Zone pushing, what did winter kill this year in the tropical palm department

[happypalms]

Well winter is finished time to clean out the losers in the zone push department. The labels speak for themselves. No winners in this lot! 

[gyuseppe]

Richard I thought you could grow anything from you, but from what I see, even in your city there are species you can't grow. It's always painful to see when a species dies from the cold

[Harry’s Palms]

That’s good intel for those that may be tempted to try those . Sorry you had to be the testing grounds. Harry

[Zeeth]

RIP. My Dransfieldia micrantha has made it through a few winters here, but they're so slow growing that it's still small enough to bring indoors when temps get too chilly. I don't think mine has seen lower than 40F (4.4C). 

[gyuseppe]

2 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

That’s good intel for those that may be tempted to try those . Sorry you had to be the testing grounds. Harry

Harry I have tried many species that were said on the internet to be good for my climate, but the list of those that died is long

[Harry’s Palms]

First hand experience is sometimes all we have. I was told that a couple of my palms would have trouble growing here , but they have done well. I guess trial and error still works . Harry

[meridannight]

In my limited experience with exposing palms to cold, I think sometimes they may not survive when seedlings/juvenile, but will survive as more mature palms. I think most of those are worth a try again, overwintering them indoors, and keeping them like that until they are much bigger and can be planted outside.

What was the lowest temp for you this winter?

[tim_brissy_13]

My only loss in the ground was an experimental Geonoma stricta which didn’t even survive until the end of June. It was under good canopy and temperatures dipped a couple of times to about -0.5C/31F. I suspect it was the repeated chilly temperatures every day and night rather than absolute cold that did it in. I don’t think this one is suitable for cooler temperate climates. 
 

In pots, my only losses were Geonoma mooreana and Geonoma interrupta. A couple of interrupta barely survived but I lost all mooreana. They were kept in an unheated greenhouse that never dipped below 2C/35F. 
 

A bit of a theme emerging - these mid elevation Geonoma seem pretty wimpy. For reference, things like Acanthophoenix rubra, Pinanga sylvestris and Areca triandra did fine in the unheated greenhouse. I’ll be focusing only on the high elevation Geonoma and perhaps G schottiana and pohliana from now on. 
 

G stricta photo taken 27th June not even a third of the way through winter. 

[happypalms]

8 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

Richard I thought you could grow anything from you, but from what I see, even in your city there are species you can't grow. It's always painful to see when a species dies from the cold

Oh theres a lot i cannot grow, some of the more tender Geonoma, licuala, Calyptrocalyx and many other varieties of palms. 

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

That’s good intel for those that may be tempted to try those . Sorry you had to be the testing grounds. Harry

You gotta push the boundaries, iam looking for a sponsor if you like, send them to me and I will test them out! 
Richard 

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, Zeeth said:

RIP. My Dransfieldia micrantha has made it through a few winters here, but they're so slow growing that it's still small enough to bring indoors when temps get too chilly. I don't think mine has seen lower than 40F (4.4C). 

Iam not going to go through all that winter protection stuff. Although as seedlings it would make sense to bring indoors, I just have to many plants the house would be full of palms. If it lives it lives outside. But would be interesting to see if you’re one makes it after planting outside. 

[happypalms]

36 minutes ago, meridannight said:

In my limited experience with exposing palms to cold, I think sometimes they may not survive when seedlings/juvenile, but will survive as more mature palms. I think most of those are worth a try again, overwintering them indoors, and keeping them like that until they are much bigger and can be planted outside.

What was the lowest temp for you this winter?

Yes I should have done that overwinter indoors. Just to much work for me iam afraid. But definitely a VB larger plant would stand a better chance. My low temps are 2 to 3 degrees Celsius just at that tipping point. 

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

My only loss in the ground was an experimental Geonoma stricta which didn’t even survive until the end of June. It was under good canopy and temperatures dipped a couple of times to about -0.5C/31F. I suspect it was the repeated chilly temperatures every day and night rather than absolute cold that did it in. I don’t think this one is suitable for cooler temperate climates. 
 

In pots, my only losses were Geonoma mooreana and Geonoma interrupta. A couple of interrupta barely survived but I lost all mooreana. They were kept in an unheated greenhouse that never dipped below 2C/35F. 
 

A bit of a theme emerging - these mid elevation Geonoma seem pretty wimpy. For reference, things like Acanthophoenix rubra, Pinanga sylvestris and Areca triandra did fine in the unheated greenhouse. I’ll be focusing only on the high elevation Geonoma and perhaps G schottiana and pohliana from now on. 
 

G stricta photo taken 27th June not even a third of the way through winter. 

It’s so difficult to tell what’s going to live. Some Geonoma do well for me, definitely high elevation stuff stands a fair chance. I noticed just at the end of winter in my greenhouse things started to have enough of winter, then as things warmed up they seemed to relax a bit more about winter. I lost nothing in the ground and I was planting all winter. 
Now you can see the difference in the stuff I planted in winter as to stuff going in now in the heat. 
But it’s good to compare what lives for other growers and what dies. I will recommend some licuala triphylla for you give em a go. 

[gyuseppe]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

Iam not going to go through all that winter protection stuff. Although as seedlings it would make sense to bring indoors, I just have to many plants the house would be full of palms. If it lives it lives outside. But would be interesting to see if you’re one makes it after planting outside. 

and what I do, I don't bring seedlings into the house, but I protect them under a roof when they are small, the species that are at the limit at my place, and then there is my wife who doesn't want plants in the house, better to live peacefully with your wife

[Zeeth]

9 hours ago, happypalms said:

Iam not going to go through all that winter protection stuff. Although as seedlings it would make sense to bring indoors, I just have to many plants the house would be full of palms. If it lives it lives outside. But would be interesting to see if you’re one makes it after planting outside. 

Yeah I'm planning to plant it at a local botanical garden in a very good micro-climate to give it the best shot possible so fingers crossed it survives long-term. They look quite nice as mature palms

[happypalms]

6 minutes ago, Zeeth said:

Yeah I'm planning to plant it at a local botanical garden in a very good micro-climate to give it the best shot possible so fingers crossed it survives long-term. They look quite nice as mature palms

Good on you donating your palm to the botanical gardens. I had 2 Pinanga sarawakensis I donated 1 to the  local botanical gardens as they had a climate controlled hothouse. As it turned out my other 1 lived not a problem, but iam glad I donated it to the gardens I get to go and see it whenever I want and others can enjoy the beauty of such a palm.