Fertilizing Regimen Makes a Big Difference in Tropical Palm Cold Hardiness

[palmsOrl]

For a number of years (10 or so) I have fertilized my potted palms with an expensive time-released fertilizer and it makes a big difference in cold hardiness.  I fertilize most of the palms using a summertime regimen. During this recent freeze, it reached 29F everything came through with little to no damage except Satakentia and Dypsis saintlucei (this small palm was toast before it even got below the low 40s).

Dypsis Santlucei (ultratropical?)

Satakentia liukuensis, defoliated but petioles green and this little palm was well protected.

 

[palmsOrl]

So those ^^^ were the palms in my collection that had some major cold issues.  

Now for the good news...

Cocos nucifera tall with no damage after 29F and two mornings or frost.

Veichia winin was turned on its side and covered in a tarp so it probably saw low 30s and no frost.  This species is quite tender as Veitchia go.

[NickJames]

Absolutely. I am noticing this right now with queens around me. 

Anemic looking queen palms have cold damage. 
 

Queens that are clearly well fed and well watered have no damage. 

[palmsOrl]

Adonidia, protected on the coldest two nights.

This might be a Maypan, but it sailed through 29F.  I can't remember if I brought it under the roof or not.

[palmsOrl]

Another one of my tall Cocos unblemished from 29F.  That temperature was taken on faux mercury thermometer amongst the palms.

[palmsOrl]

Being near the building undoubtedly helped, however, I noticed in this freeze event that such factors as being out of the wind and the open sky didn't matter too much.  We seem to have had the best of both worlds...a light freeze to kill the bugs and some weeds

20 minutes ago, palmsOrl said:

Another one of my tall Cocos unblemished from 29F.  That temperature was taken on faux mercury thermometer amongst the palms.

(as nature intends) but without the zone 10 stuff killed.

[redant]

Those talls mine?

[tim_brissy_13]

No doubt that healthy palms typically endure cold better than unhealthy ones.

I’d say your Dypsis saintlucei has other issues besides cold. I’ve got a couple of seedlings that went through a whole winter with average lows of about 45F and quite a few sub 36F nights. Definitely not an ultra tropical. 

[redant]

3 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

No doubt that healthy palms typically endure cold better than unhealthy ones.

I’d say your Dypsis saintlucei has other issues besides cold. I’ve got a couple of seedlings that went through a whole winter with average lows of about 45F and quite a few sub 36F nights. Definitely not an ultra tropical. 

Agreed, they are not ultra tropical, i'd say a typical 10a, slight 9b palm

[Than]

Do you fertilize even when there's no growth?

[GottmitAlex]

17 hours ago, ego said:

Do you fertilize even when there's no growth?

I do.

[D. Morrowii]

I’ve read that switching to a high potassium fertilizer in late fall can help palms handle cold stress. It has something to do with improving the cell walls I think.Anyone have experience with that? I did apply a potassium silicate drench in November but I don’t have anything to judge it against at this point. Looking back it might’ve been fun to take two of the same palms put them in the same place and only treat one to see if it made a difference.

[BayAndroid]

1 hour ago, D. Morrowii said:

I’ve read that switching to a high potassium fertilizer in late fall can help palms handle cold stress. It has something to do with improving the cell walls I think.Anyone have experience with that? I did apply a potassium silicate drench in November but I don’t have anything to judge it against at this point. Looking back it might’ve been fun to take two of the same palms put them in the same place and only treat one to see if it made a difference.

I'm going to try this again next year,  but I think I put it down a little too late in the year this year. I'll probably put it down in early October to give ample time for my plants to use it. 

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, D. Morrowii said:

I’ve read that switching to a high potassium fertilizer in late fall can help palms handle cold stress. It has something to do with improving the cell walls I think.Anyone have experience with that? I did apply a potassium silicate drench in November but I don’t have anything to judge it against at this point. Looking back it might’ve been fun to take two of the same palms put them in the same place and only treat one to see if it made a difference.

