how does this even make sense?

[climate change virginia]

I saw this in Virginia beach a while back ago and they don't wrap their palms right all they wrap is the tip I don't understand how this is helpful because the rest of the palm is exposed.

[PalmatierMeg]

Someone is trying to protect the palms' growing points by wrapping them in Saran Wrap. Will it work? I wouldn't bet the rent. Looks like they also violated the provision that you should never cover palms with plastic against the cold - plastic can be a conduit for cold and cause worse damage. The palms should have been wrapped in cloth, then heating cables, finally plastic to block rain and snow. The intention was laudable but the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

[KDubU]

They do this every year. Used to work with the Navy there for years and it was standard practice up and down the boardwalk.

[climate change virginia]

10 minutes ago, KDubU said:

They do this every year. Used to work with the Navy there for years and it was standard practice up and down the boardwalk.

u were in the navy? I salute you 

Edited December 10, 2020 by climate change virginia

[Jimhardy]

Haven't you asked this question before? 

 

I am kidding you....it does seem to go against common sense to do that

but every area has its unique schemes.

[Manalto]

I learned my lesson about wrapping with plastic touching the foliage during the coldest part of the winter of 2017-18 when the mercury plummeted to a miserable 17F. I wrapped a Rhapis excelsa with a plastic dropcloth which I then covered with an old sheet. Got it backwards; I suspect if I had done the reverse (as Meg advises, minus the heating cables) I might have saved the foliage. It died back to the ground but has since recovered. Lady palm is one of my favorites; it harmonizes with the surrounding landscape with quiet elegance, making my dumpy old house look a lot classier than it is.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Manalto

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

This is typical Va Beach.  Only place I have ever seen this practice, and its usually only the palms that are right up along the ocean, and I think it is just the palms that the city plants.  I would cringe every time Id see it, and always looked for someone to chat with about it and how it likely was doing more harm than good.    Yes it can get decently cold in Va Beach and there can be a need for protection on some S. Palmetto right at the ocean front, but it also can get almost HOT there in winter as well.  70-80F is not unheard of there in the middle of winter, and that plastic, in the sun, can act like a green house and really heat up that same area of the tree. 

Funny thing is, in Va Beach, S. Palmetto do pretty darn good just a block or two inland from the ocean, and they usually don't need protection there.  There are plenty of older ones that have probably been there for 20 plus years or more.   The Trachycarpus that are there look like absolute trash near the ocean, but go inland just a little bit and there are some beautiful and very tall ones.   Similar situation with Butia that are grown there.   There are reasonably tall, and fruiting B. Odorata there just a little bit inland, but the ones by the ocean suffer each winter and many don't make it.

[Advective]

As noted in this thread, plastic isn't a good material idea. I had a palm only take leaf damage where plastic tarp came in contact with it.

However, the single most important form of protection, IMO, is to keep ice away from the area where the spear leaf emerges from the meristem. I've been using frost cloth, folded over multiple times, and wrapped around the spear to keep that area dry.

[EastCanadaTropicals]

On 12/12/2020 at 12:55 AM, DCA_Palm_Fan said:

This is typical Va Beach.  Only place I have ever seen this practice, and its usually only the palms that are right up along the ocean, and I think it is just the palms that the city plants.  I would cringe every time Id see it, and always looked for someone to chat with about it and how it likely was doing more harm than good.    Yes it can get decently cold in Va Beach and there can be a need for protection on some S. Palmetto right at the ocean front, but it also can get almost HOT there in winter as well.  70-80F is not unheard of there in the middle of winter, and that plastic, in the sun, can act like a green house and really heat up that same area of the tree. 

Funny thing is, in Va Beach, S. Palmetto do pretty darn good just a block or two inland from the ocean, and they usually don't need protection there.  There are plenty of older ones that have probably been there for 20 plus years or more.   The Trachycarpus that are there look like absolute trash near the ocean, but go inland just a little bit and there are some beautiful and very tall ones.   Similar situation with Butia that are grown there.   There are reasonably tall, and fruiting B. Odorata there just a little bit inland, but the ones by the ocean suffer each winter and many don't make it.

Unfortunately, they always plant it next to the ocean to make it look like "the tropics"