How To Protect Palm Trees From Freezing
Well winter has spring upon Florida rather quickly this year, bringing freezing temperatures that many of my palms trees cannot handle. Fortunately most of these are in pots, so the easiest fix to prevent them from freezing is bring them into to garage. This not only protects them from the frost but protects them from damaging winds as well, since the radiant heat from the house as well as the lighting in the garage will keep them happy.
Now I'm sure many of you however have planted a palm tree or two that are not as cold hardy, and therefore do not have the luxury of just bringing them in to protect them from freezing. If you are one of these people, here is what I suggest. First, you will need some way to provide heat to your protect your palm. Many people will first string a few strands of Christmas lights both around the trunk of the palm and over or through the fronds. Some even place a floodlight or two and angle them up towards the fronds. After placing your lights the next step would be to drape the palm with some sheets or a light blanket, carefully tying them down or if they are long enough weighting them down with a few rocks or bricks. Using these tips should help keep the ambient air around your palm above freezing, and thus prevent it from both frost damage and freezing.
A word of caution, whatever you do, do not use plastic sheeting on your palm, as this can actually trap moisture underneath which may freeze. Some people also use frost cloth, and it should be applied in the same fashion as stated above. However, in my opinion the added expense is not necessary.
If you are trying to protect a palm from a hard freeze, ultimately what you are then trying to is protect the trunk and heart of the palm, which rests at the top of the trunk where the fronds emerge. On top of the above recommendations, I would also wrap the entire trunk with a heavy blanket. Other suggestions are to surround the trunk with a cardboard box, then filling it with mulch all the way to the top, ensuring that you cover the heart area with a thick layer as well.
By no means will this necessarily ensure the survival of your palm from freezing temps, especially if you have a palm that is rated for Zone 10 planted in Zone 7, but it will certainly be better than leaving it unprotected. The final suggestion to protect your palm tree from freezing would be to only plant palms that can take sub freezing weather, such as a Butia, Phoenix, Washington or some other cold hardy palm tree.
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Should I remove the protection during the day? In other words, it will be cold again tonite, 3rd nite in a row. I didn’t remove the protection on the second day but I am not sure if I should remove the protection on the 3rd day before the frost tonite again.
That depends on how warm daytime temps are going to get. I’d say of it is going to stay at or near freezing, even upwards to the low 40′s then you could leave it covered without any issues. The problem comes when you have a extremely warm day and the protection traps too much heat, which could cook your plants depending on what you used to cover them.
I live in south west Utah, high desert. I have four Windmill Palms in my backyard. This last winter was very cold. The palms got covered in snow. 90% of the fronds are now brown and are starting to break off. Is there any hope for these plants?
Trachycarpus fortunei (aka windmill palm) are some of the most cold hardy palms in the world. I used to have a picture of one that was covered in snow in Canada shown on my website, but they people didn’t like the fact that I was using their image without permission.
Anyways, if you search Google images you will find it is one of the most photographed palm covered in snow. Mine get some damage and my Queen palms are completely defoliated every year but come back just fine. Some of this depends on the age of the palm, as younger palms are a little more sensitive to the cold than mature palms. Even Phoenix roebillini’s here in NE Florida usually recover nicely, and they are nowhere near as cold hardy of a palm as the windmill palm.
I’d cut off the dead fronds and wait for signs of life. I’m sure they will rebound nicely.
For the last hard freezing winters I have covered my queen palms with a/c duct flexable pipe. I usually cover the base with an old quilt and duct tape tight and also do the same on where the leaves come out. I usually leave the leafs out because they turn brown anyway and they get sun during the day. After that I put the duct over it and duct tape the top and hold the base with bricks. It works beautifully because the duct is far away from the truck and it avoids rot.
I like your christmas light idea. I am going to try that next with the duct pipe.
Enjoy another method in avoiding freezes for palms. BT
I have (4) Windmill & (1) 12ft Sable Palmento palm, 40 miles NE of Atlanta GA. 5 yrs ago I took the Christmas light idea one step further.
Being from the north I used snow melt electric cables used to melt snow from the roof, and wrapped it around the trunk of the tree and the fronds in the same manner as the Chritmas Lights. The wire is warm enough to hold continiously, but never hot. It can be purchased in most Home Depot, Lowes or online. It’s low maintenance since I leave it up all year, and turn it on/off the nights required from by bedroom window, using an outdoor remote control. Great not only on frosty nights but during ice storms.
No… I never noticed any difference in my power bill.
It works great for me, and my trees love it.