King Palm at 25F how long?

[mxcolin]

My cunninghamiana is going to be exposed to 25F this week according to the forecast. Now my house is usually a couple degrees warmer than the forecast and where I am it will be that temp for probably less than as n hour. Will probably hit high 50’s the same day. Should I be worried?

[Chris Chance]

It's possible to see some damage depending how long it's below freezing but it probably will be okay. How big is it?

[mxcolin]

It’s about 8 to 9 feet tall. Probably below freezing for 2-3 hours maximum. Maybe 25° for 45 minutes. 

[Patrick]

Go read about it on the freeze damage data section. We tracked this data in 2007 during that freeze event so there should be some good data there for you. I'm about 1.5 hours southeast of you, I'll have to check out what the lows will be tonight. It was a bit brisk today. Some cunninghamias have good genes and make it through frost/ freeze events. It really depends. IT is good that you have a decent size palm, and the crownshaft is off the ground. If you have a big sheet, toss it over the top to keep the frost from settling in the crown. Some folks even get Christmas lights and wrap their trees up to keep the trunk and crownshaft warm. 

 

I'm seeing you'll get down to 31 on Wednesday. Maybe you're in a colder spot of Rocklin?

Edited February 21, 2022 by Patrick

[Jim in Los Altos]

According to this, your lowest low will be 28°F. If so, your Archontophoenix should be alright with maybe some superficial damage. 

[mxcolin]

Yeah I see they moved it up a little. Should be fine. Where I’m at is usually a little warmer than the forecast so hopefully no worries at all. Was 25° in the weather app this morning. Says 29° now. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by mxcolin

[enigma99]

Still cold! Been a long time (years?) since this kind of cold. I am also in Rocklin and last year the tomato plants didn’t get cold damaged because the temps were warm

Edited February 22, 2022 by enigma99

[Gottagrowemall]

Expect brown fronds a couple days after the cold. They may all go brown. If you can wrap a blanket around the spear to keep it protected a bit. The shorter amount of time it is exposed to under 32 the better. Frost causes immediate browning on these plants in my experience. If you could wrap up the fronds that would benefit the tree as well

[D Palm]

Frost is your worse enemy with this palm. Grab some 12 hour hand warmers and place under the blanket at dusk, goes a long way.

[enigma99]

  On 2/22/2022 at 8:52 PM, Gottagrowemall said:

Expect brown fronds a couple days after the cold. They may all go brown. If you can wrap a blanket around the spear to keep it protected a bit. The shorter amount of time it is exposed to under 32 the better. Frost causes immediate browning on these plants in my experience. If you could wrap up the fronds that would benefit the tree as well

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Can’t say that’s been my experience. Even other varieties such as alexanders etc can take down to 29/30 without any issues as long as it’s brief. Big box king goes a little colder like 28 without issues if they are big

[Gottagrowemall]

  On 2/23/2022 at 3:50 AM, enigma99 said:

Can’t say that’s been my experience. Even other varieties such as alexanders etc can take down to 29/30 without any issues as long as it’s brief. Big box king goes a little colder like 28 without issues if they are big

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Interesting. Are you in Fl or Cali? Maybe the frost is what caused the instant brownness for mine and the cold temps aren’t really the problem. 

[James B]

I am lucky here not to have experienced 25 in my yard. The East side is 9B and has seen 29 a few times Little to minimum spotting on leaves at that low. Exposure makes the difference too. I have A. Alexandrae triple that hasn’t shown front damage as it is under a redwood tree whereas a Cunninghamiana grouping that is exposed has shown slight spotting in the leaves but nothing close to anything serious. Archontophoenix grows so fast in late spring/summer that all of those leaves will be replaced by end of August. 

[James B]

  On 2/23/2022 at 10:38 AM, Gottagrowemall said:

Interesting. Are you in Fl or Cali? Maybe the frost is what caused the instant brownness for mine and the cold temps aren’t really the problem. 

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Yes it’s the frost on the leaves that causes the damage. If it was purely temp based I’d guess Most Archontophoenix could handle 25 easy as long as they were at least 6 feet or taller. 

