My Windmill Palm!

[PalmTreeDude]

I know some of you have seen this palm around the forum, I thought why not make a whole thread on it. So I planted this thing early spring, and about two weeks after being planted it started really growing. I got it in a pot, so it was not like planting one that was bare root. I am hoping at some point to be able to leave this thing unprotected. This is in zone 7a/7b boarder in VA. What do you think?

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by PalmTreeDude

[PalmTreeDude]

[Las Palmas Norte]

Be prepared to give it a protective (burlap) wrap in the nasty winter weather.

Cheers, Barrie.

[Mr.SamuraiSword]

I have a windmill palm (fortunei)  That I will be planting next june.  heavy wrapping and some burlap/tarps should help it survive the winter.6 months ago

today

Edited September 20, 2016 by Mr.SamuraiSword

[Joe NC]

A thermo-cube and some mini incandescent Christmas lights under a wrap can really help zone push for a smaller palm.  With several strings of the lights and a couple of cheap painters drop cloth wraps, I can easily gain over 10 degrees F on cold nights.  I without any lights and only a wrap, there really is no gain in temperature at night.  (I've measured) This has helped me to push my zone on the few nights a year when it does drop into the teens.  The thermo-cube is key, because using any heat under a wrap without a thermostat can cook the plant.       

[SailorBold]

23 hours ago, Joe NC said:

A thermo-cube and some mini incandescent Christmas lights under a wrap can really help zone push for a smaller palm.  With several strings of the lights and a couple of cheap painters drop cloth wraps, I can easily gain over 10 degrees F on cold nights.  I without any lights and only a wrap, there really is no gain in temperature at night.  (I've measured) This has helped me to push my zone on the few nights a year when it does drop into the teens.  The thermo-cube is key, because using any heat under a wrap without a thermostat can cook the plant.       

That sounds about right..  I would avoid any kind of plastic also unless its placed on the palm for very short times to keep the moisture out.. but if its kept on too long will raise your humidity which might end up lethal for the tree.

[sashaeffer]

Agreed on the humidity. I have 25 palms in the ground that I over winter and the one I have issue with is the one that doesn't see much sun on the protection method I use. Plus, I thought making it almost air tight would help keep heat in from Christmas lights.....mistake....as the Windmill palm got fungus on the fronds so had to cut it back quite a bit. This winter I will make sure it's not air tight and allow it to vent better.

Funny thing is when I first started protecting this palm with wire fence and plastic it would sail through winter. It was a flimsy set up so came up with something that offers better protection...which created a easily correctable problem.

Edited September 21, 2016 by sashaeffer

[cm05]

You might get away with no protection during some winters, but I'd definitely protect it from zone 7a temperatures, all it takes is one cold night to damage an entire year's worth of growth, not worth the risk in my opinion.

In my experience they really don't need to be permanently wrapped or covered over in zone 7, but I like to help mine along from time to time in order for it to come out of winter looking the same way it did during the fall.

Your palm is beautiful, by the way.

[palm789]

Here is mine discuss

[maesy]

Down to 10 degrees fahrenheit it will not need any protection, as long as day time temperature rises above freezing.

 

[palm789]

I planted mine a week ago will it need winter protection.i live in south wales UK.

[PalmTreeDude]

12 hours ago, maesy said:

Down to 10 degrees fahrenheit it will not need any protection, as long as day time temperature rises above freezing.

 

It rarely goes below 15, and if it does, people freak out! 

 

18 hours ago, cm05 said:

You might get away with no protection during some winters, but I'd definitely protect it from zone 7a temperatures, all it takes is one cold night to damage an entire year's worth of growth, not worth the risk in my opinion.

In my experience they really don't need to be permanently wrapped or covered over in zone 7, but I like to help mine along from time to time in order for it to come out of winter looking the same way it did during the fall.

Your palm is beautiful, by the way.

 I was thinking, on a very cold night, colder than normal, I would always wrap it. Thank you for the complement too!

Edited September 22, 2016 by PalmTreeDude

[Pal Meir]

On 22.9.2016, 10:41:26, maesy said:

Down to 10 degrees fahrenheit it will not need any protection, as long as day time temperature rises above freezing.

…? 10°F = -12°C:

[pin38]

3 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

…? 10°F = -12°C:

I wonder how things like humidity and sun can affect what temps cause what damage.  Also, there's variability between individual specimens.

[Flounder]

On 9/22/2016, 10:52:33, palm789 said:

I planted mine a week ago will it need winter protection.i live in south wales UK.

