The Big Freeze of '07

It's 40F at 9:40am. I can see immediate casualties.

1) Major damage. Look like toast:
Roystonea regia
Wodyetia bifurcata
Caryota gigas
Archontophoenix alexandra

2) Minor damage. Some browning of leaves, but not all.
Archontophoenix cunninghamiana
Dypsis lutescens

3) No visible damage!
Howea forsteriana
Caryota urens
Chamaedorea tepijilote
Chamadorea cataractum
Livistona decorum
Phoenix roebilini
Sygrus romanzoffiana





This message was edited Jan 14, 2007 9:39 AM

This message was edited Jan 14, 2007 9:40 AM

I feel sorry for all your palms but your freeze is nothing compared to what us Midwest folks are getting. It is currently 21* outside and will be in the single digits tonight. Wed. it will get down to 0* for a low and 20s for a high. On tops of the cold temps we have at least an inch of ice outside that is SOLID and slick. We are getting more ice and snow today and could get anywhere from 3-5 inches of snow depending on how the storm hits us again.

Good luck with all of your palms!

osideterry, so your foxtails, fishtails and Alexander King palms are all toast?
Mine looks perfect. I think warming the pool helped.
I think I made it thru the night ok (at least this time).
We'll see what tomorrow brings. Im luck I don't live exactly where you live. (next to that river valley).

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the gigas, foxtails and alexander are history. Just hoping my kings don't start looking worse, especially with a repeat of last night. One nice survivor is my Brazilian Coco. It looks totally unaffected, and it's a strapling in the ground.

I need to readjust my expectations for these bad freezes that can occur every 15-20 years. Revising my palm wish list. Butia, Arenga engleri and other Zone 9 palms have moved to the top of my list.

I meant to mention some of the techniques we get our palms through a cold snap with. The use of burlap wrapped on 4 corner posts reduces wind which desicates leaves during frost and laying burlap overtop of plants puts a layer between the frost and the plant. Bubble-wrap can be wrapped around a stem but the spear is the most critical part of the palm. If moisture gets in there, freezes, the plant often is toast. Christmas lights also put a degree or 2 around the plant. Sorry I didn't mention this earlier. Osideterry, I thought the palms listed as your major damage were somewhat frost hardy. Give them a little recovery time.

wow you would think it would take a sustained freeze to really kill em. All's it takes is one cold night and that's it?

My pool's water is 81F right now. Prolly will be steamin by tonight.

Sorry to hear of your loss. I know your fishtails hold a special place in your heart. Foxtails too.

I'd call 9 hours below 32F a sustained freeze, and tonight is predicted to be about the same. 32F at midnight, 27F at 6am, and back above freezing at 8am. I'm afraid my kings, half burned last night, will get finished off tonight.

I have all my palms wrapped thick with burlap around the trunk/crownshaft. Palms that produce lots of leaves have better chance of recovery this spring. The foxtail, gigas, and royal are good for 2-3 leaves a year, which is a bummer.

Both my Caryota urens look fine, so I still have two fishtails.

Out of curiousity-are most of these palms that you guys are wrapping too big to wrap the leaves? Is it mainly the crownshaft that is getting wrapped? This freezing weather is a real bummer-my heart goes out to everyone that has had damage to the palms. Nothing harder to deal with-in the plant world, then weather that you can't control.

It has been my experience in protecting tender annuals outside ( in rows on pallets) in March/April that while the burlap, or frost blankets that I use is good for keeping in warmth, its the heavy weedblock that I cover the blankets with, that stop the frost damage to the leaves. When I just use the blankets-the frost goes thru to the leaves, but the weedblock ( or plastic) is what stops the real damage-esp when its over the blankets. So I am wondering, in severe weather, if its possible to cover the burlap with the plastic to help with the layering in warmth, adn prevent the frost burn even more? Its a lot of work, I know.

I have 30+ palms, and a lot of them are in the 7-20ft tall category. I really wasn't prepared to wrap them top to bottom. My future solution is to admit I'm in Zone 9b, and plant hardier stuff. Everything I have would endure a normal freeze. This thing is brutal.

