Palm Zone Ratings

[SeanK]

Alexa told me we bottomed out at 7° two mornings back with two more mornings in the mid teens F. TWC dot com says we hit 5°. T.fortunei generally listed as z8a, These go to 10° with no problem and here is what I see this morning. We got up to 33° yesterday afternoon.

Longitudinal curling of the leaflets on many leaves (maybe 5° was correct).  For a newbie, understand that the zone rating is a -3 sigma value from your average minimum. Mine is approximately 10° and my average low 15Dec-15Feb is about 30°. Statistics takes into account outliers and -4 sigma values so, Trachies are not listed for z7b.

Sabal minors and Rhapidophyllum(s) (Rhapidophylli?) were unaffected.

[Manalto]

1 hour ago, SeanK said:

Sabal minors and Rhapidophyllum(s) (Rhapidophylli?) were unaffected.

 

Rhapidophylla is the plural.

[Las Palmas Norte]

The true damage shows up later in many cases.

[PalmatierMeg]

3 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

The true damage shows up later in many cases.

Agree. I've had palms die of cold damage 9 months later.

[Allen]

Trachy start frond damage at 12F and get to 50% frond dame around 8F.  below that can be total defoliation.  We are talking mature palms and of course this is in general with duration as a wild card.  Small trachy protect under 21F to be safe.

[Las Palmas Norte]

2 hours ago, Allen said:

Trachy start frond damage at 12

Some here died at 10°F and others took all of last seasons growth period to show signs of recovery. Some looked unfazed by the arctic blast. My T.  wagnerianus fried to a crisp at that temperature. 

[RJ]

5 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Some here died at 10°F and others took all of last seasons growth period to show signs of recovery. Some looked unfazed by the arctic blast. My T.  wagnerianus fried to a crisp at that temperature. 

Not the first person I’ve heard say waggles are whimps. I don’t find them all that attractive so have crossed them off my to plant list. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Just now, RJ said:

Not the first person I’ve heard say waggles are whimps. I don’t find them all that attractive so have crossed them off my to plant list. 

There's likely to be variation in hardiness within the wagnerianus species as there is with fortunei. I have seen some gorgeous wagner palms with huge full crowns of fronds.

[Arecaceus]

I only lost one T. fortunei to frost but it was fairly small and it was recovering from stress and has had it's first year of full recovery. Idk how cold it got a the spot of the plant but it was a brutal cold blast with one week of sub-zero (Celsius) temperatures and also dipping down into the lower teens (Fahrenheit), several times. A waggy next to it with the same size hat some minor damages but made it. Many of my plants died that winter. Also because they haven't been established enough. Surprinsingly that T. fortunei and a Jubaea chilensis around the same size died while things like Washingtonia filibusta and filifera or even a Phoenx theophrastii (pretty small as well) made in through, some even without any severe foliage loss. In this winter a taller T. fortunei (about 1,50m of trunk) had some leaf burning, while one a bit taller, next to it didn't show any damage. As the even taller one in my front garden with over 3 meters of trunk did not. Also lost a Chamaerops sitting next to a Chamaerops with the same age and size that survived with only minor foliage damage... Sometimes it might just be genes. On the other hand it also might not have been hardened. What lows do you see in Atlanta, including severe cold blasts? Has the palm been particularly wet just before the freeze?

[SeanK]

On 12/26/2022 at 12:30 PM, PalmatierMeg said:

Agree. I've had palms die of cold damage 9 months later.

Also agree. I lost a jelly palm many years back that went into decline in April-May and continued to drop outer leaves all summer. Eventually, the spear pulled but it was too late.