florida 2025-2026 Florida Winter

[HudsonBill]

27 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

On some smaller palms like 1' or less, is it OK to use cover it with a 25 gallon pot turned upside down?  Will that keep out the wind?  But the plastic pot may touch some of the leaves and that's a no no?

Just went to the closet and found half a dozen rolls of polyester IKEA window blinds.  Can those be used to wrap my orchids that are rooted onto trees and palms?

Anything is better than nothing. 

[UK_Palms]

1 hour ago, Aceraceae said:

This is crazy for early November in central florida. This would tie the monthly record low for Orlando, or at least the airport on the southeast side of town. 

The cold is really digging in this winter across the northern hemisphere. All 3 continents - North America, Europe and Asia have seen record cold now. First Asia with the record breaking Siberian cold in Nov/Dec. This January it has been Canada and USA with record breaking cold. Scandinavia has had it as well in late December / early January. Now a new record cold wave is about to begin in Eastern Europe as well.

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, miamicuse said:

On some smaller palms like 1' or less, is it OK to use cover it with a 25 gallon pot turned upside down?  Will that keep out the wind?  But the plastic pot may touch some of the leaves and that's a no no?

Just went to the closet and found half a dozen rolls of polyester IKEA window blinds.  Can those be used to wrap my orchids that are rooted onto trees and palms?

Anything that directly touches the box or bucket has a good chance of burn.  But my testing with a plain cardboard box over a palm showed 5 or so degrees warmer in the box than outside.  That was using an optical thermometer outside and inside.  It might be even more useful with a windy night.  It works, even if it's not perfect.

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

The cold is really digging in this winter across the northern hemisphere. All 3 continents - North America, Europe and Asia have seen record cold now. First Asia with the record breaking Siberian cold in Nov/Dec. This January it has been Canada and USA with record breaking cold. Scandinavia has had it as well in late December / early January. Now a new record cold wave is about to begin in Eastern Europe as well.

This really puts it in perspective.  It isn't just here in the CONUS this winter.

[Eric in Orlando]

On 1/30/2026 at 2:48 PM, MarkC said:

I’ve seen Disney put covers on the flowers a few times in the past, they also will wrap large swathes of tropicals in some sort of dense netting. I’m guessing they have some root heating system built in to some of the more tender, large-scale plantings. However a lot of ficus and the kapoks are already damaged before the real cold has even arrived. I don’t know what will be left of them. But I’ve watched the ficus at Magic Kingdom diminish.

 

Those are totally Magnolia grandiflora. Many times older specimens get spindly and sparse. I thnk it's our nutrient poor sandy soil. The only cultivar that really holds a good shape and dense growth as they get older is 'D.D. Blanchard'.

 

On 1/30/2026 at 2:41 PM, Matthew92 said:

There’s a ton of stuff at Disney and Universal that will be seriously damaged if this event pans out the way it’s forecast. I know Eric in Orlando is more up to speed on what’s there at Disney especially but this is what I can think of off the top of my head. 

-Coconut palms and a lot of warm zone 10 tropical vegetation at Volcano bay at Universal. I had heard from employees who worked there in Jan 2018 that they had heaters on the Cocos. Not sure how that will work with 35 mph winds and these temps 

-I recall at the new hotel they built at Disneys Polynesian Resort some good sized Satakentia planted on the backside facing the lake. And of course there’s just so many tender tropicals at the Polynesian already. 

-Numerous Pandanus around the Disney Parks: one notable one in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom and a few in Avatar land at Animal Kingdom.

-Plants like Shefflera arboricola, Copperleaf/Acalypha, Duranta erecta are used as a standard shrub hedges all around the parks and Orlando in general. They will for sure come back from larger branches or the base of the plant if dieback occurs but wow that would be a lot of brown foliage to look at for a little while.

-The common stuff like Bottle/Spindle Palms, Croton, Adonidia, Ficus, Wodyetia, Philodendron, and Monstera will probably be quite a sore sight.

