Mule Palm hanging in. Tough as nails.

Sabal Minors in front, Needles in the back

Pindo looking great

Another pic of Eeyore...so proud as he is living beyond his recommended cold hardiness factor. May have to change his name to "Nails."

One more of the Windmills. They are Truly amazing and might be a common site on Long Island if they survive this winter.

My Trachy is in a very protected site but I protected it in this cold with lights and insulating blankets. Damage usually does not show till it gets warmer, so, I hope it is fine! Not a good Winter and another arctic outbreak will be pushing into the Deep South soon. This cold is evil.

You said it njoasis! This winter is a perfect example of Murphy's Law...I was hoping for an average winter and wouldn't you know it, we're getting one that's for the books!

Hell, it's too late now so let's see how much these cold hardy species can take. I checked the spears over the last couple of weeks-after the last storm and Arctic blast and the new spears are looking good and growing.

This post was edited by Kokomo-JB on Fri, Jan 3, 14 at 16:03

Awesome pics! I hope everything pulls through okay and it looks like things are hanging in there! The one thing I learned the hard way about pindo palms is that they will appear alive long after they have already died so don't be surprised if it survives this cold and declines several weeks after since that happened to mine last year when it saw 14F.
Its forecasted to go down to 0F by me tonight so everything is protected. My livistonia enjoyed a nice spring day inside it's protection with a low of 50F and a high of 72F! The other stuff went into the low 20s which still isnt bad considering we went down to 12F. I'm very nervous about tonight, but we'll see!
Good luck!
-Alex

This cold is not good, but we are not alone in this though. There is another arctic front coming next week...temps are going to drop into the low teens and below well to the south. I think my Trachys will be fine, they have the house-generated heat, an unobstructed southern exposure, X-Mass lights, insulating blankets, or a black garbage can over them, and lots of snow around them. You can only do so much.

It loos like we will be below freezing for 2 days at least. Longer in some places, definitely think this will test which palms we can grow and which ones we can't ( unprotected ). I have 7 trachys and 19 minors unprotected through all this. Already toasted a CIDP and had a hesper palm and a trachy takil have spear pull. I fell that our cool summer is going to affect certain palms cold hardiness. Because of this I constructed boxes over my sabal palms and covered everything else.

Good luck to everyone,

Chad

Here's our 7 day forecast.

So far, the only 2 palms i have unprotected are the Pindo and a trachy.We hardly see single digits in this area so I plan on protecting the pindo today. I was going to leave it unprotected but seeing single digits got me nervous.

This post was edited by prinbama on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 6:51

-50 wind chills on the way. Tempting to go look for some of these growing on a hot sunny beach right now.

OK So the morning has come. Visually, all the Fellas look good BUT as Alex rightfully pointed out, I may not see the damage for weeks. We have another freezing dip in 2 days- they say it will go down to 2 degrees over night but I have learned that they are usually off by a couple degrees from their predictions. So I'm expecting 8-12 degree range once it is officially observed. Last night, they predicted 4 and it was officially observed at 8.

Yes, we were also still safe with the minimum temp for zone 7b...5 degrees above. Was predicted to be colder with all the snow cover. Looks like the next arctic onslaught is gonna make a bigger impression in the Deep South before it heads east. Heads up, better protect, better safe than sorry. You may only need a few critical degrees of protection. I know I was dreading to protect, but it really only took a few moments. Some got a big, inexpensive , black, plastic garbage cans, larger ones had X-Mass lights dropped on them and a few layers of light-weight, white insulating blankets that seem perfectly color coordinated with the snow drifts!

I got down to 4F in my yard, all the other local stations recorded warmer than that. My backyard has always been a cold spot, hopefully the front yard faired a little better temperature wise. We stayed above the forecasted low though so I am happy for that.

