Which temp thermocube?

[Allen]

In zone 7 I have a 1st year 7+ foot T. Fortunei.  I plan on caging it in welded wire with a 6mm plastic cover late December.  Inside will be Christmas lights and a flood light at bottom.   Would you use a Thermocube of (On 20F/ Off 30F)   OR  (On 35F/ Off 45F)??  Thermocube will be close to crown of palm inside cover.

Edited September 23, 2017 by Allen

[sashaeffer]

I use 35/45 with great success.

[yabazid]

mine is in zone 7 and doing fine with no protection

[lapalmeraie]

On 23-9-2017 19:20:49, Allen said:

Thermocube of (On 20F/ Off 30F)   OR  (On 35F/ Off 45F)??  

I'm also in USDA zone 7 and my fortunei's are not protected at all till 5°F (-15°C)!
Not only you will waste your energie on heating them above this kind of temperatures, the fortunei doesn't like at all being overprotected.
Most questions about winter damage I receive every spring are about over protected fortuneis with spear rot.

As it is its first winter you can however protect him just by keeping the snow / icy rain out of the hearth by placing a solid umbrella (or other protection) above. This way it keeps dry but still conserves the optimal ventilation. Like shown here:

 

Winter 2011-2012: -11,5°C (11,3°F)

In here the same subject in march 2017:

 

 

 

 

[sashaeffer]

Well said. Why I couldn't get by with what lapaleraie does, he is spot on at over protecting. Most of my bad issues have been from over protecting them(being air tight) so now make sure they are well ventilated in their enclosures.

 

[Allen]

Thanks for all the replies.  I am in 7A by the way.  Also it is a wet winter here.  Worst lows are in the 5F range and quite a few days 10-20F.

[cm05]

I’m in 7b and I just try my best to keep it dry, I simply cover it over during any rain or snow, much like lapalmeraie does, but on a smaller scale.

T. fortunei doesn’t need extensive protection in zone 7, but to be on the safe side I’d protect it at temperatures in the 10-15F range since it’s in its first year, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

[PalmTreeDude]

I wrapped a wrag around mine first winter. A tarp for water protection, even though it just made it moldy. After a year or two mine should be good.

[VA Jeff]

When you have a prized palm, go ahead and protect it from the worst winters.  It won't use much energy if you have a thermostat anyway.  I would go with the 20 F on / 30 F off thermostat myself.  Any trachycarpus that can't survive any 20 F stretch deserves to die, but few would.  I have a few that have survived 1 F virtually unscathed.

[Jimhardy]

There is always the possibility of it never getting above

freezing with the 20/30 thermocube during cloudy cold stretches...

so you gain nothing with this one....the 35/45 one is best and keeps

the palm in a range of temps that will keep it basically dormant...

 

You can always unplug the heating if you are not worried about it seeing teens (F)

it just depends on if your protection warms up inside on sunny days and this needs

to be watched carefully until you know the temp span if it does warm up in the sun...

 

I have actually left mine off during cold clear(or even cloudy) days where I knew it would be

it would be in the teens in the enclosure because basically as soon as you plug

the T-cube in, your plant will stay above freezing...so can can work with non-diurnal rises/falls in temps

but you have to be careful....I left some palms unheated(not turned on)once when it was -6F out

before I used T-cubes(I was the T-cube in those days)but didn't get back in time after sunset

so they saw about an hour of those temps but were ok.

 

[VA Jeff]

Trachies can take days of being below freezing, if the lows are above 15 degrees.  At least mine has.  It is maybe 9 feet tall I'm guessing now.

[Jimhardy]

Yeah for sure, even my smaller ones with some good trunk 2-3' could stay below freezing

and they(if healthy)are tougher coming out of winter....I had mine out in 12F once and

they were fine because it warmed to the 70s the next day but did end up with a little

rainbow damage on the new spears/spear.

[lapalmeraie]

They are very hardy i.m.o.

I once had forgotten my Trachy seedlings in P9-ers outside and the had to deal with a -6°C (21,2°F). Completely frozen of course. I quickly took them inside to let them defrost. Afterwards they took on were they left of with no damage at all 

As said, I see a lot more Trachy's in troubles after being over protected. Often "well" muffled in before winter to be left as such for the time being....  

