Now that's tough love! But if they can't handle that then you probably need to replace them.

Ouch. That was some very bad forecasting. Cant believe it got to 5F. I hope your plants make it. I think most of them should be alright. I guess you caught spring fever a little too early. This is the exact reason why I hate March. Sometimes there is really beautiful weather and sometimes a frost comes and kills all your plants that you took outside to get some sun! Thats why I hesitate to put away my protection completely for the winter until the 2nd week in March.

The forecasted low here tonight has dropped to 23F. I put a frost cloth over my saw palmetto and a garbage bin and frost cloth over my livistona. They arent getting any lights during this cold spell so I guess we will see how it goes. Now I'm getting a little worried that it will get colder than forecasted!

How ironic would it be if March got colder here than
February did? The lowest temperature here in Feb was 20F and we are getting close to that tonight! This week has already averaged out to be an entire degree colder than February was, but after this cold spell the forecast looks great! Lots of upper 50s and even several days in the 60s!

Keep us updated!
-Alex

I thought opening things up was a tiny bit premature in early March. I've held off this far because we have 28 forecast for our overnight low and we had a tiny bit of mixed precip. The next 10 days are significantly better. By mid March I feel very safe. Good luck with them!

I hope everything goes undamaged from the 5 degrees. Northern Michigan got that same cold and snow storm, with lows of 9 degrees. Luckily, we only got down to 23 here in southern MI. I still have everything wrapped up, but only used the lights one night this winter. Protection will be coming off everything tomorrow or Wed as temps are predicted to 50 or higher pretty much every day through at least the next week, with Wed near 60 for a high. I think second week of March will be long enough to keep things covered. After that, they're on their own. Even thinking of uncovering the bananas to try and get a head start...

Jim,
I hope the unexpected cold doesn't bother your garden! Are you (or maybe someone you know of) growing the Mazari Palm (Nannorrhops)? It's the hardy fan type with bluish leaves, native to Afghanistan and areas near there. Just wondering since I've never seen any reference to it here on the forum.

{{gwi:5901}}

Wow that is some wild ups and downs in the temperatures. I hope they are ok from the 5F!!!

Thanks guys....

The snow was gone by 2pm and they already looked perfect by 11am.

No observed damage to spears or leaves.

BTW

These were uncovered on purpose just in case they did blow the
forecast because I wanted them covered in snow to protect them from the cold....

Also,the forecast did not have us below freezing again after
the snow melts.............

Got up to 43F and dropped to 34F before temps started rising around 10am.....
70s today and maybe tomorrow,perfect time to try this.

Click for weather forecast

Bill

I have tried Mazari 3 times.....
They were all small but had dividing leaves.

One of them made it through the winter but spring rains were to
much for it and it pulled and died.

They may be to sensitive to moisture to grow here.

7-17-08

{{gwi:1123775}}

Maybe to pretty of a palm to not try again(-:

Click for weather forecast

It warm enough now to test uncovering but its way early, especially for IO. The solar flares effect on our weather is above normal, however I wouldn't uncover everything, being over zealous at 14 degrees and snowing is risky for palms even if the next day is going to be 70.

I think now is an okay time to uncover. The record lows are still cold, but the 15 day forecast is all above average and by then even the record low temperatures are in the 20s (so if we get a record low temperature it still might not even be palm damaging weather). This will definitely be a mild early spring and hopefully mid and late spring wont disappoint either!

Nice Mazari Jim! Sad that it didnt live, it would be a beautiful palm now if it kept on growing!

-Alex

Jim,
I should have known that if ANYBODY had tried the Mazari, it would be you! Too bad they didn't make it. But you're right when you say they are beautiful. The blue color can be really amazing.

{{gwi:5901}}

Hi ALex,

I was referring to uncovering completely in IO, its too early. Although I agree with you for our area based on the outlook, I am still cautious with my palms. I made big openings on them and really want to uncover them but will wait to see the 15 day outlook next week and then decide.

Thanks,I loved the color of that Mazari!

I can't keep my plants covered in this weather no matter if this is Iowa or not...makes no difference.

The forecast is for temps 65F to 80F next week and mid 60s(lowest)to mid 70s for highs through the week after.

Why would I leave them covered?

The Cactus bed heats up to 100+ and causes early flowering of the barrel cactus,this causes them to flower in April
and because they are designed to stand heat,they rot on rainy days.

My Washy enclosures will hit 120F.

More good reasons to uncover-

The plants are actually used to cooler lows(15ish) and highs in the 50-60F range.

Uncovering them now makes a seemless transition.

The soil temp is now in the upper 40s and by this time next week should be around 60F.
Having protect on with soil temps of 38F and enclosures temps 90+ is rough.

Click for weather forecast