Just admiring my livistona rigida…

[NickJames]

after being planted in Spring 2022…They survived Hurricane Ian…then Hurricane Nicole…almost completely defoliating both times as the petioles simply snapped under the wind strain. 
 

Here they are, 11 months after Ian, completely regenerated and producing inflorescence. 
 

 

[kinzyjr]

They look great, @NickJames!

[ruskinPalms]

I’m surprised by all the costapalmate palms (I’m looking at you too, Bismarkia…) got nuked so bad by the hurricanes last year and guess this year too. I thought this frond type was evolved to take high winds. For the record, my parents’ fully exposed Washingtonia hybrid which was started in the ground years ago at around 1 to 3 gallon size just got a free petticoat cleaning and otherwise looked flawless. I guess ya never know 🤷

[ruskinPalms]

3 hours ago, NickJames said:

after being planted in Spring 2022…They survived Hurricane Ian…then Hurricane Nicole…almost completely defoliating both times as the petioles simply snapped under the wind strain. 
 

Here they are, 11 months after Ian, completely regenerated and producing inflorescence. 
 

 

By the way, those are beautiful and seem to grow fast enough that it doesn’t matter if a hurricane defoliates them every once in awhile. 

[sonoranfans]

16 hours ago, ruskinPalms said:

I’m surprised by all the costapalmate palms (I’m looking at you too, Bismarkia…) got nuked so bad by the hurricanes last year and guess this year too. I thought this frond type was evolved to take high winds. For the record, my parents’ fully exposed Washingtonia hybrid which was started in the ground years ago at around 1 to 3 gallon size just got a free petticoat cleaning and otherwise looked flawless. I guess ya never know 🤷

Sabal uresana was my best performing fan palm in both IRMA and IAN, a very costpalmate leaf so its not a costpalmate thing.  In really strong winds,  like 130 mph or more its better for the petiole to snap and let the leaf go like carribean sabals do.  Its worse survival wise to keep damaged leaves but get root damage.

[SeanK]

3 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

Sabal uresana was my best performing fan palm in both IRMA and IAN, a very costpalmate leaf so its not a costpalmate thing.  In really strong winds,  like 130 mph or more its better for the petiole to snap and let the leaf go like carribean sabals do.  Its worse survival wise to keep damaged leaves but get root damage.

Having flexibility in the petiole helps or as you say, a leaf that breaks off, reducing the torsional load at the crown.

[sonoranfans]

Nick, great looking palms, much more attractive than washies grown here in FL.  If you grew them from young seedlings though you could have some great but temporary colors too.  Here is my young rigida from arizona.

[sonoranfans]

5 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Having flexibility in the petiole helps or as you say, a leaf that breaks off, reducing the torsional load at the crown.

lowest wind drag would be no leaves, bending is good but not as good at precenting load at the roots of course.  Sabal causiarum in puerto rico just gave up all the leaves and survived.  My causiarum had IAN damage to the lower half the crown(splitting of petioles) but responded with vigor pumping out new leaves seemingly faster than ever.  Some palms are adapted to high winds.

[NickJames]

Great discussion on the wind stuff. 

These palms are from Black Hammock Palms on the south shore of Lake Jesup near Oviedo, FL. 

I was informed that rigida on their farm always experience catastrophic damage during hurricanes and then recover. During Irma, they thought they lost an entire field but they all survived  

Their four cousins I have, which are livistona nitida, did not experience even 1/10 of the damage but in my opinion grow slower. 

[NickJames]

On 9/4/2023 at 9:56 PM, ruskinPalms said:

I’m surprised by all the costapalmate palms (I’m looking at you too, Bismarkia…) got nuked so bad by the hurricanes last year and guess this year too. I thought this frond type was evolved to take high winds. For the record, my parents’ fully exposed Washingtonia hybrid which was started in the ground years ago at around 1 to 3 gallon size just got a free petticoat cleaning and otherwise looked flawless. I guess ya never know 🤷

During Ian, the Washingtonia in Deltona/Osteen looked great except one exceptionally tall specimen that completely fell over down the street. I suspect it had other issues going on.