2025 2025_01 - Winter 2025 Polar Vortex - Palm Damage Tally So Far

[Chester B]

It's been 3 weeks since the cold event and we've had periods of high rainfall and a week in the 80s.  Even today I had new damage appear since we had heavy rain yesterday and today.  All of my palms have been planted between Feb 2024 and June 2024, with a few outliers.  So none of my palms were truly established.  The coldest night was 19F and temps were below freezing 13-14 hours total.

35 palms in ground

17 remain undamaged as of today

18 damaged with 2 spear pulls and 2 confirmed kills

 

 

Undamaged list

2 small Trachycarpus fortunei

4 small Chamadorea radicalis

4 Rhapidophyllum hystrix

1 Serenoa repens "silver"

2 Butia odorata

2 Sabal uresana

1 Sabal birmingham

1 Sabal palmetto "Lisa"

 

Damaged list

2 Syagrus romanzoffiiana - larger palms all fronds browned off, pushing new growth

1 Syagrus romanzoffiana "littoralis" - medium, spear pull and death

1 Syagrus romanzoffiana "Santa Catarina" - small, completely browned off, unsure if it will make it

1 Trachycarpus fortunei - small, spear pulled

1 Trachycarpus nainital - small, spear pulled

2 Sabal "Riverside" - all fronds damaged, have started growing

1 Livistona rigida x decepiens - medium palm, immediate damage to all fronds, pushing new growth

1 Archontophoenix alexandrae - dead

5 Washingtonia robusta - medium, damage to all but the new spear,  all pushing new growth, 2-4 new fronds per palm already

1 - Butia odorata - largest one I had, pushing damaged spear out 

1 - Butia yatay x Jubaea chilensis - Center spear browning off 3 weeks after cold

1 - Bismarckia nobilis - medium, protected with heat, minimal damage to frond tips, pushing new growth

 

 

 

 

[Mandos]

53 minutes ago, Chester B said:

It's been 3 weeks since the cold event and we've had periods of high rainfall and a week in the 80s.  Even today I had new damage appear since we had heavy rain yesterday and today.  All of my palms have been planted between Feb 2024 and June 2024, with a few outliers.  So none of my palms were truly established.  The coldest night was 19F and temps were below freezing 13-14 hours total.

35 palms in ground

17 remain undamaged as of today

18 damaged with 2 spear pulls and 2 confirmed kills

 

 

Undamaged list

2 small Trachycarpus fortunei

4 small Chamadorea radicalis

4 Rhapidophyllum hystrix

1 Serenoa repens "silver"

2 Butia odorata

2 Sabal uresana

1 Sabal birmingham

1 Sabal palmetto "Lisa"

 

Damaged list

2 Syagrus romanzoffiiana - larger palms all fronds browned off, pushing new growth

1 Syagrus romanzoffiana "littoralis" - medium, spear pull and death

1 Syagrus romanzoffiana "Santa Catarina" - small, completely browned off, unsure if it will make it

1 Trachycarpus fortunei - small, spear pulled

1 Trachycarpus nainital - small, spear pulled

2 Sabal "Riverside" - all fronds damaged, have started growing

1 Livistona rigida x decepiens - medium palm, immediate damage to all fronds, pushing new growth

1 Archontophoenix alexandrae - dead

5 Washingtonia robusta - medium, damage to all but the new spear,  all pushing new growth, 2-4 new fronds per palm already

1 - Butia odorata - largest one I had, pushing damaged spear out 

1 - Butia yatay x Jubaea chilensis - Center spear browning off 3 weeks after cold

1 - Bismarckia nobilis - medium, protected with heat, minimal damage to frond tips, pushing new growth

 

 

 

 

Wow 19F is colder temp than my city in Sweden, dipped to 22F in January.

Only trachys planted, all survived here. 

[MIKE82397]

Wow Chester! Sorry to hear about the damage. Over here in western NC after the cold snap several weeks back I had my Tracey’s sabals and butias all uncovered and my potted palms out on the back deck enjoying the stretch of nicer weather. But it’s been raining  sleeting for near three straight days now with highs in the 30s. I made a mad dash to put away the pots and get a hood back over the ones in the ground. Definitely waterlogged but little or no water in the spear. Fingers crossed and get that fungicide ready

[Ben G.]

1 hour ago, Chester B said:

It's been 3 weeks since the cold event and we've had periods of high rainfall and a week in the 80s.  Even today I had new damage appear since we had heavy rain yesterday and today.  All of my palms have been planted between Feb 2024 and June 2024, with a few outliers.  So none of my palms were truly established.  The coldest night was 19F and temps were below freezing 13-14 hours total.