-Heliconia and Gingers, and Strelitzia are practically used as foundation plants in the Orlando area nowadays. Many will probably have to start from the ground up after this.

-I’m curious how Royal Poincianas will do. I don’t recall reports of high damage in these from Jan 2018 but maybe I forget. I know I’ve seen some good sized ones in the Orlando area that didn’t seem to show evidence of significant past damage.

-One of the saving graces though is that it’s been so long since freezes like this in the Orlando and other areas that some of these plants are so large their size is in their favor to better withstand this freeze event.

I was last at Epcot about 2 weeks ago and no damage on any tender foliage or palms. This past week we had a couple nights at 32-34 with frost one morning. I am in Altamonte Springs about 12 miles north of downtown Orlando and I hadn't had any damage until this week but only my bananas in open area and some light burn on a couple Travelers Tree leaves. My neighbors Tropical Almond dropped most of its leaves and my other neighbors mango trees has some foliage burn and the flowers are wilted. But my Ficus lyrata hasnt damaged yet nor Monstera in an open location. But thats gonna change.

 

So they are predicting 24-25 Sat nite for Altamonte Springs. I have about 100 different palms in my yard. Most of my tender specimens are in the back under good Southern Live Oak canopy. I'm leaving most things uncovered but protecting a few things;

Cyrtostachys elegans x renda

Chrysalidocarpus lutescens 'Nana'

Clinostigma savoryanum

Heterospathe negrosensis

Licuala kunsteri

Sabinaria magnifica (this is its 2nd winter, last year took 33f unprotected with minimal damage)

Also several rare Pandanus will get covered

The only palms that have any burn so far is my Cocos nucifera 'Green Malayan' (some slight burn) and my Aiphanes horrida x minima (light burn on 2 lower leaves, its always been foliage tender but grows back quickly)

[JeskiM]

For smaller palms, etc I will use reflective bubble roll insulation., pots, and mulch 

I usually wrap it around the entire palm, in a cylindrical shape, somtimes 2-4 layers.  Or I cut it to wrap it around the inside of a large pot, say 25 G pot. Then I also make sure that the bottom of the pot is coveted by this insulation.  Then on the outside I use weather resistant duct tape to cover the pot drain holes I usually will bury the palm in mulch up to the bottom portion of the spear. Then I cover the plant with the pot, and pile more mulch around the base of the overturned pot. Stick some rocks on top to hold it down from strong winds.

For me this seems to work well for temps down into the low teens. Never had any damage to leaves, etc. when I cover the entire plant.

I'll take some pics tomorrow morning of a few palms that I currently have covered this way.

- Matt

[pj_orlando_z9b]

I have no clue where these Orlando temps are coming from but those are not official or even correct. There was no freeze in Nov and there is no way Bay Lake was 28 when MCO was 37. The airport his 32 in Jan and about 6 to 8 more nights in mid to upper 30s. I've had no freeze yet in Belle Isle but my coconut has lower frond damage like Eric. The biggest hit was the 37 in Nov because it was a shock as there had been no cool down coming out of summer. I saw damage show up soon after that. 

[MarkC]

11 minutes ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

I have no clue where thise Orlando temps are coming from but those are not official or even correct. There was no freeze in Nov and there is no way Bay Lake was 28 when MCO was 37. The airport his 32 in Jan and about 6 to 8 more nights in mid to upper 30s. I've had no freeze yet in Belle Isle but my coconut has lower frond damage like Eric. The biggest hit was the 37 in Nov because it was a shock as there had been no cool down coming out of summer. I saw damage show up soon after that. 