You really want to provide a shot of K to your plants 3X/ year..  Fall would be when you feed everything just a high K ..or provide mostly that, w/ something that has a low N and Phos. ( always a little nervous about feeding w/ just one element myself ) There in FL, really don't need to add more Phosphorus since it is quite abundant in the soils there.

As far as the benefits, yes,  ..is supposed to help w/ cold/ heat/ drought stress via strengthening of the cell walls, but believe it does other things as well such as aiding other nutrients to get where they are needed ..or something like that..

Plants like Hibiscus, Plumeria, Bird of Paradise, ..pretty much anything that produces fruit.. etc, greatly benefit from regular applications of K as well. Plumeria and Hibiscus esp. ( Don't ever give them much Phosphorus.. )

3 minutes ago, BayAndroid said:

I'm going to try this again next year,  but I think I put it down a little too late in the year this year. I'll probably put it down in early October to give ample time for my plants to use it. 

Aside from Down To Earth, this is great stuff ..Used it for years w excellent results.. their Citrus and Palm ferts are great as well. Would combine them when feeding everything in containers.

[D. Morrowii]

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

You really want to provide a shot of K to your plants 3X/ year..  Fall would be when you feed everything just a high K ..or provide mostly that, w/ something that has a low N and Phos. ( always a little nervous about feeding w/ just one element myself ) There in FL, really don't need to add more Phosphorus since it is quite abundant in the soils there.

As far as the benefits, yes,  ..is supposed to help w/ cold/ heat/ drought stress via strengthening of the cell walls, but believe it does other things as well such as aiding other nutrients to get where they are needed ..or something like that..

Plants like Hibiscus, Plumeria, Bird of Paradise, ..pretty much anything that produces fruit.. etc, greatly benefit from regular applications of K as well. Plumeria and Hibiscus esp. ( Don't ever give them much Phosphorus.. )

Aside from Down To Earth, this is great stuff ..Used it for years w excellent results.. their Citrus and Palm ferts are great as well. Would combine them when feeding everything in containers.

@Silas_Sancona Thats what I’ve picked up from reading around the site. I started out using PalmGain and Epsom salts then switched to Florikan Palm and got a 50lb bag of Down to Earth langbienite. The last round of fertilizer I did was Florikan in October and DTE in November. So I have been doing “sul po mag” but I also did a treatment with the potassium silicate as a spray. Since this is my first year doing this I have nothing to compare it to though. Like you mention and as I read in Betrocks Essential Guide To Palms the idea was to apply the potassium and not the high nitrogen. Then again it seems like a lot of folks in Florida just do year round application. What do you think about the spray a few days before a cold snap?

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, D. Morrowii said:

@Silas_Sancona Thats what I’ve picked up from reading around the site. I started out using PalmGain and Epsom salts then switched to Florikan Palm and got a 50lb bag of Down to Earth langbienite. The last round of fertilizer I did was Florikan in October and DTE in November. So I have been doing “sul po mag” but I also did a treatment with the potassium silicate as a spray. Since this is my first year doing this I have nothing to compare it to though. Like you mention and as I read in Betrocks Essential Guide To Palms the idea was to apply the potassium and not the high nitrogen. Then again it seems like a lot of folks in Florida just do year round application. What do you think about the spray a few days before a cold snap?

Tough to say.. I really don't use foliar - type ferts. myself.. it might help,  but, on the other hand, since most plants slow down - to some degree at least - as you head into the cooler months / months when day length is shortest, it may take longer for the plant to respond / show any benefit since the plant's metabolism would also slow down ( or shut off entirely, ..in the case of things that go deciduous ) at that time..  or, the benefits of applying fert during the cooler months show up later as the plant is coming out of dormancy and resumes a faster growth rate in late winter / spring, depending on where someone is located / how the weather patterns are behaving at that time..

Certainly won't hurt, esp. if you're taking it easy and applying bare minimum %' ages of nutrients like Nitrogen during that time..

