That´s sad 🙁 The first pic looks like my trachy now..

Jim,
that is really sad.
I'm glad it looks like the Trithrinax may recover; that Naini Tal is also making it back.
--Erik

Hey Hardyjim,

I keep my fingers crossed!!!!
Rob

Hardyjim,

Quick question: based on your current experience, what do you plan to change in your winter protection scheme in the coming winter? I will follow your suggestions, because this will be the first winter for my palms, once I plant them outside!

Thanks a lot in advance!
Rob

I will leave less to chance.
For the most part I have been keeping my palms in clear pvc plastic and letting them
see 10 before I turned on the heat.
The problem wasn't the protection but the quickness with which we moved into winter-
nothing below 30 all of Oct-Nov,7(f) above avg in Nov and then instantly into winter.
The plants had NO time to harden off.

Next year I will shut down most of them cover them and insulate better.
I will try to save more green tissue by using thermocubes(on at 35 off at 45(f)

Thanks, Hardyjim!
Rob

Dead and no chance (period) of recovery are the first five photos. Pic #6 shows promise and the remaining are a serious struggle. Cold zone growers need to containerize palms and set them out in summer. Elaborate and expensive protection for in ground palms may not be for the regular hobbiest.

Cheers, Barrie.

Hate to hear about the palms Jim, but if anybody can get them to pull through, it's you:) Best of luck!

What a bummer Jim! Did these seem to decline and go bad in a kind of delayed-reaction situation this spring? I think I remember your trachies looking better earlier this spring... I'll be watching what happens with them, I see a lot of your stuff as excellent research for all of us to learn from. Remember I'm nursing a larger damaged trachy which was not cold-related (drought stress). I'm still seeing no evidence of rot and no spear pull, but not a whole lot of spear movement even though temps have been warm. I'm holding out hope that it will take off onve the soil really warms up. Soil in the low 60s here for the most part about 6" down. Grass is fully green (need to mow already!) and normal trees are running about 25-50% full green-up.

Barrie,
I'm not even good enough to be called a "regular hobbiest". I do keep most of my palms in pots and bring them in for the winter. This Spring, my Washy and Jubea have been moved outside and are not looking so good. On the other hand my in-the-ground Trachy, which seemed like a goner by January, is pushing up new, healthy-looking spears--fast. Win some, lose some.
--Erik

Thanks Kory,Eric,Guys-
Kory,they have been in a holding pattern while some of the other palms are clearly growing
with the unusually warm weather we are having.
Palms have the uncanny ability to look like they are hanging on when they
are actually finished or damn close to it.

Kory the reason I decided to saw the big Trachy open was that 2 of the leaves
were drooping and one of them was shriveling up,a clear sign that they are cut off from the life line.
Someone on another forum suggested I had killed them by cutting down on them,you can see from some of the smaller ones
that the core was gone,rotted.
I cut down progressively to see how far down the rot had gotten,this is as far as I had to go to find healthy tissue.

Can you imagine if one of these recovered from being cut down this far?
I have never seen it,it would be very encouraging to future palm enthusiast to see what a palm
MAY be able to recover from -
It is a learning experience to find the answers to growing cold hardy palms out of there zones,sometimes a painful one
as we do become attached to our palms,etc.

If there are 2 palms I would be saddest to lose it would 2 of these,they are the first I ever planted.
The problem this year was not the absolute cold of the winter but how quickly we moved into it-
Nov was +7 above mean avg with nothing lower than 28-30(f) the high temp in Nov was warmer than
Oct(78(f)!my palms were still growing
If we have the passion to do this we should,no matter if there are people who try to shut us down,
they always seem to be from warmer areas-can you imagine if I told someone from Minnesota they
shouldn't grow palms because I am south of them?

Good words, Hardyjim, we are with you...
Rob

Thanks Rob! 😀

That is really awful Jim!
It's such a sad sight to see your oldest palm in such a bad situation. I hope you defy all odds and your palms all come back for you.

Barrie,
Very encouraging words 🙄 So if all of us that don't live in a 8b-9a climate like yourself all planted are palms in pots and brought them in for the winter what would be the point of this forum?

Sorry about your palms Jim, your yard will be beautiful this year regardless!

Bill