I agree, it must be some sort of corrupted data or there is some miscalculation in their programming. I didn’t recall the temps going below the mid thirties, I was taken aback by the supposed revelation. I just checked it against weather underground. This is why you can’t trust data.

https://www.wunderground.com/calendar/us/fl/kissimmee/KISM/date/2025-11

 

 

[kinzyjr]

@idontknowhatnametuse took the initiative to create a thread for all of us to post photos and observations of the damage of various species of palms in our gardens.  After the event, we'll probably all give it a little since the damage will get progressively worse for anything left alive.  You can check out the initial post here:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/92659-2026-florida-palmageddon-observations-and-damage-photo-thread/

On a separate note, there's been speculation that this would change the USDA Hardiness Map back to the 2012 or 1990 version.  This is largely incorrect, and may potentially be a misunderstanding on what a USDA Hardiness Zone represents.  A USDA Hardiness Zone is the Average Annual Low for 30 years (AAL).  If we use a theoretical location where the average annual low for 30 years was 31.8F, rounded down to 31F to produce a more conservative map, and as an example, updated the map after that theoretical location went down to 25F this year.  This means the first year of the range would come off the rolls and be replaced by this year's minimum temperature.  The math would look like this (after rounding):

• 31F x 29 years = 899
• 25F x 1 year   =  25
• =====================
• TOTAL:           924
• AVERAGE: 924 / 30 = 30.8
• ROUND USING FLOOR() FUNCTION: 30F = 10a

Even using a more conservative algorithm than the USDA uses, this location would still be a zone 10a climate.  The landscape may not look like it, but that's not a fault of the algorithm.  Assuming that any climate will always default to an average is the issue.  There was even a discussion about this some time back:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/26687-usda-hardiness-zone-is-not-a-good-way-to-have-a-abstract-view-on-minimum-temperatures/

If you would like to base your plantings on a more reliable number, the record lows as well as other calculations like zones for 50 and 100 year averages are available in the almanac on the next to last post on the second page of this thread:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/66320-florida-freeze-and-weather-station-data/?page=2

SPOILER: The theoretical location was Orlando International Airport (KMCO)

Edited January 31 by kinzyjr
Edited for clarity

[pj_orlando_z9b]

I wrapped my coconut trunk with 5w heating cables and christmas lights. Wrapped it with burlap amd frost cloth and did end up building a frame.  I run a 30,000 BTU heat thrower into the frame with hope that the heat rises through the crown. With anticipated winds, I'm gonna need lots of blocking of the winds from neighbor's homes. Still worth a try!

[Palmarum]

8 hours ago, HudsonBill said:

... My mangos, sapadilla etc I built enclosures cicered them and have heat lamps under them. I did thsi to 10 or so fruit trees and palms on top of the kings. We have already been into the upper 20s many times this year. 

Most of my fruit trees are in large pots but still easy to move around. The only one in ground with fruit on it is the Peach tree. It seems to be enjoying the cold and will get a lot of it soon. I might pull the near ripe fruit off of it tomorrow. I was wondering how this severe cold will affect the more temperate fruit trees I have that do not flower often.

I didn't notice it when I was pulling plants inside, but I must have orchids in bloom. I can smell them whenever I walk into the garage.

Ryan

[miamicuse]

8 hours ago, Palmarum said:

 

I am planning for upper 20sF wind chill and mid-30sF cold here in Pembroke Pines, S. Central Broward.

I am also planning to water thoroughly on the mid-sized palms and smaller stuff in the ground. 

I brought in everything. If it can be moved I moved it. My wheelbarrow got a workout. I have some containerized items, like Sabal minor variants and Encephalaros sp. that could prolly take the cold, but they are in pots and have never seen this cold and wind chill before. Taking no chances. 

For the orchids I have in trees I have been wrapping them with pillowcases and taping or pinning them together after wrapping. Larger ones get bed sheets. I have a few crotons but they are small. They are getting pvc-pipe frames and more bed sheets, small tarps. The sheets are taped on, the pvc-pipe is taped to trunks, walls, etc. As for which Croton cultivars should be protected before others, I do not know them well enough.

Your tarp at a 45-degree angle idea is a good one and should be a lot of protection compared to nothing. The key is to make it strong enough for the 30-mph gusts we may get. Any blockage of the wind counts for a lot. Try to avoid having any plastic sheeting make contact with plant surfaces as they may cause damage. 

