Why are the perioles dead looking???

Is this from the heat?

If this was my palm and because the leaves are already lost...
I would cut down about an inch at a time and see if there is live tissue.

Click for weather forecast

Doctor Jim, palm surgeon has spoken. :-)

Jim yeah like a dumb@ss I put the C-7 lights within the stems thinking I could keep 'em warm on that cold night. Did more harm than good as the contact with the light scorched them. My question though is lately we have been about 10* below normal (highs in the low-mid 40's) with some freezing at night. Will it be okay to perform surgery this time of year without harm?

My two cents. Even though the petioles are scorched on the outside, they may well be alive inside, especially since the leaves themselves are mostly still green. Having said that, then they may still be providing sustenance to the plant in general, and may help to revitalize the growing point way down inside the trunk. I think I'd wait a bit before cutting anything, unless you see signs of rot or infection in the damaged areas. When the weather warms, you might find a new spear showing up.

{{gwi:5901}}

I agree with Jim that you should try trunk cutting so you can see if you're working with live tissue or not. If not, then you won't have to waste your time waiting for it to recover, when you could rip it out and replace it with another one that could be establishing itself. I would wait until the threat of temps of 30 and under are out of the picture before you perform surgery.

Yeah I think trunk cutting it would be a good idea. I use small bulb christmas lights that dont generate too much heat for my palms. I put them right up against the trunk and petioles and fortunately I have not had any problems with heat damage during the winter with my palms.

If you can keep the palm covered from all moisture, then I think you can trunk cut it now (or maybe a few weeks from now when temperatures are milder). If you wait too long it might rot even more, but then again trunk cutting it now will expose it to even more cold and moisture.

Good luck! Hope it comes back for you!
-Alex

With those temps you should just have to cover the palm. Get rid of the lights.

I would take Jim's advice, cause I think you may have toasted this palm.

Its a shame cuz this is what it looked like at planting.

So the fact that the leaves are still green doesn't mean that the petioles are only burned on the outside, but still viable inside, carrying water and nutrients to and from the leaves and the roots? I would think the leaves would have turned brown and dead if the leaf stalks were burned clear through. And if the leaves are still nourishing the plant, why cut them off right away? What's the rush?

{{gwi:5901}}

Question: why, why are you putting lights on a trachy in zone 8b?? I think it's pretty safe to say that absolutely none of the damage you see is from your low of 18F. That's not going to harm a trachy, no matter how late in the year you planted it. I wouldn't even think about protecting any of mine unless we were forecasted to have overnight temps of 5F or below. You guys performing your "surgery" & pouring all kinds of stuff down the crown just kill me. Leave the poor thing alone, and it will stand a much better chance of survival. It's called PATIENCE!!

@ John the reasoning behind the lights was in fact because I thought since I put it in the ground so late (date stamp on pic says mid-Sep)that it was vulnerable. During that same cold spell we had windchill that was in the lows teens to single digits.

Windchill temperatures don't affect plants as such. That is merely an indication of what temperature and wind feel like on our skin. Example, a glass of water placed out in 34 degree temperature, with a strong wind that gives a wind chill of 20 degrees, will still not freeze. Having said that, wind does affect plants with broad leaves, especially in winter when it can cause increased transpiration (plants equivalent of perspiration) and so drying can be an issue if the soil is frozen and can't supply liquid water, or often because we don't water in winter like we do in summer.

{{gwi:5901}}

I think people are not aware that growing palms in the north
we run into spear-pull quite often and are quite familiar with it.

I have had some palms that would have recovered on
there own but not enough to face another winter.

I don't just cut trunks on Trachys..............

What I go by is the other Trachys,if they have started to grow
and some others with pull don't,it doesn't hurt to take a look.

I want to say that I would only suggest trunk cutting if
you feel like you are losing the palm.

The fact that this is from burning rather than cold means
that it may recover quickly with no spear-pull.

