Hello!

I live in a suburb of LA where it’s rarely below 35 however I have seen it dip down to 28 in the early AM for an hour in December. This probably happens only a few times a year but I don’t want to plant royals if they’ll die. It was suggested to me that I wrap trees in Xmas lights during winter to provide warmth - is this an effective method?

Thank you!

In my own experience, the Christmas lights protection does work especially if you cover the lights with sheets or blankets. Now the question is will you still provide the Xmas light protection when they are too big/tall to cover  

8 hours ago, Trustandi said:

In my own experience, the Christmas lights protection does work especially if you cover the lights with sheets or blankets. Now the question is will you still provide the Xmas light protection when they are too big/tall to cover  

You know that’s a concern! What’s the solution for a 20-30 foot tall tree?

You can put a spotlight on a pole shining down at the crown area or wrap the trunk with a heat source on large palms.  You generally can't protect fronds.   I don't know what temps royals can take but they are generally too big to protect.

I'd say that wrapping Xmas lights around the trunk is an effective method but only if you wrap the lights with a blanket . Otherwise the heat just dissipates into the outside air without doing much for warmth . 

I guess if you wrapped the lights really tightly together it might  emit enough heat , but you'd need a mile of lights to wrap it . 

Will

Edited March 27, 20224 yr by Will Simpson

Generally is it most important to protect the base of the crown, and then the trunk? Could the trunk be assumed to be more cold/frost hardy than the crown? And what about with palms that still have leaf bases and fiber attached to the trunk? (Assuming just a passing low with no precipitation)

This is probably obvious, but most Christmas lights now are LEDs which don't give off much (if any) heat ... If you try Christmas lights, better make sure they are the old school big incandescent bulbs. 

Thanks all - sounds like it’ll work at least for a few years

Make sure you wrap a blanket or sheet around the crownshaft before wrapping it in lights. You dont want to burn the crownshaft. 

Blanket/sheet ---> lights ---> another sheet/blanket ---> plastic (if you are expecting precip, which will probably not be a problem for you)

Heating cable with a thermostat would be more ideal. Good luck when it gets massive! Don’t forget to give it tons of water.