Get a big one...many died this winter as far south as west palm beach and northern broward county....saw high 20s in some spots

Yeah, I heard this winter was a bad one. How big should I get it to have a better chance of fending off the cold drops?

The larger the more cold tolerant but then harder to protect. Mine has about 1 foot of wood so I easily wrapped this past winter. Even ones by me with eight plus feet of wood are severely damaged...when it gets to high 20s there isn't much chance for any size coco if unprotected

We were thinking about driving down to a nursery some where around Ft. Myers and getting one with at least 1 foot of trunk. How do you wrap them in winter to protect them?

I kept my wrapping cheap and simple due to economy...used Xmas lights from base to top then wrapped with bed sheets, blankets, anything I could find.

Ok, I've seen pics of yours, it looks good.

So the Xmas lights give off enough heat to keep the palm above freezing?

Yes, two nights of 28 outside this year but never went below 51 under the wrap. I only wrapped when forecast to fall below freezing...if ever during a winter. Be sure to remove wrap once weather restores in the next day or two and always keep Xmas lights off during the day to prevent too much heat. Frost can be just as damaging or fatal...personally I use a fan to prevent frost formation rather than wrap. An unexpected early in the season hurt my palm bad, but still growing fast.

Ok.

What kind of Fert do you use on it, and what soil did you use to plant it?

carl pool palm fertilizer. Soil was mostly native Florida soil with a mix of miracle grow. I fertilize every quarter.

I've heard of Carl Pool. Thanks for all the tips! It might be a while until we get it (we're moving into an apartment in 3 months, and buying a house sometime after that) but I'll post pictures and tell how it went when we get it.