Zone 9a palms in Houston after the December arctic blast

[NassauBayDude]

Back in February we got hit pretty hard with an arctic blast, with temps plunging from 13-15 in the Houston area. We lost a good mount Mexican fan palms, and Canary Island Date Palms and True Date Palms, and ALL queen palms. Some of the more cold hardy varieties grew back in the spring, but not all. 

This year, my area dropped down to 17 for a couple hours, and was under 20 for around 4.  Given that temp drop, can we expect the palms to pull through, or will we see a similar decimation as we did on 2021? 

[SeanK]

Hope for the Best. I'd expect damage as you've seen back-to-back cold winters. 

[Xenon]

This event was MUCH milder then 2021, even if the extreme minimum was just a few degrees off. I would not expect anywhere near the level of damage we saw in 2021.

Most damage to 9a palms will probably just be cosmetic. My Livistona chinensis did not completely defoliate and the remaining Washingtonia robusta do not look like they will either. I'd wager some of the newly planted queen palms will pull through too. This event is more similar to February 2011 than February 2021. 

 

[thyerr01]

The Feb 2021 freeze was also a major filtering event for palm in Texas. Surviving mature palms were just fitter individuals or are in good locations and will have much better survival during this freeze. The Houston area Washingtonia are a good example, robustas and robusta dominant hybrids had much higher mortality and have been depleted from the population. The remaining Washingtonia should brush off this freeze. 

I'm skeptical newly planted queen palms will survive without protection. L. chinensis in Myerland/Bellaire and Rice/TMC look pretty good. That large foxtail planted in Bellaire to replace a 2021 queen palm casualty though...

 

[Landasaw]

What about the pindo palms? Did they survive?

[Swolte]

Pindo palms did OK-ish in 2021 in Texas. In areas with lows around 5F, my impression was a ~65% recovery rate (with some recovering months after, so don't give up hope). I would expect Pindo's to be fine in Texas through this event, especially if they were receiving some TLC (mine received none). I actually left mine largely unprotected and I have found no visible damage to fronds.  The only thing that has me in doubt was the extreme drought we had leading into this polar vortex that could have weakened palms.  

[Xenon]

3 hours ago, Landasaw said:

What about the pindo palms? Did they survive?

In Houston? They are bulletproof. Some specimens in older neighborhoods are probably 50+ years old. 

[Robert Cade Ross]

On 12/25/2022 at 9:10 PM, thyerr01 said:

The Feb 2021 freeze was also a major filtering event for palm in Texas. Surviving mature palms were just fitter individuals or are in good locations and will have much better survival during this freeze. The Houston area Washingtonia are a good example, robustas and robusta dominant hybrids had much higher mortality and have been depleted from the population. The remaining Washingtonia should brush off this freeze. 

I'm skeptical newly planted queen palms will survive without protection. L. chinensis in Myerland/Bellaire and Rice/TMC look pretty good. That large foxtail planted in Bellaire to replace a 2021 queen palm casualty l 

😕

Edited January 10, 2023 by Cade

[Ivanos1982]

On 12/25/2022 at 6:20 PM, Xenon said:

This event was MUCH milder then 2021, even if the extreme minimum was just a few degrees off. I would not expect anywhere near the level of damage we saw in 2021.

Most damage to 9a palms will probably just be cosmetic. My Livistona chinensis did not completely defoliate and the remaining Washingtonia robusta do not look like they will either. I'd wager some of the newly planted queen palms will pull through too. This event is more similar to February 2011 than February 2021. 

