Post winter shots... Poor quality

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:18 am

The low temp hit -29C (-20f) and the freeze was deep and long lasting... A brutal winter!
Sabal minor 'regular' vs mccurtain. Too early to tell but you can see that the plams were protected with a leaf pile. The exposed leaf tissue is burnt, while the inner protected tissue is still green/blue! The leaves are still frozen in place.
<img src="http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/41950 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="winter0809xmas and SPRING09 034"></a>
Palm house removed, the big needle and big Sabal look great!
<img src="http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/41334 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="winter0809xmas and SPRING09 032"></a>
I wish this pic was better... Yucca elata looking fine while Yucca filamnetosa has some severe leaf burn:
<img src="http://inlinethumb53.webshots.com/41332 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="winter0809xmas and SPRING09 044"></a>
Phyllostachys aureosulcata looking rough. The culms on the left were left standing all winter (total top-kill) where those on the right were bent and covered with snow. The difference is shocking:
<img src="http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/42716 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="winter0809xmas and SPRING09 033"></a>

Ilex glabra shrugs off the extreme cold!
<img src="http://inlinethumb25.webshots.com/44888 ... 600Q85.jpg" alt="winter0809xmas and SPRING09 031"></a>

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:56 pm

That filamentosa doesn't look too bad and the larger palms and holly look good.

I hope that my plants look as good when I get to look at them in about a month. I haven't taken the shelter off of my palm but it looks pretty brown. I'm hoping that the power outage was not long enough to harm the roots.

Allen

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:48 pm

Hey Paul,glad to see your palms pulled through,Sabals and Needles are amazingly hardy and its surprising to see what a little insulation and protection from winter sun during cold snaps will do to protect leaf tissue,even the regular yuccas around here have seen some severe burning and they are hardy to -30F at least.
One thing I have been doing is pulling the mulch back when its warm and sunny.this has increased the soil temps from 47F at 4" and 41F at 8" to 59F at 4" and 51F at 8" within a week and this has started some of my Trachys growing,looking forward to a great growing season-B.T.W.60F-80F high temps this past week were what got the soil temps jumping.

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:17 am

Jim, good idea gettng th soil temp up! I'm not usually around so i can't do the same (plus we haven't hit 70f yet, let alone 80f!)

Allen, Looking forward to your report when (if?) Edmonton ever thaws out!!!

Okanagan desert-palms · Post by **Okanagan desert-palms** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:25 pm

Paul thanks for your pics. Have you had spear pull on your needle palm since planted? I`ve had spear pull on two of my needles. Let us know how those Sabals do. I would be particularly interested as I will be planting some Sabal minor and Sabal louisiana next week.

John

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:50 am

John,
I had one 3 gallon needle that pulled a spear the first winter. It has been INCREDIBLY slow to recover... The one pictured there was a 7 gallon planted this past June, it looks great and the spear is firm... But then it was protected.
The sabals look GREAT but I feel that they will need protection north of zone 7a/b... Unless you have consistant winter long snow, temps below about -15f can damage them, in young plants anyway. I've seen pics of burnt Sabal minor from Niagara this winter, the low was -14.5C (St. Catherines) but even at those temps you get damage at this latitude!
Good luck!

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:46 am

Ok,I think you will really like S.louisiana,I was impressed with its growth rate( and hardiness this past winter), last year after planting,it never missed a beat and started growing immediatly!
Paul,keep us posted on how your Mccurtain does over the next few months.
I am really impressed with needle palms hardiness but they are prone to spear pull and for that reason alone I would give the hardiness crown to Sabals but I guess we need a longer time sample with both,I bought 2 -7g Needles last year,both had spear pull(multiple) on arrival(I did get a refund)and both made it through the winter,it will be interesting to see how they recover this year,even 2 leaves per growth point would be nice!

Okanagan desert-palms · Post by **Okanagan desert-palms** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 11:40 am

Paul I think I will protect my S. minor and S.louisiana with a cold frame with a infrared heat bulb as needed usually four or five weeks per winter. I`m more than impressed with my T. fortunei as they have seen some serious cold the this winter and last -15.6 4f and-14 8f 6f under the cold frame. Jim the more I research the sabals the more I like what I see in regards to how hardy they are vs. needles. I`m looking forward to having them outperform the needles I have planted. The blue color of the S.louisiana is a winner in my books. Now if I could find some magic potion to speed up their growth?

John

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:47 pm

My S.louisiana put out 2 leaves even after being planted in late July early August, so, I was quite surprised with their growth rate,I am guessing 4 or 5 leaves this year

PalmsNorth.com

Post winter shots... Poor quality

Post winter shots... Poor quality

Sabal vs Needle

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