Copernicia alba

[tank]

In north Florida.

Low of 21 F, 10 hours at freezing temps.

3 days of freezing temps.

No overhead protection.  Little or no frost.

15 mph winds, advective freeze.

No "new" damage.  This plant had a bad case of what I think was leaf skeletonizer.  I believe I took care of that problem and there doesn't appear to be any new damage from the freeze.

This plant is about 5ft OA, with about 1.5 ft of trunk.

[scl113074]

Do you have a picture of the palm, and is the palm protected by house or structure

[tank]

I'll try and get a picture up at some point.

My palm is not protected, is under minimal canopy and is not close to a structure.

I do have pictures of a couple C. alba located at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens.  These are located about 5 miles away from my location.  These are established (10ft CT) plants that are not protected and have survived lower temps than mine.  These have been posted before and should be floating around.  Maybe do a search under "alba" or "kanapaha".

[tank]

Here is a pic of one at the garden.

http://www.afn.org/~beladona/RHH%208.5.06%20010.jpg

[freakypalmguy]

27F and many hours and nights at or below freezing with many mornings with a short period of light frost. Small 1Ft tall three pinnate fronds, no damage.

[tikitiki]

I have two one is exposed and the other has canopy. No problems after two nights at 32f with the 2nd having frost.

[Gallop]

I have 3 C alba about 3' tall in an unprotected area 11 nights below freezing here in Pensacola Fl. Moderate damage

[Kailua_Krish]

Multiple nights below freezing ultimate low of around 20 degrees. Strap leafed seedling in open, most exposed leaves toast but already showing new growth.

-Krishna

[tank]

Low of 14F. 14 days straight of below freezing temps. 50% overhead protection. ~30 Plants in pots (1gal to 3gal). 70%+ leaf damage. 6 casualties so far. Rest are putting out new growth.

[Mauna Kea Cloudforest]

Here's a report on the Dec 2013 freeze. Copernicia alba really hardens off well in dry California weather, seems much hardier than when grown in humid Florida conditions. No overhead protection, fully exposed specimen.

Strong radiational freeze, my garden is on a hillside, lower garden got nailed pretty hard by cold drainage and wind protection. 5 nights below freezing for 9 hours or less per night, worst night was 26.6F, see data and graphs below for details.

Copernicia alba showing not a trace of damage. Note that a potted parajubaea sunkha 2 feet away got significant frost damage (probably not hardened off.)

Dec 4/5: 57.4F high, below 32F at 11.17PM steady decline to 26.6F at 7:30AM with a dewpoint of 16F. above freezing 8:47AM

Dec 5/6: 57.4F high, below 32F at 11:30PM steady decline to 29.8F from 4:30AM to 7AM, above freezing 8:30AM

Dec 6/7: 55.9F high, 50F overnight with 1 inch of rain

Dec 7/8: 53.1F high, below 32F at 11:30PM, steady decline to 28.6F, above freezing by 8:45AM

Dec 8/9: 55.9F high, below 32F at 11:30PM, steady decline to 28.6F, above freezing by 5:30AM

Dec 9/10, 60.8F high, below 32F at 6:30AM, down to 30.9F above freezing by 8:00AM

All temps available on Wunderground.

[freakypalmguy]

Grown from seed, apx 4 years old. Low of 25F last year, many many nights below freezing, and many mornings with frost, completely exposed, no damage. Strong grower for me

[Alicehunter2000]

3 palms ....two with 3 ft. of trunk, 1 with almost 20 ft. of trunk. This last winter we had an advective freeze with strong winds. The ultimate low was 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It stayed below freezing for about 30 hrs. although not at 20 degrees. This was the first Polar Vortex.

A couple of weeks later we received another blast of cold, this time it was accompanied by freezing rain. The ultimate low was in the mid 20's and the freeze lasted almost two days.

Two of the three Copernicia died despite all efforts to save them. One barely clings to life several months later. The only other large palms that died were two twenty foot Queens. I would rank these palms about the same.....neither are true 9a palms.

palm # 1

palm#2

palm#3

[_Keith]

3 palms ....two with 3 ft. of trunk, 1 with almost 20 ft. of trunk. This last winter we had an advective freeze with strong winds. The ultimate low was 20 degrees Fahrenheit. It stayed below freezing for about 30 hrs. although not at 20 degrees. This was the first Polar Vortex.

A couple of weeks later we received another blast of cold, this time it was accompanied by freezing rain. The ultimate low was in the mid 20's and the freeze lasted almost two days.

Two of the three Copernicia died despite all efforts to save them. One barely clings to life several months later. The only other large palms that died were two twenty foot Queens. I would rank these palms about the same.....neither are true 9a palms.20140823_122601.jpg20140823_122601.jpg

palm # 120140830_122124.jpg20140830_122530.jpg

palm#220140830_151335.jpg20140830_151340.jpg

palm#3

3 - 2 year seedlings, same weather as David. One died outright. Second appeared to be coming back, then died. Third one appears very healthy, but only 1 frond. Doubtful it will survive another winter, even normal 9a winter, much less a cold one.

[mnorell]

I beg to differ with David's assessment of the hardiness of Copernicia alba. These are definitely hardier than queens. My own experience at my garden up in Natchez, Mississippi is very different. And the winter was far colder (in length of intensity, not really in the absolute low, which was 18f). I planted a 1gal a few years ago and though it defoliates in the very low 20s, it comes roaring back. Getting a little size on it and the bud is above ground with quite a few leaves after last winter, so Keith's experience also seems odd to me. I am certainly thinking that David's experience is due to planting large specimens. Always dangerous from my perspective. I believe in planting small plants and letting them develop from there. But then again genetics varies from plant to plant and I may just have been lucky. Needless to say these will all die along the Gulf in an '89-style event, where temps will be 10f or lower. That's why I stick mostly with clumpers up in my Mississippi garden. Long term these are for Tampa-Orlando and south.

[tank]

Several C. albas here in Gainesville Fl have seen worst winters and survived. May have had to do with the bad luck of having relatively recently planted trees from south Florida and one of the worst freezes your area has seen in a while.

[Alicehunter2000]

I might try some free ones.... if anyone is willing to donate some...lol