 

I think it was milder in terms of temperature but the wind did a lot of damage. Usually the heat of the ground provides some protection at least to the lower part of most tropical plants/palms but with how strong the wind was, the top of the ground actually froze this year and many plants just didnt make it. Plants that made it through the Feb 2021, didnt make it this time. All my raveneas are dead, the small queens are stuck and rotting, my bougainvillea froze all the way down to the ground, the hibiscus too. Even my philodendron died this time and didn't in Feb 2021. My bottle brushes, and the bananas all died to the ground this year. The bananas of course are coming back but they are rotted. There was ice one inch below when I digged after the freeze this time. The wind made the walls in my house freeze and the cold air was leaking inside to the point a lot of my pipes froze and they never did before. This event was shorter but it was worse. My philodendron survived because the snow on Feb 2021 provided insulation to the ground. Not so this time.

[Xenon]

11 minutes ago, Ivanos1982 said:

I think it was milder in terms of temperature but the wind did a lot of damage. Usually the heat of the ground provides some protection at least to the lower part of most tropical plants/palms but with how strong the wind was, the top of the ground actually froze this year and many plants just didnt make it. Plants that made it through the Feb 2021, didnt make it this time. All my raveneas are dead, the small queens are stuck and rotting, my bougainvillea froze all the way down to the ground, the hibiscus too. Even my philodendron died this time and didn't in Feb 2021. My bottle brushes, and the bananas all died to the ground this year. The bananas of course are coming back but they are rotted. There was ice one inch below when I digged after the freeze this time. The wind made the walls in my house freeze and the cold air was leaking inside to the point a lot of my pipes froze and they never did before. This event was shorter but it was worse. My philodendron survived because the snow on Feb 2021 provided insulation to the ground. Not so this time.

Interesting...my ground definitely didn't freeze. All woody stuff is green at ground level. 

I'd be surprised if your philodendron (selloum?) is actually dead. It's been a staple plant here for the last century. 

Way too early to tell if things are dead. Best of luck! 

[NBTX11]

On 12/25/2022 at 6:08 PM, SeanK said:

Hope for the Best. I'd expect damage as you've seen back-to-back cold winters. 

Wasn't back to back winters.  The Feb 21 freeze was part of the 20-21 winter, then you had the 21-22 winter, and this freeze was part of the 22-23 winter.  It was Feb 21 and Dec 22, but it was two complete winters apart with two summers inbetween. 

[Little Tex]

That 2021 freeze survivng Queen is doing pretty good, its speat is brown but there is just a hint of green beneath the peak.

All the washingtonia are recovering, but a 30 ft + sylvester probably one of the tallest in houston was cut down.

[Robert Cade Ross]

1 hour ago, Little Tex said:

That 2021 freeze survivng Queen is doing pretty good, its speat is brown but there is just a hint of green beneath the peak.

All the washingtonia are recovering, but a 30 ft + sylvester probably one of the tallest in houston was cut down.

I haven’t checked on any of the 2021 surviving queens lately.

[MarcusH]

18 hours ago, Ivanos1982 said:

I think it was milder in terms of temperature but the wind did a lot of damage. Usually the heat of the ground provides some protection at least to the lower part of most tropical plants/palms but with how strong the wind was, the top of the ground actually froze this year and many plants just didnt make it. Plants that made it through the Feb 2021, didnt make it this time. All my raveneas are dead, the small queens are stuck and rotting, my bougainvillea froze all the way down to the ground, the hibiscus too. Even my philodendron died this time and didn't in Feb 2021. My bottle brushes, and the bananas all died to the ground this year. The bananas of course are coming back but they are rotted. There was ice one inch below when I digged after the freeze this time. The wind made the walls in my house freeze and the cold air was leaking inside to the point a lot of my pipes froze and they never did before. This event was shorter but it was worse. My philodendron survived because the snow on Feb 2021 provided insulation to the ground. Not so this time.

