I'd get some sand points and start getting your garden water for free Mike..lol. Your water table should not be a problem at 6 feet. It really depends on the species of tree or plant you are growing. I grew up on a 10 acre swamp and lots of things grew. Matter of fact if the hydro ever went out(Sump Pump) for 4 or more hours, the basement would flood. Again you could research what you are going to grow but I don't think you will have a problem, the water table will also drop considerably in the summer on average about 4 feet.

jeff

Whats up Mike! Long time no talk..........how are the palms? Got to see some updated pics of them windmills. ITs been a while since i posted, been very busy with work etc. Since i am starting to think about spring i figured i would stop by and say hello to everyone since i am on vacation from work! Whats up Andy! Paul etc!

Jeff what do you mean by getting my own water?

Brian I got your email sorry been real busy, had lots of ups and downs this winter. How are your palms doing?>

Hey Brian and Mike! Paul here. Florida has been great man, still quite warm though even in Feb lol. I hear Chicago's had it's worst winter in years. How you been?

I saw Chi-town on the news the other day covered in snow, I had to think for a sec why it was snowing, still feels like July to me with the temps outside here. Got way too many palms here to handle, though it's a lot easier on me not to keep them contained in the garage this year! =) That was a blast though.,

Water at 6' is deep for us that live in Florida. I can hit water at about 3-4' and I have tons of palms. I even have some that are planted in the water. You can't do this with all Palms, but the ones that come from the swamps you can.

Here is a Roystona regia planted in the lake. As you can see its very happy. It was planted with no tunk showing in 2004.

Here is a Carpy planted in the water:

Great photos - love the royals! Now if I only had a member name to express my interest. =P

Hi Mike - as far as the water table being 6 feet below ground, I would think that would be a good thing, especially for your palms in the winter. It should help that the roots are kept out of the water and wet ground. Since I live on an island, our water table is much higher, which is most likely a disadvantage, maybe except for growing everything but sabal minor, which as you know, loves water. In the springtime, our water table is at its highest, during our wettest season, plus the snow melting on top of that. In March/April, you can dig down about a foot or so, and hit water at some of the lower spots in our yard. Before this island was inhabited, and subdivisions built on it, it was swampland anyways, so I would say you have an advantage.

Hi Mike

some farmers around here use what is called a "sand point"
they are large steel points like 5 inches that have tiny holes in the point(bottom) - you hammer it into the ground and attach pipe as it gets deeper. - It works best in sand - Because of the area of lesser concentration inside the pipe, water is forced upwards when the point hits the water table. its a way that farmers set up a quick well to access ground water. would not recommend in the city though..lol

Cheers

Jeff

Mike, no problem i know how it is when your busy you don;t have time for anything! My palms are doing ok :( i lost my coconut back in jan.....it was in my basement(where all my palms are at) and i went out of town and i dropped my thermostat down to only 60 during the day and 58 at night. In the basement their is about a 10-15 degree difference (unfinsished basement no insulation etc) i forgot to bring it upstairs in the front window.....after a week of it being in low 50s and upper 40's it croaked. by the time i came back it was all damaged. as for my windmills in the ground......the small is doing great no damage what so ever i have christmas lights with a heavy duty garbage can over it.....and the big one well it took some damage about 2 weeks ago in that bad cold snap. Its in a pvc structure with heavy duty plastic with x-mas lights. well one of the strands that was covering some of the fronds must of burned out and the cold got to some fronds. :( but it will recover nicely.....half fronds are ok and center spear still green and tight. My other stuff is doing great...the roeby etc are all flourishing. I am trying to get a hold of them minors that you have. LEt me know if you come in contact with a nursery or if you are going on a trip.

Paul....how have you been? I have to see some pics of your palms tht you got planted out there! The winter has been terrible! We have had snow at least once a week here since before christmas! We go from lows in the single digits to highs in the upper 40's even hit 71 in the yard for a few days back in jan.......crazy!

I love the yard Paul. I need to send you a grocery list of what I need palm wise.

Brian its been miserable, all my cold hardy palms have damage some way or another. THE one palm that no one not even myself expected to make it is the palmetto. The leaves have some leaf tip damage thats all still solid and green.

This has been one of the worst winters in a long time. It was -7f in my yard as the extreme low. THATS BAD.

One of the things I learned when I planted my first palm seeds over a year ago was that they root deep. There's no reason to guess why a plant that is often found growing in arid regions would do this. Water. Nutrients probably figure in as well, since ground percolation of minerals would tend to cary nutrients deeper down.

As for the temperature of 50 degrees. That's positively canterwalling wonderful. This is how many plants survive severe freezes and periods of cold. By the warmth that remains constant for their root bases.

I'd say that the realization you've just come to affirms a healthy growing environment for your palms.

Bearstate I wasnt sure if the roots went that deep or not. As for most of the palms in my yard this is there third year. Im crossing my fingers and hoping to be able to nurse my palms that have leaf bearn back to health. Thanx for the info.

Mike -- How did you protect your palmetto? Just Christmas lights, or did you wrap the trunk with a covering too?

Ryan I wrapped the tree with c 9 lights and then made a tee pee over it just leaned 4 boards on each other and nailed them at the top and covered it with plastic

Heres a pic

{{gwi:1119672}}

Mike I thought you were Cuban not native American..lol. I wonder if you order a lot of Pizza Hut.

Cheers

Hey there is a reason they lived in these way back when. I have seen pics of teepees in snow in old pictures. This things get very hot inside.

I was wondering how you were going to protect a palm that tall, but I see you have been very creative. Nice job and good thinking. And the nice thing about that design is that all of the heat, since heat rises, is channelled up right to the crown. Did your other palmetto end up dying? I remember you did have 2 of them.

I was thinking about buying one of those huge prefab ones - they are like small homes and putting it up up north on some land along with a cabin.

Ryan the other fried 3 months after I got it. The 2 palmettos where on there side for 3 months during the cold when I first brought themup from alabama.