Growing a Canary Island Date Palm in New York City

[SeattlePottedPalms]

Thanks for sharing your journey. Following to see how it goes!

[Nomad NYC]

Ok,  I know, It's been a while since I've given an update here on the status of my little Canary Island Date Palm. I've been super busy at work these past few months, but now I can finally get back to this during my free time this Christmas Holiday weekend.

As you can see in the below pictures, it has managed to recover pretty well over the spring , summer and fall season:

July:

 

August:

 

September:

 

October:

 

November:

 

November is the month when the temperature begins to get cold here in New York City, so that is the time for setting up for the winter protection.  I'm quite happy that the palm has managed to bounce back from last winter somewhat healthy ( with the help of lots of water and  palm fertilizer )  I'm not taking any more chances just using passive insulation and will now look to use more active heating elements for this wintertime....

 

[Nomad NYC]

I did things a little differently this time for this winter season protection method . The items l be C9 Christmas lights  ( This time taking @Allen and @Will Simpson previous suggestions and advice on using active heating elements  ) , Wilt Pruf  Anti-Transpirant spray, thermal cube, and a little wooden support structure for the Christmas lights inside of the insulation cube (Not to mention garden extension cord connecting to a somewhat nearby patio electrical outlet ).

( Looking back on this , I probably should have also put in a thermal temperature reader as well.... )

 

The C9 lights should be activated by the  thermal cube  when outside temperatures fall to  35 degrees Fahrenheit  ( and turn off automatically at 45 Degrees F ).

 

Hopefully this will give some added heat to the palm during the long winter months.

 

I placed some new mulch on the base to prevent frost , and this time also added little removable tarp for extra protection for when it becomes very cold out.

There should be enough airflow to prevent build up of humidity in the insulation box, along with any possible fungal growth on the leaves

Let's see how this goes , hopefully for the best....See you again next spring, little palm!

 

 

[Allen]

8 hours ago, Nomad NYC said:

I did things a little differently this time for this winter season protection method . The items l be C9 Christmas lights  ( This time taking @Allen and @Will Simpson previous suggestions and advice on using active heating elements  ) , Wilt Pruf  Anti-Transpirant spray, thermal cube, and a little wooden support structure for the Christmas lights inside of the insulation cube (Not to mention garden extension cord connecting to a somewhat nearby patio electrical outlet ).

( Looking back on this , I probably should have also put in a thermal temperature reader as well.... )

 

The C9 lights should be activated by the  thermal cube  when outside temperatures fall to  35 degrees Fahrenheit  ( and turn off automatically at 45 Degrees F ).

 

Hopefully this will give some added heat to the palm during the long winter months.

 

I placed some new mulch on the base to prevent frost , and this time also added little removable tarp for extra protection for when it becomes very cold out.

There should be enough airflow to prevent build up of humidity in the insulation box, along with any possible fungal growth on the leaves

Let's see how this goes , hopefully for the best....See you again next spring, little palm!

 

 

Those bulbs can heat a big area.  Like you mentioned consider a temp monitor so you make sure everything is working.  it really helps when you're first sorting things out.   And if too many bulbs you can just take some bulbs out of the sockets.  I would guess 4-5 bulbs might do it.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Allen

[Nomad NYC]

It's finally feeling like Spring! Even thought this winter here in New York City was relatively mild , for this year I decided to wait a few weeks until mid April to uncover my winter protection for my Canary Island Date Palm, when the weather is a bit warmer.  it looks that the outer covering for the protection box looked like it did it's job!

 

    

It seems like some animal broke in during the winter, to hang out , which would have been nice spot, especially  with the warms given off by the Christmas bulbs. Hopefully whatever it was, it didn't snack on my little palm!  But so far, everything looks great!

 

   

Using the Christmas lights in the protection box this year looked like it turned out to be a big success! The little CIDP looks pretty much as it did when I place the winter protection on it last December it didn't grow at all during those winter months, as to be expected. I would like to think that the surrounding rocks also provided some stored thermal heat when the bulbs weren't on whenever the temperature went over 45 degrees Fahrenheit .

 

    

Very little signs of cold damage this time!

 

Looking good!

 

   

 

 

Compared to previous years, this is a very good start!  I'll wait a week or two, when the weather starts to become consistently warm before I feed it some Palm Gain fertilizer, to give it an even more help for it in the growing season for this year.

[Leelanau Palms]

Thanks for the update. Keep the periodic pictures coming