Washingtonia post ice storm

[Fallen Munk]

Looks like the Washies pulled through just fine.  A lot of people think it's too wet here, but they are doing great so far.  Salem Oregon 8b.  I haven't decided if they are filifera or filibusta.  They were tagged filifera when I bought them at Lowe's.

[Chester B]

Mine goes all black and loses every frond if I don't put it with overhead protection.  Even with no rain hitting it the humidity has caused spotting and two fronds turned black and were lost.

Maybe you're that little bit drier?

[Fallen Munk]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

Mine goes all black and loses every frond if I don't put it with overhead protection.  Even with no rain hitting it the humidity has caused spotting and two fronds turned black and were lost.

Maybe you're that little bit drier?

I wonder if the potting mix makes a difference?  Mine is mostly perlite and bark with rocks on top to keep the squirrels from digging up the roots.

[Chester B]

It's in very light, fast draining soil with a ton of perlite.  I really feel the problem is the moisture on the fronds.  From Nov - Jan everything here is constantly damp, even with a few days of no rain things still stay wet.  The roads in my neighborhood grow moss, as do the sidewalks and driveways, it's a real pain because then all summer long you have to listen to pressure washers.  Low lying fog/clouds in my area are very common, they move in like a scary movie.  I feel like Salem is more dry based on the vegetation, but I've never lived there so am only speculating.

With this warm sunny weather we've been having all the plants have dried out but there is still a ton of moisture in the ground.  My backyard is still spongy .

[Fallen Munk]

On 3/3/2021 at 1:22 PM, Chester B said:

It's in very light, fast draining soil with a ton of perlite.  I really feel the problem is the moisture on the fronds.  From Nov - Jan everything here is constantly damp, even with a few days of no rain things still stay wet.  The roads in my neighborhood grow moss, as do the sidewalks and driveways, it's a real pain because then all summer long you have to listen to pressure washers.  Low lying fog/clouds in my area are very common, they move in like a scary movie.  I feel like Salem is more dry based on the vegetation, but I've never lived there so am only speculating.

With this warm sunny weather we've been having all the plants have dried out but there is still a ton of moisture in the ground.  My backyard is still spongy .

"Portland, Oregon gets 42.8 inches of rain, on average, per year. Salem, Oregon gets 44.9 inches of rain, on average, per year."

And because Salem is deeper in the valley,  away from the gorge winds, it also has more foggy days.  I hear you on the moss.  It grows on my car.  In the spring I can't roll down my windows unless I remove the moss from the window rubber first, haha.  If you've ever been to Silver Falls, that's just down the road from me.  So, very wet....

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Fallen Munk
spelling

[Fallen Munk]

Re: the Silver Falls comment.....I bet Princeps would grow there on the cliffs.  I wish I had a bunch of seeds to find out.

[Chester B]

Well see, I wouldn't know that unless I lived there.  Whenever I head down there it always looks like a drier place than in my area. 

I was looking at my Washingtonia and I see some fungus on the emerging spears even though it's been kept dry all winter and I've only watered it once.  Definitely not the best one for me at least.  I think I'll pick up one of the "robustas" that show up at HD in this year to compare the two.

 

[Fallen Munk]

3 hours ago, Chester B said:

Well see, I wouldn't know that unless I lived there.  Whenever I head down there it always looks like a drier place than in my area. 

I was looking at my Washingtonia and I see some fungus on the emerging spears even though it's been kept dry all winter and I've only watered it once.  Definitely not the best one for me at least.  I think I'll pick up one of the "robustas" that show up at HD in this year to compare the two.

 

I always think the same thing when I head south to Eugene, but they get more rain than either of us.  47" average down there. 

Microclimate might play a part, not sure.  I'm in the middle of town which is warmer than outskirts.  I'm not seeing any issues with mine so far.  That could change with a really wet spring though.

[Chester B]

37 minutes ago, Fallen Munk said:

I always think the same thing when I head south to Eugene, but they get more rain than either of us.  47" average down there. 

Microclimate might play a part, not sure.  I'm in the middle of town which is warmer than outskirts.  I'm not seeing any issues with mine so far.  That could change with a really wet spring though.

I'm also in a warmer part of Portland down by Oregon city.  We tend to be warmer, don't get the Gorge wind as bad and usually winter storms are a lot worse towards Downtown Portland.

My Brahea armata seems to be doing quite well this winter, better than I expected.  I thought they might behave more like a Washy, but I was wrong on that one too.  

[Fallen Munk]

4 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I'm also in a warmer part of Portland down by Oregon city.  We tend to be warmer, don't get the Gorge wind as bad and usually winter storms are a lot worse towards Downtown Portland.

My Brahea armata seems to be doing quite well this winter, better than I expected.  I thought they might behave more like a Washy, but I was wrong on that one too.  

My Brahea are seedlings indoors for the winter, but that's good to hear.  I've had a couple of small Canary Island date palms outside all winter.  Doing fine.

 

[ahosey01]

Getting a kick out of the fact that this entire thread is like the only two Portland guys... 

I wonder if the Brahea doing well has something to do with the amount of winter fog they get in their native part of Baja.

[GregVirginia7]

There’s as much to learn about climate intricacies in this forum as there is about palms. This mid-Atlantic climate here seems relatively staid, especially these last three winters (not wishing for any abrupt changes) Don’t know how you tolerate that much rain because that would seem to indicate overcast skies...but the plant life in your areas really benefits. Does that much rain annually eliminate any palm choices that otherwise would succeed in your zone?...or can you pretty much pick any palm you want that is good to go for your zone temperatures...

