What is the coldest temp your Trachy's have been able to handle?

[trachycarpus fortunei]

This is my first post, however I have been viewing these forums since 2021. What is the coldest temp your Trachy's have been able to handle with minimal protection? I planted 3 Trachycarpus Fortuneis back in March, 2023. Two were a little over a foot tall (Including leaves) and one was about eight inches tall. Their second winter just passed, and they were hit with -3 degrees for about an hour and a few nights that didn't go above freezing (According to my weather app, I did not have a thermometer outside at the time). The palms were only protected with a burlap sack around them, and a few weeks after the cold hit, it wasn't looking to good. One of the palms spear pulled five times, another spear pulled three times (both the large palms), and the smaller one did not spear pull at all. Almost all of the leaves grayed on the two large palms, and it looked like the palms were dead. 

Fast forward to late June, and I find that two of the palms are putting out spears again. This lead me to get curious... What is your experience with Trachycarpus' cold tolerance?

[Zone7Bpalmguy]

5 hours ago, trachycarpus fortunei said:

This is my first post, however I have been viewing these forums since 2021. What is the coldest temp your Trachy's have been able to handle with minimal protection? I planted 3 Trachycarpus Fortuneis back in March, 2023. Two were a little over a foot tall (Including leaves) and one was about eight inches tall. Their second winter just passed, and they were hit with -3 degrees for about an hour and a few nights that didn't go above freezing (According to my weather app, I did not have a thermometer outside at the time). The palms were only protected with a burlap sack around them, and a few weeks after the cold hit, it wasn't looking to good. One of the palms spear pulled five times, another spear pulled three times (both the large palms), and the smaller one did not spear pull at all. Almost all of the leaves grayed on the two large palms, and it looked like the palms were dead. 

Fast forward to late June, and I find that two of the palms are putting out spears again. This lead me to get curious... What is your experience with Trachycarpus' cold tolerance?

Mine have seen about 2-5'F unprotected from the winter of 2022-23. 2023-24 was no walk in the park either. In fact, mine pretty much defoliated two years straight. Here's a video from 23-24 winter aftermath. I didn't begin my channel until January 2024, so no video footage prior to that.

I will be posting a current video soon if you wanna see how far they've come.

[WSimpson]

My Trachys have all survived 4F back about 13 years ago . .

That record cold in 2018 here where we didn't get above 32F for 8 days , all my Trachys survived . 

I lost 2 nice big palmettos that I could've easily protected their trucks .  

A simple wrap of a blanket with incandescent xmas  lights would've worked fine .

The trunks were only 8' high

Live and learn . 

[jwitt]

Unprotected. Your results may differ. 

 A little over a year after -10f(pic 5/2012) 

3 months after 2 nights at 4f(pic 4/2025)

[trachycarpus fortunei]

3 minutes ago, jwitt said:

 A little over a year after -10f

Did you have to cut the trunk back, or was it that small?

[trachycarpus fortunei]

1 hour ago, WSimpson said:

A simple wrap of a blanket with incandescent xmas  lights would've worked fine.

I was planning on buying incandescent lights, too. Maybe all three palms would've survived.

[jwitt]

4 minutes ago, trachycarpus fortunei said:

Did you have to cut the trunk back, or was it that small?

Here it is the year before the -10f.  No trunk, too small.  

[trachycarpus fortunei]

2 hours ago, Zone7Bpalmguy said:

2023-24 was no walk in the park either.

Funny enough, we only got down to 13F here in NJ (close to NYC)

[Las Palmas Norte]

Freak cold in the winter of '08/'09. I don't have the specific date but the temp nosedived one night to 7°F / -14°C. Some crispy leaflet tips and visually it took a year or two to outgrow the damage.

[Allen]

Trachy palms routinely 'survive' temps down to 0F.  For instance One out of about 6 newly planted Trachy survived -2F at the Nashville Zoo.  But survived can result in huge setbacks.  Here are some of my relevant vids on this subject

Cold Tolerances of Trachycarpus fortunei (Windmill Palm)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsD2uaO97lo

Temps to Protect Windmill Palms (Trachycarpus fortunei)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU3amwiG5U8

Nashville Zoo Aftermath More of these died later than this video

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tL-yrRCw9ls