Might want to look through some old threads.
Trying to teach palms to be cold hardy is a little
rough if they are potted as the roots are much
less hardy than the trunk and leaves.

I have planted Trachys as late as Nov-Dec,the trick
is keeping the soil dry during the extreme cold.

You might want to consider planting one of your palms
now or...getting another one and planting that....why
lose a whole winter that you can be learning about protection?

All the threads and info on the web about how to
protect your palms is golden but it doesn't come close to
actually doing it yourself-

I just hate to experiment with such nice big palms. I would be crushed if I lost one the very first year. My thinking was if I put one..or both big ones in the ground in the spring they would have a chance to spread their roots out some and get used to the different soil and stand a better chance.

I was looking for pictures of what other people did in my zone to winter protect them to get ideas.

I'm in the same boat, I have two 5-6 footers in the ground now, planted them about a month ago. I'm still kicking around how I will protect them but will for sure be doing a thermocube with c9 light strand.

This box is framed with 2x2s. One layer of poly on the inside, one layer on the outside (creates 1 1/2 inch air gap). 1 1/2 inch foam on outside. I keep south side removed unless temperature falls below 5F to facilitate solar heating (it's free) and to give the palms sunlight. The inside is heated with a 1500 watt space heater set at 40F. I have it on the low setting so it really only uses 750 watts when it runs. It runs about 1 minute then off about 10.

Worked like a charm the past two winters.

Trachys must be tolerant of frozen roots, because theres no way after 3 years that roots only grow within that box.

Great pics! Just what I was looking for.

Do you tie up the fronds as well? and since these can get pretty tall, will you just keep adding to the height? or will they eventually get winter hardy enough to go without protection?

I would still say to look for a nice deal on e-bay or,wherever
and try one out,the experience you gain will be worth any amount
you would pay for it....not to mention helping you for next year
🙂

All good advice from our other members. Scott Trachycarpus fortunei cold limit is about 0f -18c anything below that no matter how long it has been in the ground will cause frond death and possibly kill the whole tree. Here is what I do for winter protection zone 6b. http://okanaganpalms.multiply.com/photos/album/34/January_23rd_2011#

John

Here's my Trachy palm hut.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/4325696328/" title="DSC03347 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC03347"></a>

A Patton electric heater keeps indoor temp between -5C and +1C (approx).

Barb

Barb I might implementing your idea for protecting my palms. Most likely a window would be an add-on to your project. We have no thermocubes here so I bought a temperature controller (from minus 70 to plus 100 C 2,5 kw beast). And a convection heater will be a source of heat for the palm shelter. Of course west facing house wall along with a vent hole would safe some money supposedly to be payed for the Hydro bills.
And I'm wondering how deep to the soil a palm hut walls should to be dig in? A couple of feet or it's just enough putting some soil (leaves) along the walls perimeter? Last winter my variegated Japanese euonymus plants overwintering successively being covered with the dry leaves in spite of quite cold winter (t minus 24-26 C for 8 successive nights and January mean temperature minus 12).

Yes, a south window would've been a better idea for mine than the clear polycarbonate roof.
The sun is lower in winter and not much shines down onto the palm...but hey, it's growing 😆

I like the idea you have of a west facing house wall along with a vent...which would also let cold back into the house 😥

The palm hut's walls don't go into the ground at all.
The wall panels are set in place on top of railway ties, and screwed to them, as well as to each other.
Then I add leaves to about 1 foot thick on the outside walls.
I think that sinking walls into the soil would shorten the life of the walls (rot?), and also difficult to remove in spring.

Glad your euonymous made it...8 successive nights isn't too bad at those temps.
The trick seems to be to use dry--not wet--leaves.

I can't believe we're talking about winter already. 😐
Barb

Here's my Trachy palm hut.

<a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/4325696328/" title="DSC03347 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC03347"></a>

A Patton electric heater keeps indoor temp between -5C and +1C (approx).

Barb

Nicely built. Were it a bit longer, I might be able to live in it myself.

This is my hut. It has also a door on the opposite side of the window. I had just some Christmas lights inside

Hardy Jim. Found a real nice sized Windmill palm at a Earl May garden center at 50% off ($24) I'm going to plant it in the ground on south side of garage and provide winter protection of some kind as an experiment. It's decent enough size, and still not too big to build something over it.

I love the end of the season on tropicals that are out there now.