Palmageddon Aftermath Photo Thread

[DreaminAboutPalms]

Here’s a pic of the golds gym collapsed filibusta, not greatest quality as I was driving. In Bottom photo, left one is just pushing out a new frond and appears to be more Filifera than it’s partner. It’s amazing how long some of these have take to come back 

[NBTX11]

More New Braunfels recoveries. Robusta continue to push their first frond the last week of May. All medium hybrids have basically now pushed and now we continue to work on Robusta. 

[NBTX11]

[NBTX11]

[Sabal King]

On 5/27/2021 at 2:35 PM, NBTX11 said:

This is really great to see... Glad to hear it.. If they can make it through this, then well, they should be bulletproof going forward.

[NBTX11]

3 hours ago, tlow said:

This is really great to see... Glad to hear it.. If they can make it through this, then well, they should be bulletproof going forward.

A lot of them are safely into the recovery phase.  In March, everything looked dead other than Filifera.  However, as April and May rolled on, all of the Hybrid Washingtonia and some of the Robusta pushed green.  I was surprised, based on what I saw in March. 

[NBTX11]

Not a recovery, but people are already re-planting with queen palms. A couple of these were knocked over in last nights storms. 

[Xenon]

Did some driving around WSW Houston Area. From what I've seen there is a major north-south gradient in survival and another that relates to urbanization which can cause dramatic differences in survival across a short distance. Probably the most dramatic difference is in Katy east of SH 99, lots of survival on S Fry Rd south of I-10 and for the first few lights just north of I-10, but just 2 miles north of I-10 is a dead zone. 

[glasalle]

Someone had mentioned the three P. dactylifera at the Domain in N. Austin by Neiman Marcus. I took these yesterday. They  seem to be coming back fine.

[Xenon]

Edinburg, Texas looking better than I expected, look at those big royals recovering! Was in the 21-22F range there

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1914-1916-E-Ascot-Dr-Edinburg-TX-78542/2070548047_zpid/

[NBTX11]

Recoveries seem to have slowed down to nothing. It now seems whatever is going to recover has recovered. New recoveries are almost down to zero now. So we still have quite a few Robusta apparently dead trunks. A lot recovered but nowhere near all. 

[joetx]

Some volunteer Washingtonias pushing new growth along the boardwalk around Lady Bird Lake in Austin 

 

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

On 5/25/2021 at 6:49 PM, Xenon said:

Don't believe it survived unprotected and in that condition for a second...

We'll have the final verdict of any possible surviving TX coconut within the next 2 months or so imo. Highest hopes for some of the ~20+ year old coconuts in Brownsville Area where the low was 24F and "only" below 26F for two hours.  McAllen and the coast saw a longer duration of cold and hit 22-23F. 

The guy got back to me, apparently the only protection it got was a hasty wrapping no additional lights or heating.  Still, at least one coconut is conformed to have survived with only basic protection. 

[NBTX11]

4 hours ago, joetx said:

Some volunteer Washingtonias pushing new growth along the boardwalk around Lady Bird Lake in Austin 

 

I've noticed that a lot of seedlings/small plants survived, while the parent Washingtonia died.  I have actually seen this all over the place.  Wonder why.

[Swolte]

21 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

I've noticed that a lot of seedlings/small plants survived, while the parent Washingtonia died.  I have actually seen this all over the place.  Wonder why.

Probably closer to the ground. Snow and ice covering can make a big difference. Smaller plants often also enjoy increased protection from the wind. 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Swolte

[SLTX21]

15 hours ago, NBTX11 said:

Recoveries seem to have slowed down to nothing. It now seems whatever is going to recover has recovered. New recoveries are almost down to zero now. So we still have quite a few Robusta apparently dead trunks. A lot recovered but nowhere near all. 

Sad if that is the case. Looking at Xenon's map, of the robustas, main Sugar Land is looking about 50%, but going further out to west New Territory, west of 99, is looking only 30%.  The palms around First Colony Mall are doing much better with very few dead, but some nearby residential skyduster robustas that are >30 years look dead.  Anything more filifera than robusta is near 100% survival in the area. 

