Preparing for freezes with Washingtonias

[palmofmyhand]

Hey everyone, I bought some traditional incandescent christmas tree lights to help protect my Washingtonias. I can see that we will be having lows of 28 and 32 degrees in the upcoming week. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that I should know about before wrapping the lights around these bad boys? I was thinking about buying a thermocube as well so that it would kick them on automatically every time it drops down to 35 degrees. 

[JohnAndSancho]

That sounds like my forecast, just mine are a lot smaller and tbh I can't justify going that hard on protection for them. 

[NC-Key-Bar]

I thought this was really good advice. I’m planning to use this general method for my Washingtonias in zone 8. I appreciated the detail and up close look. 
My themocubes turn on at 37F, and off at 45F.  
Thanks @Allen

[MarcusH]

3 hours ago, palmofmyhand said:

Hey everyone, I bought some traditional incandescent christmas tree lights to help protect my Washingtonias. I can see that we will be having lows of 28 and 32 degrees in the upcoming week. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that I should know about before wrapping the lights around these bad boys? I was thinking about buying a thermocube as well so that it would kick them on automatically every time it drops down to 35 degrees. 

According to your weather forecast you don't have to do literally nothing.  Fronds will burn in the low 20s.  Temperatures in the low teens is more of a concern.  That's where Robusta hybrids really show how cold hardy they are. 

[N8ALLRIGHT]

I wouldn't sweat that forecast. You could just cover with a sheet for the cold evening if you want to. 

I personally think they won't blink at 28

[PalmatierMeg]

16 hours ago, N8ALLRIGHT said:

I wouldn't sweat that forecast. You could just cover with a sheet for the cold evening if you want to. 

I personally think they won't blink at 28

I agree. Washies are unfazed by temps hovering at freezing. They are good to the low 20s, even the teens but I would be prepared to protect if lows fall below 20F day or night unless they rebound quickly once the sun rises.

[palmofmyhand]

The lights don’t feel warm out in the cold even though they are incandescent but hopefully they will help. Got em set up now and will be using every night that we drop below freezing. Wish me luck guys.

[palmofmyhand]

Just an update, not bad at all of a reaction from these palms having the night down to 26 degrees and below freezing for 7 hours. Slight frond browning from freeze damage with the least mature one showing the most damage. Brown showing in the spots with the most frost, Hopefully the rest of the winter will be just fine for these things and they will continue growing at a fast pace. They are almost unfazed like you guys said. Got my fingers crossed that we have a mild winter but who knows what is to come.

[Allen]

On 11/18/2025 at 2:27 PM, palmofmyhand said:

Just an update, not bad at all of a reaction from these palms having the night down to 26 degrees and below freezing for 7 hours. Slight frond browning from freeze damage with the least mature one showing the most damage. Brown showing in the spots with the most frost, Hopefully the rest of the winter will be just fine for these things and they will continue growing at a fast pace. They are almost unfazed like you guys said. Got my fingers crossed that we have a mild winter but who knows what is to come.

Nice palms.  The palms will need to be wrapped or enclosed to provide more than the about 2F increase the unwrapped lights will give off on calm nights