:occasion5:

John,
You are not the only one to lose a decent looking needle palm to -17c minimums. Mine succombed to two years of my lack of protection expertise.
After the first year, losing the spear, the plant had zero growth year two and in spring it was done.
Adam

Mike thanks for elaborating on needle culture/protection for all of us to read.
I look forward to getting my 3 gal needle from you and will follow your instructions.

Re your comment

B.C has wet winters and temperate summers

, that's not John's and my area.
Wet winters and summers are only along the Coast...Vancouver etc.

We're at the northern tip of the desert, in a rain shadow between two mountain ranges, and have very dry and brutally hot summers (30C is normal although my back yard hit 42C one day), with very dry and cold winters usually. This year my low has been -21.6C on Jan. 18, versus John's -12C.
Our annual precip (snow and rain) amounts to about 12 or 13 inches...compared to Vancouver's 50 or 60 inches a year.

John's in a sheltered Kelowna area lakeside (Okanagan Lake), great microclimate.
I'm 35 miles north in Vernon on a south hill acreage, and we get so much wind...have to tie the dog down so he doesn't blow away (kidding!)

Barb

Your protection will look like mine -if you had not seen the steps on a previous post I will elaborate and John's palms will--- given his temps will have a different method than ours and a different watering and fertilizing regime.
mike 😉

Thanks Mike for the heads up on not giving up on Needles yet. I guess with a little extra care for the first couple of years I`ll have success. I think each Needle palm has it`s own cold hardy lineage. Here`s hoping yours are of the cold hardier variety. Our warm springs and super hot summers should give them the amunition to be bullet proof here. Adam I feel your pain. It`s kind of embarassing that I tell people buying my palms the Needle palm is the most cold hardy palm in the world. The next spring they look like crap. Tough sell! Barb the hottest it has been in my yard has been 41.3c no humidex. You hold the hot temperature crown.

John

Hey John. Yeah the needle palm is a great little palm. I might plant a 7 footer this year in my yard. A good trick is to remove soil at the base of the palm and put hay and dry kilm sand and then put soil back. Remove in spring. Use the siver insulation and wrap arbotex and then silver insulation and then burlap. Don't mess with them to early in the spring just cut off the dead stuff. If you plan on heat source just put 1 flourescent twisty light bulb 23 w into a work light and stick that through the lid of your styrofoam box 2 inch glue or tape all sides and lid -cord around box. Use a GFFI plug if you can or the propper extension cord this method will cost very little consumption. The summer heat will make you have to water often so plant needle palm on elevated bed 1/2 composted soil other 1/2 sand and gravel. Use large pine Nuggets at the base over winter. Happy palming
mike

Thanks for description Mike.

Here's the promo on Arbotex http://www.texel.ca/html/en/horticulture/products/protection_des_vegetaux/arbotex.php

Barb

Yup that's the stuff -won't do everything they claim but it sure helps.
mike

I have this years 7 gal. Needle palm planted in with my W.filifera palm hut with 10" of dry leaf mulch. It is doing great that it hasn`t had to deal with the really cold temps everything else had to during our cold snap a month ago. Good tip on the Arbotex.

John

Often the needle palm will go through the winter and all the leaves will stay very green and then spring will come and the needle palm will turn brown. Don't despair it will often green up again a few weeks later and stop doing that after the 4th year.
mike

I found arbotex at Home Hardware
http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Outdoor-Living/Yard-Maintenance/Garden-Tools/Miscellaneous/Miscellaneous/PROTECTOR-PLANT-ARBOTEX-POLY-1X7M/_/N-ntljp/R-I5094444
or if you need more it's cheaper at Costco:
http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10342820&Ne=5000000%204000000&eCat=BCCA|114|116&N=4010509%205000012&Mo=0&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-CA
Anywhere else?

Tavi

Thanks for the link Tavi. Mike I was refering to the "main spear" rotting on all three I had planted. The suckers were all growing and green as well as the fronds left on the main trunk. These were all 5 gal. R. hystrix. None of my Trachy`s lost there spear planted right next to them? Here is one I dug up and repotted. Pretty sad looking. http://www.flickr.com/photos/67364497@N07/6883635961/ . The next pic is a comparison of what it should look like.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67364497@N07/6883635981/ . Final pics are the Needle I planted last May.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67364497@N07/6883635985/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/67364497@N07/6883636005/. I`m thinking I should have used fungicide? I`ll be watching the newest one like a hawk for spear rot.

John