2026 2026_02 - Florida Palmageddon Observations and Damage Photo Thread

[idontknowhatnametuse]

So as pretty much everyone knows already, this weekend is going to be rough for palm (And other tropical/subtropical plant) growers and collectors in the Florida Peninsula. This upcoming freeze could break the temperture records of their most recent bad freeze in 2010 and reset the growing zones to lower numbers (Like Orlando Zone 10 ➤ Zone 9). I created this thread so that floridian forumers could post before/after photos of their collection and other palms growing in this region. When the 2021 freeze happened, the Palmageddon Aftermath Photo Thread was created by @ahosey01 and I personally learned a lot from it, and from my own experience with that freeze killing my coconut, royal and adonidia palms.

I think it'll be very interesting to see what gets hit and what doesn't, what recovers and what doesn't recover. Will definitely help guide people in similar zones and climates to know what species to plant.

Fortunately for floridians, everything indicates that this will be a mostly dry freeze, there are no signs of freezing rain coming with it. This might change as the hours pass but it's most likely that there won't be rain with this.

Best of luck everyone, remember to protect your palms before it's too late and feel free to share your photos.

[Palmarum]

It's going to be a depressing topic.

Ryan

[idontknowhatnametuse]

7 hours ago, Palmarum said:

It's going to be a depressing topic.

Ryan

Who knows, recovery stories are always part of these type of topics.

[TropicsEnjoyer]

Glad that so far I have nothing good (bad) to post here.

[Las Palmas Norte]

On 1/31/2026 at 12:15 AM, Palmarum said:

It's going to be a depressing topic.

Ryan

... or, why was I so worked up over such an ephemeral event?

[Roystonea Reggie]

Just got in from a walk around my recently developed neighborhood on the Space Coast mainland and palmageddon is correct. The cycads appear to be roughing it out, but all the young queens and foxtails already showing the brown tinge of death and I suspect the triangle and bottle palms will follow suit this week. Of course my coconut is dead and the interior fronds of the Areca are just barely hanging on. There’s well over 1,000 deceased trees. 🕊️ 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

46 minutes ago, Roystonea Reggie said:

There’s well over 1,000 deceased trees. 🕊️ 

Ficus? The huge Ficus benjamina that once were the most common tree in my city vanished after February 2011.

[Matthew92]

Caryota/Fishtail palms look to be already showing damage in Avatar-land at Animal Kingdom.

[Matthew92]

At the Polynesian resort at Disney this morning. Foxtail looks off-color. Philodendron selloum wilted, but some of those leaves actually might still survive. I've found that somewhere below 25 degrees is when the leaves on Philodendron selloum really start getting damaged, so this was borderline. 

[Matthew92]

This live-streamer passed by the famous Satakentia in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom. Best shots I could get of it. Frond already looks brown.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

35 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

Caryota/Fishtail palms look to be already showing damage in Avatar-land at Animal Kingdom.

Immediate damage like that suggests that ice formed on top of those palms

[idontknowhatnametuse]

23 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

At the Polynesian resort at Disney this morning. Foxtail looks off-color. Philodendron selloum wilted, but those leaves actually might still survive. I've found that somewhere below 25 degrees is when the leaves on Philodendron selloum really start getting damaged, so this was borderline. 

Those foxtails will be completely brown by next week.

[MarkC]

41 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

Caryota/Fishtail palms look to be already showing damage in Avatar-land at Animal Kingdom.

I recently noticed on the walk to World Of Avatar(the path that takes you past Tifins)that one of the larger ones was already dead, the growth point was gone. 
 

Also noticed that a few of the Washingtonias on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood Studios near Anaheim Produce were replaced, one bizarrely replaced with a much much shorter ribbon palm. 

[Matthew92]

18 minutes ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

Those foxtails will be completely brown by next week.

Yes I recall after Jan 2018 (27-28 deg) they were quite brown at Disney even then. 

[MarkC]

1 hour ago, Matthew92 said:

This live-streamer passed by the famous Satakentia in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom. Best shots I could get of it. Frond already looks brown.

