BananaLee

Hi. Since this winter was mild, a low of 3F and a windchill of -6F or -8F for only a few seconds, I suspected good success for my first year of tropical gardening. My Trachycarpus seedling is looking great, it remained green with no leaf burn. The bummer was that I un-mulched it to check up on it and forgot to cover it again and the night went down to the 20F's and now it has leaf burn. I don't know if my Livistona Chinensis's are alive or not, I mulched it about a foot or so and left it just like that until mid March where I finally could get myself some fungicide, so I cut the leaves off and sprayed the palms. The leaf in the middle (I think the spear leaf) came right out so I think that means it's dead? My elephant ears died I think 'cause just a few minutes ago, I dug them out to see how they looked and they're all mushy. I mulched them with a foot of mulched too. My Musa Basjoo (at least that's what they said it was) died all the way to the ground even though I mulched it about two feet high and two feet thick, I protected that the most and it's mushy even a little under the soil, but I think it still has roots. This could all be 'cause we had a very cold summer, luckily this year has so far proven very warm, it's been in the 60's and 70's since mid March and is going to be 80F tomorrow. Even if all is dead, I won't give up, I'm just happy that my windmill seedling survived.

saltydad

My guess is your basjoo will sprout pups, your ee's are goners, the Windmill will send new leaves hopefully. I kept my Chinese Fan Palm alive for 3 winters, but it finally succumbed the winter of 2008-2009. I just don't think they are hardy enough for a zone 7 or less (unless you build an enclosure and heat with heat tape or xmas lights- too much work for me). (Sometime even with spear pull it survives, but rarely). Good luck.

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tomgreen

BananaLee,

I have been growing windmill palms in Zone 7 now for a decade. I run a business here in Reno that sold nothing but Windmill palms called "Reno Palms" The windmill palm can easily be grown in Zone 7. There are mature specimens in Albuquerque, Reno, Boise, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, etc...

We have over a 95% success rate with them by doing the following steps:

1. Apply a copper based fungicide in late fall. And, apply about once a month until spring, and then again after the last frost.

2. Tie the fronds up and cover with the "thermal blanket" from Dewitt company.

3. Place C9 Christmas lights under the cloth. Turn the lights on anytime the temp. drops below 15 degrees F., just to be safe.

4. If the middle spear pulls in spring, apply the fungicide every 14 days, the palm will almost always push another spear out...

Let me know if you have any questions, if you want I can post some pics of my palms for you to see. Reno is a 7a-7b area...I grow mine out north of town which is closer to a 6b-7a and I still have had much success. In fact, it was the coldest year in 19 years here in Reno. It was -6 in town and -12 at my house, and all my windmills survived with the protection stated above...

BananaLee

Thanks! The spear leaf pulled out of my Livistonas'. I sprayed it once when I pulled it out and again today. Do you think I can save it? I have a fungicide but not copper based. Is this okay?

tomgreen

BananaLee, I don't have a lot of experience with Livistonas but I would definitely get the fungicide in the crown of the tree. What happens is water gets in the crown and freezes every night and thaws everyday. Fungus develops and from there, without the fungicide you can often lose the palm. With the Windmill Palm, even if a new spear does not shoot up, you can cut the trunk back with a saw until you see live tissue. From there you add the fungicide every 14 days until the palm starts growing. This is a last resort and shouldn't be done until you are sure the palm is not growing...I would wait until mid-May. Let me know if this helps????

BananaLee

Thanks! That really helps!

palmtree

Usually when a palm spear pulls its dead. I would cut the trunk back a little on the livingstonia (risky I know), just to see if it has life in it. If it does have life in it leave it alone cut back just like that and keep it dry. It might surprise you and come back.
Hopefully your musa basjoo will come back. If it was kept dry it should, but if it was moist, it may have rotted.

At least your windmill palm seedling survived. They are also very good at recovering from spear pull if it ever happens.

Good luck!

__________________
Location: New York City, zone 7b

BananaLee

Thanks! My Basjoo rotted. The water got it. That's okay, my mom is buying me a four foot one at the nursery nearby for $20 for my Birthday. It's the same price as my other one that was only 2in high, not including shipping. I don't even think it was a Basjoo, it was totally fried and all brown at 30F. But that won't stop me, I'll still keep on trying.

nucci60

the garden web zone finder lists your town as zone 5, not 6.

BananaLee

It's not zone 5, it's 6. If you look really closely, I live in the zone 6 area, and we don't get any zone 5 winters anyway except last year, but that was an all time cold record. This year only went down to 3F or 5F. I don't listen to those stupid zone maps, you just have to look at the minimum temps you're self, that way you will know what to expect.