Everything on your list needs to be protected if possible, but for an order of most urgent to less...

A. Licuala cordata - Hydriastele beguinii 'Obi Island' - Licuala grandis - Areca vestiaria

B. Licuala lauterbachii and the var. bougainvillensis - Licuala ferruginea

C. Ptychosperma elegans 'Lisa' - Caryota mitis variegated - Chamaedorea deckeriana - Chambeyronia macrocarpa - C. hookeri - Ptychosperma schefferi

If the 12 ft. tall Hydriastele beguinii 'Obi Island' is in addition to the one on the list, it should be a priority. Start with tying the leaves up, then wrap the crown and the crownshaft with blankets and sheets. Wrap the trunk last. Tying those bifid leaves might be tricky. Start at the petioles while holding them together, squeeze upwards and wrap with twine, etc. 

Adding bundles of Xmas lights or other corded lights, individual incandescent bulbs could help under any covered structure. I may do this for some smaller things in-ground, but I haven't decided yet. Most of my sensitive stuff is too large to cover. Keep the bulbs away from anything that can burn.

Ryan

Ryan thanks for the advice, that helps a lot.  I am in east Fort Lauderdale so I think my temps will be very close to yours in Pembroke Pines.

I installed about 75 feet or this tarp over the fence today, had it rolled up and clamped to the top of the fence for now but will drape them down tomorrow late afternoon.  I still have 50' left to do tomorrow.  I am debating to just let it drape to the ground or if I should use some landscape pins to anchor the bottom better.

The fence is 6' and since I am screwing the top of the tarp to the tip of the fence, and many plants are in the 4-6 feet height range, I don't see how I can avoid touching the top of these plants with the underside of the tarp.  If this is really bad than I am going to have to trim some of the taller plants back down to 4' to avoid touching the tarp too much.

Is it OK to wrap taller palm trunks and frond bundles with shade fabric rolls which I think are mostly plastic reinforced meshes?  I got a bunch of those laying around , as well as some old IKEA roller blinds that's also a polyester cotton blend.  If I could wrap those around palm trunks and tree mounted orchids that would be great.

I was originally planning to bundle up the fronds of the 12' tall Hydriastele beguinii 'Obi Island' than put a large leaf trash bag over it, but again if plastic touching plant material is bad I have to rethink that.  If I use cotton sheets my concern is that will not be as wind resistant since that is porous, and if it rains or my sprinklers go off it will get the cloth fabric all wet and that may not be a good idea either.

Finally with everything tented or wrapped up, after the lows when it gets warmer 9am 10am 11am, would you keep everything wrapped and tented throughout the day because Sunday night will have low temps again, or would you suggest I uncover everything to let the plants get some sun and fresh air and cover up again late afternoon early evening?

[Palmarum]

35 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

.... The fence is 6' and since I am screwing the top of the tarp to the tip of the fence, and many plants are in the 4-6 feet height range, I don't see how I can avoid touching the top of these plants with the underside of the tarp.  If this is really bad than I am going to have to trim some of the taller plants back down to 4' to avoid touching the tarp too much.

Is it OK to wrap taller palm trunks and frond bundles with shade fabric rolls which I think are mostly plastic reinforced meshes?  I got a bunch of those laying around , as well as some old IKEA roller blinds that's also a polyester cotton blend.  If I could wrap those around palm trunks and tree mounted orchids that would be great.

I was originally planning to bundle up the fronds of the 12' tall Hydriastele beguinii 'Obi Island' than put a large leaf trash bag over it, but again if plastic touching plant material is bad I have to rethink that.  If I use cotton sheets my concern is that will not be as wind resistant since that is porous, and if it rains or my sprinklers go off it will get the cloth fabric all wet and that may not be a good idea either.

