How big will a trachycarpus windmill palm get in Tennessee?

[maskedmole]

I have a few windmill palms and wondering what their height potential will be here in TN 6b/7a.  Cold protection is easy, I just have to be vigilant and stick to a routine. I'm not expecting any cold deaths here. Anyone else from Tennessee and care to share your experience? I expect them to get no taller than 10 or 12 foot tall.

[Flow]

I am not from Tennessee but their height is not limited by zone. If you don't let them freeze to death, as you say, they will eventually grow just as tall as any other Trachy. 

Edited November 1, 2021 by Flow

[steve617]

I'm in the same position I put my first windmill in the ground in May. I'm zone 7a East Tennessee. The growing season is shorter than warmer zones so it will be less growing. I'm going to protect mine also.

[UK_Palms]

As long as you don’t have any lows below 0F and say 250 hours below freezing, they will survive and ultimately get to be 30 footers within about 20 years. Nashville has a record low of -17F though and that is in a big city, so if you are out in the country, you may be looking at -20F every few decades potentially. A prolonged freeze with lows of 0-5F is enough to kill a Trachy though, in theory. They have been killed by 5F in Scandinavia. 

[Allen]

Well mine are 11' in 3 years from a 3 footer planted.  Grew 3' of trunk over the past year but fronds are 4-5' .  Expect them to get much taller unless they freeze can go to 20-40'.

Date/trunk height

6/1/2019 14" 8/2020 36" 12/2020 48" 3/2021 49" 7/2021 62" 10/2021 74"

Now

2019

Edited November 1, 2021 by Allen

[maskedmole]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:49 AM, UK_Palms said:

As long as you don’t have any lows below 0F and say 250 hours below freezing, they will survive and ultimately get to be 30 footers within about 20 years. Nashville has a record low of -17F though and that is in a big city, so if you are out in the country, you may be looking at -20F every few decades potentially. A prolonged freeze with lows of 0-5F is enough to kill a Trachy though, in theory. They have been killed by 5F in Scandinavia. 

You can't really go by that because that is the 1985 cold event which was more like a 100 year cold event that set record cold throughout the US. I am almost 27 years old and have never seen it that cold that I am aware of. The coldest I've consciously seen was 8 below zero which was the cold snap of 2014 which was very unusual. I am about 2 hrs east of Nashville and higher in elevation. The record cold here was about 20 something below zero set on I believe 1985 January. I expect the 8 below zero to be more like the 30 year cold event and the one like 1985 like every 100 years

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by maskedmole

[Swolte]

In Texas (I know, not always a fair comparison), a surprising amount of Trachy's didn't make (e.g., 20%) and more were set back by temperatures that briefly dipped to between 5-10F during palmageddon. I was expecting pindo's to suffer (and they did!) but the Trachies still taking such a hit was a surprise for me.  

[Jimhardy]

When you have a very warm winter and cold hits late like it did

in Texas its possible that the palms were actively growing which

makes for weaker tissue and not really any hardening off going on there.

 

[Darold Petty]

In my vague memory, I believe that I saw one with about 40 feet of trunk in Watsonville, CA.  (too far to drive down just for a look)  

If you are good at zooming around on Google Earth it was on a main street, right downtown, when driving south from Highway 1 toward US 101.

[maskedmole]

5 hours ago, Swolte said:

In Texas (I know, not always a fair comparison), a surprising amount of Trachy's didn't make (e.g., 20%) and more were set back by temperatures that briefly dipped to between 5-10F during palmageddon. I was expecting pindo's to suffer (and they did!) but the Trachies still taking such a hit was a surprise for me.  

That is strange. Maybe the trachy's were so used to the mild weather that the cold just shocked them in what they would otherwise normally be able to handle.

[maskedmole]

On 11/1/2021 at 9:20 AM, Allen said:

Well mine are 11' in 3 years from a 3 footer planted.  Grew 3' of trunk over the past year but fronds are 4-5' .  Expect them to get much taller unless they freeze can go to 20-40'.

Date/trunk height

6/1/2019 14" 8/2020 36" 12/2020 48" 3/2021 49" 7/2021 62" 10/2021 74"

Now

2019

   

My trachy was planted around that time a few years back and has

barely grown any besides a bunch of leaves. That is very impressive I am jealous. Albeit, my trachy was much smaller when planted. Hopefully mine hits a growth spurt one of these years after it bulks up. Mine is in the shade. Yours must like where it's at.