[SLTX21]

I have 4 sagos. All totally burned during the freeze. Two came back in early May.  Other two looked dead.  Early June another one is clearly not dead and is starting to flush. The fourth looks like it may flush in another few weeks. 

[SLTX21]

How are the robusta and queen recoveries in places like Clear Lake and Galveston? What about Moody Gardens and the zone 10 stuff? 

[Xenon]

4 hours ago, SLTX21 said:

How are the robusta and queen recoveries in places like Clear Lake and Galveston? What about Moody Gardens and the zone 10 stuff? 

Robusta in Clear Lake and any point E/SE of there is at >80% . At Baybrook and closer to I-45, it's more like 70%. Same thing for I-45/BW8 and Hobby Area. Some of the Livistona decora lining the Gulf Freeway were recovering as of a few weeks ago, maybe 30%. Queen palms appear mostly dead even in Clear Lake but I did find a few alive, one that is growing on the south shore of Galveston Bay just south of Kemah was pushing a decent frond. I'd expect overall survival to be low, 20% or less, perhaps slightly higher right on the water. 

All of the zone 10 stuff at Moody is dead and/or frozen to the ground. The crownshafts on all of the big royals are gone. Lots of queens on Tiki Island and the west end of Galveston Island (Moody Area/west of 61st) are pushing leaves, about 50%.  A lot of palms are going to die on the island because many are some combination of old, stressed, and malnourished. Many healthy queens and most all healthy robusta should recover. I didn't explore the east end of the island, but that area historically gets colder so I'd expect more dead queen palms. 

 

 

[TonyDFW]

Sabal mexicana returning in Dallas near white rock lake. 

[TonyDFW]

The 10 inches of rain we got in the past 30 days plus the recent higher daytime temps is causing movement in some of the lathe filifera and sabal mexicanas that went unprotected through 3F in Dallas this past February. 

You can see the red oak trees in the background still haven’t  fully leafed out in the first week of June. From the deep freeze.

[Sabal King]

9 hours ago, TonyDFW said:

The 10 inches of rain we got in the past 30 days plus the recent higher daytime temps is causing movement in some of the lathe filifera and sabal mexicanas that went unprotected through 3F in Dallas this past February. 

You can see the red oak trees in the background still haven’t  fully leafed out in the first week of June. From the deep freeze.

Fantastic to see!  Things have a way of working themselves out with the massive saturation and now the heat and sun.  Hope we get a nice warm season for these palms to put some size on before the winter.

[strongbad635]

There's a grove of nicely recovering tall robustas in the Houston Heights, on Shepherd Dr just inside 610:

 

 

[Collectorpalms]

With that Queen and other Palms, you wouldn’t even know there was a freeze. 
I guess it would be helpful to know those palms were shipped in. 
I had a taller washingtonia Just come back today. 4 months after the freeze...

 

On 6/11/2021 at 7:22 AM, strongbad635 said:

There's a grove of nicely recovering tall robustas in the Houston Heights, on Shepherd Dr just inside 610:

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[NBTX11]

I was wrong. I did a survey today, and Robusta are still putting out their first frond in mid June. How long will this last. Into July?  Essentially all the medium trunk hybrids have recovered, while thin trunked Washingtonias are hit and miss with still more recovering. 

[NBTX11]

[NBTX11]

Impressive Robusta recovery. New Braunfels TX. 

[NBTX11]

[NBTX11]

What’s going on with this one. No green but pushing inflorescence. 

[NBTX11]

And here is my large Robusta. Help me figure out what is going on. No green yet but appears it may be pushing inflorescence. Give up on yet?  Or keep waiting. I was going to wait until July or Aug but I’m getting impatient. 

[NBTX11]

I grew this Filifera from seed

[NBTX11]

Another one I grew from seed. Planted and putting out a split leaf. 

