TommyMacLuckie

I wish 'global warming' would go global.

We've already had a couple of light freezes but this morning, Tuesday January 5th, has brought the coldest temperatures I've experienced here in Mandeville, LA (was in New Orleans for years before that).

When I woke up this morning and did my rounds outside (36 degrees in the green house) it was 23 degrees out.

All of my bananas were already burnt but now I'm expecting them all to collapse. Almost all of my palms are gone. In fact, just about everything is gone. The only thing that is not showing any damage yet is my Sabal cabbage and windmill palms and the various bamboo I have around.

I'm sure I'll start another thread later this week when it gets down to 17 degrees or so and everything I have outright dies. Some established palms will be dying outright. As in dead dead. It's gonna get real ugly.

Anyone know what is too cold for banana corms to not come back from? Cause that's all I'm gonna have left!

lorax

I'll send you heat if you'll send me some precipitation! I'm going up to 40 C today, and it hasn't rained in months.

Scott

Sorry you had to move to Mandeville. It's actually a nice area comparted to the area you were in after Kat rolled through. Guess that's why you're still north of the lake.
We don't have the 'cold' you have. But I have heard you can mulch the base, dig it and pot it indoors, cut it down and protect the corm and stump for next season just to name a few. You can cut it and dig it up for the garage...not good to let them lay on their side for days.
Good luck there! My family is from around that area, Covington actually. I know the cold there....great hunting.

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Abnshrek

Well Good Luck with all your plants I know this morning it was 21F.. All you do is attempt to be proactive and then cross your fingers :^) with the stuff coming later in the week..

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sbl

It depends on variety, but I know I had my Orinocos back in the 89/90 freeze that got down to 7 F and the corms survived without any extra protection.

Abnshrek

I should have P-stems but @ the worst I'll be with you Tommy.. so I'ts all good :^) once it warms up..

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Abnshrek

I think I'm going to get sick (I'm not kidding either)... a low of 10F sat w/ windchill to 0F what the hell... gents & ladies I think I have to do some lights on my pindo's...
<- thinking I'm sure glad this BS doesn't happen but every 11 years or so... (wishing this was just a bad dream where I was getting kicked in the balls)

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cherokee_greg

Wow sounds cold there I hope for the best for your bananas. Cant waite tell spring about 74 days now I beleve.

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Greg zone 9 Fresno,CA
http://gardenjot.com/garden/view/1980/Gregs-Banana-Farm

TommyMacLuckie

So far the coldest it's gotten is 23 degrees, possibly 25. The nearest weather station is a little north of here, about a mile or so, but there usually is a difference for whatever reason. The lake is not having any influence on the temperature since the wind is from the N/NE. There are a lot of trees around so there are microclimates that have a slightly warmer temp than what is being recorded.

Thursday morning is the only morning we'll be above freezing, the rest is back into the twenties and possibly teens by Saturday morning and Sunday morning. At least, right where I am anyway. WWLTV.com says 15 but that's a northshore average, which starts at I-12 and goes to Mississippi. Anything south of I-12 is generally warmer usually because of the lake. Based on the damage I've seen this morning, Wednesday, it's gotten as cold at the lakeshore as it has at my house. No inversion with the wind. Just nasty cold.

I'm not digging anything up (I actually don't have any more room to store plants - it's all filled up with plants already). I've got everything covered in piles of pine straw and leaves, in some cases ON my palms at the crown. Sword suckers covered, heaps and heaps of coverage. It should do something positive. I should know by April what survives.

Abnshrek

& Tommy your really close to being zone 9 if your not? I hope the weather just pushes East a bit.. they are going to get it anyway.. right

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Abnshrek

It didn't freeze last night what's going on here? lol didn't freeze unless you count the wind chill? lol :^)

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jeffreyp

TommyMacLuckie

If you go by the recent temperatures, we're zone 7 ha ha.

The USDA says where I'm at is 9 but I think it's more of an 8B or whatever, whatever would designate a slightly higher zone. As in, a bit closer to 9 than 8. Maybe it is 9 but we're generally on average, in the winter, 8 degrees cooler than the city (most places are even more cooler). 8A or 8B, however that works. I would think B, as in slightly warmer but that's only because I can't remember. You're talking only for about a mile or so. The lake does have an effect usually, with inversion, but when the wind is strong enough out of the N-NE-NW it might as well be a parking lot. People here swear up and down the lake keeps it warmer. But 26 degrees is 26 degrees. Or whatever. And I've measured that in my back yard, a quarter mile from the lake, and at the lakefront. So there goes that theory. If the wind was from the South, on the other hand...

I've seen different USDA hardiness maps. Some have the very end of LA being a 10. Which, I think now is all under the Gulf. Permanently. Some show a band through the middle of the lower part of the state being a 9 with rest below it being a 10? The old ones, with the browns for the 10s etc.

The recent snows people have said 'Well the snow didn't stick here because of the lake, it stuck north of 190'. Yes yes, that is true - but the wind was out of the SW. 'Oh.'

It makes a huge difference where the wind is from. But it just goes to show how easy it is for people to assume and not think.

Which I sort of got nailed with the other morning because I assumed how my front yard would work temperature wise based on history. I didn't think it would get as cold as it did in my front yard as it appears to have gotten. I still won't truly know until spring. I went ahead and mulched like a madman after the fact. It was cold enough to freeze the philos, and that has to be at least 28 degrees for those to get burnt (they're just like pipes). I just don't know how cold it did get. My microspadix looks burnt a bit and they start so show at around 26 (although I'm still having trouble grasping exactly what cold tolerance means - is it showing damage or outright death? I can't find anything that is specific about it). And it's quite protected outside naturally.

So I mulched after the bad freeze. Hopefully in this case late is better than never.

Abnshrek

whatever lives definately has cold tolerance :^) I am in a cut wood and burn it mode(in the house) (not in the yard).. I wish us all less stress and our plants a happy health recovery(hopefully) :^)

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Lagniappe

The ice is going to hit the fan tonight!
I've been advocating a care-free method of banana culture, but tonight mother nature may knock me on my tukhus for being so arrogant.

Abnshrek

Don't land on a whoopie cushion.. that would be adding insult to injury.. :^)
(I'm crossing my fingers' for a bunch of my stuff too)

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Abnshrek

15F last night & suppose to be 13F tonight (w/o windchill).. I'll be glad when spring gets here! :^)

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TommyMacLuckie

22 here. Should be warmer tomorrow morning (Sunday). It was 22 right before sunrise.

I've read that winter starts December 1st for the actual weather and that spring starts March 1st. Going by the solstice and equinox for the seasons is as ridiculous as saying hundred year storm and five hundred year storm - it's just not true.

Of course, in the Deep South it's a bit different.

Abnshrek

Well only got to 15F.. last night I can't believe how nice it is today :^) Those Canadians need to make sure who ever is tending that frost gate up there keeps it closed and isn't getting drunk on molson & Crown royal :^)

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TommyMacLuckie

So the coldest of the Canadian blast was 20 and that night it set in really fast too. Bananas completely frozen. I've cut most of them down. More to do. I think the temperature for a 50/50 chance to come back is 26. 22-20 is just too damaging.