Quite a few are uncovered for now-mostly the Sabals and a
few of the Trachys are uncovered except for a light cover to keep night frost off.

I like to pull the lights up as soon as possible so I can pull the mulch back
and allow the sun to warm the soil...soil temps started @36F lets see what a couple mild
days in the 40s and 50s does to the sol temp.

All spear-pull was cause one night before protect...23F was the forecasted low 14F actual

Fort x Wag has pulled every year but the first,lost another leaf but should recover from here on out.

T.Nanus had already pulled from bug spray well before winter )-:

C.Cerifera lost it's top last year but regrew from pups-it lost one spear over the winter.

My little Takil pulled but should recover and appears to have survived it's first winter.

S.Louisiana and (S-pulled) T.Bulgaria

T.Tesan-(S-pull)-this one has had a rough life,spear-pulling a half a dozen times
in 3 years from cheap bug spray-supposed to be Neem but was mostly veggie oil!

Sabal Louisiana and Princeps-Princeps puller too )-:

Leaves are mostly in good shape-good winter to plant a Princeps!

B.Eriospatha was also not amused by previous rainfall and 14F temps and pulled for the first time in 4 years!
Looks like it will come back..inspite of the gaping hole in the center.

I think the rest are o.k.-this definitely shows the difference a little more size makes as the "bigger"palms did not pull
and should be ready for last protection in the future-later on with the protection and earlier off...ideally.

Small Takil-one of very few small palms to survive 14F intact,probably because the bud is lower to the ground.

One of the trunk cut Fortunei from a few years ago.

Nainital in it's 4' tall enclosure.

This Cerifera has been as tough as any Fortunei-etc,surviving numerous visits to the single digits....
(never pulled!)this palm may be as hardy as Fortunei.

Little Waggie with S.Brazoria behind it.

Couple more S.Louisiana-I really love this Sabal!

Yet another S.Lou and a Needle palm.

Another Needle palm

Bigger Waggie

T.Bulgaria,S.Lou,Needle,Waggie and S.Brazoria.

Looking in front of Cactus house-I was very tempted to remove this cover for
just the rain shield from hear on out-kind of a tough call right now-all in all-
because I would normally uncover in less than 2 weeks...I think I will wait a little longer.(-;

This is the bigger Fortunei that was trunk cut to the ground 2 springs ago-not a bad recovery for 2 years!

Click for weather forecast

I see your Waggies made it through without spear pull.I think there a better all around palm,than regular fortuneis.I have one waggie planted in the ground,this winter didn't even phase it.It continued to grow all winter.I think they can take winter rain better.After seeing how well it took all the rain and cold this winter I bought me two more.

You gotta love those S.louisianas for there toughness.Plus they love water,even in winter here.I bought 100 S.Louisiana seeds to put in the very back of my yard.It stays wet after a rain longer than any other place in my yard.They grow naturally in swampy like areas so they should do well there.

Your T.princeps pulled too.Mine died from all the rain.It just rotted it.It was the first one I've tried in the ground.It was a 3gal.size planted last spring.I might get another one but if I do I will grow it in a pot to at least a 5gal.size before planting it in the ground.I've read on a lot of palm forums that they now rate them as a zone 9a palm.Than again I've read that they are a zone 7a palm.Who knows.

I think all your palms will make a good recovery.Heck look at the fortunei that was trunk cut 2yrs ago.You work wonders with cold damaged palms.Your the first person I ever seen trunk cut a palm and it made a great recovery.You need a new screen name,The Palm Doctor,LOL.

Randy

Bill from Mass and I were just discussing how we like to let
these bake in early spring inside their protection....
however,it may be worth it to pull the protection earlier
and go with something that allows me to pull the mulch back
and get those roots/soil warmed up,this as much as/in addition
to air temps are what get the plants growing again.

I usually uncover all the palms first of March anyway....they have really benefited
from spending so much time out of their protection.

Tree ferns too.

Hey thanks Randy!!!

I can't take any credit for cutting the trunks as there really wasn't much else I could do.

