Richmond Virginia Cold Snap (2017)

[PalmTreeDude]

In the Richmond VA area we are going to have a cold snap, with snow forecasted. The lowest low is suppose to go down to 8 degrees F. Anyone else going to be effected by this?

 

[nitsua0895]

It's going to affect Montgomery, especially on Sunday and Monday morning. Highs will be in the mid-40's and lows around 23F. It could definitively be worse but I'm going to have to protect my Queen palm.

8 degrees sounds like a nightmare 

[GeorgiaPalms]

The Atlanta area is also going to be affected by the cold front. We are showing temperatures down to 19F for two nights. We are also expecting some snow. I will be protecting my newly planted palms which went into the ground last summer. 

[nitsua0895]

So far it's been a nasty day here with temps in the upper 30's and lots of rain. The main threat of wintry precipitation seems to be a couple counties north of Montgomery but there's a possibility of up to 0.10 inches of freezing rain around midnight. I'm mainly just worried about the low of 24F tomorrow morning and 22F on Sunday with a predicted wind chill of 11F.

My banana tree and alocasia are going to be toast so I'll just cut them down and wait until spring. And I'm hoping my Butia and two Mule palms will be undamaged without protection. 

I spent last night and this morning wrapping up my Queen, Pygmy Date, and Chamaedorea palm. I hope the Christmas lights inside will provide enough warmth for them to make it through this cold snap. This is easily the coldest we've been since 2014.

 

[NorCalKing]

36 minutes ago, nitsua0895 said:

So far it's been a nasty day here with temps in the upper 30's and lots of rain. The main threat of wintry precipitation seems to be a couple counties north of Montgomery but there's a possibility of up to 0.10 inches of freezing rain around midnight. I'm mainly just worried about the low of 24F tomorrow morning and 22F on Sunday with a predicted wind chill of 11F.

My banana tree and alocasia are going to be toast so I'll just cut them down and wait until spring. And I'm hoping my Butia and two Mule palms will be undamaged without protection. 

I spent last night and this morning wrapping up my Queen, Pygmy Date, and Chamaedorea palm. I hope the Christmas lights inside will provide enough warmth for them to make it through this cold snap. This is easily the coldest we've been since 2014.

 

Good luck, I'd imagine that 22f morning will be pushing the limits for that queen. Just hope it's not lasting.

[Jdiaz31089]

22 and 23 has killed or severely injured young queens here in Central CA. I remember seeing a lot of dead juvenile queen palms after the 2007 freeze in CA - If i remember correctly, we had low to mid 20s for several nights one week. Phoenix roebelenii - some died and others defoliated, depending on where they were planted, whether they had overhead protection or were near a building. Good luck! Hope they pull through! 

[PalmTreeDude]

A just posted a new thread in "Cold Hardy Palms" showing the protection I am using! Check it out.

[NorCalKing]

Man this forecast for Richmond just keeps looking grimmer. 3 days of sub freezing. This will be the ultimate test for zone pushers.

[nitsua0895]

On 1/6/2017, 1:43:03, Jdiaz31089 said:

22 and 23 has killed or severely injured young queens here in Central CA. I remember seeing a lot of dead juvenile queen palms after the 2007 freeze in CA - If i remember correctly, we had low to mid 20s for several nights one week. Phoenix roebelenii - some died and others defoliated, depending on where they were planted, whether they had overhead protection or were near a building. Good luck! Hope they pull through! 

We're going to be down to 20F tonight, 24F tomorrow night, and then next week is in the mid-upper 70's so I hope that will help. If it was left completely unprotected it would probably die tonight but I decided to wrap it in Christmas lights and tie blankets around it. My Phoenix Roebelinni is also in a heated greenhouse. 

 

[nitsua0895]

Here's a few photos of my Queen palm protection.

 

[NorCalKing]

Looks pretty good. At least you've given it a fighting chance. But wow, if it survives a 20f she's a keeper.

[nitsua0895]

13 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

Looks pretty good. At least you've given it a fighting chance. But wow, if it survives a 20f she's a keeper.

I knew we'd have 15-20F temperatures at some point but this was really unexpected. A week ago our forecast was for low temps in the mid-upper 30's and it fell one or two degrees every single day. 

However, I can feel the warmth coming off the Christmas lights on the Queen palm so I'm pretty confident that it'll at least survive, even if it looks ugly for a while.

[PalmTreeDude]

On 1/7/2017, 9:54:32, nitsua0895 said:

I knew we'd have 15-20F temperatures at some point but this was really unexpected. A week ago our forecast was for low temps in the mid-upper 30's and it fell one or two degrees every single day. 

