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
