Pygmy date palm - outside 72 hours after root zone soak and foliar spray of "antifreeze".

Low last night was 22.2F. Current temp is 27.0F.

Two pics.

Were can I get.... I tryed freez pru it did ok

Tim, oh man, I hope you got it!
Wouldn't that be fabulous?

Frequent application to the root zone throughout winter.

So vertical PVC pipes in the ground to "accept" the antifreeze?
But what keeps the ground from freezing solid once the roots have taken the solution up?
How frequent applications? Surely, not daily.

No wrap for the PDP?

This I gotta see...excited to hear more.
Good for you for thinking outside the box.

Barb

PS--it had better not be cat-pee 😆

The root zone should be much more effective than foliar spray. The only problem would be in ground palms since the roots are widely spread out and the ground is harder to saturate evenly.

I'm currently working on plant protection spray that I hope will protect plants from oxidative damage during the winter.

Gettin' more interesting around here...

let us know your progress please.

Barb

Down to 26F out. Forecast for rest of tonight:

Overnight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. North wind 5 to 10 mph.

If I'm correct, that should outright kill a PDP. Anxious to see what it looks like in morning as this will be the coldest temperature yet in this experiment.

Anxious to see what it looks like in morning

Me too...a photo at 3 pm should be proof.

Just a heads up Tim

My PDP took weeks in the lower 30s and 20s. IT didnt show much damage at all - until I brought it inside. It then ended up in slow decline. Its alive though!

Just be aware most damage doesnt show till after it warms back up (of course, if its -20C out, youll have bleach blond palm leaves anyways). The frost preserves the cells, and when they thaw, that is when they explode damaging the plant. Also, on top of that damage, you have to watch out for wind dehydrating the leaves.

Not saying what you did wont work, just something to keep in mind. I thought my PDP survived the weeks out in the cold and it did, with loosing all its leaves and not pushing spears for 4 months..... THe lowest temp I remember it getting hit by was -7C, multiple times so thats roughly 26F

Good luck with it, it could really open up the door to ALOT more palms for our northern zones..Im sure some of the less hardy would still have to be protected but this could make it so much easier..where say a washy needs protection and heat it might be possible to just fleece it and have little to no damage if your solution works. can't wait to find out..glad were getting in on the ground floor 😀 that way we never have to worry about getting supply

Here's an update on my antifreeze experiment with a pygmy date palm.

Palm was outside in subfreezing conditions for approximately 96 hours with the minimum recorded temperature of 12 degrees F. After this period (Sunday), I moved it into my greenhouse which varies between 60 degrees F and 85 degrees F.

Here is how it looks tonight.

Closeup.

Palm is green, spear will not pull.

I'm now moving on to my next phase of the experiment. I bought 3 cavendish bananas from the local garden center today. We'll call them Exhibit "A", "B" and "C". Exhibit "A" received just water. Exhibit "B" received a root zone soak of my "antifreeze" (which I modified slightly since the PDP test). Exhibit "C" received a root zone soak of my "antifreeze" along with a thorough foliar saturation.

Here is a picture of all three just before I put them outside in 14 degree F temperatures.

I will be posting an update of these as soon as I have the results.

I am having great success with my mix. I've tested it out on grass the past 3 winters in Zone 7 here on Long Island and have had amazing results. The grass is green and grows throughout the winter. I'm approaching it from a different angle than you. I'm focusing on the palm's metabolic rate to increase it's hardiness...in other words, keeping the metabolic rate high will allow the palm to generate it's own protective heat among other internal benefits of stimulated growth. See pics below.

Taken Early Feb. 2013

Taken Mid March 2013

It took awhile to break through the roots with a spade but here is a patch I cut out to show its thickness

Was able to start Palm Trials at the end of this winter and planted Majesties. They are doing great after being exposed to snow, frost, high winds(which actually snapped some fronds) and temp lows from 27-32 degrees. Pic taken March 3.23.13

Taken a couple of days ago

Nice 1 foot high spear

Good Luck. Keep moving forward and I would be happy to buy your product if you are successful. The most important thing is that somebody-be it me, you or anybody, MUST succeed.

Welcome to Palms North, JB.

Wow, from your photos, I'd say sign me up.

You guy(s) have the elixir 😀

I'm dying to find out what it is...alcohol? 😆 😆 sugar? 😆 😆

Nice tests you've done...and a Majesty has got to be one of the finicky-est palms there is. 8)

Barb

No alcohol...although I wont discount that it may add some value. It may also be created by the palms itself from synthesizing natural sugars. Natural sugars definitely as it provides energy to the cells. I have a couple of active ingredients that play a key role. All I can say at this point, most is it is common sense some of it you'd have to be a diehard nutritionist to know. I used grass as an initial test subject because palms and grass are both Monocots. I figure they would/could respond closely-then again, who knows. The important thing here is that somebody succeeds so we can all benefit. I'm not going to front or lie and say that my motivation isn't driven by profit, because it is-but not from developing and selling this formula, that's a side benefit to me. I'm starting up a Palm tree business in Long Island, NY and having something like this could really help out my business overall.

I'm rooting for everybody and anybody willing to try and succeed through constant failure 🙂

grass as an initial test subject because palms and grass are both Monocots

That's what impressed me right off the bat.

And I wasn't REALLY asking for the secret...just brain thoughts leaking onto my keyboard 😆 😆

diehard nutritionist to know

Well we know it's not nicotine... 😆

Hey, if/when this flies, JB, you won't have to start a Palm Business in NY.
You can buy your own tropical island...where it doesn't freeze.

Look forward to hearing/seeing more.

Barb