Maybe a bit of hyperbole, there’s no way it was 24F at the time this was taken, that was probably the low in Bay Lake. At any rate, I remember reading about what happened around The Jungle Cruise during the 1980’s where all the tropicals died and had to be temporarily replaced with potted plants and plastic palms. 

[Bazza]

Hey all -  I'm in New Smyrna Beach on the barrier island and have a lot of nice specimens in my yard so naturally am freaking out a bit, as many here are too.

I soaked my grounds over 2 days time leading up to the event hoping that along with the coastal location might help mitigate damage.

I put some C9 Christmas lights up around 3 of my palms...2 Ptychosperma elegans and 1 Archontophoenix cunninghamiana.  And heating pads around the trunk of my Satakentia liukiuensis .

I also brought as much potted material inside my home as possible.....palms, bromeliads, orchids, crotons, & misc.

So there was still a lot outside and exposed.

I have numerous Archontophoenix palms on the property, 2 Royals, a Dypsis cabadae, large Areca lutescens that was here when I bought the place 30 years ago, 3 large Coconuts planted back in 2017 from 30 gal pots, various Cycads including 2 very nice Queen Sagos, some Dypsis pembana - 2 still in pots and 1 planted, a nice Veitchia joannis, a very nice double trunk Dictyosperma album plus some in pots, a nice trio of very mature Foxtails that I planted back in '06, a nice Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, and some other odds and ends including many that are considered cold hardy so I wont mention those.

I just came in from a walkabout on my property and am see damage on a few including the Coconuts, Satakentia, Royals, but the Archontophonix are actually looking stout at this time. Some off color but nothing like the others that are showing damage.

I realize we won't know the extent of damage yet for a week or so but wanted to share what I'm seeing in my location. Cheers!

My Satakentia:

 

One of my 3 Coconuts. They are all the same size:

 

My Veitchia joannis:

 

My Bottle:

 

My 3 Foxtails:

 

My 2 Royals:

 

My double trunk Dictyosperma album"

[Matthew92]

20 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Maybe a bit of hyperbole, there’s no way it was 24F at the time this was taken, that was probably the low in Bay Lake. At any rate, I remember reading about what happened around The Jungle Cruise during the 1980’s where all the tropicals died and had to be temporarily replaced with potted plants and plastic palms. 

When he started the stream it was just before the sun came up so it probably was 24 (or close to it) at first. 

[JD in the OC]

I'm in South Florida zone 10b. I wrapped up a few in-ground palms 
Adonidia dransfeldii 
Caryota ophiopellis 
Cyrtostachys renda (plus space heater)

Tribear seed rack

Plus 

Chrysalidocarpus basilongus in 25gal pot

and brought all my potted palms into my garage with my mini split on HEAT mode set at 76deg, grow lights, fans, water puddle on floor for humidity.

 

My weather station on my roof said 36deg F this morning for about an hour.  They're calling for 37deg tomorrow. Then we warm up 

JD

[idontknowhatnametuse]

45 minutes ago, Bazza said:

Hey all -  I'm in New Smyrna Beach on the barrier island and have a lot of nice specimens in my yard so naturally am freaking out a bit, as many here are too.

I soaked my grounds over 2 days time leading up to the event hoping that along with the coastal location might help mitigate damage.

I put some C9 Christmas lights up around 3 of my palms...2 Ptychosperma elegans and 1 Archontophoenix cunninghamiana.  And heating pads around the trunk of my Satakentia liukiuensis .

I also brought as much potted material inside my home as possible.....palms, bromeliads, orchids, crotons, & misc.

So there was still a lot outside and exposed.

I have numerous Archontophoenix palms on the property, 2 Royals, a Dypsis cabadae, large Areca lutescens that was here when I bought the place 30 years ago, 3 large Coconuts planted back in 2017 from 30 gal pots, various Cycads including 2 very nice Queen Sagos, some Dypsis pembana - 2 still in pots and 1 planted, a nice Veitchia joannis, a very nice double trunk Dictyosperma album plus some in pots, a nice trio of very mature Foxtails that I planted back in '06, a nice Hyophorbe lagenicaulis, and some other odds and ends including many that are considered cold hardy so I wont mention those.

