Freezing rain Texas

[RJ]

Dangerously pretty isn’t all that ice. As nasty as this winter has been for some , it could be worse. Current conditions on Mt. Washington, NH 

 

[fr8train]

I remember seeing temps like that when I lived in Wyoming lol

I'm glad I moved.

[RJ]

2 minutes ago, fr8train said:

I remember seeing temps like that when I lived in Wyoming lol

I'm glad I moved.

I bet not those winds at the same time 🥶

[fr8train]

4 minutes ago, RJ said:

I bet not those winds at the same time 🥶

Nah, but not that far off. Southeastern Wyoming is insanely windy. 

[Sabal King]

On 2/1/2023 at 3:34 PM, FMG said:

25.0 ultimate low but 72 hours + below freezing and counting. Lowest soil temp recorded was 33 so we didn’t have that hard ground freeze like December. Covered everything small to protect crowns from ice, left all Sabal varieties unprotected.

Absolutely nothing to worry about with Sabals from this event.  The ice did nothing to any of mine, regardless of size (strap leaf, barely one leaf seedlings, mature 15G+)  They are all growing, pushing new growth and unlike the Christmas freeze, zero browned fronds this time around.  Best part about this ice was as it thawed, we watered the Sabals for days, and days...   Parts out of our yard are still wet so this will be watering them for a while yet, but we are set for more rain this week.  Perfect weather for Sabals!

[FMG]

3 hours ago, Sabal King said:

Absolutely nothing to worry about with Sabals from this event.  The ice did nothing to any of mine, regardless of size (strap leaf, barely one leaf seedlings, mature 15G+)  They are all growing, pushing new growth and unlike the Christmas freeze, zero browned fronds this time around.  Best part about this ice was as it thawed, we watered the Sabals for days, and days...   Parts out of our yard are still wet so this will be watering them for a while yet, but we are set for more rain this week.  Perfect weather for Sabals!

The fronds on the large 15 footers were quite droopy from the weight of the ice at the time despite my 1am efforts to shake it off. We left town Friday morning but from the security cam it looks like they snapped right back into place. 

The December frond burns were disappointing for sure though the sabal on the left had much more severe burning (50% v. Tips). Both trees have been in ground for 15 months but that one gets less sun due to canopy and was trimmed up more heavily than the other on installation so I assume perhaps it is less established?  Second full summer in the ground coming up so I’m hoping for some nice growth.

[Sabal King]

2 minutes ago, FMG said:

The fronds on the large 15 footers were quite droopy from the weight of the ice at the time despite my 1am efforts to shake it off. We left town Friday morning but from the security cam it looks like they snapped right back into place. 

The December frond burns were disappointing for sure though the sabal on the left had much more severe burning (50% v. Tips). Both trees have been in ground for 15 months but that one gets less sun due to canopy and was trimmed up more heavily than the other on installation so I assume perhaps it is less established?  Second full summer in the ground coming up so I’m hoping for some nice growth.

I was outside at about 9-10pm on the last night of the freeze walking around hitting ice off the fronds to let them breath and absolutely agreed that while the freeze in December I had a bunch of burn on some Sabals (Bermudana, Urensas, Mexicana) this time around, absolutely nothing burned.. One of my Bermudanas had a spear that was burned and it's been pushing growth since then, and it's just burned on top of the frond, and green underneath as of today... There isn't burn, green, then burn again if that makes sense.  This last ice event did nothing to any of my Sabals even though it sounded super scary.

[FMG]

2 hours ago, Sabal King said:

I was outside at about 9-10pm on the last night of the freeze walking around hitting ice off the fronds to let them breath and absolutely agreed that while the freeze in December I had a bunch of burn on some Sabals (Bermudana, Urensas, Mexicana) this time around, absolutely nothing burned.. One of my Bermudanas had a spear that was burned and it's been pushing growth since then, and it's just burned on top of the frond, and green underneath as of today... There isn't burn, green, then burn again if that makes sense.  This last ice event did nothing to any of my Sabals even though it sounded super scary.

Same here with the spears. I’m considering trying some of the colored green spray on the fried fronds for aesthetics but I’m afraid of doing damage and/or getting the color match horribly wrong. They say plant safe but 🤷‍♂️

[MarcusH]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:11 PM, FMG said:

Same here with the spears. I’m considering trying some of the colored green spray on the fried fronds for aesthetics but I’m afraid of doing damage and/or getting the color match horribly wrong. They say plant safe but 🤷‍♂️

What I've learned from growing palms in an area where just a few days of cold weather ruins the look of the palm is to be patient.  

