Winter Prep 2026

[JohnAndSancho]

Ok. I've got a small Trachy fortunei, a small waggy x princeps, a couple Filibusta, and a Sabal Bermudana and Etonia and a Filifera in the yard. Prep would be absolutely minimal, like Styrofoam boxes on top of them. We're supposed to get lows of 14 this weekend. Do I box them up or do I just let them ride? They're all 1-3 gallon sized. All but the Trachies are close to the house and protected by wind from waist high brick walls. The Trachies are under canopy..

 

Pamper them or full send Leeroy Jenkins style? 

[JohnAndSancho]

23 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Ok. I've got a small Trachy fortunei, a small waggy x princeps, a couple Filibusta, and a Sabal Bermudana and Etonia and a Filifera in the yard. Prep would be absolutely minimal, like Styrofoam boxes on top of them. We're supposed to get lows of 14 this weekend. Do I box them up or do I just let them ride? They're all 1-3 gallon sized. All but the Trachies are close to the house and protected by wind from waist high brick walls. The Trachies are under canopy..

 

Pamper them or full send Leeroy Jenkins style? 

Ok just my thoughts. I think I put a Styrofoam box over the big Washie and the Trachy hybrid, maybe the Bermudana. Everything else will either live or get replaced. Other thoughts welcome. Probably shoulda done it today since it's rained all day long. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Eff it, we ride

[Chester B]

You need to protect them.  Too cold, too small and unestablished. There’s a good chance you’ll lose all of them.  

[JohnAndSancho]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

You need to protect them.  Too cold, too small and unestablished. There’s a good chance you’ll lose all of them.  

Ok, since you're smarter than me and have way more experience at me with this - I had a few Styrofoam boxes and a big thick plastic pot. Covered the big Washie and the Trachies and the Bermudana. I shook as much water as I could off of everything. The little Washie, @Harry’s Palms has a replacement and it looks like crap. The Filifera has always looked like crap. The Etonia is butted up in a corner so thoughts and prayers but from what I've been told, it should be ok. 

[ahosey01]

35 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Ok, since you're smarter than me and have way more experience at me with this - I had a few Styrofoam boxes and a big thick plastic pot. Covered the big Washie and the Trachies and the Bermudana. I shook as much water as I could off of everything. The little Washie, @Harry’s Palms has a replacement and it looks like crap. The Filifera has always looked like crap. The Etonia is butted up in a corner so thoughts and prayers but from what I've been told, it should be ok. 

Me personally I wouldn't touch the fortunei or the etonia just the other ones.

[Chester B]

3 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Me personally I wouldn't touch the fortunei or the etonia just the other ones.

A small and newly planted fortunei can’t handle 14F. Guaranteed spear pull and likely death.  I outright killed 5 last year at 19F. 

[ahosey01]

20 minutes ago, Chester B said:

A small and newly planted fortunei can’t handle 14F. Guaranteed spear pull and likely death.  I outright killed 5 last year at 19F. 

In fairness I didn't say I had experience at those temps.

Just that I wouldn't do shit about it.  lol

[JohnAndSancho]

3 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

Me personally I wouldn't touch the fortunei or the etonia just the other ones.

It's in a good spot and I broke my damn shovel cutting through the roots to get it there. I really don't wanna dig a trench and then go through it with a damn sawzall lol. 

24 minutes ago, Chester B said:

A small and newly planted fortunei can’t handle 14F. Guaranteed spear pull and likely death.  I outright killed 5 last year at 19F. 

They've bumped it up to 20 now so that probably means it'll end up being 12, my concern is how wet the ground is. Oh I didn't do anything for the Birmingham either, I forgot that one but it'll be fine. 

7 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

In fairness I didn't say I had experience at those temps.

Just that I wouldn't do shit about it.  lol

😂😂😂😂😂 

[80s Kid]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

A small and newly planted fortunei can’t handle 14F. Guaranteed spear pull and likely death.  I outright killed 5 last year at 19F. 

I'm sure most of you have a lot more experience than I do growing palms but I had two fortunei survive their first year with temps in the low teens when I still lived near Philadelphia. All I did for protection was mulch and use lots of dead leaves. They both made it through three winters and looked great before I moved to AZ. 

[Chester B]

13 hours ago, ahosey01 said:

In fairness I didn't say I had experience at those temps.

Just that I wouldn't do shit about it.  lol

Consider yourself fortunate!

19F and dry cold I thought they would be fine, they had a few inches of trunk.  I have some from the same batch that I planted this year at a larger size and I protected so we'll see how they do.