Syagrus romanzoffiana

[iwan]

Burning/spotting/yellowing up to 20-40%  on trees in ground 15g to 20' size.  Similar damage to 15g potted trees with blanket around trunk.  Still working on the temp numbers, but 16 out of 18 days below freezing.  Most days 12+ hours below freezing, rebounding to mid-40's.  Official lows in Madera and Fresno in low 20's.  Some frost every day, but nowhere near as heavy as normal 28-32F freezes.  No overhead canopy.

[Jim in Los Altos]

26.5F low. No damage or stress to any of my eleven queens ranging in size from 3' to 40' tall.

[iwan]

Spotting (in 15g nursery pot).  40% damage.

Fronds overhanging roof severly burned.  In ground, 6' to growth point, 15' tall.  Just trunking, 20% damage.

Planted last year (from 15g).  Fronds tied up and mostly damaged.  

[Kathy]

24F low here, no frost, multiple nights below 28F, no damage to any individuals from 6 foot to 20foot in size.  No damage to any of the 70+ individuals on the street.

Driving around town, where lows were in the 23-24F range (maybe as low as 22F in some microclimates), no damage to healthy individuals of all sizes (healthy looking before freeze),  only damage to those that looked sickly before freeze (were already low on nutrients and very yellow/frizzled/few fronds).

[Collectorpalms]

Texas Zone 8b. Damage Ranged from 70% burn to 20% for the largest that are 25 feet tall and flowering. There does seem to be some variability in the palms that I have. And overhanging leaves near house were the only leaves on the biggest ones damaged.

Feb 13: 56/37

Feb 14: 40/33

Feb 15: 41/29

Feb 16: 50/21 ( airport) (My house 23.4)

Feb 17: 64/32

Feb 18: 62/28

Feb 19: 72/40

[Bilbo]

Cant really say too much about Queens except they seem fine down in Southern Europe.

My own specimen is getting on for 20` but was already tall when I planted it early last September so I shall be applying high nitrate and seeing what it will be like in 12 months.

I am optimistic but then I always am.

Now for a good laugh: I unearthed an RHS book published in 1993 which stated that Queens required a minimum temp  . . . . wait for it . . . . of 18C!

I know guys, I too fell about laughing.

Seriously we do have several palm guys at RBG Kew (including of course JD but others as well).

Why were they not consulted?

Regardez

Juan

[freekypalmguy]

The damage to the queens has been slow in showing it's ugly face. We had lows of 12F at the worst but many nights sub freezing. They get browner and browner as the day have gone by. My large queens did just fine but all of my small queens show significant browning and many fronds have folded to the ground. When I drive down the street I see a sea of brown queens. The palm growers below me saw 10F and all of his 100's of queens are brown.

[AJQ]

I have 2 "Silver Syagrus"  both are alive but one has not shown any sign of growth at all, this one was planted in what I considered to be the prime position. The other one planted in the "not so prime position" has actually done a lot better and has even put on some growth this winter. perhaps we have to be a wee bit more patient and allow the roots to get established before consigning them to the compost heap?

Regards Andy.

[GREENHAND]

15 deg all oueens, TOAST!!! even wrapped. O well live and learn.

[NBTX11]

24F official airport low, buy my Syagrus saw appx 21-22F for an hour or two.  Plant is a small juvenile, appx 5-6 feet tall  50-60% leaf burn and spotting.  By May/Jun 07, completely recovered.  By Jul 07, growing at a fast rate and very established and healthy.

[mjff]

December 15-16, 2007 14 hours below freezing with a low of 18 degrees, no apparent damage 1 week later to a 15' tall specimen planted less than 2 months prior with a basketball size rootball.  This is a "Silver Queen"

December 22-23, 2007 13 hours below freezing with a low of 16 degrees, and 120 degree-hours below freezing.  Will report back in a week or so regarding damage, if any, from this freeze.

[Frog]

Hello, a testimony concerning the resistance of this variety in zone 8a. here are four years that I installed a seedling of this syagrus in a patio. it profits from the protection of a wall and is protected every winter. In spite of temperatures going until to -8°c, the seedling did not suffer.

[Moris]

hi guys, i'm moris from Italy. - 8 in France with syagrus? interesting. Is it litoralis or Santa Caterina form?

