Paul, I have two Trachycarpus - fortunei and wagnerianus. Planted outside last spring.

My town is promised to be cold spelled down to minus 26C on the December 19-20-21th. There is no heater inside of my "the palm-hayloft". What is a critical T min inside it to be worried?

Once you begin to approach the mid teens a lot of cold hardy palms begin to suffer...
it only gets worse from there,I would say single digits will be cause for alarm.

Mostly talking about Chamaerops,Butia and Trachys here.......

Thanks, Jim There is minus 8C (18F?) outside and 2.5C (36F?) inside of the protection "house".

minus 26C. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I think you would need to keep the temps above -17C (0F) to have any chance of survival. Having said that, I think each cold spell brings its own challenges, the three day duration will also take its toll on your newly planted trachys. good luck winter can be unforgiving sometimes. Thank goodnes you have them protected.

We got minus 20 C last night finally. The minimum temp inside of the palmhouse was minus 4.3 C. The max temp outside - minus 14 C and minus 3.2 C inside. Not too bad, isn't it?

very good result!

Very effective protection, Igor.
Good job.

BRRRR that's cold...stay warm and safe
:bigsmurf:

Barb

Barb, I'd try! By the way I've got some virus in UK, so today was a first day I would be able come back to work. That's why I didn't start rooting various Aucuba cuttings that brought from London. Checked them today it seems they are fine..

Igor, how awful that you got sick from that nice vacation in London...glad you're feeling better now.

Good luck with the cuttings.
Curious: would Aucuba cuttings in Spring be better than Fall cuttings?
Or do their cuttings need a woody stem (versus soft growth) to root?

Barb

Barb, thanks for wishing all these good things. I promise everything is gonna be alright.
As for aucuba's cuttings unlikely I would have a chance coming back to London for them in spring... I do remember my only Aucuba plant has been growing from a cutting had been stolen in Leningrad Scientific library in December 1991. Yes, I know I was a bad boy but the plant is 1.5 m high and healthy. But it is a male plant. I'd like to have some Aucuba plants with their beautiful red berries. That's why I I cut last season tops from three different variegation form of the female plants and collected some seeds from them just in case. And I do hope the cutting will be successfully rooting until spring comes. By the way my 20 yeas old Aucuba has no woody stem parts at all.

I know I was a bad boy

Nope, we've all done that.
Just think of the species we would all have if palms gave viable "cuttings"... :bounce:

tops from three different variegation form of the female plants and collected some seeds from them just in case. And I do hope the cutting will be successfully rooting

I've had luck with using rooting hormone powder, you probably use that too.

Your 20 year old plant has NO woody stems?
Wow, I thought they turned to wood after two years.
Amazing plant if it survives hard winters with soft green stems.

And the berries are beautiful. http://www.paghat.com/aucuba.html

Barb

Very good reference! Please remind me to take a close shot of my Aucuba plant stem in April 😆

Hey Igor , how do you cover your palms and how do you keep them warm? Sounds like by the temps in your palmhuts you got this protection thingy figured out. Good for you.

Kent, I did nothing special but... My two Trachy palms shelter has three walls build from wheat straw bales 90x50x40 centimeters, the fourth shelter wall is a wall of my house. I put two layers of the rock-wool as a roof. And one layer of the rock-wool on each side. Plus plastic layer. There is a vent hole inside. This is the only "heat" source in there.
A minimum temperature in the shelter was minus 5,4 c so far. A diurnal variation of outside temperature you can find here http://weatherspark.com/#!graphs;a=Kazakhstan/Almaty.
Thanks for asking... And only palms would tell us if the palms shelter would have been enough effective make them surviving.

I wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to everyone! Our Orthodox Christmas is coming up soon, January the7th.

By the way today was a first day with a max t outside above 0C after a really long and harsh cold spell (11 days). A temperature inside of my palmhouse raised above 0C too.
I think a pretty good result of protection efficiency has been achieved so far.