The prior 2 months of harsh Santa Anas kind of set this up. I've been dealing with dry winds, ultra-low humidity, and the threat of routine freezes making it hard to water adequately. I think we've had well under 1" of rain since last July, something folks from other states probably can't imagine.

Got down to between 25 and 27 in my yard for 4-6 hours last night... that is the worst freeze I have lived through since being in southern California. I know there was a worse one in 91 (I wasn't here then), but this was bad enough. All Archontophoenix species, save cunninghamiana, are fried to a crisp. Chambeyronia is fried, though the spike looks ok... but spikes can look OK for weeks, then just pull out. Dypsis baroniis all fried to a crackly crisp, though Dypsis carlsmithii looks fine, as does Dypsis ambositraes. Chamaedoreas all did fine except C arengergiana.. even the spike on that one is melted. Wodyetia, of course, is toast. Neither Pandanus was injured (tectorum, I think, and utilis). My itty bitty Polyandrococos was fried, too. But as far as I can tell, no other palms were injured. Silver lady fern (Blechnum gibbum) was totally devastated... surprised by that one. As for all the other tropical flowering plants, looks like someone came through with Round Up last week... all droopy or defoliated.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2007 7:23 PM

Dang.

Palmbob: Do you think being a shady-protected place saved our chamaedoreas? Mine look totally normal. Likewise my Areca palm that gets shade from 10am on.

As for nonpalms, I brought my pandanus in the garage. The elephant ears and bananas have essentially melted. My moses-in-the-cradles are gone. You can barely make out where they were. Bamboo looks fine.

It got down to 27 degrees under my well protected patio. My Hyophorbe indica melted (dead!). Some bad damage to the Wodyetia, and A. cunning. My Dypsis ambositrae's look good. Some surprised me because they had virtually no protection and had no appearant problems. My banana's are fried to a crisp!! My Silver Lady Fern looks fine.

Here's my new 'chocolate' Archontophoenix myolensis collection... three palms, just starting to make a hint of trunk... all fried as if blow-torched. Always thought there was little differences, really, between the various Archontophoenix in terms of cold hardiness... but none of the A cunninghamianas were even touched, while all the rest fried completely. Even the spikes seem fried.

Guess Caryota cummingii is not too cold hardy...

The only green leaf in this photo (though the photo makes most of them looks sort of green) is the Ceratozamia leaf lower right... rest of the leaves are Dyspis baronii leaves- really surprised me this palm did so badly- the larger one in back is nearly melted... really thought it was a hardier palm.

I knew the Zamia would show frost damage... interestingly, only this years leaves got burned.. last years are still green..ish.

Here's another showing some actually pretty color (today)... but in a week, all that non-green color will by a light, crispy tan.

I thought A. myolensis was supposed to be more cold hardy than cunninghamiana because they are from a higher altitude. Darn, i was planning on getting one soon.

Bob, was this just from freeze or did you have frost. We hit 28.5 last night, but no frost, just freeze. All my stuff looks fine right now. The ones all you guys have seen damage -H. indica, C. macrocarpa's, Dypsis various, A. purpurea and Wodyetia for example, are all fine. I am sure some damage will show later, but nothing severe right now.

Check out www.junglemusic.net/palmadvice/index.htm#Cold%20Hardy%20Palms
This is an article on cold hardiness of palms with some species that can handle the chill.

Palmbob (and all), after this freeze are you thinking of reconsidering the viability of certain palm species in California? I'm asking because it seems to me that maybe you have been a little too optimistic about the planting possibilities in a climate of such a huge range...after all, this was a major palm destruction, wasn't it? Can it be that some species you're trying to grow are maybe too tropical for long term survival in temperate zones (even if they do fine for some time)?

As far as global warming is concerned, at 4:30 in the morning we had 50F here. This ain't normal either (or I live in 10b and didn't know it)...