[MarcusH]

On 2/3/2023 at 2:01 AM, Jubaea_James760 said:

Thanks! My biggest puts out 4-5 fronds a year now.  I'd expect a little more for you in TX once it gets settled in. The 3 year mark is when they really get moving. 

That is amazing! I get a ton of night lows under 32f every winter & several lows in the mid to upper 20's & they keep chugging along. They're really cold hardy!

I'm trying some organic fertilizers this year, 1 of them being high in potash. Might want to check it out for that extra potassium 👍

Let me know if this organic fertilizer works out better for you 

[Jubaea_James760]

5 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Let me know if this organic fertilizer works out better for you

Will do 👍

[Fusca]

On 2/6/2023 at 9:21 AM, Sabal King said:

I was outside at about 9-10pm on the last night of the freeze walking around hitting ice off the fronds to let them breath and absolutely agreed that while the freeze in December I had a bunch of burn on some Sabals (Bermudana, Urensas, Mexicana) this time around, absolutely nothing burned.. One of my Bermudanas had a spear that was burned and it's been pushing growth since then, and it's just burned on top of the frond, and green underneath as of today... There isn't burn, green, then burn again if that makes sense.  This last ice event did nothing to any of my Sabals even though it sounded super scary.

How is the growth rate for bermudana compared to your uresana and mexicana in Oak Point?

[Sabal King]

33 minutes ago, Fusca said:

How is the growth rate for bermudana compared to your uresana and mexicana in Oak Point?

Well for reference...

5G Bermudanas (three of them now) put out about 3-4 fronds a year

15G Mexicana puts out about 5 fronds a year

15G Urensas put out 3 or so last year, but I only planted it halfway through the summer

5G Urensas put out about 3 fronds last year as well

20G Riverside puts out about seven fronds.

15G Sabal Louisiana puts out easily 5-6 fronds a year maybe more.

I think a LOT of this growth all over has to do with the fact that when we had our pool built now three years ago most of my yard didn't exist (was a ski slope) and they backfilled and created a somewhat less ski slope with 1-2' of gray clay, then I put topsoil on top so when these Sabal roots get into that clay they live in semi-wet muck 24x7.... they never go thirsty and they grow FAST!

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, Sabal King said:

Well for reference...

5G Bermudanas (three of them now) put out about 3-4 fronds a year

15G Mexicana puts out about 5 fronds a year

15G Urensas put out 3 or so last year, but I only planted it halfway through the summer

5G Urensas put out about 3 fronds last year as well

20G Riverside puts out about seven fronds.

15G Sabal Louisiana puts out easily 5-6 fronds a year maybe more.

I think a LOT of this growth all over has to do with the fact that when we had our pool built now three years ago most of my yard didn't exist (was a ski slope) and they backfilled and created a somewhat less ski slope with 1-2' of gray clay, then I put topsoil on top so when these Sabal roots get into that clay they live in semi-wet muck 24x7.... they never go thirsty and they grow FAST!

That correlates pretty well with what I've experienced with seedlings.  My bermudana is still less than a year old from seed.

[__nevii]

On 1/31/2023 at 9:43 AM, MarcusH said:

We share a lot of the same temperatures and latitude with Florida but we don't have a mountain range that keeps those severe artic blasts away from us. Most parts in Florida are protected by the Appalachian mountains they do get freezes but normally not as severe , frequent and long as in Texas that's why you see a lot more mature Queen palms in Jacksonville (9a) for instance.  I moved from Germany to my wife here in San Antonio thought I could kiss goodbye to winter freezes but I guess I still live at the wrong place 😄. Just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow and we'll be between 31 and 33 degrees with freezing rain in-between urghhh. 

This is a very late post on my end, but I agree with @Xenon regarding the fact that trajectory of the cold blast (emanating from particular patterns) is more important regarding cold outcomes. I've seen numerous of these Texas-focused cold outbreaks featuring milder temps as soon as you got into Louisiana (so, well west of the App mountain influence).

What has been common with winters as of late is troughing patterns focused in the Western US. And it won't take much eastward shift for those Western US effects to bleed into Texas (i.e. compared to the much farther eastward shifts needed to bring cold to the SE US). Sometimes, it doesn't even have to shift eastward at all, because little "shortwaves" that ride the base of the western troughs can be all it takes to spawn the cyclonic systems that drag the cold anticyclones into Texas. Here's a research paper that talks about it:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722000585

The good news for Texas is that El Nino years are coming. This will shake the Pacific background state, probably take away the western trough tendencies for a good while.

Edited June 13, 2023 by __nevii