories, thats what keeps me goin ...

Here's the male

both

[Jimbean]

I have different accounts to exactly how cold it got here. It seems that the temperature dropped to around 23F to 24F in Port St. John. I am sure GSN could add to this if he wishes to. Note: this cold damage is very unusual for the area; Port St. John is roughly the equivalent to either Sarasota or Ruskin for those of you on the west coast of Florida.

Pseudophoenix sargentii:

Ravenea rivularis:

Ficus aurea (defoliated):

Ficus benjamina (defoliated):

[Jimbean]

[Jimbean]

another Schinus terebinthifolius:

Roystonia:

[Jimbean]

I would like to note that there were many more pictures that I would have liked to have taken, but hardly no one was home at the time an I did not want to take a picture of their property without their permission. However I will testify that the queen palms were any where from 20% to 100% defoliated, other royals 100% defoliated, coconuts 100% defoliated, foxtails 100% defoliated, and Bismarks 10% to 30% defoliated.

There was a surprise, that is my Thrinax morrissii went through this unscathed:

I also had two Thrinax radiata nearby, one (not shown) is dead, here is the other:

you can see that the bud is damaged, but the rest of it looks good. These palms were all growing underneath a slash pine, so they did have some protection.