And...........tonight I've had spear pull.

Oh no!
Which one? The tall lanky one?

Guys, can anyone tell me what is the "neem oil". (I'm not good in english).

Serj,
here is the Wikipedia explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem_oil

In brief, it is thought to be a safe and effective insecticide and anti-fungal spray for plants. I am not sure if quality scientific studies have been done on it to show it is really safe and effective. I have used it some and think it is better than nothing but maybe not a lot better. If there is interest, we can have a "neem thread" to share experiences. --Erik

Erik, thanks a lot for explanation! I have never used antifungal spray or other material. The succes is in not using things that can be rotten. No leaves inside palms shelter - no problem. 8)

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all!

Fantastic shots of the palms Tim, it will be interesting to hear what happens to the unheated ones when they're all uncovered.

Scotty great pics also - thanks for the look-see.

Barb, I was up in your neck of the woods for Christmas and wondered how your Trachy is doing (nice painted shelter I see on your avatar by the way!) your temps didn't seem bad at all, in fact it was lovely while I was there! Congratulations on your daughter's upcoming wedding, clear lights will be pretty!

Heidi

Heidi,
Wish I'd known you were coming up for Christmas (despite everyones' busy schedules)...we could'a visited the Trachy hut while holding a warm mug of something 😀
Yes, weather was great during the holiday...but we're back to reality now :lickice:

Glad you made it safely here and back...always hate to hear of peoples' struggles across the high mountain passes.
As they say, bin der dun dat. 😕

Thanks for the good wishes.
Happy 2011 to you too...little one will be helping with your palm huts next Fall :bounce:
Barb

The spear pull I posted about last night was on one of the unheated palms.

Today...it is 52 degrees outside, so I opened up all the palm enclosures to take a peak inside. One of the uninsulated 3 gallon trachys that have mini lights only for heat now pulled both spears plus the newest opened frond. What caused me to investigate was the newest opened frond was all shriveled up, but the other fronds were healthy. So I tugged on the frond and out it came. Then I tugged on the spears and out they came too. I went to the other 3 uninsulated trachys and tugged on their spears but they stayed in place.

So...I don't know if this is a failed experiment, or simply a bad palm in the mix. The one where the spear pulled grew a few funky fronds last spring where the middle was brown around the frond, but the inner and outer parts were green. Cold damage? Maybe. The coldest the enclosures have gotten was about 20F and they get above freezing each day. The ground isn't frozen inside, so I don't know what the problem is.

The two trachys up by my house that are insulated and heated with a space heater to 40F are in perfect condition as expected.

Pics.

Uninsulated trachy with mini lights. No spear pull. This is how 3 out of the 4 look. So I'm thinking it's an isolated palm issue?

Trachy I planted in 2008. Looks bullet-proof and perfect.

Trachy I planted in June 2010. Leggy one. Slight damage maybe? Fronds look a little meh. Probably because it's not established yet.

I'm trying to follow which one from your Day One posting pics.

The pulled one...

Each of these windmill palms have just a 100 bulb string of mini lights wrapped around it on a 35/45 thermocube.

or when you say "uninsulated", surely you don't mean unheated.

pic of the spear pulled one?
Barb

I'm trying to follow which one from your Day One posting pics.

The pulled one...

Each of these windmill palms have just a 100 bulb string of mini lights wrapped around it on a 35/45 thermocube.

or when you say "uninsulated", surely you don't mean unheated.

pic of the spear pulled one?
Barb

Yeah, uninsulated means it just has two layers of 6 mil poly and then the palm is wrapped with the mini lights. I didn't take a pic of the spear pulled one. It looks just like the one I posted but minus the spears. Other leaves are green.

Darn it!
There are plenty of folks here who know Trachy better than I do.
I admit I have lost Trachy in the past with much milder winters than you have, with the faulty idea that I only had to keep the wind off them. Wrong in a cold winter!
But your thermocube/mini-light method under cover ought to have been sufficient unless I am missing something. --Erik

Darn it!
There are plenty of folks here who know Trachy better than I do.
I admit I have lost Trachy in the past with much milder winters than you have, with the faulty idea that I only had to keep the wind off them. Wrong in a cold winter!
But your thermocube/mini-light method under cover ought to have been sufficient unless I am missing something. --Erik

Yeah, like I said, the other 3 with the SAME protection method are perfect. Green spears, don't pull, and no shriveled leaves. I think this is an odd duck, maybe weakened. They should be able to handle 20F for a winter low easily...that's zone 8b and warmer than Atlanta, GA.

I almost tossed the Neem oil but will keep it for the 6foot Grapefruit tree.
Have 2 inches of coffee grounds as top-dressing so may not need Neem for that.

Cordyline australis still looks good

Better conditions than last winter, plus it's a year older.

Re spear pull you've already had...do you wait until spring to cut away to live tissue?
or do it now to dry out the bud?

BTW have you heard how Bill's GH fared through that brutal snowstorm?
He's AWOL
:sad2:

Barb

Do you just drink your coffee out of the bottom of of the Grapefruit trees pot? 😀
If so does it have a nice citrusy flavor 😯

Bill's stuff is fine as far as I know but he's in Florida right now,rough,I know 😉

I don't cut on anything unless it's already dead on top,I will take some pics today.

Last year my palms just had an avalanche of dead leaves descend down the trunk,
completely bombed out!

This year the damage,last time I checked was localized to the spear area.

I will post some pics in a separate post-