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Coldest Temperatures since the Arctic Outbreak of December 1989


Collectorpalms

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If you're not using it regularly, and only use it once or twice a year save the money and buy a Poulan (owned by Husqvarna).  I've had them they work just fine, never broke down for me.

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I know you said no electric but I have been using the Greenworks one for 5 years and cut down countless trees (including oaks with 2' diameter trunks). The only maintenance I had was replacing the chain once in a while. 

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The more I read this thread, the more heart breaking it is. Now with the changing focus to chainsaws.

For any you in Tx that may be interested, I have a limited number of Archontophoenix cunninghamiana seeds I'd happily ship for free. These have been grown in 9b NorCal and the mother tree has seen 25° without a whimper. 

Note: many of the seeds have not been cleaned, and are just collected from the ground under the tree. So hopefully they are still viable. (PM If interested)

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Finally have power and communications. On Monday the 15th, I had temperatures at or below 5F with 6+ inches of snow and on the 16th, I had temperatures at or below 4F. The neighborhood sagos look good for now, the only palm I have in-ground is a date palm that I wrote off years ago, which appears to be fine, probably saved by the snow. Cannot tell the status of citrus yet, but pineapple guavas appear to have survived. Will do an extensive neighborhood palm survey in the coming days.

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On a related note, go easy on the perishable refrigerated or frozen foods. Some local grocery stores have lost all their refrigerated stock and I do not know the status of replacements.

Edited by amh
Forgot to include "some"
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2 hours ago, necturus said:

My loquat in Houston has damage to the newest leaves, but the old leaves look fine. Pretty much all tropicals and palms in the ground look nuked. Most citrus have floppy leaves, and many tropical trees are bleeding sap. My garage got to 33 at the lowest, so I think my decision to dig plants may pay off. Only wish I’d dug more stuff.

Gonna have to invest in a good chainsaw. Any recommendations? Don’t want to break the bank but also want something that can last for years and cut big trees. Nothing electric powered.

Buy electric or only buy ethanol free gas.

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On 2/16/2021 at 9:56 AM, NBTX11 said:

I just watched a news clip on how the RGV grapefruit industry is devastated.  I don't know what their official lows were, but hear they were in the low to mid 20's in areas.

If the the damage is bad enough, maybe they'll let us import citrus from out of state again.

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Driving in my austin neighborhood I saw this Sabal Mex and 2 CIDP. We are going on 72 hours now without any power. Several neighbors have pipes bursting. It might get above freezing tomorrow.

792034BD-CFC5-4D09-85CE-084755373191.jpeg

9F81738A-7AF8-4DD4-AE7C-44CF2C898B06.jpeg

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Look at the dozens and dozens of royals in the suburbs for the last time in this aerial footage when it was still in the 30s...such a shame :crying:

 

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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15 minutes ago, Brian F. Austin said:

Driving in my austin neighborhood I saw this Sabal Mex and 2 CIDP. We are going on 72 hours now without any power. Several neighbors have pipes bursting. It might get above freezing tomorrow.

792034BD-CFC5-4D09-85CE-084755373191.jpeg

9F81738A-7AF8-4DD4-AE7C-44CF2C898B06.jpeg

Got up to 40 today and I was literally walking around in shorts, sandals and a hoodie, major heat wave.

Hopefully all the burst pipes were outside where they are easy to fix.

 

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4 hours ago, Chester B said:

If you're not using it regularly, and only use it once or twice a year save the money and buy a Poulan (owned by Husqvarna).  I've had them they work just fine, never broke down for me.

There’s a reason why anyone in the forestry business calls the poo-lans :P

 

But in all seriousness yea they are fine for the homeowner.
 

I second the Stihl and Husky suggestion though. For just a little bit more $$$ you can get a 5-star saw. I run a husqvarna with an 18” bar for around the house and firewood (picked up at Lowe’s). Other than basic maintenance it’s been running strong for 10 years. 