I just came in from a walkabout on my property and am see damage on a few including the Coconuts, Satakentia, Royals, but the Archontophonix are actually looking stout at this time. Some off color but nothing like the others that are showing damage.

I realize we won't know the extent of damage yet for a week or so but wanted to share what I'm seeing in my location. Cheers!

My Satakentia:

 

One of my 3 Coconuts. They are all the same size:

 

My Veitchia joannis:

 

My Bottle:

 

My 3 Foxtails:

 

My 2 Royals:

 

My double trunk Dictyosperma album"

I'm pretty sure most of what you have will survive. It's only bronzing, they did not toast outright like palms down here after 2021. Better keep an eye on the spears of your palms. Nice collection too.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

9 minutes ago, JD in the OC said:

I'm in South Florida zone 10b. I wrapped up a few in-ground palms 
Adonidia dransfeldii 
Caryota ophiopellis 
Cyrtostachys renda (plus space heater)

Tribear seed rack

Plus 

Chrysalidocarpus basilongus in 25gal pot

and brought all my potted palms into my garage with my mini split on HEAT mode set at 76deg, grow lights, fans, water puddle on floor for humidity.

 

My weather station on my roof said 36deg F this morning for about an hour.  They're calling for 37deg tomorrow. Then we warm up 

JD

36f doesn't do any important damage to most palms, unless we're talking about species like Cyrtostachys renda, Salacca or Pigafetta, we got down to 36f 2 weeks ago and even palms like Cocos nucifera had no damage from that. 

[JD in the OC]

Key West got down to 53 deg according to weather bug... That blows my mind!  Never seen it that cold in the Keys!

That's like Waikiki Beach getting down to 53 deg on the beach! (which is admittedly a bit closer to the equator, but not by much)

JD

[Ktrack11]

2 hours ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

I'm pretty sure most of what you have will survive. It's only bronzing, they did not toast outright like palms down here after 2021. Better keep an eye on the spears of your palms. Nice collection too.

We still have to get through tonight …

[Merlyn]

Just pasting over the local Sanford area temp data for future reference:

The Sanford airport hit 23F around 6-7AM.  This is essentially the same as my yard low of 22.6F.  I had roughly 12 hours below freezing and moderate winds with no frost.  I covered with boxes two Corypha, an Arenga Westerhoutii, two Arenga Hookeriana, and an Attalea Phalerata and Butyracea.  I forgot to cover a small Attalea Speciosa up front last night, but covered it for tonight.

In historical terms it ties 10th place for the coldest of all time here.  In terms of cold events it places 6th, and is the coldest February on record:

1. December 24-26th 1989 with 19, 19 and 23F...three of the top 10 coldest in Sanford history
2. January 21-23rd with 19, 19 and 21F...another 3 of 10
3. January 14th 1981 at 20F
4. December 25-26th 1983 at 22 and 21F
5. December 13th 1962 at 21F
6. Today tied with January 20th, 1977 at 23F.

For sure the 1980s were much, much worse for Sanford than today.  I can see (just based on minimums) why 1989 is still talked about.

[kinzyjr]

1 hour ago, JD in the OC said:

Key West got down to 53 deg according to weather bug... That blows my mind!  Never seen it that cold in the Keys!

That's like Waikiki Beach getting down to 53 deg on the beach! (which is admittedly a bit closer to the equator, but not by much)

JD

Record lows for Key West (41F) and Key Largo (35F) are surprising.  Last time Key West hit 41F was 2010.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

Temperatures are already starting to go down rapidly. Good luck in this second night everyone.

[kinzyjr]

Following @Merlyn's lead:

[idontknowhatnametuse]

11 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Following @Merlyn's lead:

Very interesting that while our regions still get freezes, they are considerably less cold than the monster freezes from the 20th century.