Thanks for the advice njoasis! I've come this far, Needles look good, Sabal Minors look good, Windmills look good as for the Pindos and my little Mule, they look good but only time will tell how they fared. If I'm going to really see how viable palms are in this area, I need to see the actual thresholds and limits-this winter is definitely testing the limits.
Will Long Island change it's look to a more tropical feel? We will know after this winter what we can do here.

My Windmills after last night.

This post was edited by Kokomo-JB on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 14:00

Here is a pic of one of my Pindos this morning

Here is one of my Sabal minors with Needles in the background.

FYI: My Minor's fronds are really thick and rigid. If you fell on it, you might get speared! I'm wondering if it is a different variation of minor-like a Birmingham or Louisiana?

I have no prior experience with them so I have no idea.

This post was edited by Kokomo-JB on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 14:06

Kokomo, plant leaves really change in response to the cold stress. Rhododendron leaves will fold up as will Trachy leaves, you'll notice discolorations on some fan palms that frequently revert to normal. Again, sometimes everything looks fine...until it gets warm, then there may be spear pull. But keep in mind, many species can and DO recover from spear pull, including Trachys, Washys, and Phoenix among others. Sometimes, the burning on palm leaves actually gets worse letter in the season. As we get through January, the sun gets much stronger. Bitter cold late in the season can do a lot of leaf damage because you have a hotter, stronger sun but potentially frozen ground. That is why some broad-leaved evergreens (Camellias for example), actually appreciate a bit of shade from the strongest Winter sun.

P.S., the Date Palm in the picture went through spear pull (in a shelter) a few years ago. Then, it regrew a new spear and started flowering annually!

Nice! You are 100% right on based on everything that I have read and was told.

I have also come across some big online debates regarding Windmills and protection. Some say that protection can cause more harm then not protecting them. I have no opinion because I have limited experience. I can see though that protecting a Windmill in a mild winter may cause more harm than good....logically speaking. What if any, are your thoughts on this-seeing that you have vast experience in this.

I learned the hard way that you should only protect trachys when definitely necessary. I thought I was doing mine a favor earlier this winter by protecting it earlier in the season when we went down to 20F and I ended up overheating it. Only minor signs of stress at the moment from being overheated, but I'll really see the extent of the damage once it's warm enough to start growing back.
-Alex

If you have a 'normal' winter, a Trachy that is well-sited (some shelter from wind and strongest sun, well-draining soils, etc.), will sail through the winter fine in NYC Metro areas 7a/7b. There may be some leaf burning, but you should not have spear pull. But, a bad Winter will result in bud loss. We had a bad winter a few years ago with record snows, wet, and prolonged, below normal cold. The snow is not so much of a problem as is the prolonged subfreezing temps (day and night). (Normally, days in this area are above freezing even in mid January and minimums are in the mid to upper20's). Well, we have been well below that but have not dropped below 5.0 above. Trachys should be okay, especially in good microclimates (near house for example). This winter has so far be characterized by extreme variability.--We went from 72 F to 5 F. in just a few days. That is stressful to plants and animals! I am currently protecting my Trachys (not minors or Needles), but my protection may be adding only several degrees to the plant. But as soon as we seem to pull out of this, I will uncover the palms. I set it up for minimal work.

Yes, sometimes too much protection is a problem. Do not use bubble wrap for example...much too hot with lights.

Everything looks awesome! From the talk on the other boards, mules are notoriously wimpy, typically browning out in the upper teens and dying shortly thereafter. If I recall correctly, you're the guy with the secret magical antifreeze solution. You may have yourself a real winner there. Time will tell. I maybe buying that stuff by the 55 gallon drum though!

Hey Brad!

I only tested the antifreeze on a couple of Majesties this winter. The Majesties died and the grass around them remained (and still remains) green. I didn't test it on my other cold hardies because I wanted to see what they can do here naturally.
As for the mule, i think it is a testament to Erik Brown and the Mule Palm Nursery. They produce a superior product.

Sunday Update

No spear pull on any of my palms. Even the 7 gallon Mule and my Pindos seem solid. Only time will tell I guess. Keeping my fingers crossed.