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Zone 8b, Csb (Warm-summer Mediterranean climate). 1,940 annual sunshine hours 
Annual lows-> 19/20: -5.0C, 20/21: -5.5C, 21/22: -8.3C, 22/23: -9.4C, 23/24: 1.1C (so far!)

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58 minutes ago, ShadyDan said:

But in all seriousness yea they are fine for the homeowner.

I'll disagree. I grew up spending a lot of time behind saws and have had a lot of different saws in the past 50 years. A couple years ago I thought "I'm old now and I'm gonna cut down all the big trees in my yard before I can't and then I'm going to stop doing that kind of work for others as I continue to age so then I won't use it nearly as often, I'll be more like a regular homeowner."  So I bought one at HD big enough to take down the biggest avocado in my yard. I took the first one back I was so ticked off at it because it took FOREVER to start and then a looooong time to warm up every time I fired it up. The second one was exactly the same, but a nice Stihl big enough was more than double the price so I put up with the 47 pulls to get the stupid thing running and warmed up over and over, and over, every time I had one or two trees to take down for someone. I'm getting a new smaller Stihl, I've had enough of the Poo-lan! And I'm not taking down big stuff for people anymore anyway, gettin too old, so the smaller saw will make it easier to say "Sorry, too big for me to remove".

The new Stihls start sooooo nice, I used one a couple weeks ago at a job where the homeowner had been given one but was afraid to use it so he didn't even get gas for it. I had my saw & mix gas but the homeowner asked if I wanted to use his saw so I said SURE! knowing the Poulan would be a pain to start & warm up. Then I got spoiled by the ease of use which reminded me of my other Stihls and decided to just get a new Stihl. The new starting mechanism in the new Stihls works great!

001_zps5klc0vej.jpg

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4 hours ago, amh said:

Got up to 40 today and I was literally walking around in shorts, sandals and a hoodie, major heat wave.

Hopefully all the burst pipes were outside where they are easy to fix.

 

Yes I was walking around in shorts outside today and it felt completely fine. Was barely cold. After 9 degrees, 40 feels like summer. 

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I've been going for walks everyday, and the palms in my hood keep looking worse. I'm sure almost everything will defoliate except for a W. filifera. The queens look wretched and are probably dead. I worry about the Livistona chinensis, but the data on here and elsewhere makes me hopeful.

The big Bismarckia I've shared previously look unfazed. Guess they may take a while to die.

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35 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

Yes I was walking around in shorts outside today and it felt completely fine. Was barely cold. After 9 degrees, 40 feels like summer. 

It was in stark contrast to the days before of wearing multiple layers and boots.

40 feels toasty after 4.

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12 minutes ago, necturus said:

I've been going for walks everyday, and the palms in my hood keep looking worse. I'm sure almost everything will defoliate except for a W. filifera. The queens look wretched and are probably dead. I worry about the Livistona chinensis, but the data on here and elsewhere makes me hopeful.

The big Bismarckia I've shared previously look unfazed. Guess they may take a while to die.

Some are going to surprise you and live.  I have seen queens take around 13 or 14 before and live.  Not all of them, but some.  Granted, that wasn't an extended freeze, but still you never know.  I wouldn't give up on any until it was clear they were dead (not prematurely cut any down).

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25 minutes ago, necturus said:

I've been going for walks everyday, and the palms in my hood keep looking worse. I'm sure almost everything will defoliate except for a W. filifera. The queens look wretched and are probably dead. I worry about the Livistona chinensis, but the data on here and elsewhere makes me hopeful.

The big Bismarckia I've shared previously look unfazed. Guess they may take a while to die.

If what we saw in 2011 and 2018 was any indication, Bismarckia might actually more bud hardy than queen palms. Still a bit of a longshot though 

Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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11 hours ago, Xenon said:

If what we saw in 2011 and 2018 was any indication, Bismarckia might actually more bud hardy than queen palms. Still a bit of a longshot though 

I agree after 2018 I saw more queens die then any of the Bizzies around the same area. Granted there are 10 queens planted to every Bizzie or more haha. Im really hopeful with the protection I gave my bizzies they will survive. Only time will tell 

T J 

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T J 

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17 hours ago, amh said:

If the the damage is bad enough, maybe they'll let us import citrus from out of state again.