[ahosey01]

1 hour ago, ahosey01 said:

Getting a kick out of the fact that this entire thread is like the only two Portland guys... 

I wonder if the Brahea doing well has something to do with the amount of winter fog they get in their native part of Baja.

I said Portland... I meant Oregon. I get them confused. Lol

[Chester B]

We actually do get a fair amount of sunny days in winter so it’s not cloudy or gloomy all the time. And we get a lot of days where it goes from rain/cloud to sun back and forth all day. When I speak with my parents who live in Niagara region in Ontario they get quite a bit more cloudy days than we do. The stats do prove this which I found surprising. 
 

A lot of the precipitation falls as drizzle or very light rain but comes frequently. This keeps everything damp for extended periods of time, as in months!  So a lot of palms hate this, we are limited more by the combo of wet and cool. Washingtonia, many Brahea, Trithrinax, Nannarrhops and others are cold hardy enough to withstand our temperatures but can’t take that wet. They usually develop black spots first and then the fungus will attack the new spears and then you’re done. Some palms will tolerate this but each spring they look pathetic and take all summer to start looking good again, so it’s not really worth keeping them. 
 

Winters are generally mild. 2 of the last 5 years each had at least one day fail to go above freezing. Most years my ultimate low is about 25F which occurs on only a few nights. Nights that drop below freezing aren’t all that common. With mountains to the east and the the Pacific Ocean to the west our weather is very moderate.  The swings you see east of the Rockies are pretty rare here. Weather changes and the transitions between the seasons are all very gradual.  

[climate change virginia]

they look pretty happy

[Fallen Munk]

@Chester B  

Here's some Washingtonia in Salem that have been in the ground for a few years.  No cover, or winterizing of any kind and this photo was taken today, so looks like they came through the ice storm really well.  Putting on some size, it's been awhile since I checked up on them.  judging from how awesome these look, I think I'm going to put mine in the ground this year.

[Fallen Munk]

I'd actually love two of those as street trees in my parking strip if I could get away with it with the city ordinances.

[Chester B]

Which way are these facing?  Our worst weather always comes from the East, so everything on the west side of my house receives the best protection from wind, rain, etc.

[Fallen Munk]

 

2 minutes ago, Chester B said:

Which way are these facing?  Our worst weather always comes from the East, so everything on the west side of my house receives the best protection from wind, rain, etc.

They are facing East.

[Chester B]

I guess you have different weather patterns down there.  East side of plants here always get blasted.  Tons of trees due to the ice storm have no branches remaining on the east side, they all broke off.

I'm going to buy one of those "robusta" this year and stick it out.  Filifera not good for me.

[Fallen Munk]

1 minute ago, Chester B said:

I guess you have different weather patterns down there.  East side of plants here always get blasted.  Tons of trees due to the ice storm have no branches remaining on the east side, they all broke off.

I'm going to buy one of those "robusta" this year and stick it out.  Filifera not good for me.

Correct.  Our wet weather comes from the west most of the time, but occasionally the south and that's when we get high winds too.

[Chester B]

Just now, Fallen Munk said:

Correct.  Our wet weather comes from the west most of the time, but occasionally the south and that's when we get high winds too.

We get those too, but they are nowhere near the power of the storms from the east.

[Fallen Munk]

On 3/6/2021 at 5:56 AM, GregVirginia7 said:

There’s as much to learn about climate intricacies in this forum as there is about palms. This mid-Atlantic climate here seems relatively staid, especially these last three winters (not wishing for any abrupt changes) Don’t know how you tolerate that much rain because that would seem to indicate overcast skies...but the plant life in your areas really benefits. Does that much rain annually eliminate any palm choices that otherwise would succeed in your zone?...or can you pretty much pick any palm you want that is good to go for your zone temperatures...

Bismarckia is an example of one that is typically bad here even though the zone should be ok.  It's just too wet and not long enough hot season.  It doesn't stop me from trying though.  Growth is super slow.

[Fallen Munk]

2 minutes ago, Chester B said:

We get those too, but they are nowhere near the power of the storms from the east.

East storms are super rare here, mostly limited to the rare summer thunderstorm that moves in from the Cascades near Mt. Jefferson and rolls into the valley.

[Fallen Munk]

Tracked down a photo from Google Earth taken 06/2019.  

[jwitt]

3 hours ago, Fallen Munk said:

@Chester B  

Here's some Washingtonia in Salem that have been in the ground for a few years.  No cover, or winterizing of any kind and this photo was taken today, so looks like they came through the ice storm really well.  Putting on some size, it's been awhile since I checked up on them.  judging from how awesome these look, I think I'm going to put mine in the ground this year.

Saw those in 2/2020.  The trunks are getting that filifera fattening "v" shape and look at that fuzz on the spear! Looking awesome coming out of winter! Gonna be monsters!

[Fallen Munk]

20 minutes ago, jwitt said:

Saw those in 2/2020.  The trunks are getting that filifera fattening "v" shape and look at that fuzz on the spear! Looking awesome coming out of winter! Gonna be monsters!

Yeah, it's hard to believe we had a severe ice storm a few weeks ago that totally destroyed most of the trees in our area and these look like they didn't sustain any damage at all!  I was real skeptical when I saw them planted in the ground back in 2016 and just assumed they died.  But the other day I drove by that house and couldn't believe it, so I walked the two blocks from my house today to get a photo.  I'm betting at some point they will wish they planted them further from the house.