Very possible...the first cold is the worst cold for the palms
esp when it comes early like this year,a bunch of my offsets
from the offsets pulled this spring from our lousy March.

It's crazy because when I noticed the leaf discoloration we had only had a low of 17 F (zone 8b). It makes me wonder how these can even be grown in northern florida. I suppose they probably don't get that cold in Tallahassee in October though. Do you think protecting them from moisture before an early freeze would help or would it not matter? Have you noticed similar performance on Sabal Minor McCurtain?

LOL

I know...the only thing I can tell you is,one of mine survived in a leaf cage
the winter it got down to -18F...I became more fond of them then.

I just look at the leaves and if they are behaggered -I just cover them.
I do think that getting some trunk size will serious bump up the hardiness
and I am sure there would be a toughening up of the leaves,
I have one that has been exposed more that is a clumper and one
that still has its main trunk and outside the Sabal is the only palm to never pull.

I don't think moisture over winter for these is an issue unless the palms are small.

I heard the palms that come in the blue pots, "the cold hardy palms", are garbage; which is where my needle palm came from. I'm thinking of trying another company to see if their needle's are more hardy. Do you heat your regular Sabals (not McCurtain)?

Protecting any palm from moisture before an early freeze would help, especially Sabal minor, needles are more hardy, hope yours get out alive.

I heard the palms that come in the blue pots, "the cold hardy palms", are garbage; which is where my needle palm came from. I'm thinking of trying another company to see if their needle's are more hardy. Do you heat your regular Sabals (not McCurtain)?

I think the blue pots are the (Monrovia?)plants from Florida,so possibly not as
hardy as one that has seen some cold-easy fix,protect when young...as the new
leaves and stem that holds them form they will become more hardy as they are
exposed to it=just takes a while toughen up but they will.

My blue pot needles all died when they spent a winter unprotected in any way. Not sure it is a consequence of their source. I still think of them as hardy; the Tulsa Zoo has had one for years not protected in any way, and the Oklahoma City Zoo has several they do not protect.

Personally, I would try to keep them dry, but just based on my limited experience.

Well...like so many things in life,if you can get established you can stick,
that is tough to do in a cold climate but a breeze if a few minimum requirements
are meant-until your palms start getting bigger-don't assume any hardiness.

Here is pic of my Needle Palm I got from Jungle Music. This will be it's 2nd winter in the ground and although I have a 6ft section of plumbing heat tape around the root ball, the only other protection it gets is that 1/2 barrel and the plexiglass top to keep snow off of it. It has no supplemental heat and does just fine.

It looks snug.

Here is pic of my Needle Palm I got from Jungle Music. This will be it's 2nd winter in the ground and although I have a 6ft section of plumbing heat tape around the root ball, the only other protection it gets is that 1/2 barrel and the plexiglass top to keep snow off of it. It has no supplemental heat and does just fine.

Do you protect it from rain before it freezes? That's the only thing I can figure out that I did wrong. I didn't think you even need to protect them until about december. If they can get bud rot in october, what should you do to prevent that?

I haven't. Palm is up against side of garage on South side and to certain extent under eve of house. What you see in pics isn't air tight at all.

Is it possible that my needle palm got bud rot already? The newer leaves have a yellowish color to them. I'm wondering if water got in the crown and froze. Can't post pics now but can later if necessary.

I don't see anything wrong with it.

On a different note the following year after buying I bought two Needle palms in Blue pots late summer on close out for $25 each. Planted them in the ground again, close to the house and I didn't use heat tape, but did put 1/2 barrel over them with a cover and neither of them made it this spring. They were 5 gallon container just like my first one from JM. I can't help but think the heat tape worked as designed to keep roots from freezing.

I've heard that they need to survive 3 years in the ground with protection to get established to the point where they don't need as much protection, if any at all. I for one will protect mine every year and plug it in.