Winterizing a Bismarkia

[gdumea]

I think it's about time from talking to a few members in the potted palms section, to put the Bismarkia in the ground. The problem is, I'm zone 8a in Carlsbad, NM. I think I'll have to wrap it and put Christmas lights around it, but is that enough protection? It'll get into the teens maybe once or twice a year during the winter at night, but quickly bounces back to the 60s-70s. I'm just concerned because I know these can get tall, not sure how tall.  Any help would be appreciated as to how I need to do this.

 

 

Thanks!

[Fusca]

4 hours ago, gdumea said:

I think it's about time from talking to a few members in the potted palms section, to put the Bismarkia in the ground. The problem is, I'm zone 8a in Carlsbad, NM. I think I'll have to wrap it and put Christmas lights around it, but is that enough protection? It'll get into the teens maybe once or twice a year during the winter at night, but quickly bounces back to the 60s-70s. I'm just concerned because I know these can get tall, not sure how tall.  Any help would be appreciated as to how I need to do this.

Thanks!

Keeping it alive in zone 8 will be challenging!  Wrapping with non-LED Christmas lights and a cotton tarp will help.  Your palm doesn't look very silver which might mean it's not the most cold hardy type and could show damage in the upper 20's.  Mature specimens here showed damage at 27° unprotected after roughly 10 hours below freezing.  It won't be difficult to protect now but it'll be a challenge if you can keep it alive and it gets big.  I'd wrap it up every night it goes below 30° it's first winter in the ground.  Also make a firm decision on its location because it's very root sensitive and transplanting it will kill it.

[Allen]

Hard to protect this type of palm due to the fronds not easy to tie up as it gets larger.  Looks like you could go to a bigger pot still

[SeanK]

5 hours ago, gdumea said:

I think it's about time from talking to a few members in the potted palms section, to put the Bismarkia in the ground. The problem is, I'm zone 8a in Carlsbad, NM. I think I'll have to wrap it and put Christmas lights around it, but is that enough protection? It'll get into the teens maybe once or twice a year during the winter at night, but quickly bounces back to the 60s-70s. I'm just concerned because I know these can get tall, not sure how tall.  Any help would be appreciated as to how I need to do this.

 

 

Thanks!

Yes, I recall the discussion. You WANT to plant it out in spite of advice to the contrary. I stand by my previous remark on this.

[JLM]

It’s gonna be very difficult to protect a bismarckia after just a few years. These palms get big very quickly. Me being a borderline 9a is still quite a push, but I grew mine from seed, which has given me some extra years of this guy being small.
 

In just a few years you will not be able to, or it will be very hard to wrap the fronds the way that’s necessary to wrap these. I use mini LED Christmas lights and twin size flat sheets as the base for cold protection. Wrap the lights around the trunk, then wrap a sheet around that. As an added protection, I apply plastic outside of the areas wrapped in sheets. This helps to further insulate them. Do not apply plastic directly on the fronds without something else in between it, it will not help your cause.
 

If the temperature is expected to drop below 22F, I would recommend repeating the lights and sheets a time or two to ensure your palm stays warm. Doing this may even keep the palms trunk area from even experiencing a temperature below 32F.
 

Using the method I described above, I managed to keep a foxtail palm and a clump of bananas alive thru 18F this past winter. As far as I know, the bananas barely reached 32F and the foxtail remained at or above 36F while the outside temperature was 18F. The method works, but it gets increasingly difficult to execute this method as the plant in question gets bigger, and if precipitation is a factor it increases the difficulty exponentially. During the 18F event, I found myself going outside several times during the night to apply extra plastic because the temps were dropping inside the wraps due to water getting inside during precipitation during the day.

[gdumea]

Thanks guys for the advice. I ended up getting a Mexican Fan Palm under a trade. It will accompany my California Fan Palm that I got last year.