Probably not until the brass monkey is looking for a welder

[maesy]

On Fri Sep 23 20:27:30, pin38 said:

I wonder how things like humidity and sun can affect what temps cause what damage.  Also, there's variability between individual specimens.

For T.fortunei humidity and sun has not much influence in terms of frost damage. But still the advantage in a place with prolonged freezes can be  a sunnier spot.

 

[islandwidepalmtrees.com]

I think you are going to have to wrap your tree. I have been selling windmill palms up here on Long Island and across the Northeast for the past seven years..... Last year was the first time I offered a wrapping service for my customers that came with a limited warranty..(if we wrapped the tree and it did not show signs of life come the following June they had the right to buy another tree for half off the normal sale price) I wrapped just over 100 trees and I did not have to replace a tree I am proud to say.... The system we used was tying up the fronds and wrapping the trunk with C-9 Christmas Lights plugged into a thermo-cube (lights were an option). We then built a square wood frame around the tree 2 ft wide as by how many feet the tree was tall. Then we wrapped it with 6 mil plastic around the frame twice. We attached a plywood roof covered in plastic and place 4 shrink wrap vents onto the sides.... 2 up top and 2 on the bottom to help vent the tree.  This system worked great especially if the customers choose to have the lights installed. The ones without lights did not fair as well but still survived.

I had a few concerns about that system that I thought I could improve on. One of the biggest things I wanted for a new system was the ability open and close up the structure to help vent it on the mild days ( we had 75 degree weather last year for Christmas, I am sure that was the best thing for the tree even though we had vents on it) and be able to access the tree to check on it.

My second biggest thing I wanted to achieve was the ability to use the new structure year after year. That was also easy to assemble and dissemble.

I have come up with "The New Windmill Palm Cover" system that meets all those needs. It is made out of a custom Sunbrella canvas. The whole system snaps together with my custom fitted PVC support tubes that attach to 4 galvanized pipes. In addition you can add on a 2 ft attachment as the tree grows. I am enclosing a few pictures of the new cover. I would like feed back of what you think  or any questions you may have. 

for more info visit: http://www.islandwidepalmtrees.com/palm-cover.html

[PalmTreeDude]

On 10/6/2016, 5:31:44, islandwidepalmtrees.com said:

I think you are going to have to wrap your tree. I have been selling windmill palms up here on Long Island and across the Northeast for the past seven years..... Last year was the first time I offered a wrapping service for my customers that came with a limited warranty..(if we wrapped the tree and it did not show signs of life come the following June they had the right to buy another tree for half off the normal sale price) I wrapped just over 100 trees and I did not have to replace a tree I am proud to say.... The system we used was tying up the fronds and wrapping the trunk with C-9 Christmas Lights plugged into a thermo-cube (lights were an option). We then built a square wood frame around the tree 2 ft wide as by how many feet the tree was tall. Then we wrapped it with 6 mil plastic around the frame twice. We attached a plywood roof covered in plastic and place 4 shrink wrap vents onto the sides.... 2 up top and 2 on the bottom to help vent the tree.  This system worked great especially if the customers choose to have the lights installed. The ones without lights did not fair as well but still survived.

I had a few concerns about that system that I thought I could improve on. One of the biggest things I wanted for a new system was the ability open and close up the structure to help vent it on the mild days ( we had 75 degree weather last year for Christmas, I am sure that was the best thing for the tree even though we had vents on it) and be able to access the tree to check on it.

My second biggest thing I wanted to achieve was the ability to use the new structure year after year. That was also easy to assemble and dissemble.

I have come up with "The New Windmill Palm Cover" system that meets all those needs. It is made out of a custom Sunbrella canvas. The whole system snaps together with my custom fitted PVC support tubes that attach to 4 galvanized pipes. In addition you can add on a 2 ft attachment as the tree grows. I am enclosing a few pictures of the new cover. I would like feed back of what you think  or any questions you may have. 

for more info visit: http://www.islandwidepalmtrees.com/palm-cover.html

I am thinking, I will wrap the trees for the first two winters and then after that only wrap the trees for a short period of time if the tempature goes below 10 degrees, which only happens about once a year here, normally the tempature does not go below 20 degrees F and we normally have a a zone 7b winter, as a matter of fact, I don't think in all of my time living in VA (in this area) we ever had a zone 7a winter. Once I get the palm established, I don't think I will have any true problems with it. I will ALWAYS still use heavy mulching around the very bottom of the trunk every fall to protect the roots, that should be done to every palm (except Sabal minor and Needle palms) here, for better chances of survival. I do like your method though, and I like that you are trying to improve it! Keep it up! 

Edited October 14, 2016 by PalmTreeDude