If your protection is good and you can manage
the soil moisture,you cant plant anytime....

Good luck-look forward to seeing them planted.

Thanks. This winter I will test out my sabal minor in the garden to see how it does.
However, I will need to plan out how I will protect my larger palm's for next year.
I haven't prepared anything for them this year, and don't want to risk it as the past
two winters have been pretty harsh.

Hey Chris, I'm in a zone abut 1-1.5 colder than yours. I've got 2 S. minors in the ground... My thought is that if you plant it, a thick layer of mulch combined with a double layer of that white frost cloth would allow you to overwinter it in Toronto. They're tough little palms, tougher than needles in my experience (at least in terms of spear pull).

Good luck!

I'll definitely take that into consideration. I actually bought some frost cloth and a plastic dome to go over the top of the sabal minor. Was also thinking of using a few c7 or c9 light bulbs to provide some extra heat. Would I need any fungicide spray for a sabal minor? Or is that only more of a concern with palms that produce a trunk?

I'll post a picture of my sabal minor this weekend just to provide some perspective. Its still quite small, however its been in the ground most of this summer.

you can see here how I protect my trachy. I started with Christmas lights, but by spring more than half of them were burned. So I started to use heat cables.

The disadvantage of using heat cables is that you don't see if they are on or off, so I added a regular bulb. If the heat cable has it's own thermostat, use it. If it doesn't use a TC3.

I also added for extreme cases a small heater on a TC2, but I don't think it ever turned on, as the temperature inside never dropped below 0C

Tavi

The Trachy looks great after the winter. I may try the same method next year. What kind of wrapping is that around the tree?

The wrapping used is called arbotex. It's more expensive than burlap but it's reusable.

I would get both of those in the ground next Spring, late April or early May. Do NOT Fertilize until July/August. Make sure you dig your hole twice as wide as the root ball, and introduce a triple mix and Sand with native soil. Must be well drained in our Toronto Clay soil.

Tavi is right, Arbotex is the way to go. Don't use burlap. I lost my Palmetto because of xmas lights and poor drainage. Heat cable saved my Butias because it's consistent.

Mulch mulch mulch mulch....

My Sabal Minors have been in the ground for 3 winters and keep getting larger, even though they are very slow growers. The ones in the front of my house (South wall) has seeded and a seedling has appeared this year as they love the heat. Frost cloth (Arbotex) and a clear plastic tent (9 mil vapour barrier) with some ventilation. Green house effect.

Thanks for the advice, i'm going to try those methods.

I picked up some large arbotex rolls from Dollarama. I forget the brand, however it was a recognizable name. The one @ Scarborough town had a large gardening section this summer with several frost protection items.

Check out this plant protection tent I found at Lowes. I will use it with my Sabal minor this winter in combination with Christmas lights. I may try the cables next year. It apparently protects against freezing rain, wind, snow, frost and at the same time allows the plant to breathe and receive some sunlight. Has anyone experimented with one of these? If its not a good idea, i'll just use it with my yucca plants.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_335263-24313-20253_1z0wg8k__?productId=3274205&pl=1

This is my new sabal minor I purchased from XLB palm trees in St. George Ontario. My other sabal minor is already in the garden.

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Awesome, also get some dry leaves in the fall and fill up the shelter to protect further.
I've had great success with my sabals.

Great looking Sabal palms there!