[Matthew92]

On 2/1/2026 at 1:34 PM, Matthew92 said:

At the Polynesian resort at Disney this morning. Foxtail looks off-color. Philodendron selloum wilted, but some of those leaves actually might still survive. I've found that somewhere below 25 degrees is when the leaves on Philodendron selloum really start getting damaged, so this was borderline. 

This livestreamer guy did the same walk this morning. Same view. Philodendron selloum perked up! Foxtail definitely browning though. One thing to take into account though is that the grounds of the Polynesian Resort are protected by a lot of buildings and is right on a somewhat large lake so the temp here may not have been as bad as other nearby areas.

[Matthew92]

Disney’s Polynesian this morning. Heliconia leaves looked curled but haven’t turned brown yet. 

 

Foxtails definitely showing it

[Matthew92]

Hard to tell but if you look closely the cardboard palms are about half brown.

Strelitzia nicolai mostly unscathed? Or just not showing damage yet. I’d be surprised if they don’t show more damage. When I visited Disney after January 2018 I found some Strelitzia nicolai at the Polynesian that were mostly trunk as the damaged leaves had to be cut away. And that feeeze was not even as severe as this one. In my town, I notice that at around 26-27deg and below is when the leaves will start to get all brown and contorted.


A damaged Crinum lily alongside some shrub hedge that is also damaged. 

[Matthew92]

Couldn’t get a better image but the Satakentias at the Polynesian appear to be quite brown. 

 

Some kind of tropical broadleaf tree by the pool completely brown 

More brown foxtails and the large Ficus aurea (I think that’s the species) in the back left. I just looked up online that this species can naturally lose some of its leaves in the cooler weather in FL but I don’t recall seeing this one so leafless ever before. But this would be from earlier cold weather if that was the case. 

 

More shrub hedges browned (these might be Hibiscus or Ixora?)

At Magic Kingdom the guy filming noted that  some of the damaged plants were giving off a distinct smell. this was near Cinderellas castle.

[idontknowhatnametuse]

18 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

Couldn’t get a better image but the Satakentias at the Polynesian appear to be quite brown. 

 

Some kind of tropical broadleaf tree by the pool completely brown 

More brown foxtails and the large Ficus aurea (I think that’s the species) in the back left. I just looked up online that this species can naturally lose some of its leaves in the cooler weather in FL but I don’t recall seeing this one so leafless ever before. But this would be from earlier cold weather if that was the case. 

 

More shrub hedges browned (these might be Hibiscus or Ixora?)

At Magic Kingdom the guy filming noted that  some of the damaged plants were giving off a distinct smell. this was near Cinderellas castle.

I think those satakentia are definitely either dead or going to lose all foliage. What other supertropical species grow in there?

[Merlyn]

Here's a view of the windy 22.6F and then 24.4F with light frost does to the backyard:

The two Bottles on the right were already badly damaged from previous upper 20s frosts.  The foxtails and fishtails on the right are almost completely brown.  Oddly enough the Ptychosperma Schefferi just behind the Bottles looks discolored but maybe ok?  I really thought that one was a wimp?  The Alfredii looks much worse today than yesterday, and has turned a sickly olive.  To the right of the Alfredii a Cryosophila Warscewiczii looks really good, but Cyphophoenix Nucele and Elaeis Guineensis "Whole Leaf" mutant are torched.  On the left a Dioon Spinulosum and Dypsis/Chrysalidocarpus Lanceolata are torched.  Elsewhere Lutescens and Pembana are equally burnt.  Not quite visible is a badly burned Attalea Brejinhoensis, and of course on the far left a Sabal "Lisa" looks like nothing happened.

Up front I had more tender species, since it's usually a few degrees warmer in the front yard:

The 3 Kings on the right are likely dead, the Arenga Pinnata hard to say, and the giant Encephalartos Ituriensis is defoliated.

