Looks good Barb, sorry to hear about your weather. If it makes you feel any better it's snowing here right now 🙁

I drenched the washies big time when I did it, soaked the spear too. I'll do the spear again right before they go in there huts.

Bill

Bill, you went from 70F the other day to snow today? Sheesh 😐

You soaked the spear? I didn't know how much should run down into it.
Should I do the whole trunk too?
And the undersides of fronds?

Stuff sure smells funny, doesn't it.
I can't figure out that smell, but I have smelled it before...somewhere.

Barb

Barb,
I sprayed both sides of the leaves, I'm not sure if I read that somewhere or just thought is was a good idea.
I think letting it get into the bud is a good idea too, I'm going to spray all of mine before I totally cover then.
If you put it on the trunk you'll just be wasting your money since the fibers are so thick.

Snow palm pictures on the way later tonight!

Bill

How much snow did you guys get last night Bill?

Just about 2 inches, it was wet so it froze on everything. The saw palmetto is the only thing that's sulking at the moment, it'll bounce back though it's nice and sunny. South side of house is melting quick, still cold on the north. One of my needles and two of the minors are still in the shade, I had to scrape the icy snow of them a few minutes ago, sun will be there soon for there rescue.

Bill

Barb
I was actually kidding Bill about his warm temps,if you look at the weather sticker you could see it was cold here that's why I wrote Oops– 😆

I agree with spraying the spear,any leafy material and growth points.
I ordered some the other day,just hope my palms are still here when it gets here 😯

Ya, I get it 😆

One thing about weather stickers that bugs me...
have you noticed that ALL of your weather stickers change to what your most recent posting/temperature was?

You'd think the weather sticker from a post in, say, July would be "locked in" and not change to reflect the temperature of your posting in December! 😕

Barb

I guess we could post our own temp at the time of posting 🙄
They were doing it on EPS but some people got annoyed(esp the moderators)because it used up a lot of space.
Not what you were saying,O.K. 😳

😆 😆

It's just that looking back on a July posting, it's a little stupid to see -2C.
Barb

None of my posts that I did before having the banner have none, I'm thinking it's not a super sophisticated program 😆

Bill

Still it's nice to see the current weather where we all post from 😀

Everyone, I'm really anxious to hear reports on how FreezePruf is working for you, now that the cold has started to set in. In response to some of the threads, yes, soak the spear leaf do the formula drips down into the crown cavity - that will protect the bud tissue. As I said earlier, this stuff is COMPLETELY nontoxic and can be used directly on edible fruits and veggies, so no worries there. The stuff is a light brown color, and what you are smelling is probably the anitdessicant, which is a terpene polymer.

Candidly, I am dissapointed by some early feedback I've gotten, primarily from folks in Zone 9 who have just gotten their first cold weather - people are upset that their tropical bananas etc. are "killed" when it got down to 25-26F, but I later learn that it was 2-3 hours at that temp and 8 hours total below freezing and frankly NOTHING will protect a true tropical under those conditions. People are also relying on local weather reports for their low temps, and we all know that might not reflect your home garden temps at all.

PLEASE EMAIL ME ANY AND ALL YOUR RESULTS - BOTH GOOD OR BAD!

For most plants, most people are generally reporting about 4 - 6 degrees of protection - right in the middle of the 2.2 to 9.4 F we claim/report on the label.

We had our first frost here in Tuscaloosa on Nov 27: 28-30F for 2.5 hrs and 5.5 hrs below freezing, and YES, my tropical bananas were heavily damaged, but they were already all yellow and tattered that late in the season. My M. basjoo suffered only perhaps 25% foliar burn and even now, with a low of 25 the other night I still have some green foliage and no real damage to the midribs and pseudostem. No damage to my Philodendron or the Phoenix canariensis, etc.

And I REALLY got a kick out of the pic one of you posted on the lawn chair with my book!!! I'm sorry I didn't jot your name down when I was looking at posts, but thank you - you made my day!

Best,
Dave Francko

Thanks David! Loved the book! Inspired me to grow hardy tropicals in my area of Southern Ontario. Read your whole book on my honeymoon in South Carolina this summer.. I think the people who saw me reading a book with a picture of palms with snow on it while I was sitting under a palm tree in South Carolina thought I was pretty strange!

Glad you like it!

Scott

Great read, David.

Reading on your honeymoon, Scotty?
And...not to be outdone, here's my buddy borrowing my book:

Yes, I did let it run down into the base of the spear a bit.
Light brown??? the liquid was blue/green, and the smell isn't bad at all.
Nothing like the awful reek of insecticidal soap on my 15 plants in the living room...trying to get rid of fungus gnats!

Odd thing happened. Since spraying FreezePruf, the heater went into the palm hut. Still playing with minimum settings, so far it was too cold, so I increased it a bit. Now it's too warm inside again about 8 C 46F, so I've lowered it.

But the nainital has no heat at all, just FreezePruf and cardboard, blanket and tarp. Leaves were too soggy to put around it. So the relatively unprotected nainital will be the test. Coldest so far has been -16C 3F.

One application of FreezePruf lasts about 4-6 weeks. Should be above freezing to apply it, so may have to add some heat for the second application.
Unless of course winter's over 😛 😛
Barb

Light Brown ❓ We got screwed Barb, mines blue too! Just kiddin. I bet the light brown ones the concentrate that needs mixing. I have a gallon left that I'm going to apply after we warm up a little on Monday. My new and improved wall-o-waters should be here tomorrow just in time for 20f tomorrow.

I'll post all those pictures when I'm finished. It's all about helping one another right wx 🙄

Bill