We experienced lows of 16,19,22,24 and 30 on the northeast side of San Antonio (8b) . My young Queen planted in May last year was only covered in a thin bedsheet and trash can over it. No other heat sources plus the palm is located on the NW side of the house so there was no microclimate from trees or buildings just facing the pure cold wind. The queen is recovering well.  What did I do ? I deep watered my palms and put extra layers of mulch on it a day before.   Prior the cold front I water my palms regularly and give them slow release fertilizer.  I keep also weeds away from the roots. The fronds are all toasted but there's no growth . The only thing the drainage system is bad I'm going to relocate the queen closer to the house and mix it with top soil 50/50 making sure I have a better drainage system . Also mixing top soil to your soil gives the palm better nutrients.  Queen palms love water and fertilizer to be happy . Your ground around the Queen probably froze because you didn't have or not enough mulch around the trunk . Did you deep watered it before?  Even my Phoenix Robellini in the backyard survived the hard freeze.  

[palmnut-fry]

They always say NOT to water in palms before freezes,and we had been having torrential rains up here so i def didn't. I've just noticed some of the area palms up here in Big D and even common bushes like privet and fringe flower (and shockingly, Italian Cypress) got zapped. I planted some sedum vera jameson right before thinking they'd be bullet proof but they look fried!

I did water them in. My poor newly planted stuff this past year was a disaster, esp after the blast furnace heat and no rain we had, then to torrential downpours/1000 year rain events! Jeez

I've seen windmills and butias looked like they did fine with our 9F low last month but most of the Washingtonias that made it thru the last few devastating winters look awful!

But you wonder how many back to back deep freezes will they take before they start saying " Bye Felicia" for good. All Sabals seem fine, but damn if my bermudanas weren't 

severely disfigured and what i thought was a minor in my front yard, this freeze exposed it as a adolescent bermudana! Burnt badly.  It was just barely a bloody Zone 7B freeze!

[thyerr01]

A few weeks after the freeze and some of the damage is clearer. C. microspadix wont lose any stems but looks ratty. C. radicalis took more damage than I expected. Any leaves directly hit by the wind were completely burned, and about half my seedlings (just starting to go pinnate) had the spears fail. These were all under a thick blanket. C. cataractum were protected with an outdoor furniture cover and have only cosmetic damage to the outer leaves, they are also in a nice South facing location protected from the wind. Rhapis excelsa were completely untouched, including small runners away from the main plant. I want to add more Rhapis species. Arenga seedlings were mixed, with the largest ones taking considerable damage and the small ones untouched, presumably due to better insulation at ground level. 

[Fusca]

On 1/11/2023 at 11:04 AM, palmnut-fry said:

They always say NOT to water in palms before freezes

I've heard Texas A&M say that it helps to water other plants before a freeze but palms are the exception.  I'm not sure how much palm knowledge that they have but they are probably basing their information on the most commonly planted palms like Washingtonia, Trachycarpus, Chamaerops and Sabal.  I wonder if this advice applies to all species or only to some.

[MarcusH]

Who's saying NOT to water a palm before a freeze because I only read the opposite on the internet, advices coming from nursery homes and other sources. Nobody is saying NOT to that's clearly a disinformation what you guys spread there. The reason for deep watering a palm before a hard freeze is water keeps the ground temperature warmer than the surface temperature so all it does is to work like an insulation for the root system . Water goes from the roots to the fronds .Deep watering a palm is essential before a freeze but of course that doesn't guarantee you that the palm is going to survive but it helps to push a zone at least.  I did the same thing before the artic blast and my syagrus romanzoffiana and phoenix robellini survived 16,21,24,28 and 30 degree nights . Thin bedsheets and a trash can over it with no other heatsources was enough for these two young palms to survive.  Been in in the ground for 7 months .I'm impressed that the phoenix robellini survived since it is a 10a palm and I live in a high 8b zone.  My rule is deep water it "deeply" and add a few inches of extra mulch and not to forget fertilize it on a regular basis.  As soon as the temperature were above freezing I uncovered the palms to let them  warm up then later covered them again when it started freezing. That technique worked like a dream . Fronds were all burned except the Washingtonia filifera it only had minor burns .  Washingtonia Robusta,  Syagrus romanzoffiana,  Phoenix Robellini already growing back their fronds.