Finally with everything tented or wrapped up, after the lows when it gets warmer 9am 10am 11am, would you keep everything wrapped and tented throughout the day because Sunday night will have low temps again, or would you suggest I uncover everything to let the plants get some sun and fresh air and cover up again late afternoon early evening?

Trimming the plants is a tough call, it will be up to you. If the plants can recover from any damage fast enough, let the material touch. At this point it is about covering as much as you can with the time left. If you have any stakes or pipes that can be inserted next to the plants to give something taller for the tarp material to rest upon, it could help. I stuck some 1-inch pvc pipe into the ground in the middle of some crotons to make a 'tepee' point to hang a covering about 5 ft. tall.

The plastic reinforced mesh sounds ok, if it can be rolled easy enough and conform to what shape you need it to be. Trying new materials and ideas is part of the necessity of improvising cold protection. The basic formula is the same, any protection is better than none and any damage caused by the attempt is usually less than the alternative.

I would avoid the trash bag. I have done damage with them and seen it happen even with lesser cold. That black plastic can heat up in the sun and burn, even in cold. Sheets are porous but they can still block cold decent enough and it is something that is usually available at short notice. I am also worried about them getting too wet from any rain tomorrow, so I am going to try and wait for any rain to pass before covering. I would turn the sprinklers off if you can.

I am planning to leave everything covered until after Sunday night/Monday morning, depending on how much the sun comes out on Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning is not supposed to be as bad but the wind is such a big variable right now it is hard to say. I don't see it warming up enough during Sunday midday or perhaps even Monday midday to make it worth changing anything. Could be three days of solid cold bleah... 

Ryan

[guygee]

First hard freeze tonight on the space coast barrier iskand since 1989. Hundreds of coconut and other tropical palms in the neighborhood are going to die. Need to get out this morning and wrap my 4 coconut trees in pipe-warming wire, moving blankets and tarps this before the gale-force winds start after noon, hoping the 60 inch zip ties I bought are sufficient to secure everything in the expected high winds. My mangos and pembana palm are on their own. 

Ordered a wireless temperature recording station on recommendation here to monitor temperatures tonight. 

[flplantguy]

My low dropped in the forecast, as expected, down to 27 the first night.  The wind will be bad enough my original strategy will likely fail so I'm getting tall tposts today for the north garden to block some wind.  I have no idea how the plants will tolerate 27 and windy, but that's what the Christmas 2022 freeze was like.  I seem to be in that 27 to 32 range every winter here. I would like consistency at least if not above freezing, so I can plan. I may dig some stuff up today too and try to make the windbreak somehow. Good luck everyone!

[kinzyjr]

7 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

I wrapped my coconut trunk with 5w heating cables and christmas lights. Wrapped it with burlap amd frost cloth and did end up building a frame.  I run a 30,000 BTU heat thrower into the frame with hope that the heat rises through the crown. With anticipated winds, I'm gonna need lots of blocking of the winds from neighbor's homes. Still worth a try!

Still leaning toward no protection here, but I would like to keep my two large coconuts.  Decisions...

[guygee]

"Before" pictures after heavy pruning. 

"Jamaican tall" leaned over by Irma:

 

Sprouted from a tall neighborhood tree that survived the >50% mortality of 2010:

Sprouted from a neighborhood of maypans that all survived 2010:

Sprouted from a tall nursery tree later struck by lightening , possible pacific tall:

[OutpostPalms]

I made a 13 hour drive home last night in time for the cold but besides wrapping up the bismarkias and bringing the potted bottle and foxtails inside I’m letting everything ride. 
 

Forecast for last night was 27 but only got to 31 here. Good sign perhaps. Tomorrow morning my phone and TWC agree on 21 degrees. 
 

I think I already have some mild damage to my livistona and washingtonias from last weekends 22 degrees. 
 

with this freeze I’m interested to see how my dioon edule does. It hasn’t seen these temps before. Actually looks fine for now. 
 

good luck to all tonight. 