[Rafael]

Syagrus Romanzofiana is supposed to resist until -8ºC / 17.6F. With less damage.

My seven (mostly adult palms), wich you can check at the link above, faced maybe 10 nights with -3ºC, last winter, with no damage.

They are adorable palms, indeed.

Edited November 21, 2009 by rafael

[peachy]

Before I moved to this house, I lived in the country. Every winter my queens were exposed to frostss nearly every night. Usually about - 5 or 6c but often down to -8 or -9c. They were all in exposed areas and of all sizes. The only ones I ever lost were still entire leaf. Once they go pinnate they are indestructable. !! Not one of them was ever affected in any way by cold or frost. My Chamaerops humilis was the only other palm that would remain without damage of some kind.

Peachy

[Kailua_Krish]

Big box store queen variety. Multiple nights below freezing, ultimate low of around 20. All exposed fronds are burned, most plants look as if they will grow back, the smaller ones are a bit iffy.

-Krishna

[Austinpalm]

I have four 10-20-gallon sized queens planted with anywhere from no to partial canopy cover. All were protected by duct-taping a sleeping bag around the stem. All exhibited spear loss and significant defoliation from 16F as well as several nights below freezing. All have put forth new spears now and are starting to take off with the beginning of summer heat.

[NBTX11]

I have four 10-20-gallon sized queens planted with anywhere from no to partial canopy cover. All were protected by duct-taping a sleeping bag around the stem. All exhibited spear loss and significant defoliation from 16F as well as several nights below freezing. All have put forth new spears now and are starting to take off with the beginning of summer heat.

Good to hear. How did the rest of the queens around Austin do. Most of the larger queens around here are recovering and pushing green spears.

[Austinpalm]

I have four 10-20-gallon sized queens planted with anywhere from no to partial canopy cover. All were protected by duct-taping a sleeping bag around the stem. All exhibited spear loss and significant defoliation from 16F as well as several nights below freezing. All have put forth new spears now and are starting to take off with the beginning of summer heat.

Good to hear. How did the rest of the queens around Austin do. Most of the larger queens around here are recovering and pushing green spears.

Just about anything with 4-foot or more of stem/trunk that was healthy before the low temp event survived. I have noticed a few various queens of larger size around town that have not put on new growth. However, these are generally plants that are not well cared for or are located in low spot and experienced even colder temps (12F or less).

[NBTX11]

Based on what I have seen first hand, it seems that mature healthy queens are hardy to at least 16F, and a decent number of them to 14F. Seen it firsthand, most are recovering from these temps now.

[iamjv]

three queens - 100% defoliated after 16F but all coming back. Jv

[fruitof76]

Had Three Queens, 1 survived my 13 degree low in January in NE Austin. Was totally defoliated. 1st frond tip didn't poke out until earlier May and now has about 3 fronds open. It has 10 feet or so of trunk. Those that died had 1 to 3 feet of trunk and were further away from the house.

Replaced one of the dead queens with a Mule for future freezes.

[Moris]

Frog your syagrus survived to the last terrible winter?

[Matthew92]

Here's a queen (picture below) that survived more than one freeze into the upper teens, but is now succumbing from complications a couple years later.

Not many queens in my area of NW Florida, and our 8b winters makes sure to eliminate many of them every few years. Still, some full sized mature trees have managed to live in certain microclimate areas with complete defoliation in the 8b temps. 2014 put an end to the luck of many of these surviving trees. I can count on one hand how many queens survived that winter of multiple lows to the mid and low 20's, freeze to 17 degrees during which next day hardly got above freezing, light freezing rain event where the next day it didn't get above the high 20's. 

The one queen palm that survived without any lingering damage was on the south side of a large restaurant near the beach. It was defoliated but has had no lingering damage from what I can see.

There are 2 other queens I know of that "survived" that winter. They are in a neighborhood that is fairly close to the large bay to the south. I've speculated this neighborhood is in a slight microclimate as several queens there survived cold winters in the past. The 2 that survived were full sized. It took them about 2 years to really recover the crown. It was hard for them since the next winter was 8b as well. While the crowns seemed to be recovering, I started to notice damage on the trunks. What started as a couple holes started to rot away more and more over the next 3 years. Only one of the 2 is left now, and here's a picture of it I took today (likely before it will be removed shortly).