This message was edited Jan 15, 2007 1:08 PM

It was below 32F again from midnight until 8am+. Low of 28F. Today the kings (cunninghamianas) that looked to have minor damage look a bit worse. Older Kentia leaves starting to brown. Youngest C. urens also looks a bit brown.

Which piece of advice do I think about:
1) Just because they get defoliated, doesn't mean they won't come back. Sometimes they recover.
2) Just because they look fine doesn't mean they are. You won't know until summer.

One more night of this and I'm literally starting all over again.

This message was edited Jan 15, 2007 8:34 AM

Last two days had lows of 25-26 degrees. I deep watered the first day into the night and wet down trees at 2am both days. I also turned on the pool heater and the waterfall the second night. All palms appear to be OK. I was mainly worried about a smaller Bismarckia in its first winter, but it seems OK, though a little purplish in color. Its been about 10 years since its been this cold here. Today it was 29 degrees about an hour after sunrise.

I spoke to soon. After two nights below 32, I have totally fried H. indica's and C. macrocarpa's. Those are the only one's to completely brown. One Indica has to be dead, it completely wilted. All other plants have new spears that seem ok. Lets see later.

Of course I lost all my Hibiscus and other tropical plants. I think I will make sure I have canopy and more boulders in the landscape after this.

I was surprised by some damage... like the defoliation of all the bougainvilleas, hibiscus, Passifloras, canas.. and, sadly, a lot of nice Platyceriums. Not sure if a Platycerium grows back from defoliation... guess I'll find out. More damage noticable second day... Pritchardia remota fried, MAjesty half fried (though nearby Ravenea glauca hardly touched), Dypsis decipiens burned (small seedling)... but the most shocking to me was the defoliation of my Trachycarpus latisectus and nanas, as well as significant leaf burn on Trachycarpus maritianus, and a little on the Trachy takil... yikes!! No wonder all the Dypsis baroniis went belly up.. wonder how really cold it got here... Amazingly all Sabals untouched, as were any Parajubaeas.. Howeas all fried but not in a lethal way, I hope... and all those Chamaedoreas that I thought made it OK, are pretty badly torched.. just didn't show it yesteday. Only C elegans, oreophila and cataractarum were untouched... oblongata, hooperiana, stolonifera and seifrizei were all torched to some degree or other. Pritcharia remotas was torched, but nearby Pritchardia lanaiensis seems fine. Dypsis carlsmithii is damaged, but not badly... though yesterday I thought it was fine... so who knows. Hedyscepe fried to a crunch, including spike- rats... one of my favorites. Still, Dypsis ambositraes (or what we're calling them here in So Cal) untouched (so far). Scheffleras all melted all over the neighborhood. This is a photo of neighbors new 'chocolate' Schefflera.

My neighborhood was planted with Jacarandas as a kind of street tree. They all look an odd rust color.

This weekend isn't so much notable for how low it got but how LONG it stayed so cold on two consecutive nights. It's "only" supposed to get as low as 30F tonight, which means less time in the freezer than previous nights. Not much consolation until this is gone.

Out of all my palms the only ones that are hurting right now are a 15 gal. Prestoea montana and a 15 gal. Gaussia attenuata each with only one good frond left!

Wow, how incredibly devastating. Sorry for all your losses. This really highlights the differences in climate and the effects on our collections. I can count on one to two nights every winter that we dip below freezing. Last year I saw 27 degress at my house, but had almost no damage. My only damage was to a Dictyosperma album. It lost a frond due to frost settling on it. All other typically tender species survived with no damage. Dypsis lutescens, Adonidia merrilli, Chambeyronia macrocarpa, Areca vestiaria, Caryota mitis, Chameadorea seifrizei and Pinanga coronata. Coconuts and Roystoneas in neighbor's yards were unaffected. Most other tropicals also faired well. Hibiscus, bougainvilleas, mahogany, gumbo limbo, firebush all escaped any damage. My Wamin bamboo lost a few leaves, but nothing to worry about. Around town, I did see a lot of sad bananas though. Luckily they appeared to bounce right back in the spring. Guess our saving grace is the duration. It dipped below freezing around 4 AM and jumped back up around 8:00 AM. Wonder if our high humidity levels provide some protection also.