However, I can feel the warmth coming off the Christmas lights on the Queen palm so I'm pretty confident that it'll at least survive, even if it looks ugly for a while.

I hope it does well!

[PalmTreeDude]

http://m.nbc12.com/nbc12/db/330650/content/prdywvwp

 

Oh dear...

[nitsua0895]

47 minutes ago, PalmTreeDude said:

http://m.nbc12.com/nbc12/db/330650/content/prdywvwp

 

Oh dear...

That's brutal! I think 0F is our all time record low from 1899. I'm really interested to learn how your palms did once you unwrap them.

I unwrapped my Queen palm and Chamaedorea Cataractarum this morning and so far they seem okay. I just hope more damage doesn't show up in the coming days. We had three cold nights in a row of 24F, 21F, and 26F. Two of the nights were 15+ hours below freezing.

 

 

[nitsua0895]

[NorCalKing]

The problem of course is (and I experienced first hand myself) is they look fine immediately after the cold, it's 2-3 weeks down the road you know how much, if any damage there really is. My King saw 27f for an hour or so back in dec it's only now I'm seeing the fronds start to reveal the damage. 

[nitsua0895]

48 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

The problem of course is (and I experienced first hand myself) is they look fine immediately after the cold, it's 2-3 weeks down the road you know how much, if any damage there really is. My King saw 27f for an hour or so back in dec it's only now I'm seeing the fronds start to reveal the damage. 

Yeah I was worried that might be the case. Have you ever had a palm completely die when it showed no damage 24 hours after a bad freeze?

For instance, my Ravenea Rivularis(shouldn't have tried it) and Alocasia were an ugly green color and wilting just a few hours after we saw 24F during the first night of this cold snap. So I assume I've lost both of those even though they seem halfway alive at the moment.

 

[Ponds & Palms]

8 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

http://m.nbc12.com/nbc12/db/330650/content/prdywvwp

 

Oh dear...

I feel your pain.  We got destroyed here in NC... down to 6 degrees by me and 3 days below freezing.  My small palms I stuffed with pine straw and covered with clear plastic, but my two large windmills 10 ft. are virtually impossible to cover. Tomorrow I'm uncovering everything as temps. are warming.  I guess I'll find out in a month or 2 if my palms survived...if they do, I'll collect their seeds and grow more! Fingers crossed 

[NorCalKing]

31 minutes ago, nitsua0895 said:

Yeah I was worried that might be the case. Have you ever had a palm completely die when it showed no damage 24 hours after a bad freeze?

For instance, my Ravenea Rivularis(shouldn't have tried it) and Alocasia were an ugly green color and wilting just a few hours after we saw 24F during the first night of this cold snap. So I assume I've lost both of those even though they seem halfway alive at the moment.

 

For sure. In fact my King looked totally unscathed. Now a couple fronds are starting to get limp and mushy. What's funny is I saw a 25f last winter with less damage. But this year there was a heavy frost that accompanied the cold.

[GottmitAlex]

2 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

For sure. In fact my King looked totally unscathed. Now a couple fronds are starting to get limp and mushy. What's funny is I saw a 25f last winter with less damage. But this year there was a heavy frost that accompanied the cold.

Was it the early morning of December 18th? That was when it was the coldest here. 5.1C/41F.  Unexpected.

 

[NorCalKing]

3 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

Was it the early morning of December 18th? That was when it was the coldest here. 5.1C/41F.  Unexpected.

 

Yep. That was the crazy frosty morning. It wasn't the brief dip to 27 that caused the damage, it was the heavy frost. Had the dew-points been lower that morning, I don't think the 27 would have caused as much damage.

Edited January 10, 2017 by NorCalKing

[nitsua0895]

15 minutes ago, NorCalKing said:

For sure. In fact my King looked totally unscathed. Now a couple fronds are starting to get limp and mushy. What's funny is I saw a 25f last winter with less damage. But this year there was a heavy frost that accompanied the cold.

Do you think your King palm is going to end up surviving? I'd like to try one in a very protected spot but it most likely wouldn't like our summers either. I have a bunch of Archontophoenix seedlings that are just now looking good after burning really bad in the heat last year.

If the Queen palm makes it through this unscathed, I'm going to have a very hard time not planting a Royal palm this spring and protecting it as long as possible  The only palms I'm not going to try while living here are the types that become damaged from slightly cool or dry weather, like Cyrtostachys, Licuala, and Coconuts.

[NorCalKing]

It'll survive. Last spring after getting burned it roared back by early summer. It may not like your humidity, it does fine in heat, as we get many 100f+ days and it looks ok. I'd give it a try for fun. Just remember queens are basically bulletproof here, and kings are more cold sensitive. But give it a go, I know they are cheap in big box stores.