The thing i like about using Langbienite, or something like Greensand, over a liquid is while K is pretty soluble as - is, those crystals will usually take a little more time to dissolve, allowing for a few pulses to circulate through the soil at a slower pace, rather than one quick flush that can pass through the soil faster. Plants may not utilize it fast enough before it has moved below the level in the soil where the majority of feeder roots are, leading to a wasted application. 

As has been mentioned, have to be careful about applying too much of  X nutrient / element over others since too much of certain things can lock up others  meaning the plants will have a tougher time accessing them, which leads to correcting deficiency issues that show up.

Remember too that palms will re-distribute nutrients to new ones as old fronds mature and brown.. so, to some degree,  they're essentially recycling whatever nutrients were applied in the past, though probably at much lesser levels, ..or so i would imagine.  I Could be 110% wrong though, lol..

[palmsOrl]

On 2/6/2022 at 9:09 PM, redant said:

Those talls mine?

Three of them are.  Thank you kindly Doug for your tall Cocos.  They are tough as nails and as described on here before, the bifid leaf texture is like sheet plastic.

[palmsOrl]

On 2/7/2022 at 5:00 AM, tim_brissy_13 said:

No doubt that healthy palms typically endure cold better than unhealthy ones.

I’d say your Dypsis saintlucei has other issues besides cold. I’ve got a couple of seedlings that went through a whole winter with average lows of about 45F and quite a few sub 36F nights. Definitely not an ultra tropical. 

Good to know and I would say you are right.  I hey it is mites or a nutrient issue mainly.

-Michael

[palmsOrl]

On 2/7/2022 at 9:18 AM, ego said:

Do you fertilize even when there's no growth?

I fertilize like it's high July (summer) yearround.

-Michael

[palmsOrl]

18 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

I do.

This^^^^and here in the Orlando area they grow a bit year-round most winters.

God Bless the USA

[Than]

5 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

I fertilize like it's high July (summer) yearround.

-Michael

Interesting; most people advise against fertilizing when they're no growth. Unless there's always growth in your climate.

[ruskinPalms]

I don’t know much about chemistry but aren’t the compounds in fertilizers water soluble ionic compounds? If so, would the dissolved solute in the water in the tissues of the plants lower the freezing point of the water? So would better fertilized plants have a lower freezing point than 0 degrees Celsius thus protecting the cell walls from being blown out in a light freeze? 

[Adam Frank]

I have a new house and new palms all planted after 8/28/2021.Since I didn't buy any that are very tall, I installed construction scrap HVAC insulated ducts over my Christmas, Foxtail, and Queen palms, as well as my Bacon Avocado, for this first season. I have seen other, mature Christmas Palms that remain uncovered in the Flagler Beach/Ormond Beach areas but are either beach side, or next to the Tomoka River.

[palmsOrl]

29F at ground level and no protection the other week.

[Than]

29F was the minimum at night? What was the maximum?

[palmsOrl]

3 hours ago, ruskinPalms said:

I don’t know much about chemistry but aren’t the compounds in fertilizers water soluble ionic compounds? If so, would the dissolved solute in the water in the tissues of the plants lower the freezing point of the water? So would better fertilized plants have a lower freezing point than 0 degrees Celsius thus protecting the cell walls from being blown out in a light freeze? 

I think that is it exactly.  Though my memory of the specifics of chemistry is hazy, that is my general impression.  So if you can afford it, fertilize all year and with the most complete time released feed.

That said, the environment is also a consideration so one should probably only practice this on one's favorite and/or cold tender palms.

God Bless America

-Michael

 

[palmsOrl]

9 minutes ago, ego said:

29F was the minimum at night? What was the maximum?

We hit about 50F the day before the coldest low.

[Than]

10 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

We hit about 50F the day before the coldest low.

I guess what's important is the maximum on the day after the coldest low. I believe it is important for palms to get some warmth after a cold night.