[Matthew92]

The initial front has moved through here. It was in the high 40’s last evening, now it’s 33deg at 8am and hardly rising, showing 37 as the high. 🥶 Quite brutal. This is similar to the Christmas 2022 freeze where it basically didn’t get higher than the 30’s for about 2 days all under sunny skies.

[HudsonBill]

45 minutes ago, flplantguy said:

My low dropped in the forecast, as expected, down to 27 the first night.  The wind will be bad enough my original strategy will likely fail so I'm getting tall tposts today for the north garden to block some wind.  I have no idea how the plants will tolerate 27 and windy, but that's what the Christmas 2022 freeze was like.  I seem to be in that 27 to 32 range every winter here. I would like consistency at least if not above freezing, so I can plan. I may dig some stuff up today too and try to make the windbreak somehow. Good luck everyone!

27 to 32 seems to be my range to witch isn't horrible if we can plan for it correctly. 

[JeskiM]

For those of you cutting off palm leaves, or branches of trees/shrubs :

Don't forget that the leaves you cut off the palms can be reused to protect the plant.  You can pile the big leaves over other small plants to act as a barrier to wind. Or use them to weigh down tarps, etc.  I always try to reuse them in some way to help cover some plants. 

- Matt

[ruskinPalms]

NWS is forecasting 34F as the low for tonight for my area. Then 31F Sunday night and then 36F for Monday night.  I’m sure Sunday and Monday night will be colder than they have my forecast for as it will be more radiational by that time.  I’m not going to protect anything. Everything I have is just too big and not particularly exotic or irreplaceable anyway. I do have a C. macrocarpa that I’d hate to lose but I kinda want to test it out against the cold anyway. If stuff dies here this winter then it probably just isn’t going to work here long term anyway.  I took some pictures of the yard this morning so I can post some before and after photos. Some of my palms already have some cold damage on them from the frost earlier this week. Good luck to all!

[pj_orlando_z9b]

1 hour ago, JeskiM said:

For those of you cutting off palm leaves, or branches of trees/shrubs :

Don't forget that the leaves you cut off the palms can be reused to protect the plant.  You can pile the big leaves over other small plants to act as a barrier to wind. Or use them to weigh down tarps, etc.  I always try to reuse them in some way to help cover some plants. 

- Matt

When building my coconut frame, several old husks fell. Great insulators! I lined my young Christmas palm with them and set the C9 on them before wrapping. 

[aztropic]

C9's are the way to go. I used them with great success when I had to protect smaller palms years ago. Thankfully, we haven't had a real freeze in the Phoenix area in over 14 years.🤞🙏

 

aztropic 

Mesa, Arizona 

[RedRabbit]

Good luck everyone. We just had a similar cold event to what Orlando's about to get and it’s brutal for palms. Please protect what you can if you haven’t already.

Also, I suggest starting a new thread to document low temperatures with Wunderground screenshots. It could be a useful reference later.

[Jimbean]

44 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

 

Also, I suggest starting a new thread to document low temperatures with Wunderground screenshots. It could be a useful reference later.

 

You read my mind.  This is going to be historic for east Florida.  If the forecast holds, it will break all time records for the coldest temperatures on the space and treasure coasts for the month of February.

 

Just wrapped up my coconut palm and my Dypsis baronii.  I'm using a heated blanket to cover the heart of my coconut palm and Christmas lights and blankets to cover the cores as much as I can. 

[JDawgs]

I live in St. Augustine. Unfortunately I have a royal palm that I think is gonna die. I protected my king palm as well as I could. Also saturated the ground. The pygmy dates are likely to take a lot of damage. Says it’s getting down to 23, but hopefully it won’t. 

[MarkC]

Why does everything east of the Rockies typically trend colder? Why do the initial extremely cold  forecasts always back down from extent of the cold only to go back down in temps forecasting as the events unfold? Don’t the forecasters build this into their forecasting? 