Around the front a bunch of Encephalartos are also badly burned, with Ituriensis, Laurentianus and Gratus x Laurentianus at least partially defoliated.  The "Jesse Durko" bamboo is rapidly becoming a mass of sticks:

On the East side the Philodendron Selloum turned to stinky mush the first night.  On the far left a Butia shrugged it off, but a pair of Kings are scarlet red.  Just below the octagon window another Elaeis Guineensis is torched just as bad as the background fishtail and right foreground Arenga Pinnata.  The box in the bottom foreground covered a Corypha Umbraculifera.  With the box as protection the fans were burnt off but the petioles and new spear still look ok:

Just to the left of the above photo a pair of 20+ foot Alfredii still look tattered but reasonably decent.  The Encephalartos Kisambo shrugged it off:

[Merlyn]

And a couple of last photos for today.  The two Alfredii are peeking up over the mass of dead Tiger Grass leaves, but the Sabal Mauritiiformis looks pretty good!  Encephalartos Ituriensis on the left is pretty bad...:

I didn't get a good photo of the Copernicia Baileyana today, but it looks really good.  The fans of the below Fallaensis peeking up in the middle are a bit burnt, but the other sheltered ones look fine.  The Cycas Multipinnata is defoliated, and the crimson red Dioon Spinulosum on the right is impressive.  A small Syagrus Schizophylla in the lower middle looks D-E-D, which is surprising.  I thought Schizophylla was pretty hardy.  The Furfuracea is crispy as expected, and even the lower left Dioon Merolae isn't happy:

[Matthew92]

Wow @Merlyn it sure is a hard sight to see, but I bet you are going to have some miraculous recoveries amongst your collection still. Will also be good data to see the limits of cold tolerance to many of these.

[FlaPalmLover]

The damage was pretty severe at my place. A quadruple king and a single archontophoenix cunninghamiana are both almost certainly dead. My bigger foxtail's fronds are looking very brown and the spear has shriveled up, so I don't know if it has any chance of a recovery. Its crownshaft is still fairly green, for now, so I don't know if that provides any room for hope, but it doesn't look good. 

[Merlyn]

51 minutes ago, FlaPalmLover said:

The damage was pretty severe at my place. A quadruple king and a single archontophoenix cunninghamiana are both almost certainly dead. My bigger foxtail's fronds are looking very brown and the spear has shriveled up, so I don't know if it has any chance of a recovery. Its crownshaft is still fairly green, for now, so I don't know if that provides any room for hope, but it doesn't look good. 

If the bud is still alive it'll start pushing the "dead" spear further up to "normal" length anyway.  If the bud is ok the biggest risk is a fungal infection.  For anything within reach I'll be doing a hydrogen peroxide pour and follow up with Daconil.  Hopefully that'll be a good preventative for things that don't have a D-E-D bud or trunk daamage.  I will probably do a soil drench of Banrot or Alliette on many palms and cycads, starting tomorrow.  

I am not planning on cutting any fronds or chopping anything down until March, except in cases where it's blatantly obvious.  There are some small seedlings that are obviously burnt to a crisp and have no chance.  I'll be marking a lot of spears horizontally with a sharpie to check for movement.

[Kiplin]

So it looks like I took a severe hit. Just got home and of course it's dark out, but overall, it doesn't look good from a first inspection. So we hit 26f for around an hour and were under 32 for about 11 hours. The second night, we dropped to 31 for maybe 30 minutes. So here are some data points for anyone curious:

The coconut looks like it just took a severe beating. Still has green ribs on the fronds but the leaflets are mostly browned out. Certainly losing all the fronds. Can't tell what the spear looks like at this point. Hate that I have to ask, does any green on the palm mean it's heart is still beating? Maybe there's a chance???

Archontopheonix Alexandrae: this is a small palm, maybe 2 ft of trunk. Totally browned out.

Archontopheonix Tuckeri: these were next to a big boulder wall but without much of a canopy.  2ft of trunk. They look great, very little yellowing.

Buccaneer palm: this guy was out in the open and took this like a champ. Looks great. We'll see how it looks in the daylight but I'm seeing very little bronzing. One of the top performers for sure.

