Warm nights in Texas

[smatofu]

Finally, we will get some warm nights in Texas (60-70F in DFW). I hope our surviving palms will start growing.

My sabal mexicana has been moving very slowly so far; maybe 1/4 of an inch per week. 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by smatofu

[Sabal King]

11 hours ago, smatofu said:

Finally, we will get some warm nights in Texas (60-70F in DFW). I hope our surviving palms will start growing.

My sabal mexicana has been moving very slowly so far; maybe 1/4 of an inch per week. 

 

Our Sabal Mexicana started exploding in growth about 3-4 weeks ago, and I have two others that aren't moving much yet, but petioles are green so it's just a matter of waiting.  Hoping the heat brings on some growth.. I'm with you!

[smatofu]

20 minutes ago, tlow said:

Our Sabal Mexicana started exploding in growth about 3-4 weeks ago, 

Wow!   We are in the same area. You must have either protected your palms very well or you must have a micro-climate.

My large Mexicana (very healthy before the freeze) is still stunted. 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by smatofu

[Sabal King]

55 minutes ago, smatofu said:

Wow!   We are in the same area. You must have either protected your palms very well or you must have a micro-climate.

My large Mexicana (very healthy before the freeze) is still stunted. 

 

Yea we had to trunk cut 4 of our Trachys, they are all growing bigtime now, and the Mexicana was a 15G, it's really taking off quite quickly.. It's on it's second frond now just opening up.  We live just a few houses from the Lake, and both sides of our back yard are heavily wooded (north and south).  So I do think we're in a bit of a micro-climate as we are lower than the street (10-15 feet) and hidden away.. When I walk up to the street the wind whips up but as I walk down toward the house and backyard, it's calm.  We did see a low of .9F on my weather station back here, so it was hella cold, no doubt about it but maybe shielding from the wind help them stay alive.  Hope to never see this cold again here.. all of this stuff was planted just last October too so they were barely in the ground a few months.

[smatofu]

[maybe shielding from the wind help them stay alive] 

Yes! This is it!  From what I see in my neighborhood, any Trachy protected from north-west winds is doing better. 

My backyard is somehow exposed to north-west. 

I don't see any large Sabal pushing green in my neighborhood yet. Very, very few will survive.

Trachys survival rate will be maybe 30-50%. 

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by smatofu

[Sabal King]

1 hour ago, smatofu said:

[maybe shielding from the wind help them stay alive] 

Yes! This is it!  From what I see in my neighborhood, any Trachy protected from north-west winds is doing better. 

My backyard is somehow exposed to north-west. 

I don't see any large Sabal pushing green in my neighborhood yet. Very, very few will survive.

Trachys survival rate will be maybe 30-50%. 

 

Wow - well maybe I just got lucky with mine.  The 15G S. Mexicanas don't have trunks at all, so I think the fact they didn't have a trunk and were underground was their saving grace actually.  One of them has green petioles but hasn't done anything yet.. I'm patiently waiting on that one.  One of them again, same pot size the petioles browned out but when I took a look at the roots they look vibrant so maybe there's a chance with rain, and sun\heat.  I'm leaving those two alone as my lotto palms.  I have planted, and continue to plant ONLY cold hardy species from now on (minors, louisianas, brazoriensis, needles, trachys, birminghams, etc).  So I won't need to even cover much of anything going forward.. no zone pushing, heat cables, wrapping unless I absolutely have to.  The only ones I have I would wrap are W. Filiferas I am growing outdoors, and Pindos.

Edited April 28, 2021 by tlow

[Manalto]

15 hours ago, smatofu said:

Finally, we will get some warm nights in Texas (60-70F in DFW). I hope our surviving palms will start growing.

 

Good to hear conditions are improving. You went through a very rough winter, to say the least.  Here's hoping for a vigorous recovery. Do keep us posted on your progress.

[NBTX11]

18 minutes ago, Manalto said:

Good to hear conditions are improving. You went through a very rough winter, to say the least.  Here's hoping for a vigorous recovery. Do keep us posted on your progress.

The winter was not rough at all.  Was extremely mild. One week was rough, everything else was probably above average. I know what you meant though. Just goes to show you a couple bad days once a decade can ruin your palms. 

[Manalto]

35 minutes ago, NBTX11 said:

The winter was not rough at all.  Was extremely mild. One week was rough, everything else was probably above average. I know what you meant though. Just goes to show you a couple bad days once a decade can ruin your palms. 

 All it takes is one curly hair to ruin a dinner.

[Sabal King]

So I wanted to show my biggest surprise.. we just planted these 15G S. Mexicanas in October once we completed the pool build.  I was sure it was a goner, but look at this one go!  It's been showing growth for at least a month now or more and I can see some nice noticable growth everyday.

 

Can't wait until this one starts trunking..