[BayAndroid]

Grrr.... I looked at all of the forecast lows for areas near my house. All of them were saying 34ish so I wasn't worried... Wake up this morning 29!! I have some plants that took a beating earlier this season, I should have just covered those, because they haven't had time to recover. Coming to realize that I live at the base of a hill and need to assume the worst going forwards. 

[enigma99]

  On 2/23/2022 at 4:00 PM, BayAndroid said:

Grrr.... I looked at all of the forecast lows for areas near my house. All of them were saying 34ish so I wasn't worried... Wake up this morning 29!! I have some plants that took a beating earlier this season, I should have just covered those, because they haven't had time to recover. Coming to realize that I live at the base of a hill and need to assume the worst going forwards. 

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Yeah some elevation sure does help. Can be +10 degrees easy

[BayAndroid]

How cold did it get in everyone's locations? Damage report? 

[Jim in Los Altos]

  On 2/23/2022 at 7:04 PM, BayAndroid said:

How cold did it get in everyone's locations? Damage report? 

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39°F was the low here this morning so no news to talk about. We have a few more cold nights ahead though. Good luck to everybody!

[James B]

  On 2/23/2022 at 7:04 PM, BayAndroid said:

How cold did it get in everyone's locations? Damage report? 

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36 no damage noted here.

[EnriqueVega]

Got 29F on Lincoln last night, forecast shows next 3 days similar

So far no damage on the large Planted trees, I left two Kentias outside no visible damage but let's see how things looks by the weekend.

 

[BayAndroid]

My palms look fine, but my potatoes got hurt... 

[BayAndroid]

Wow it's 26 here right now... It's been below freezing since around midnight... Terrible. I'm wondering how bad things will be. I don't have much in the way of protection, I just thought I'd never have to deal with these temperatures. 

[Chris Chance]

Down here we definitely got cold. This morning I'm down to 29 but should be brief since the sun is rising and should start to warm things up. The storms that came through my area yesterday were cold and even had some snow flakes mixed in the rain at times. Hopefully everything doesn't look too bad.

[James B]

Woke up to colder than expected temps here. Forecast said 34-35. The issue is also how accurate my thermometers are mixed with my specific microclimate. West side of yard is currently 33. East side is currently 30. I have a newly planted Bismarckia planted on that side. I think it should still be ok though. It was good sized 20 gallon specimen. Really the only palm on the East side I’d have any concerns about due to planting last week. On the west I have a Carpoxylon and a Bentinckia planted under canopy with no additional protection. This will be their biggest test so far and probably their final one this winter. I have 2 Clinostigma who have seen 34 with zero frost damage last winter so I believe they are solid in their spots.

[BayAndroid]

Depressed af....

[James B]

  On 2/24/2022 at 4:16 PM, BayAndroid said:

Depressed af....

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It should bounce back. Looks like it gets morning sun which is better than it staying below freezing in the morning shade. Really the biggest issue with King palms in cold weather is pink rot. Any frost damage will be temporary as new leaves grow. You may have some rough looking leaves in the meantime but give it a chance. Once your weather warms up in spring give it some fertilizer to help grow new foliage. 

[BayAndroid]

I hope so, it bothered me that it was below freezing for so long. Felt like I went and protected the wrong plants last night. Was very unprepared. 

[enigma99]

So far Tuesday night was the worst, a good 3.5h below 32F... ultimate bottom was 29F brr but it was only at 29 for about 50 minutes, but still cold. 

Wednesday night it would briefly hit 31 and jump back to 33, did so a couple of times. 

One more cold night to go before it begins to moderate

[BayAndroid]

Should have done this yesterday... 

 

[BayAndroid]

Should I water heavily after this cold spell, or ease back into it slowly?

[enigma99]

  On 2/25/2022 at 8:24 PM, BayAndroid said:

Should I water heavily after this cold spell, or ease back into it slowly?

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Just water like normal. Kings don’t like to dry out and can stay wet pretty much all year