All that said, I am probably certain to experience a devastating freeze as well. The last one was in '89, which was before my time in FL. People tell me most Roystoneas and coconuts bit the dust. Temps were in low 20's two nights in row and a record low of 21 was recorded at the airport. Historically it appears this type of freeze occurs every 20 - 30 years. Until then though I'll enjoy my tender palms and tropicals while I can...

Chris

this freeze changes little in terms of palm viability in southern California, as my experience is but a itty bitty microclimate in an extremelly large and complex area, where just blocks away the very same plants could be fine... and certainly anywhere closer to the coast, or south of here, they might be totally undamaged. There is far too much variation in climates here. I see a pair large Chambeyronias on the way to work everyday, and they are totally fine... just 10 min drive from here (but over a low mountain range where they get a lot more coastal influence). I certainly will alter my ideas about what can survive in my YARD long term, though... and even then, a freeze like this is unlikely to occur again in my lifetime... so replanting what I lost with the same species might not be as dumb as it sounds... still, I probably won't do that... may just go with bamboo or something a lot easier and less climate dependent.

Wow, my gf and her brother went to some nurseries in Fallbrook today and saw incredible plant damage, not only to palms but all kinds of plantlife. Avocado trees had turned brown with some leaves turning black. Small avocado trees for sale were covered with icicles and had fallen off and partly melted. The nursery owners had tried to save the trees by spraying them with water but it was so cold the water froze and turned to ice and destroyed the little trees... Tomato plants at home depot had turned black... All over the area there are nurseries that seem to have had incredible loss. On their way back on 76 there were a bunch of palms that had turned brown in Jeffries Ranch Oceanside.

I guess we'll see how this pans out as the week progresses, but thank god I've got my pool, it's 79F right now and I'm going to keep it like that no matter what my SDGE bill will be. I'll bet it's already in the 5-600 buck range and climbing. But I don't want to lose my foxtail and I want to be as nice to that freshly-planted Kentia as I can be. Thanks osideterry for calling me on Saturday night and insisting I turn on my pool heater. I just wish it had worked for you...

Palmbob, I used to have a Polyandrococos which was in a 5 gal. I left it out too late one year and it got hit by frost and the spear fell out. When I realized what had happened it was taken inside and given extra light. It took about 2 years but it regrew possibly because of its heavy root. I can't remember if it grew a new stem or started again but I wouldn't give up on it yet. Several years later it met its doom with my oversized puppy.

Wow...is that Schefflera tree plain dead or it will grow new folliage next spring?

From the (San Diego) North County Times: Pauma Valley avocado grove manager Chris Banner walks a 20-acre grove where he estimates half of the grove was destroyed by the recent freezing temperatures.

Also in the news is the devestation of California's citrus crop. Over 75% destroyed. I guess a glass of OJ will be at a premium in the coming weeks and months.

Just because the leaves turn black/brown doesn't mean the plant/tree is dead. They will often recover on their own and drop the dead leaves when they dry. There are large 40+' Eucalyptus in town which have turned the same colour. The stems are good so from past experience its just a matter of waiting for new growth.

Sorry to hear about all the damage.It really does hurt to see all you hard work go up in smoke in just a couple of days. I hope everyones plants recover quickly. the worlds weather is messed up big time.

I'm so sorry for all of yall's losses. I hope maybe something can be salvaged after it warms up. I HATE cold weather!!!

WHEN it warms up... got down to near freezing again last night, and sun's been up 3 hours now and it's still in the 30s... BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Day MinTemp Casualties

Sun 26F 1 King Kong Fishtail, 1 King Alexander, 1 Royal, 2 Foxtails
Mon 27F 2 Kings
Tue 28F 3 Kings, 1 Veitchia
Wed 29F 2 Kentias

Man I hope this morning was the end of this.



This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 10:26 AM

This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 10:26 AM

I only hit 35 last night. Woo Hoo!