cabbage palms under 3 feet of sand due to storm surge (hurricane Helene)

[Ocpnnor]

Do we need to remove the 3 feet of sand deposited around our cabbage palms due to storm surge from Hurricane Helene?  It will be a huge job - there are 80 plus palm trees.

Thank you.

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

I have seen cabbage palm growing on the edge of salt water and had obviously been inundated with that water several times before as well as some I know were under salt water during a hurricane.  Apparently no problem for them.  About a mile from my house in N.C. there are two that had been planted there for probably 30 years and a Dollar General store bought the property and raised the soil elevation by at least 3 feet over the palms original planting level and a dozer gouged out a huge scar in one of the trunks. I just knew they would both die from lack of air to the roots and trunk rot.  Nope! Here 7 years later they are not only still alive but thriving. They never skipped a beat.  And this is in coastal North Carolina.

[Ocpnnor]

Thank you for that answer.  The extension office told me to get all that sand off -- but an old time nursery man said they are native and adapted to sand and salt water inundation from coastal storms.

[sonoranfans]

they can most definitely grow at the edge of salt water in sand.  Not sure about the trunk being covered 3 ft up with sand.  I think the vast majority of palms would decline in that situation.  I see thousands of sabal palmettos every time I take a drive but I dont see any part buried in a sand dune.  

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

6 hours ago, sonoranfans said:

they can most definitely grow at the edge of salt water in sand.  Not sure about the trunk being covered 3 ft up with sand.  I think the vast majority of palms would decline in that situation.  I see thousands of sabal palmettos every time I take a drive but I dont see any part buried in a sand dune.  

I join you in your skepticism. It does not make sense from all we know of plants. That's why I would have said the same thing till I witnessed them buried and still growing and thriving 7 years on. Not seeing any buried in sand also means you have not seen any dying from that condition. I would think the roots would be smothered but then again we have all seen them growing in water and at the edge of water which means their roots are under water, in the soil, so I guess they have learned to adapt. Could the trunk below that sand be slowly rotting and the tree very slowly dying? Yes but the sabals I speak of are also growing more trunk and leaves at a normal rate.

[sonoranfans]

19 hours ago, Jeff zone 8 N.C. said:

I join you in your skepticism. It does not make sense from all we know of plants. That's why I would have said the same thing till I witnessed them buried and still growing and thriving 7 years on. Not seeing any buried in sand also means you have not seen any dying from that condition. I would think the roots would be smothered but then again we have all seen them growing in water and at the edge of water which means their roots are under water, in the soil, so I guess they have learned to adapt. Could the trunk below that sand be slowly rotting and the tree very slowly dying? Yes but the sabals I speak of are also growing more trunk and leaves at a normal rate.

My general understanding is that roots of plants are protected by emissions of enzymes and terpenoids that tend to be toxic to pathogens thus warding off attack.  I also understand that leaves can also emit different repellant substances than roots having read the literature.  I really haven't heard that tree bark has self defense emissions, many trees and palms will die if the protective membranes fail to function properly.  I am not sure the pathogens in sand and water are the same, sand may be home to aerobic pathogens vs anaerobic ones in water.  I have killed a few palms by planting them too deep, though I also have palms that can sit in standing water too, but they cannot be planted too deep.   A loose theory might be that the sand ensures high moisture with plenty of oxygen so a different pathogen environment than just water.   I have seen lots of palmettos and the closest thing I have seen to one coming up out of the ground with sand around it is, one running along the ground aways before it goes vertical.