[kinzyjr]

This is what everyone being in the same boat looks like when the boat is called The Titanic:

[HudsonBill]

8 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Why does everything east of the Rockies typically trend colder? Why do the initial extremely cold  forecasts always back down from extent of the cold only to go back down in temps forecasting as the events unfold? Don’t the forecasters build this into their forecasting? 

No idea but my area in florida it's always the radiational freezes they are way off on. They will say 35 and it's 28. 

[MarkC]

5 minutes ago, HudsonBill said:

No idea but my area in florida it's always the radiational freezes they are way off on. They will say 35 and it's 28. 

Good luck to you, this is gonna be very painful not just by the extremes but the extended duration which looks even colder now. 

[RiverCityRichard]

Used some tarps and 8 ft stakes at an angle to create a northerly wind block. Ran C9 lights under them. Also made some visqueen greenhouses on some smaller palms in the yard, and within the tarp windbreak.

Palms that are protected:

Coccothrinax Azul

Coccothrinax Hiorami

Pinanga Adagensis

Thrinax Radiata

Chamaedorea CostaRicana, Ernesti Augustii, Microspadix and Cataractarum

Chambeyronia Macrocarpa

Howea Forsteriana

Palms that are going to die:

Chrysalidocarpus Pembana, Lanceolata

Chambeyronia Oliviformis

Archontophoenix Myolensis, Tuckeri

Sabal Mauritiformis

Palms that got the crown wrapped and C9 lights and will defoliate:

Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana x2

Beccariophoenix Alfredii.

 

Forecast for SW Volusia 24 tonight, and 27 Sunday night.

[HudsonBill]

20 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Good luck to you, this is gonna be very painful not just by the extremes but the extended duration which looks even colder now. 

When i lived in pa it didn't matter radiational adjective blah blah blah they said 20 it was 20 it usually was always warmer than forecasted. Come here and looking at the firecast in teh winter is basically useless lol. It's always colder usually the day after the first night. Thank you my yard has already been beat up this winter and my firecast isn't much worse than it's already been. The onshore winds are keeping the west coast a bit warmer tonight. 

[FlaPalmLover]

I went ahead and wrapped up my foxtail as best as I could. Surely this will be enough to protect it. I also wrapped up the fronds of my king palm that's under canopy and my cunninghamiana that's in the open air (even though cunninghamiana are supposed to be more cold hardy iirc?). The foxtail's fronds are big enough that I think the cover should be safe in the wind, or at least I sure hope so.

[PalmBossTampa]

16 minutes ago, RiverCityRichard said:

Used some tarps and 8 ft stakes at an angle to create a northerly wind block. Ran C9 lights under them. Also made some visqueen greenhouses on some smaller palms in the yard, and within the tarp windbreak.

Palms that are protected:

Coccothrinax Azul

Coccothrinax Hiorami

Pinanga Adagensis

Thrinax Radiata

Chamaedorea CostaRicana, Ernesti Augustii, Microspadix and Cataractarum

Chambeyronia Macrocarpa

Howea Forsteriana

Palms that are going to die:

Chrysalidocarpus Pembana, Lanceolata

Chambeyronia Oliviformis

Archontophoenix Myolensis, Tuckeri

Sabal Mauritiformis

Palms that got the crown wrapped and C9 lights and will defoliate:

Archontophoenix Cunninghamiana x2

Beccariophoenix Alfredii.

 

Forecast for SW Volusia 24 tonight, and 27 Sunday night.

Stay warm Richard . 

[RiverCityRichard]

2 minutes ago, PalmBossTampa said:

Stay warm Richard . 

Likewise brother!

[PalmBossTampa]

Wrapped up my Caribbean stuff yesterday. All 4 Pseudophoenix, Coccothrinax Hiorami,Camaguyena,Borhidiana,Alta,Azul, and crinata

Also my Copernicia rigida and bailyana. Fallensis and Gigas look tough after 29 degrees so i left them to rough it out. Crinata had minimal damage at 29 degrees even at 24” size.  All the other Coccothrinax sp were down to spear plus 1-2 each.

