Frond Burn on Marginal Palms from Christmas freeze

[Lou-StAugFL]

These palms showed very little burn days after the freeze, but several weeks later the damage showed up.  Obviously they are marginal palms this far north, but under the oak canopy, I expect them to look back to normal by mid summer.

[SeanK]

Offtimes, damage shows up when weather warms and plant push new growth.

[Las Palmas Norte]

Did you buy these that size, or have they been subjected to previous frosts & attained that size.

[Lou-StAugFL]

59 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Did you buy these that size, or have they been subjected to previous frosts & attained that size.

They have grown from little seedlings all of them including the BAs from my other post.   When they were smaller I was able to wrap them during cold temps, then it has been quite a few years since we had experienced temps that cold.  This year they had gotten so big and I really didn't expect it to get as cold as they said.  Next year the Adonidia merrillii I will at least wrap with frost cloth if gets back in the upper 20s.  The Archontophoenix cunninghamiana is simply too large now, that's the first frost burn it has gotten since it was very very young plant.

[Arecaceus]

An issue besides rare occasions of frost to harden plants a bit you might have in Florida is that cold snaps are literally snaps. It's just pretty warm all the time and plants don't have time to get dormant. I don't know if most of those tropical plants are actually able to. A. cunninghamiana should be though... I'm just generalising here but this is my observation from most Southern plantings in the US North of South Florida.

[kinzyjr]

@Lou-StAugFL I'm glad to see they are still slated to survive.  The canopy and a few extra degrees from proximity to water probably saved them.  A mile or two west with no canopy, they're probably compost.

[RedRabbit]

What was your low there? I’m slightly surprised to see this much damage.

[ruskinPalms]

13 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

What was your low there? I’m slightly surprised to see this much damage.

And was it windy? The oak canopy would have been much less helpful if windy. The last real freeze here was in Jan 2018 I believe and it may have been around the same temp you saw 27 to 28 but windy here. I had A. cunninghamiana growing at the time here and it did pretty good with the cold but did see some frond damage. A few years later it died of something fungal in the warm months. I’ve tried them a few times and they just don’t do well for me. A. alexandrae does way better here in my experience although I don’t personally have one growing in my yard. There is one a block over from me that sailed right on through the Jan 2018 freeze totally exposed and flowers but the owners always cut the flowers off. I just don’t think the cunninghamiana sourced from the cooler areas of Australia like it here and the ones sourced from the warmer areas are no more tolerant of frost and freezes than alexandrae or just about any other crownshafted palm for that matter.  

[RedRabbit]

35 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

And was it windy? The oak canopy would have been much less helpful if windy. The last real freeze here was in Jan 2018 I believe and it may have been around the same temp you saw 27 to 28 but windy here. I had A. cunninghamiana growing at the time here and it did pretty good with the cold but did see some frond damage. A few years later it died of something fungal in the warm months. I’ve tried them a few times and they just don’t do well for me. A. alexandrae does way better here in my experience although I don’t personally have one growing in my yard. There is one a block over from me that sailed right on through the Jan 2018 freeze totally exposed and flowers but the owners always cut the flowers off. I just don’t think the cunninghamiana sourced from the cooler areas of Australia like it here and the ones sourced from the warmer areas are no more tolerant of frost and freezes than alexandrae or just about any other crownshafted palm for that matter.  

For what it’s worth, A. Aleandrae var Beatrice is supposed to be more cold tolerant so it might be a good one. Mine died of too much sun exposure when little, along with most of my other archontophoenix… Myolesis has been a winner, but not cold tolerant unfortunately. 

[Las Palmas Norte]

8 hours ago, Lou-StAugFL said:

... and I really didn't expect it to get as cold as they said.

You must have the same weather man as I do. 🤣