Dypsis pembanas: I have a lot of these. Some bronzed a bit but doesn't look bad. Most of them look really good. I think the clumping ones handle these cold spells the best since the sheer volume of tightly packed fronds help protect each other. They handled this probably the second best to the Buccaneer.

Dypsis lutescens: I have a lot of these as well. They did well, also heavily clumped so they managed things just fine. Some bronzing to the exterior fronds that were exposed the most.

Some variety of a Christmas palm: didn't do very well, think I Iost these (2). 8ft trunk and 3ft trunk.

Keptiosis olivformis: these are big specimens, trunk at least 15 ft. I have 5 of them. One was heavily exposed to the wind and looks really beat up. Lots of bronzing but still plenty of green. 2 that are protected by some bamboo and the side of the house look unscathed. 2 more that were not as well protected but not totally exposed look to be bronzed but ok. They should be able to push through.

Areca vestiaria: this little palm doesn't do much growing for me but it didn't skip a beat. I was very surprised to see it not browned out completely. But it looks just as good now as it did before the storm.

Roystonea regia: this one is a big tree with plenty of grey wood, at least 15 ft. Its hard to tell how it did. I can see green ribs but can't get a good view on the frond leaflets. At first impression, it seemed like it was ok but now I'm thinking there's a lot of brown. This one was out in the open and was totally exposed. I'll have to report back. 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa: got blasted. Green ribs and crownshafts look good but the leaflets are browned out. I had 3 healthy ones and 2 that were struggling from the hurricanes over the last couple years. The 2 that were struggling I think got wiped out. The other 3, maybe a chance. It'll take a really long time though to see this recovery since I only get 3 new fronds a year if I'm lucky.

Very sad to see all the years of work wiped out so quickly.  But that's the game we play up here in Central FL.

[FlaPalmLover]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

If the bud is still alive it'll start pushing the "dead" spear further up to "normal" length anyway.  If the bud is ok the biggest risk is a fungal infection.  For anything within reach I'll be doing a hydrogen peroxide pour and follow up with Daconil.  Hopefully that'll be a good preventative for things that don't have a D-E-D bud or trunk daamage.  I will probably do a soil drench of Banrot or Alliette on many palms and cycads, starting tomorrow.  

I am not planning on cutting any fronds or chopping anything down until March, except in cases where it's blatantly obvious.  There are some small seedlings that are obviously burnt to a crisp and have no chance.  I'll be marking a lot of spears horizontally with a sharpie to check for movement.

I think I'll give this a shot as well. I don't want to just immediately give up on them. I went and looked at the foxtail some more and there's still green in parts of the fronds. It's kind of a waxy brownish-green in some parts. The bigger spear is still firm towards the bottom and only the top is shriveled up. It definitely won't pull out yet, at least without significant force. The archontophoenix all have green left in their crownshafts, and the spears are at least partially brown but otherwise firm. I'm assuming the spears may weaken in the next couple of weeks.

I will wait until early March to fertilize them and then give it another month or two before deciding whether to replace. I don't know how soon I should be applying peroxide and daconil. I won't wait too long. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Iin Belle Isle, here is my summary for 2/1:

10.5 hrs 32.0 or lower

6.5 hrs 28-32

4 hrs 25.7 - 28

For 2/2: bottomed at 34.5 as light west winds off the lake gave me protection from radiational cooling. 

Winds were relentless. 50 mph gusts destroyed my coco frame and even started unraveling wraps. 

Coco and foxtail: protected but heavily bronzed with a smidge of green on some fronds near the top. Foxtail same.

Christmas palms: protected. As of now, more green than i expected. But I assume all will brown over next couple weeks. 

Beccariophoenix in pic below looks good. A few bronzed tips.

I'll give other updates soon but these are my priorities. One observation...there js a new 2 story home in Belle Isle that has foxtails on the east side, wind protected. Brown but the one against the house looked as I drove by today, to be completely green. I had to do a double take but was driving by. I will.go verify this week and take a picture if I saw correctly.