I also wrapped my favorite sabals that i dont wish to push past 29 yet. They were unaffected by 29 degrees. Antillesis and Loughidiana

Got an Acrocomia acuelata that’s burned down to the spear but I didn’t give it any extra help for tonight. I rooted really deeply as a 1gal before i got any new fronds so it should bounce back.

I choose this portion of property to plant the natives as it maximizes daylight hours year-round…especially important in the winter though. The berms are sugar sand with soil amended in planting pits only. 

 

[JeskiM]

20 minutes ago, PalmBossTampa said:

Wrapped up my Caribbean stuff yesterday. All 4 Pseudophoenix, Coccothrinax Hiorami,Camaguyena,Borhidiana,Alta,Azul, and crinata

Also my Copernicia rigida and bailyana. Fallensis and Gigas look tough after 29 degrees so i left them to rough it out. Crinata had minimal damage at 29 degrees even at 24” size.  All the other Coccothrinax sp were down to spear plus 1-2 each.

I also wrapped my favorite sabals that i dont wish to push past 29 yet. They were unaffected by 29 degrees. Antillesis and Loughidiana

Got an Acrocomia acuelata that’s burned down to the spear but I didn’t give it any extra help for tonight. I rooted really deeply as a 1gal before i got any new fronds so it should bounce back.

I choose this portion of property to plant the natives as it maximizes daylight hours year-round…especially important in the winter though. The berms are sugar sand with soil amended in planting pits only. 

 

Some of the stuff I didn't cover last weekend  (Austin TX area) looks just like that. P. Sylvestris, Washie Robusta, and a few others. I had upper teens two nights in a row and was sub-freezing for ~ 60 hours, with piles of sleet that took 6 days to melt (in the shade).

Last year in a similar cold snap they froze, pulled the spears, etc, but they came back fine.

This year I protected more stuff and better. I used reflective bubble sheet insulation, pots, and mulch.  Here's what it looked like this morning (2nd cold snap in a week).

The one pic is a small P. sylvestris, the same one that spear pulled last year with barely any protection.  This time I cut off a few older leaves, mulched up to the spear. The leaves are already beyond crispy from last week, but the meristem will be fine, and that's really all that matters. I know it will be fine because I pulled the mulch back for a 48 hour period where we finally stayed above freezing and it was a very deep green vs the brown/grau crispy color the exposed leaves show.

Good luck to all down there the next few nights !!!

- Matt

[Palmarum]

8 hours ago, guygee said:

... Ordered a wireless temperature recording station on recommendation here to monitor temperatures tonight. 

I had a couple wireless thermometers but they stopped working. I placed large print ones outside of windows to be read with a flashlight. They are about 5 feet from the glass.

 

7 hours ago, guygee said:

"Before" pictures after heavy pruning. ...

I was going to tell people last night to take before pictures if they had time. The last thing I did for today after wrapping. While doing so, I had a rather plump mockingbird follow me around, as if to ask what she should do.

 

6 hours ago, JeskiM said:

... Don't forget that the leaves you cut off the palms can be reused to protect the plant.  You can pile the big leaves over other small plants to act as a barrier to wind. Or use them to weigh down tarps, etc.  I always try to reuse them in some way to help cover some plants.  - Matt

Good point, I had to trim everything before either moving plants to the garage or laying them down. I used the trimmings to pile onto smaller landscape material or just tossed it onto stuff. Cleaning can come later.

Ryan

[sonoranfans]

On 1/30/2026 at 7:43 AM, SubTropicRay said:

Palmetto?   Tom, if you drop below 35-37F there, I'll be shocked.  Along with Anna Maria, that area is one of thee warmest areas north of Ft. Myers.  You should do fine.  The heat is coming I promise 😄.  

weird disctrict, closer to ellenton(2 miles due north just east of us75 wherre it meets 275).  Im OK a bit numb to it all.  in 2010 it was 28F anna maria was 38F