I would do as Jim advises and just grab some Carl Pool off of eBay. I had been using Palm Tone, which actually is available around here. But I wanted to try something different and I found the CP on the Bay.

As for protection, there are numerous good ideas around here. Or you could go to GardenWeb and look for a guy named arctictropical. He grows Palms in Zone 4 Utah and grows them quite well. He builds a tall hut made out of wood and styrofoam insulation panels. Maybe he posts here too. I do not recall.

I have to build one for my Butia as it outgrew the small greenhouse I bought for it. HardyJim's efforts are impressive- kind of like a biodome in his front yard. Lucky has a good hut as well. Most everybody here has a boastworthy effort evidenced by the fact that there palms are alive and often look better than some I have seen in Dixie.

If that is too much, the path of least resistance is to heavily mulch, build a cage around the Trachy, fill it with leaves, and then cover it with a tarp. They are a bit "hungover" when Spring arrives, but quite green and alive.

Totally agree.

MG is fine for palms but the nice thing about Carl Pool
and any good palm fertilizer is the ratio..................
I believe CP is 12-4-12 but the 12(N) in the first number
(if I recall correctly)is at least partially slow release.

Here is link as well as making your own mixes up....if you do that is 😀

He probably ships worldwide. you may even know of the site.

http://palmbooster.com/

wxman, that trachy is great! Your post is a really good one for tracking t. fortunei growth in colder zones!

Agree, a great help to the novice -- thanks wxman!!