The only issue with not cutting as a preventative measure
to slow the rots progress is that the indicator of the palms
general health(namely the condition of the leaves) can not
be read at this point do to the damage.

You may just want to take a peak in there and see if the spear
is green,if the palm is ok,I think you could peel
some of the ligules,etc back to see what there is to see.

Click for weather forecast

BTW

Your account of you guys pouring this or cutting that is more than a liitle insulting.

The numbers you quoted for Trachys are probably accurate
for larger mature(established) plants but are inaccurate
for smaller palms like Larrick's and many of ours up north
well out of there zones.

I do agree with you about the Christmas light completely...

Also

Let me know if you think this palm would have survived by just leaving it alone and being "PATEINT"(-;

This palm would have had to grow through a foot and a half of disgusting rot to push a spear.

Also

That nice green leaf you see in the first pic died,
this was the indictor that rot was spreading rapidly downward.

Sometimes you have to act.

Click for weather forecast

I just went out and checked and guess what...SPEAR PULL! So it too will be getting surgery in a week or two. Hoping I have luck with it like Jim. BTW Jim how long prior to surgery did you notice it had rot? Dang it I just have the worst luck with trachys. They are suppose to be bullet proof in my area. That is until I get my hands on one!

Mine was knocked out by Jan 1.

I cut it in early April.

They can be a little cold sensitive the first year esp.

At this point there is really no reason not to do some exploratory surgery...just cut a little at a time....

I forgot to answer somethong you asked about too...

if you do cut it,you need to protect the crown from moisture at least until you see movement.

If you have 70F weather you could see movement in a day or less.

But-it could take some time and it is not automatic that they recover...it should keep growing.

Click for weather forecast

Earthworm,
You didn't say in your original post that you had not already checked for spear pull, so now that you have checked, and the spear pulled, that's another story. Jim is absolutely right that you should do some exploratory, and even as I had said in one of my replies, keep an eye out for rot and disease. You'd want to remove any rot for sure. Good luck with it. I hope it comes back strong.

{{gwi:5901}}

So the decision has been made to do surgery. So do it now or wait until warmer weather?

Looks like the weather is pretty wet in the PNW right now so I would keep it completely covered from the cold moisture if you decide to trunk cut it now. And when you trunk cut it you should probably do it on a sunny mild day so things have a chance to dry off a little bit hopefully keeping more of the bud from rotting.
Good luck! Hope it makes it!
-Alex

Thanks guys/gals for the suggestions. I feel better about this one now. Might hold off on the surgery for a few more weeks to wait and see. Anyone wanna take Jim's lead and post some pics of their trachy that was on life support after spear pull that came roaring back?

I am just so perplexed by your misfortune. I have family on the Puget Sound and am always so amazed by all the windmill palms I see out there. They are so well suited for your mild climate. Keep on fighting.

I would cut it and cover it now(if need be),don't keep it
covered it needs to breath,this will slow the rot too,if any is left.

Warm weather can cause the rot to explode.

If you don't see rot or something disgusting going on right away,
maybe you could leave it and see if it corrects.

I would take a look now,if I would have done this sooner
I would not have lost as much trunk!

Click for weather forecast

Jim does sound good. Cut it and put a 5 gallon bucket over it when it rains at night (when there is still a threat of below freezing temps)?

The cause may not have been the temperature, it was the time it was planted, in September which is a bit late in the year to plant palms. The other factor may have been where the palm was grown at the nursery, if it was a California source it will take a few years with protection to aclimatize compared to one grown in Washington State that is hardened off to your local conditions.

Did you read his original post?

Click for weather forecast

Did your palm come back?

@Earthworm

The plant should recover, don't dig it up! If you see any fungi in it use copper fungicide. Or you can pour a VERY small amount of hydrogen peroxide down the middle of the spear. But just give it time.

Palmtreedude you must have misread the post the last pic I posted is of the recovered palm. It went from what you see at the very beginning to this (pic taken last night). I'm expecting it to double in size this season.