Can Canary Island Date Palm survive in Milton, Georgia, USA?

[wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww11]

Can they?

[ChrisA]

CIDP’s are a solid 8b Palm or warmer. With protection in the coldest weather you could probably get one to survive several years until it got too big. I don’t remember ever seeing one posted in Atlanta on this forum, although there are Pindo palms, Chinese Windmill, and Sabal (minor for sure, and a few palmetto). On the whole it gets too cold for CIDP to thrive in what looks like a zone 7 climate. Even here on the edge of 9a and 8b it’s fairly hit or miss whether they look good or not given the last 4 winters seeing frigid cold weather that has burnt their fronds each winter.

[NorCalKing]

Long term? Probably not. And imho they take 10+ years to really come into their own. And it probably wouldn't make it 10 years in a marginal climate.

[SeanK]

Given the weather forecast for the next week, it's a hard no.

[Las Palmas Norte]

Why not? They're growing them in NYC. >>> 

 

[UK_Palms]

9 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Given the weather forecast for the next week, it's a hard no.

lol CIDP isn't really 8b either as many claim. I am 8b here and I don't know of any decent specimens in my neck of the woods. You really have to go into the London suburbs where it is 9a before you start seeing them. Although folks in Portland, Oregon are zone 9a and they can't grow CIDP anyway. So it is all relative. But one thing is for sure, CIDP is not an 8b palm, even if some folks in zone 8b parts of Texas and New Mexico can grow them. Those places are a bit of an exception. You're going to need zone 9a/9b to grow CIDP long term and have them look even half good. If you are 8a/8b you can forget about it really, unless you're in Texas or New Mexico.

[UK_Palms]

7 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Why not? They're growing them in NYC. >>> 

 

🤣🤣🤣

He's looking at 150 hours below freezing, including 4 consecutive nights of 10F or lower with one of those nights probably going down to 5F. Two of those days next week probably aren't going much above 15F for a high either.

I swear he said there's no more snow coming for NYC this winter as well. That kid is about to get a reality check. If his protection is lacking that CIDP is 100% kicking the bucket. Shelter needs to be on point and C9 lights doing their thing.

 

[SeanK]

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

🤣🤣🤣

He's looking at 150 hours below freezing, including 4 consecutive nights of 10F or lower with one of those nights probably going down to 5F. Two of those days next week probably aren't going much above 15F for a high either.

I swear he said there's no more snow coming for NYC this winter as well. That kid is about to get a reality check. If his protection is lacking that CIDP is 100% kicking the bucket. Shelter needs to be on point and C9 lights doing their thing.

 

I think it will certainly be 90 hours below freezing, north of the ATL metro area. I've brought in some of my potted stuff. Some Trachys in pots may have to come into an unheated sunroom tomorrow.

Even Valdosta's CIDPs will be damaged if there's freezing rain.

 

[jwitt]

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

lol CIDP isn't really 8b either as many claim. I am 8b here and I don't know of any decent specimens in my neck of the woods. You really have to go into the London suburbs where it is 9a before you start seeing them. Although folks in Portland, Oregon are zone 9a and they can't grow CIDP anyway. So it is all relative. But one thing is for sure, CIDP is not an 8b palm, even if some folks in zone 8b parts of Texas and New Mexico can grow them. Those places are a bit of an exception. You're going to need zone 9a/9b to grow CIDP long term and have them look even half good. If you are 8a/8b you can forget about it really, unless you're in Texas or New Mexico.

Sounds like an alkaline vs acidic thing almost

[palmofmyhand]

Most likely not but here in Augusta, GA I spotted a pretty healthy looking big one a few months back (first picture below) and we are in an 8b zone here. I think any of the date palms are pretty difficult to grow here without some kind of lamps or lights for heating during the younger stages of the plant at least. The microclimate probably also makes a difference. Here in Augusta I have seen large Phoenix Sylvestris’s, and also very large Washingtonia (pretty sure the Filifera variety) - ( 2nd picture)- which most people would tell you would not survive in 8b zones. Here are pictures below of some of the finds I have seen here.

The third picture I originally thought was a sylvestris but I’m not 100% sure because it doesn’t look like the other ones I have seen around here it may be a different date palm.

[donnacreation]

Augusta enjoys a warm 8b/9a microclimate.   Temps don't plummet at night (radiation cooling) as much there as in surrounding areas.

[DreaminAboutPalms]

Worth a try if you can plant one in a favorable microclimate against a southern facing wall or something. CIDP are a lot hardier than people give them credit for. If you give them a lot of TLC when they are young so they develop a big fat trunk they will come back from single digits. 

The only time it's risky is if you are in an area without a lot of summer heat - if they get defoliated and aren't able to grow a full crown again before next winter and get defoliated again they will likely perish.

In DFW they get defoliated basically every year but manage to come back. In

Here's one of the largest ones in the area last January that looks a little burnt after temps in the teens. In February 2021 this area hit <5F, and in December 2022 we hit 9F and had a few days that didn't go above freezing. Nonetheless this one managed to make a full recovery 

 

Here's another survivor a few months before the above pic was taken. Yes it looks a bit ratty, but this is after 2 zone 7 winters in a row. 

[SCVpalmenthusiast]

A co-worker of mine lives in Atlanta (remote). Apparently, there was a big snow storm that hit Georgia. I wonder if these palms would survive snow. 

[palmofmyhand]

1 minute ago, SCVpalmenthusiast said:

A co-worker of mine lives in Atlanta (remote). Apparently, there was a big snow storm that hit Georgia. I wonder if these palms would survive snow. 

In Augusta I am fairly sure the large ones will survive this as we have had similar situations before but once every 10+ years maybe. Atlanta I would say they are probably toast because they got way more snow than us.

[Geoff58]

A few attempts have been made to grow CIDPs in the metro Jackson, MS, area, which is borderline between zones 8A and 8B -- the average lowest temperature for the year is 17.6. Almost all of them die in their first winter. One lasted a decade, losing all its fronds every winter. It was planted in a large parking lot that absorbed heat. But it's dead, now, too. You could plant one in Zone 7 if you protected it in the winter, but eventually it would grow too large and surely die.