Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well, I am still waiting - still no sign of life, so I am going tomorrow to buy another one and be much more careful next time. An added bonus will be IF the other one decides to make a comeback.
OK... I went to a local nursey today and bought another Windmill palm (same place where I bought my other Windmill). When called, she said they had 1 gallons for $19.99 and 5 gallons for $49.99, but when I got there, they didnt have any 5 gallons left, so I went ahead and purchased the 1 gallon. Also, the 1 gallon one actually says 2.6 quarts on the pot, so I dont know, but this appears to be the exact same size as my other when I bought it. I will have to go back and look at that photo to see.
I am going to plant it tomorrow and be much more careful this time, but since 5° lows in the winter are very rare here, maybe I wont have to worry about it for awhile. Now I just have to decide where to plant it.
Here it is today when I got home with it. Reminiscent of when I bought my other one home years ago. They had several of these, but it was hard to me to choose the one I want... you would have thought I was buying a new car.
Here is the remains of my other one. I didnt realize how large the trunk on it had gotten.... I hope it makes a suprising comeback. I never did think to get any palm tree food and dont even know if I can find any around here... I didnt think to look down there.
EDIT - no, I just looked and my other one was larger when I got it... it must have been either a 3 or 5 gallon... here it was years ago in early March....
last summer
late February... (few days after sustaining a 5° morning low - which was the coldest it had been in YEARS!)
and now...
Last edited by Tennesseestorm; 05-25-2009 at 11:41 PM..
Location: somewhere close to Tampa, but closer to the beach
2,035 posts, read 5,034,661 times
Reputation: 1099
Tennessee,
Nice Windmill..looks great from the picts.you've provided..and i wish you the best of luck this time around in your next attempt.
As far as palm fertilizer, for the time being, don't worry too much about obtaining any. You can add a small amount of starter fert. to the soil mix at planting time, but use only about a tablespoon full or so..Palms seem to be quite sensitive to anything stronger untill they have had a chance to settle in and recover from transplant shock..
Besides that, every recommendation ive seen suggests not applying anything to newly planted palms for the first 6-8 weeks and when you do start out, its best to use something mild like a 5-5-5 or something along that route..By the way, the "ideal" palm fert. n-p-k ratio is suggested to be 15-5-15
Another tip i'll share, later on, say in September or so, you can "up" the Potassium ratio when you fertilize at that time..this nutrient has been shown to promote root density and growth as well as overall vigor and tolerance to weather extremes..
The one nutrient you want to "back down" on at that time is Nitrogen.. Remember that nitrogen only helps with leaf development..and the last thing you would want is the palm pushing new growth around the time the first signifigant frost/freeze occures in your area..I do this with both my marginal palms as well as my Plumerias..which stubbornly refused to go dormant last fall..
Also, look for something with a fair amount of iron, magnesium, and calcium..all of which are essential micro-nutrients required for a healthy and happy palm..
If you cannot find everything in one formula, you can buy each seperately and mix your own..even if you use plain ol' epsom salt to provide magnesium and chelated iron..to provide iron not included in the fert. mix you aquire..Also, if your local H.D or lowe's sells a Hibiscus and palm fert, this will be a satisfactory base untill you can aquire something which is "just" for palms..
One i use is an organic with loads of humic acid, sea kelp, and essential mychorrizal fungi which help "condition" the soil and roots so that they are able to "uptake" nutrients more effeciently...Organics like this one are also highly suggested over "quick fix" synthetics for overall sustained health of palms in general..
Besides that, enjoy this endevor..i totally understand the excitement im sure you are experiencing..I myself found one of the palms id been searching around for last week at a local nursery i hadn't yet checked out..
..
All 3 of these are pictures of Chamaedorea metallica..an outstanding understory palm for shady spots here in CA.(9b [s.st. 15-16] and higher) Or indoors just about everywhere else..been looking just about everywhere for it..and was convinced that i was only going to aquire specimens on my trip to So. Cal in two weeks..Now that i was able to find it locally, i can focus on obtaining larger specimens of the rarer species im heading down there to aquire..let alone the cold hardy orchids im going to mount to a couple trees in the back yard..These are reported to take temps down to 22-24f which is uncommon here..
Thanks for that info! Yeah, I wasnt thinking much of putting anything on the new palm, but wondering if I should put something on my palm that lost all of its foliage to see if it may help it?
I never thought about adding any type of potting soil to the one I am going to plant now... I was just going to fill back in with the dirt I took out of the ground - is this advised against? I think thats how I planted the last palm.
Yeah, if the forecast ever calls for temperatures below 10° (which is very very seldom) I will definitely wrap that little thing up with some blankets and lights. I am still amazed that 5° killed my other one, since it survived 8° two mornings the year before without any damage. I just wonder if something else didnt happen. I think it was asked on another thread, but its on the west side of the house and the property levels and goes a little lower, so I am not sure about any air pooling up around it. Seems like it was breezy during that unusually cold artic blast. Our coldest average low in the dead of winter is 25°, so that reading was unusually cold and I dont recall it being that cold in years. Hopefully it will be many more before it gets that cold again.
So strange, it didnt effect anything thing else on our land and I have alot of "borderline" plants/trees here. My Southern Live Oaks were unscathed - they didnt even lose their leaves (unlike they did the first year I had them). My zone 8a-up Sand pine trees was fine as were my Pond pines (which are native to the southeast coastal plain) was unscathed and all are growing fine.
