Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

I have 3 Tach Fortunei palms, 1 Tach Takil Palm that I am overwintering outside in St Louis MO. I had sucess overwintering 2 Tach Fortunei palms last winter but the leaves were damaged in the winter so I had to cut them back in the spring. The other Fortunei palm and takil palm I planted this Spring.

Last winter I used leaf cages but did not cover with plastic.

This year I am trying something different with my Tach Fortunei and Takil palms. I bought 4 unmbrella greenhouses from Charliesgreenhouse.com I have pipe heat cables on 2 of the palms and the other 2 I have the trucks wraped and the umbrella greenhouse stuffed with leaves. There are zippers on the side like there is a tent. During the day I open each one so that it doesnt get too warm. It can warm up really fast on a sunny day even if its 40 degrees outside. at night I just started putting blakets over 2 of the umbrella greenhouses. I checked the temp and it seems to stay about 36 degrees inside at night, last night it was 28. The pipe heating cables must be warming up the air temp inside the greenhouse at night.

When it starts getting below 20 degrees at night I plan on putting spot lights inside 2 of the greenhouses, that is supposed to generate some heat as well.

I realize that my new method is probably overkill, my goal is to overwinter at least 2 of the palms so that the leaves are not damaged by cold because it takes so long for the leaves to grow back in the spring.

Does anyone else have another method for protecting windmill palms in zone 6 or 7?

I will take some pictures and post them later.

Jeremy
:waving:

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

I'll use straw mulch, burlap and a plastic cover. Unfortunately, Mother Nature caught me today; here's my Needle Palm this morning.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

THere's how they do it at the local tropical nursery does it . they have great success. This is also where I'm overwintering some of my largest bananas in the greenhouse.


Tucked Away Farms - Califon, NJ

Re: Winter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

This winter I have my windmill palms covered with umbrella greenhouses. I have heat cables and 45 watt flood lights inside each one. Last night it was 21 here and it stayed above 35 inside each greenhouse overnight (I have a wireless thermomiter inside one). I cover each one with a blanket at night and take off during the day. Today the high here was only 40 but it got up to 65 in the umbrella greenhouses.

The leave cage method would be much less work. I will have to try that next year if my palms are too tall for my umbrella greenhouses.

Jeremy

Re: Winter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

It got down to 9F here in st louis last night. It stayed above 32F inside my umbrella greenhouses that I have heated by pipe heat cables on the ground and a 45 watt hallogen bulb. I also have a blanket over each one.

The other 2 umbrella greenhouses I have are not heated and I covered both with blankets last night. No damage at all to the foilage at 9F. I did spray each palm with freeze pruf a couple weeks ago.

So maybe I dont even need the lights and pipe heat cables. I guess what i am trying to do is conduct an experiment and see how the palms with the added heat and without it. The 2 umbrella greenhouses that are not heated are stuffed with leaves.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

hey man hooah to you for doing all you work in St. Louis. I just moved to Belleville and I'm from MN. How are your windmill palms doing this spring???

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

I'm amazed and gobsmacked that my palms (trachy fortunei and needle) are all better off this spring after total non-protection during this past horrible winter.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

My Windmill palms look excellent. I have to admit that I papered them over the winter. I covered them with unmbrella greenhouses and used pipe heat cables and 45 watt hallogen lights to keep them warm. They continued to grow all winter long, putting out about 3 new leaves since fall. I took off the umbrella greenhouses about a week ago. Its been in the 80s here the past week. Now my basjoos are all growing outside as well.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

how big are your windmill and needle palms? I have 5 windmill palms, the 2 I protected look great, the 3 I did not, the leaves got freeze dryed by the zero degree weather we had in early January. It seemed like below about 10 degrees is when they got leave damage. Even though they suffered leave damage they are all still alive and growing again, they just look like crap right now, a truck with just one leaf growing out of the top. next year I am going to use heat cables on all of my palms, they really work.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

What kind of heat cable did you use? If you can provide a link to one too that'd be great.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

I used 15 feet pipe heating cables. You can buy them at any hardware store in the plumbing section, or you can order them online cheeper. I bought a couple on ebay. 15 feet of cable is about $25 or $30. Dont buy ones any shorter than 15 feet, they willl not put out enough heat if too short. Make sure the heat cable has a thermistat (I think they all do). The cable will automatically turn on when the temp drops below about 40 degrees. Its very important to have the thermistat outside exposed to the cold. I wraped my cables around the base of the palm on the ground and covered with about an inch of mulch. That will keep the soil warm and the inside of your temporary greenhouse nice a warm all winter long. I used umbrella greenhouses, they seem to be hard to find now. before next winter I am going to buy a couple flower houses. Search on ebay for "flower house" or hot house and you will see what I am talking about. Its also very important to cover the greenhouse with a frost blanket. the blanket will help keep the warm ait from escaping and also provide some shade. Its also very important to open the side and let some fresh air in on sunny days in the winter. Even if its 20 outside in the middle of winter it can heat up to 90 plus degrees inside the temp greenhouse just with the heat of the sun. I used a wireless temp sensor to monitor the temp inside my greenhouses, the sensor goes inside the greenhouse and put the temp reader thing inside your house somewhere where its on the wall of the house closest to the greenhouse. It will stay 15 to 25 degrees warmer inside compared to the outside temp with the heat cables when the outdoor temp id below 40. So basically you can add 2 full zones of protection and grow zone 9 plants in zone 7. Its a lot of work but it will be well worth it in March when you uncover your palms and find them growing and healthy. Good luck...

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

Take a look in my gallery; what you see are current pictures on the first couple of pages. Yours seem much larger than mine.

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

I treated my needle and windmills with freeze pruf ,mulched heavy and wrapped with tar paper then covered with a tarp. The areas not covered in tar paper were totally burnt. Next year I'll wrap them all the way up to avoid the burnt tips. Still ... they are alive so I'm thrilled.:woohoonaner:

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

I think based on what I have read, that I may have to purchase a few of these to try out! I'm thinking about getting a few 1-2 feet ones, and try for a 4-5 foot one. Hopefully here in Zone 6, with heavy mulching, and wrapping I can make them survive over the winter.

Any reputable sites that have fair prices that anyone knows of? I saw Willis Orchard had good prices, but not too thrilled based on what I have heard about them...

Re: Winrter protection of Windmill Palms in zone 6/7
 

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