[NBTX11]

My Big Filifera looks pretty good. 

[NBTX11]

Bunch of Filifera seedlings on my front porch

[DreaminAboutPalms]

24 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

I was wrong. I did a survey today, and Robusta are still putting out their first frond in mid June. How long will this last. Into July?  Essentially all the medium trunk hybrids have recovered, while thin trunked Washingtonias are hit and miss with still more recovering. 

 

I just noticed a robusta hybrid coming back at P Terry's off mopac in north Austin near the domain. It had definitely just started pushing green in the last week, so I guess it's not too early to give up on all of them. I had a feeling that might happen as I've seen lots of robustas with uncollapsed spears 

24 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

 

[NBTX11]

6 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

With that Queen and other Palms, you wouldn’t even know there was a freeze. 
I guess it would be helpful to know those palms were shipped in. 
I had a taller washingtonia Just come back today. 4 months after the freeze...

 

 

Do you have any photos of what recovered in your yard.

[Collectorpalms]

On 6/12/2021 at 2:12 PM, NBTX11 said:

Do you have any photos of what recovered in your yard.

Haven’t taken any recent pictures because it’s bad! But I have two washingtonia Robusta hybrids that put out inflorescences and no leaves. But their progress seems to have stalled. I am not as hopeful as I was. With the amount of rain I had, it put my Filifera that looked alive into decline. Too much rain, 20 plus inches since May. I would have preferred a drought for them. It’s a real disaster. If I was full of $$ and time I would have given up already. But just when I thought I lost most of them a tall Filibusta pushed out its first green frond two days ago. ( not one that put out an inflorescence.)

I cannot find any rhyme or reason why some came back and others didn’t for me.

Genetics, location, etc... not sure. I think if I had just been a couple degrees warmer (4*F) or one day that was above 32, like San Antonio, would have made all the difference. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[Xenon]

All 12 of these robusta are recovering, about 1 mile north of I-10 and 2.5 miles east of SH 99. There are practically no robusta alive just .5 miles north of this spot or 3 miles directly west. Practically all thin trunked hybrids are alive but nothing that looks "robusta" or at least >80% robusta like the palms in this photo imo. Lots of recovery 1-2 miles south and beyond though; it's crazy how abrupt the change is. Mason Park + Cinco Ranch is practically an island of ~30% living robusta surrounded by dead zones in all directions (separated by park land from the Memorial/Energy Corridor Area to the east where survival is also running ~30%). 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Xenon

[NBTX11]

5 hours ago, Collectorpalms said:

Haven’t taken any recent pictures because it’s bad! But I have two washingtonia Robusta hybrids that put out inflorescences and no leaves. But their progress seems to have stalled. I am not as hopeful as I was. With the amount of rain I had, it put my Filifera that looked alive into decline. Too much rain, 20 plus inches since May. I would have preferred a drought for them. It’s a real disaster. If I was full of $$ and time I would have given up already. But just when I thought I lost most of them a tall Filibusta pushed out its first green frond two days ago. ( not one that put out an inflorescence.)

I cannot find any rhyme or reason why some came back and others didn’t for me.

Genetics, location, etc... not sure. I think if I had just been a couple degrees warmer (4*F) or one day that was above 32, like San Antonio, would have made all the difference. 

Made a huge difference for downtown San Antonio.  The amount of Washingtonia recovering downtown is impressive.

[NBTX11]

Someone posted this video on YouTube a few weeks ago in May (not me).  Stuff is further along now, but this will give you an idea about a month or two ago.

As I have stated, almost all Washingtonia in downtown SA appear to be recovering, including a high percentage of thin trunked Robusta and Robusta-like hybrids.  The pencil thin Robusta in the last scene of this video appears to be recovering. 

When I checked about 6 weeks ago, there were large numbers of recoveries, I will need to get downtown to see for myself again soon.

Enjoy.

San Antonio Texas River Walk Palm Trees 2021 - YouTube   

Edited June 16, 2021 by NBTX11