Thanks for the Brahea photo, too.
I bought a very healthy but small one three years ago that I have grown in a pot that is in the hot sun in Summer and a cool room by a window in the winter. It is still not quite as big as your new one but close. I am thinking of planting it in May and keeping it in the ground. I'll put it near and electric outlet for heat and wrap and cover it when rain is coming.
Does this make sense to you? Are you planning something like that?
--Erik
P.S. Barb, love to photo with the dog. My Australian shepherd tore a small hole in the plastic at the base of my Butia hut and has basically moved in. He thinks I built him a heated doghouse.

Last year I built a raised bed for desert plants(yuccas, succulents). I think if I´ll ever plant it then it would be there. Considering its condition I´ll let it grow stronger for at least another year. We have usually lots of rain during the different seasons so raincover is neccesary. I´ve understood that it is more important to protect the rootsystem from getting wet not the plant itself.Some people put plastic on the ground around the stem.
I was told that the Brahea had fungus and I swapped the soil for my own made mix with more sand and moved it to a bigger pot.

rootsystem from getting wet not the plant itself.

Both are important as rain getting into the spear during early winter will freeze.

I like making my own soil mix too, and will use more compost this year including fir and pine bark (half-composted).
And miccorhizae (sp?) really interest me, trying to learn more about that.
Bagged soil mixes today are terrible, include sludge from treatment plants (yech!)
I'm not convinced that pharmaceuticals are rendered inert in that process.

Looking forward to seeing pictures of the yuccas and succulents you will plant.
Barb

Haven't seen anything that works better than compost.

I took some photos of my trachy today. The results aren´t promising 🙁 Are these leaves damaged severly? BTW the green thing on the leaves is fungicide which I applied in fall. Also I put thermometer sensor inside to get more info about the temps inside. When the lights are on it makes at least 10 c difference compared to the temps outside. The sensor is close to the spear but I assume the cable gives a bit more heat to a trachy than thermometer shows.
I turn it off when temps remain above 0 c now.

And the Brahea now

Are these leaves damaged severly?

Both the Trachy and Brahea look very good to me.

Palms can show damage later on, but can even recover from spear pull (which hasn't happened to yours).

Looks like a good job to me. 😀
Barb

Can't commne ton the Brahea, but, to me, the Trachy looks like it's in trouble. Is there a change in the colouration between the lower or the lower part of the leaves and the outer parts? Does the leaf feel 'dry' to the touch? I've got to say that it does look a lot like the damamge I've seen in bamboo and palm leaves when they've been exposed to a drasticly low temperature and the water has come out of the leaves... The so called 'Freeze-dried' look.

My guess, I've not seen the palm personally, is that there has been extensive damage done to the foliage, and that the spear leaf will, likely, pull once temps have rebounded. Conventional wisdom indicates that you should treat the crown with fungicide once you have a stretch of 3-4 days above freezing, then again in the spring. Give the spear leaf a little tug too!

Can't commne ton the Brahea, but, to me, the Trachy looks like it's in trouble. Is there a change in the colouration between the lower or the lower part of the leaves and the outer parts? Does the leaf feel 'dry' to the touch? I've got to say that it does look a lot like the damamge I've seen in bamboo and palm leaves when they've been exposed to a drasticly low temperature and the water has come out of the leaves... The so called 'Freeze-dried' look.

My guess, I've not seen the palm personally, is that there has been extensive damage done to the foliage, and that the spear leaf will, likely, pull once temps have rebounded. Conventional wisdom indicates that you should treat the crown with fungicide once you have a stretch of 3-4 days above freezing, then again in the spring. Give the spear leaf a little tug too!

Yes, it feels dry but not "dead dry" 😕 Maybe the death comes later.:wink: I´ve checked it every time after extreme cold spells and after the final it looked like this. I think I´ll remove the cover in early march to check total damage and also to spray it maybe with more fungicide. So far I haven´t noticed any sign of fungy on the leaves or other parts of the palm but I´m sure that without applying it would have already ocurred. And I thought that bubblewrap and x-mas lights will do for the first winter 😡 For the previous winters it would have done well..

I agree with Barb: they look good to me. Or at least better than my outdoors Trachy or my unheated Butia. --Erik

Leaves are history,when it warms up or sooner if you can manage it,I would check the spear.
I have 2 Trachys that are fried, 1 from -2(F) the other,not for sure but probably at least as cold/actually there
are 6 Trachys fried.
The other was/is my largest,3 spears pulled out yesterday 😥

Interestingly the -2 ones spear has not pulled-time will tell.
You may want to check it(pull spear)and treat it,IMO sooner is better than later for treatment.
Nurse it through until spring and try and keep the crown area as dry as possible.
The plants are most likely not dry as much as they are freeze dried-
You should see something out of it by May if it's coming back-best of luck!

By the way-what do the petioles look like and how solid does the trunk feel?

Hey Guys,
Interesting post Jim. Glad everything is rebounding nicely since the original cold blast.

Corrosion,
Your trachy looks fine to me. You may have some leaf damage later on but all and all
you should have a positive growth year this summer. leave all the leaves on as long
as you can even into the growing season which I'm sure you already know. One of
mine was really damaged one year and came back really fast once I gave it fertilizer
in mid to late April. Welcome Aboard!

Bill

If corrosion's Trachy is dying, then this Nainital must be dying too, because I see no difference between the two.

Barb

I must be a hopeless optimist, because both corrosion and Barb's Trachy's look much better then my outdoors-for-its-first-winter Trachy (which was exposed to Tulsa's first ever blizzard, in case you forgot). I am confident mine will make it. It has gotten copper fungicide and reliable rain protection. It will look terrible come spring, but I'm hopeful. --Erik

I couldn´t resist and moved temporarily the cover today. Nothing new was discovered, the trunk and petioles are still solid. The spear is green and didn´t pull, guess I wasn´t pulling too hard? 🙂 But as far I remember the leaves looked crappy already in fall, they were bent badly, brown spots on leaves due wet weather and so on. Now it is only the freeze curl look which adds the final touch..If I will be able to keep it dry til spring there wont be any rot or fungy I hope. Who would have ever guess that I would worry about a tree that much 😆

Jim- Sorry to hear about you largest Trachy. You know as well as I that it 'should' recover come spring...

Corrosion and Barb- Corr- Your palm looks fried. I maintain the same position. Barb- Your nainial fortunei is fine. The leaves are a healthy green, but have folded a little, either due to drought or prolonged exposure to cold. Is the soil frozen at all? Otherwise it is 100% fine.

A couple of pics to illustrate the difference:
Needle palm foliage showing freeze-dried dead foliage (lighter colour) and healthy tissue (brighter green). The difference becomes more obvious with time.
<a href=" http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2075516480072511707WxNJu R"><img src=" " alt="florida07andcactussprng08 027"></a>

Same thing on a larger needle palm:
<a href=" http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2822070270072511707QYLOB D"><img src=" " alt="IMGP0926"></a>

The damamge is more obvious in the second picture, with 'freeze-dried', aka lethal freeze damage easily distinguished from the healthy tissue. The unfortunate thing about that palm was that when the spear pulled the main stem died (needle palm is not as good at recovery as Trachycarpus) but the suckers live on...