35 palms in ground

17 remain undamaged as of today

18 damaged with 2 spear pulls and 2 confirmed kills

 

 

Undamaged list

2 small Trachycarpus fortunei

4 small Chamadorea radicalis

4 Rhapidophyllum hystrix

1 Serenoa repens "silver"

2 Butia odorata

2 Sabal uresana

1 Sabal birmingham

1 Sabal palmetto "Lisa"

 

Damaged list

2 Syagrus romanzoffiiana - larger palms all fronds browned off, pushing new growth

1 Syagrus romanzoffiana "littoralis" - medium, spear pull and death

1 Syagrus romanzoffiana "Santa Catarina" - small, completely browned off, unsure if it will make it

1 Trachycarpus fortunei - small, spear pulled

1 Trachycarpus nainital - small, spear pulled

2 Sabal "Riverside" - all fronds damaged, have started growing

1 Livistona rigida x decepiens - medium palm, immediate damage to all fronds, pushing new growth

1 Archontophoenix alexandrae - dead

5 Washingtonia robusta - medium, damage to all but the new spear,  all pushing new growth, 2-4 new fronds per palm already

1 - Butia odorata - largest one I had, pushing damaged spear out 

1 - Butia yatay x Jubaea chilensis - Center spear browning off 3 weeks after cold

1 - Bismarckia nobilis - medium, protected with heat, minimal damage to frond tips, pushing new growth

 

 

 

 

Sorry to hear about all of the damage. I hope everything that is still living survives and pulls through for you. I especially hope nothing weird happens with your jubaea hybrid. That will be very hardy once it is established. At least it spear pulled now. I have lost some palms in the past when they spear pulled months after the cold event. When it happens right away, you are watching closely and can treat it accordingly.

[Swolte]

Hope this thread can stay here.

I'll take another look soon. Went down to 16F and I protected some sensitive thing with a bucket or frost cloth. This is quite minimal for me as normally I use more layers/straw. I reduced protection because it was still 'only' an 8b winter and, although another harsh one for Texas, not as bad as what we saw the past 4 years (ranging from 7a-8a). Thus far, the real losers (almost near complete defoliation/frond damage and likely future spear pull) appear to be:

- Mule (first year in ground, large strapling (got from PT sales from Cali, I believe). A bit surprised it did so poorly, as it looks completely nuked. No green anywhere! Had a fleece blanket AND a large bucket. Friend of mine has two mules that went through 3F unprotected and seem to have no trouble with temps in the low teens once in a while. Oh well...)

-  Livistona Nitida (Very concerned about this one as it was growing so well and really looked beautiful by late fall. Already about 6ft tall and in the ground for 5+ years. It went through 3 F and low teens and came back, however, I had covered it with more layers (even a plastic bag). It usually loses all leaves and spear pulls (and returns) but the past winters were 8a or lower. Now, we had an 8b and frankly, the damage looks worse than I recall last years. Really hope it comes back but worried that if it can't take 16F at this stage, I may have to just abandon it... )

-  P Canariensis ( Shipped as a 5G from Florida. First year in ground and grew well during first year. I had one that I got a decent size but previous winters kept killing replacements. This was my THIRD one and I was not going to lose it this winter. I had it at a prominent spot and even dragged gallons of water to it on a weekly basis during the summer heat (something I normally don't do much) to beef it up. However, somehow moisture got in underneath the frost blanket. Its not looking good. Super pissed about this as I am worried it may not even make it. DANGITTTT!)

-  Chamaedorea Microspadix (this one wasn't happy already with the droughts/heat and last winter. I think this winter killed it but, who knows, it may come back from the ground? Has only been in the ground 2 years. Not surprised as I had already given up on this one. Radicalis has been much better for me)

- Sabal Domingensis (Was honestly expecting better. First year in the ground but was VERY happy during summer. Loved all the sunshine as it grew several leaves. Much faster than an equally tall Mexicana (from @Sabal King) I put in the ground at the same time. The Mexicana, however, looks flawless after the cold event but the S. Domingensis completely defoliated. I see some green at the bottom so it will likely come back. Debating if I want to keep this one at the prominent spot I have it now, or at all.

- Young Washie Hybrids (Not sure if they are losers, actually. I have several of these 'survivor' offspring from colder areas in Texas (Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth). All showed severe frond damage, even with protection, however, they ALL rapidly pushed new growth last week when we had temps in the 80s... I think they'll be fine if they can survive this upcoming week of wet & cold weather)

[Gallop]

In Ocean Springs Ms I had several inches of snow, low of 16°f and around 72hrs of temperature below freezing over a 4 to 5 day period. Almost all my palms are showing heavy damage. A few smaller palms I covered in frost cloth look fine.