I was wondering the same about plants/palms in general, I imagine local supply has been decimated.  TX has strong regulations for importing plants from out of state. For good reason, too. 

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Just had another 3+ inches of snow and its still snowing, so I'm looking at 10 to 12+ inches of snow over a 5 day period; in central Texas.

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4 hours ago, amh said:

Just had another 3+ inches of snow and its still snowing, so I'm looking at 10 to 12+ inches of snow over a 5 day period; in central Texas.

We only had flurries this morning, but there's a lot of ice down here. 

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35 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

We only had flurries this morning, but there's a lot of ice down here. 

Peaked at 31F today, so the roads will be completely impassible till around noon tomorrow.

Just checked radar and more is coming.

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2 minutes ago, amh said:

Peaked at 31F today, so the roads will be completely impassible till around noon tomorrow.

Same for NW Bexar county...we got another good three to four inches that stuck....

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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16 minutes ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

Same for NW Bexar county...we got another good three to four inches that stuck....

Probably everywhere above 1000ft.

How'd your neighborhood fair?

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6 hours ago, Xenon said:

 

I saw that on the news and it's was sad.  That happens every time we get a cold snap but this cold snap was so severe that it was that much worse.  A lot more of the turtles would have died if it weren't for spacex giving them a commercial grade generator.

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12 hours ago, amh said:

How'd your neighborhood fair?

Power has been back on and constant for the last two days.  Still no water.  SAWS is saying now that the higher elevations in NW Bexar County probably will not have water restored until Sunday or Monday.  Something about a lot of line breaks at the lower elevations where they have turned it back on, and line pressure issues getting service restored at our elevations.  Luckily, I have gutters, so I have been collecting snow melt from my roof like mad.  Never though I would ever have to do that here!  I haven't unwrapped my palms to inspect the damage, but I am not hopeful.  The Washingtonia sps. that I left uncovered behind the fence look like straight up ass right now.  That 6 F night we had a few days ago may have been the killing blow.

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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35 minutes ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

Power has been back on and constant for the last two days.  Still no water.  SAWS is saying now that the higher elevations in NW Bexar County probably will not have water restored until Sunday or Monday.  Something about a lot of line breaks at the lower elevations where they have turned it back on, and line pressure issues getting service restored at our elevations.  Luckily, I have gutters, so I have been collecting snow melt from my roof like mad.  Never though I would ever have to do that here!  I haven't unwrapped my palms to inspect the damage, but I am not hopeful.  The Washingtonia sps. that I left uncovered behind the fence look like straight up ass right now.  That 6 F night we had a few days ago may have been the killing blow.

Sorry to hear about the utilities! Power is restored fully in CS here now, as far as I can assess, and water pressure has somewhat returned (we were close to losing it). 

I will be 'unpacking' my palms tomorrow afternoon. Today will be the first day where we'll hit above freezing temperatures for an afternoon (we may even hit a sweltering 35F!). One more night in the low 20s to go... Can't wait for this to be over.

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5 hours ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

Power has been back on and constant for the last two days.  Still no water.  SAWS is saying now that the higher elevations in NW Bexar County probably will not have water restored until Sunday or Monday.  Something about a lot of line breaks at the lower elevations where they have turned it back on, and line pressure issues getting service restored at our elevations.  Luckily, I have gutters, so I have been collecting snow melt from my roof like mad.  Never though I would ever have to do that here!  I haven't unwrapped my palms to inspect the damage, but I am not hopeful.  The Washingtonia sps. that I left uncovered behind the fence look like straight up ass right now.  That 6 F night we had a few days ago may have been the killing blow.

I've been in the Bexar area for a long time and have learned to be prepared for failures.

I still haven't remove any protective measures, but my Sabal minors will go outside

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39 minutes ago, Teegurr said:

Butias are looking bad.

 

20210219_124143.jpg

Jellys are pretty tough.

