This is not surviving 😭

[DTS]

This guy is trying to grow  a Phoenix Robellini with no heat in Tennessee… Thoughts?

99% sure it’s not making it at all, and he said it’s not a stretch going a few degrees colder when it already was 13-14 degrees…

[Jim in Los Altos]

20°F can kill a young one. 25°F will badly damage one and heavy frost at higher temperatures will badly damage one. 0% chance of survival without supplemental heat and covering during freeze events in Tennessee. 

[Harry’s Palms]

I would dig it up and pot it for protection through winter. I have dug and moved several large and small Pygmy palms . Just keep it above 40f with mostly shade . Harry

[Jonathan]

5 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I would dig it up and pot it for protection through winter. I have dug and moved several large and small Pygmy palms . Just keep it above 40f with mostly shade . Harry

Agreed.

They're small palms, perfect for pot culture...why kill it in the ground when you can enjoy it for years in a pot?

[Johnny Palmseed]

These “experiments” seem dumb to me. That palm has zero chance in Tennessee. I have seen Roebeleniis die from cold in Florida. Granted they weren’t covered by a Sterilite container but without supplemental heat that will only really protect from frost, not low temperatures. The ground temps alone should be low enough to kill it.

[palmnut-fry]

Yeah, maybe in 20 more years when Tennessee is a zone 9 but until then not a sensible choice. Stick to Butia for feather hardy palms, or Jubaea might survive, though not likely.

[Allen]

Not without heat long term.  Only my Sabals and needle palms would have made it for me without help.  But with minor heating/help you can grow some nice palms.  My mule palm only needed protection 2 weeks last year.  

[DoomsDave]

Dig up that Phoenix and pot it, pronto. 
 

Otherwise, muerte.

[DTS]

5 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

Dig up that Phoenix and pot it, pronto. 
 

Otherwise, muerte.

It’s kinda funny that he thinks just because it’s not showing damage, it’s gonna make it to April 😂

[CascadiaPalms]

seeds/saplings are so vulnerable. 

[DTS]

Ok, this is 100% some sort of ragebait account:

 

[JLM]

14 hours ago, DTS said:

Ok, this is 100% some sort of ragebait account:

 

What i could read of this is blatantly wrong lol

A plastic tub and blankets is not going to give you 30 degrees of protection by itself. In Tennessee, the cold can be unforgiving, with daytime highs sometimes remaining below freezing for days at a time during the coldest part of the season. You have to have some major heat source in there to keep a 30 degree temperature difference, I dont know what drug this guy is on but maybe he should share, seems like he is having fun up there 😂

[Josue Diaz]

I remember large roebelenii with 5/6 feet of trunk died in the 2007 freeze in California, and I think we only got down to 17/18F around these parts. 

[NC_Palms]

Waste of a palm imo. Its pretty well known that this species is far from cold hardy. I don't know what this person thinks they well accomplish trying to protect a zone 9b palm without heat in TN. Theres better options in the palm world that would probably survive without added heat in this climate. 

[Josue Diaz]

23 hours ago, DTS said:

Ok, this is 100% some sort of ragebait account:

 

Lol what subreddit is this

[NC_Palms]

1 minute ago, Josue Diaz said:

Lol what subreddit is this

Perhaps r/palmtalk? 

[DTS]

1 minute ago, NC_Palms said:

Perhaps r/palmtalk? 

Bingo!

[ChrisA]

That was a funny read! Thanks for sharing. He showed all his work and calculations which was very thorough, however, the information was all wrong. 😂 

[JLM]

44 minutes ago, ChrisA said:

That was a funny read! Thanks for sharing. He showed all his work and calculations which was very thorough, however, the information was all wrong. 😂 

For instance: 1 blanket adding 10 degrees of protection

As someone who zone pushes quite heavily, it takes added heat to get 10F of added protection regardless of material, that blanket alone might add 3F if he is lucky. Now if he had lights under that setup, he would probably get 20F of added protection at best which would still kill a pygmy date.

And its not hard to source Christmas lights right now, like at all, and theyre quite cheap at like $4/box of 100 count minis.

[Johnny Palmseed]

Full hardy he says! Fool hardy is more like it. The funny thing is that he assumes that a blanket adds cold protection. I’m not a scientist but I think that a blanket does nothing if wrapped around something that produces no heat. A blanket can protect a plant against frost but not outright cold temperatures. The blanket will just be the same temperature as its surroundings.

[lordbiznezz]

This is known as “The beef” on PalmTalk in Reddit, the guy has attracted so much people because of his doing, which is stupid, someone got mad enough to make another subreddit called “PalmPatrol” this whole argument and method is dumb, as mentioned, there are other great palms other than Phoenix Roebellinii (Pygmy Date Palm).😒😒😒😒😤😤

[NC_Palms]

I've been reading those threads on r/palmtalk all day and its hilarious. I wish zone pushing was that easy to just throw a metal box over a plant and increase your zone three numbers warmer. By that logic, I could have some nice coconuts in North Carolina. But I guess a greenhouse with a heater is the closest I will ever get to this.