I have a good bit of experience with cold damage and have learned it’s important to take swift action to prevent loss. What  has worked best for me, especially after a spear pull is to trim trunk to remove any soft discolored tissue, then treat with an application of copper fungicide. I’ve had many spear pulls and more to come. They ones i’ve operated on so far are all showing growth. The trimming on trunk looks a bit extreme but in a years time the palm will look perfectly normal. 

[Chester B]

After the cold event, I unwrapped the what I was protecting with frost cloth (no supplemental heat) and on the morning of that dry day i sprayed all palms down with copper fungicide whether they were showing any damage or not.  2 weeks later I followed up, on all palms.  However ones that were showing bad damage I did not wait and treated as needed.  I've been cutting off 100% browned off fronts and petioles.  Not much more else to do.  A few days after the cold we had heavy rains for a few days, then 80F-86F temps and abundant sunshine, followed by more heavy rains this week.   The Trachys, JxB and Butia showed no evidence of damage but started to display signs within the last 3 days.  If these had been in the ground 2 or 3 years I would expect different results, but you need a a couple of average winters to have things settle in.  Prior to the cold we had two light frosts and the bananas and such were still green and growing.   Next week isn't looking good with a couple nights near or below freezing which will set back all the tender perennials which have started growing new leaves.  Good thing I haven't planted my tomatoes yet.

Good luck to the rest of you.  I've been here two winters and both had periods of below zonal temps.

[Banana Belt]

22 hours ago, Chester B said:

average winters

I know what a winter is, but "Average" that is a big question.  In math it means to add up all the numbers and divide by number of items, but it seems that for every year that goes by my understanding of average is more obscure.  Another way of putting it is "The more things I think I understand the more I realize I don't understand anything".  That is a big problem when trying to garden.

[MarcusH]

So far the only palm that showed  cosmetical damage is my Robusta.  Filiferas and Butia look untouched.  24f in the forecast for Wednesday.  Who knows where we're going to end up.  At least the next cold front is short .

I ended up digging out my Sabal Causiarum that's not a Causiarum lol.  Don't know what it is but it's not welcome in my yard.  I don’t care much for marginal palms in my zone.  

Remember , no place is immune from artic winters. Mother earth is in control not us. 

 

[strongbad635]

 

 

My big robusta during the snow event.

 

48 hours after the snow event

 

A week afterward, with a trim.

[SeanK]

This is a good topic for follow-up. How have palms fared since the snow event in January along I10?

[JLM]

On 5/26/2025 at 6:04 AM, SeanK said:

This is a good topic for follow-up. How have palms fared since the snow event in January along I10?

Something I’ve noticed at least here in the Pensacola area is that really the only palm deaths I’ve seen were ones that were not in good health. All the good looking healthy ones before the storm have come back, even the P sylvestris. I pass by at least 5 sylvestris on the way to work and all are pushing new growth. I’ve seen 3 canaries in my immediate area that are pushing new growth. Most washies I’ve seen except for one look like nothing ever happened now, the one exception is dead. As you head down towards the Pensacola metro area you can see scattered dead palms but most have returned from what I can see.

[IdolLurker]

BUTIA ODORATA V JUBAEA PALMS SURVIVORS OF DEEP FREEZE

I have read where others may have had their beautiful palms damaged or killed due to unexpected very cold freezing weather.  Here in Tallahassee Fl, we had some baby spears damaged but with pulling out the damaged spear and quick application of copper fungicide they were able to regrow a new healthy spear.  We had no damage at all to the older 5 ft to 12 ft Butia Odorata x Jubaea hybrid palms.  Our silver blue Butia Odorata's native ancestors come from mountain areas in southern Brazil and Uruguay where it is very cold, unlike other correctly named B. capitata palms that are not very cold hardy.  These ancestral locations in Brazil/Uruguay have very cold conditions that makes our mature palms cold hardy to 10 degrees.  Our hybrid palms have survived the Dec 2022 conditions where it was below freezing for 5 consecutive days in the low 20's and in 2025 Tallahassee FL had record breaking 5 inches of snow/ice on top of the plants - both storms survival rate was 99%.  The Silver Blue Odorata v Jubaea hybrid is very popular and can withstand very cold weather due to it's jubaea line.

[SeanK]

Wow. The silver comes out in the photo very well. Tallahassee is a good are for Butia. I hope it grows quickly for you. Is your soil more clay or sand?

[IdolLurker]

Our native soil has good drainage and the palms love it, but when dry it can be hard.  We get a good deal with a trailer load of potting soil from a nearby nursery.  Their soil mixture contains sand/soil, peat moss, compost, vermiculite, and pine bits that makes it drain quickly.  It is a perfect soil for starting seeds and then used when transplanting  to a larger 7 gallon container.  Later when continuing to grow our palms to over 12 feet and higher, we use it to amend the soil when planting in the nursery.   The key is that the soil has to be quick draining.