[lapalmeraie]

As this becomes a "hot topic" (.... ideal term for this one ) right now (with the winter coming), I translated my "winter protection" articles in English last weekend. (palms, bananas, tree ferns, palms in containers, building plan for a winter protection. You name it 

[PAPalmGrower]

I'd go with the 35/45 Thermocube to be safe.  I live in south-central Pennsylvania, on the zone 6b/7a border. Although it is true that Trachys can take stretches below freezing for a number of days (when the soil is not frozen deeply, such as following a mild-ish spell, or in Southern climates), here in central Pennsylvania on the border of 6b/7a, during some of our colder winters, we can stay below freezing for a month at a time and the soil can freeze quite deeply during that period.

Edited October 19, 2017 by PAPalmGrower

[VA Jeff]

On 10/1/2017, 9:53:13, Jimhardy said:

There is always the possibility of it never getting above

freezing with the 20/30 thermocube during cloudy cold stretches...

so you gain nothing with this one....the 35/45 one is best and keeps

the palm in a range of temps that will keep it basically dormant...

 

You can always unplug the heating if you are not worried about it seeing teens (F)

it just depends on if your protection warms up inside on sunny days and this needs

to be watched carefully until you know the temp span if it does warm up in the sun...

 

I have actually left mine off during cold clear(or even cloudy) days where I knew it would be

it would be in the teens in the enclosure because basically as soon as you plug

the T-cube in, your plant will stay above freezing...so can can work with non-diurnal rises/falls in temps

but you have to be careful....I left some palms unheated(not turned on)once when it was -6F out

before I used T-cubes(I was the T-cube in those days)but didn't get back in time after sunset

so they saw about an hour of those temps but were ok.

 

It really depends on your climate, which thermocube to get.  In the upper Midwest, like Iowa, you might not get above freezing for over a week, whereas that would never happen where I live, even if it might not get above freezing for 2 days.  Trachies can survive decades unprotected where I live, but in a shelter in Iowa, a week or more below freezing and less than 10 degrees during that stretch might do them in, perhaps.  Just like you might wish to have my low temps in Iowa, I drool over what can be grown in Northern FLorida, yet alone Hawaii.

[Jimhardy]

Once they are covered the temps dont matter to much anymore...

I have often wished for a warm winter but even with that,they cant

stay uncovered....as they got bigger it was fun to take them out

earlier,sometimes in mid/late Feb but you needed the really warm temps to

bring the soil temp up,so true about those soil temps once you get into winter.

[VA Jeff]

One thing I noticed with cold temps is that water condenses in ways that you might not predict.  Water condensation can be a big enemy to some extent. 

[mdsonofthesouth]

Its not the cold so much as the moisture. Once in a blue moon do we even come close to seeing deadly temps for a Trachycarpus fortunei, but we do get extended periods of COLD rain with frosts and icing and the occasional snow storm. Sure the snow and ice typically melt the next day, but thats still going to leave your palm with cold wet feet. Now I didnt protect my chamerops humilis from this last winter but I will this Winter. I will do something like what lapalmeraie posted with a canopy above to limit the moisture that gets on the trees and in the soil. Proabably will start this mid to late December with mulching and rope lights starting in November December timeframe. 

[Jimhardy]

I like the covers like the one on the Trachy

and the clear one over the Butia(?),I do stuff like that

here if the first few cold waves are not to severe.

Most of my Trachys are small as I have started over

with some more "exotic" Trachys lol...trying to be safe with these...

Martianus,Latisectus,Geminisectus because they are quite small,

I have seen little Takil plants pull from 28F,they can be tender when small...

 

For Trachys like the larger Waggie,its fun to leave them out later

and uncover earlier but with stretches where temps  can go below

zero (F) at night,a full cover is needed.

 

A shot of the Waggie

 

T.Bulgaria

 

Tiny Latisectus,you can see the leaf burn from constant hose water...

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by Jimhardy

[Allen]

Really love the Waggie.  I have a smaller one as well, actually 2 of them