They look rough, but hopefully they'll make it.

 

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2 hours ago, amh said:

I still haven't remove any protective measures, but my Sabal minors will go outside

The only ones I have unwrapped so far are my Sabal minors.  They actually didn't look to bad compared to the mature Washingtonia sps. that I have been seeing around town.  The RIM was a sad sight this morning (really, everywhere I drove on the NW side).  I plan on unwrapping the rest of my palms tomorrow as well.

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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5 hours ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

The RIM was a sad sight this morning (really, everywhere I drove on the NW side).  I plan on unwrapping the rest of my palms tomorrow as well.

Oh my.  :(The crowns of the CIDP there came back from nubbins after the 2011 freeze.  Hoping they pull through this one, along with the dactylifera and all the W. robustas there.   https://www.google.com/maps/@29.6057949,-98.6009312,3a,75y,37.61h,81.63t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sOvPZYXnDRBNYe6yp6wovLA!2e0!5s20110301T000000!7i13312!8i6656

 

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12 hours ago, mulungu said:

and all the W. robustas there.

The Washingtonia sps. there looked really bad.

Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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12 hours ago, mulungu said:

along with the dactylifera

The Phoenix sps. that I saw there looked a lot better than the Washingtonia sps.; however, we will not really know the full extent of damage for a few months.  What sucks is that they recently planted a whole bunch of mature Phoenix dactylifera in the new construction areas over the summer.  They already looked dead or dying yesterday.

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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1 hour ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

The Washingtonia sps. there looked really bad.

I hope they don't rip them out prematurely.  Some will recover.

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1 hour ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

The Phoenix sps. that I saw there looked a lot better than the Washingtonia sps.; however, we will not really know the full extent of damage for a few months.  What sucks is that they recently planted a whole bunch of mature Phoenix dactylifera in the new construction areas over the summer.  They already looked dead or dying yesterday.

Phoenix palms can come back from complete and total defoliation.

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Just unwrapped my palms.  Initial visual damage assessment SITREP as follows (more to come as the days/weeks/months from Arctic Zero Hour progress):

Uncovered Palms:

Washingtonia sps. with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks like total ass.

Washingtonia sps. with 1 to 2 foot of trunk: Looks like ass.

Washingtonia sps. with 3 foot + of trunk: Looks bad.

Sabal sps. with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks like ass.

Phoenix dactylifera with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks like total ass.

Covered Palms:

Washingtonia sps. with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks like ass.

Washingtonia sps. with 1 foot + of trunk: Looks not that bad.

Nannorrhops ritchiana with no trunk: Looks not that bad.

Sabal minor with no trunk: Looks alright.

Sabal palmetto with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks not that bad.

Sabal causiarum with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks bad.

Brahea armata with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks bad.

Brahea sp. "Super Silver" with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks like total ass.

Chamaerops humilis with 1 foot + of trunk: Looks like ass.

Livistona chinensis with no trunk: Looks bad.

Trachycarpus fortunei with 1 foot + of trunk: Looks alright.

Serenoa repens with no trunk: Looks not that bad.

Trithrinax brasiliensis with no trunk: Looks like total ass.

Phoenix dactylifera with less than 1 foot of trunk: Looks like ass.

Again, this is just an initial SITREP.  Obviously, the full extent of damage will not known for some time.  If you haven't already guessed my grading scale, it goes: Looks like total ass (90% sure its going to die), Looks like ass (80% sure its going to die), Looks bad (60% sure it going to die), looks not that bad (50% it might die - coin toss), Looks alright (30% it might die), Looks not that good (10% it might die), Looks good (its going to live), Looks awesome (50% sure its going to thrive), Looks totally awesome (90% sure its going to thrive).  Most of my palms are seed grown and still small (and therefore easily replaceable).  I would love to hear what the other Texas palm enthusiast are seeing with their specimens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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2 minutes ago, GoatLockerGuns said:

Covered Palms:

Covered with what?

Thanks for keeping track. Were spears completely brown on the 'ass' rating?

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