Thanks though(-:

This Princeps is a nice size and if it recovers fairly quickly
it will be an absolute stunner.
I definitely give this one more attention when it comes to
protection...btw,I am already prepping my other Princeps
(going in the Cactus house)and a small S.McCurtain for planting
as soon as soil temps allow.

How are the tree ferns doing?

Winter is almost over! I think there are only 13 more days left until the end of Meteorlogical winter and the sun is defintiely setting later and getting stonger every day. Its getting to that time of the year where leaving protection on plants can be more deadly than the cold!

Good luck!
-Alex

There were a few problems this fall-one of them(this also answers something wetsuiter asked)was that twice last fall
there were horrific errors in the low temp forecast...horrific to me anyway :0

27F was forecast one particular night and we hit 21F(I believe 19F officially),this killed all the leaves on the T.ferns,except for
the D.Antarctica(D.Squarossa about 50%),it also killed the very small C.Medularis-it wasn't very vigorous anyway.

Luckily my C.Brownii appears to still have some healthy croziers in there ready to burst out in the next warm spell/month.

The others appear to be o.k. too,although being able to open them so much this winter has helped keep the damaged parts from rotting out!

Alex

If we are to have a cool/cold spring,I just hope it is dry...
amazing what these palms can take if it isn't raining and cold.

wetsuiter

If a palm can come back from this-total spear/core pull and
complete trunk cutting,almost to ground level.....

And then recover in one year to this..........regular spear-pull isn't so bad (-;

Heres what one of the others looked like.
You can clearly see the cut if grew out of 0:

Pretty cool huh?

I guess the point is,that they can more than recover in this climate....the other issue is that the smaller palms are not as hardy...yet.

Thanks Mike!

I have been wondering what you have been up too,
I will call you later.

longaeve54

There are many different types.....

Yucca Aloifolia,Y.Rostrata,Y.Gloriosa,Y,Aloifolia(variegated)-

Agave.Havardiana,A.Neomexicana,A.Parryi,A.Parryi(blue form)
A.Protoamericana...and probably some other ones I am forgetting about.

Heres a(LINK Below Weather sticker) great site I have ordered from for smaller sized
cold hardy cactus.

Click for weather forecast

Good luck,

They would have all been fine if the low had been within 5F
of the forecast...it is nice to see the older palms completely uneffected.

Click for weather forecast

One big advantage I have living here in the southern mid Atlantic right on the ocean, is that we have a very long gradual cool down in the fall into early winter. We don't suffer those drastic cold fronts that hit you in the mid west in the fall. Likewise, the deep south suffers from drastic temperature drops when they get their first cold snap. I've seen north Florida go from the 60s/70s down into the low 20s in December. They do recover in temperatures more rapidly than we do, but I really think that sudden dive in temps really can cause more damage than our gradual three month drop through the 40s and 30s before ever seeing low 20s.

It will be interesting to see how the Nainital, Takil, and Tesan compare with each other in hardiness and speed.

You have so much to protect! I thought I had a lot! Looks good Jim.

I also have interest in the trunk cutting because I may be doing that myself soon unfortunately! The one trachy looks neat growing out of the larger trunk. It's almost like it has it's own base or container.

Thanks for sharing your success stories.

Ryan

I am really looking forward to see what the Sabals do this year!
4-5 more leaves at this size should have them looking pretty good by fall,
they are also much more cold resistant and with this warm winter
will go into spring with 0% damage as opposed to be defoliated in past winters,:0

The issue with comparing all the Trachys is that they often pull
when so small but quite a few are big enough now that spear-pull
should be less common...if I am doing my job..

Wetsuiter

Part of the problem is whether to leave a palm and hope it recovers....
losing valuable time another could be getting established.....
I stuck with these and it payed off with solid recovery-
it really helped that they all were settled in,thats why they recovered so quickly.

Thanks P.J.

If I would have known the Cactus would do so well,I may have
used the whole island between the walkways instead of 8x8.

They have been way easier than the palms and have
surprised me with how fast hey have grown.....ex; the Y.Aloifolia hitting 6' in less than 3 years.

Click for weather forecast

I think the 60+" of rain and 70+ days in a row @/over 80F that year couldn't have hurt!!!

Click for weather forecast