It was also year one for the Sabal Minors I had planted and sadly, they all browned all the way to the ground, but ALL have started coming back up with new growth, but only up about a couple of inches and here it is a good 10 or 11 weeks into our growing season. I was wondering if I should put something on them to help speed up the growth.
Oh, also, whats this I hear about pouring peroxide down palms on which the spears have pulled to prevent fungus? Should I just do that to mine?
Last edited by Tennesseestorm; 05-26-2009 at 05:12 PM..
Thanks for that info! Yeah, I wasnt thinking much of putting anything on the new palm, but wondering if I should put something on my palm that lost all of its foliage to see if it may help it?
I never thought about adding any type of potting soil to the one I am going to plant now... I was just going to fill back in with the dirt I took out of the ground - is this advised against? I think thats how I planted the last palm.
Yeah, if the forecast ever calls for temperatures below 10° (which is very very seldom) I will definitely wrap that little thing up with some blankets and lights. I am still amazed that 5° killed my other one, since it survived 8° two mornings the year before without any damage. I just wonder if something else didnt happen. I think it was asked on another thread, but its on the west side of the house and the property levels and goes a little lower, so I am not sure about any air pooling up around it. Seems like it was breezy during that unusually cold artic blast. Our coldest average low in the dead of winter is 25°, so that reading was unusually cold and I dont recall it being that cold in years. Hopefully it will be many more before it gets that cold again.
So strange, it didnt effect anything thing else on our land and I have alot of "borderline" plants/trees here. My Southern Live Oaks were unscathed - they didnt even lose their leaves (unlike they did the first year I had them). My zone 8a-up Sand pine trees was fine as were my Pond pines (which are native to the southeast coastal plain) was unscathed and all are growing fine.
It was also year one for the Sabal Minors I had planted and sadly, they all browned all the way to the ground, but ALL have started coming back up with new growth, but only up about a couple of inches and here it is a good 10 or 11 weeks into our growing season. I was wondering if I should put something on them to help speed up the growth.
Oh, also, whats this I hear about pouring peroxide down palms on which the spears have pulled to prevent fungus? Should I just do that to mine?
I used peroxide on my pygmy date palm after it lost all its fronds, and now 2 or 3 of them are coming back. Peroxide stops mold from growing and I think it gets more air or something into the plant to stimulate growth?? I'm not really sure I just know it has worked for me, but you need to apply it before the trunk starts to rot or completely die, or else it is too late. When you use peroxide, use 1/4 peroxide and the other 3/4 water.
I used peroxide on my pygmy date palm after it lost all its fronds, and now 2 or 3 of them are coming back. Peroxide stops mold from growing and I think it gets more air or something into the plant to stimulate growth?? I'm not really sure I just know it has worked for me, but you need to apply it before the trunk starts to rot or completely die, or else it is too late. When you use peroxide, use 1/4 peroxide and the other 3/4 water.
Thanks. How much should I pour (a quart?) in and do I pour it directly into the hole where the spear was?
Tennesseestorm,
Have you considered growing more colder zone trees along with all of your southern zone varieties?
Since you are near the Appalachian corridor I would suggest: Eastern Hemlock, Sugar Maple, Red Maple, White Birch, Pitch Pine, Red Spruce, or Balsam Fir/Fraiser Fir.
I love reseraching climate zones and I like the diversity of tree types of the high south- especially the higher terrain of TN and NC.
I have awhile back and I cant recall, but some of them "burned" up it seems.
I see alot of those pines you mentioned (Pitch), and those firs, but not here where I live... normally dont see those until you get in elevations about 2200 ft and up about 40-50 miles east of here. As you head east/northeast of here, you start gaining in elevation. We are only in the 1100-1700 ft range here in the metro area and points west (I am at 1520 ft elevation), so we are not too far off from the rest of the southeast so to speak.
I think I already have a Eastern Hemlock in the front lawn. I will take a photo and post it and see if you can tell me. Out of all of the really "deep south" trees I have planted here in my "upper south" area, the Windmill palm is the only thing I had trouble with and it lasted 5 years before anything happened. In fact, I was shocked this happened to it at 5°. I thought it would take 0° (which we have not seen in about 12 years) or lower to kill it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater
Tennesseestorm,
Have you considered growing more colder zone trees along with all of your southern zone varieties?
Since you are near the Appalachian corridor I would suggest: Eastern Hemlock, Sugar Maple, Red Maple, White Birch, Pitch Pine, Red Spruce, or Balsam Fir/Fraiser Fir.
I love reseraching climate zones and I like the diversity of tree types of the high south- especially the higher terrain of TN and NC.
I have awhile back and I cant recall, but some of them "burned" up it seems.
I see alot of those pines you mentioned (Pitch), and those firs, but not here where I live... normally dont see those until you get in elevations about 2200 ft and up about 40-50 miles east of here. As you head east/northeast of here, you start gaining in elevation. We are only in the 1100-1700 ft range here in the metro area and points west (I am at 1520 ft elevation), so we are not too far off from the rest of the southeast so to speak.
I think I already have a Eastern Hemlock in the front lawn. I will take a photo and post it and see if you can tell me. Out of all of the really "deep south" trees I have planted here in my "upper south" area, the Windmill palm is the only thing I had trouble with and it lasted 5 years before anything happened. In fact, I was shocked this happened to it at 5°. I thought it would take 0° (which we have not seen in about 12 years) or lower to kill it.
Some of the maples I have on my property include: sugar, red, silver, and norway. I like the brilliant foliage and shade they provide. Silver maples tend to have weak branches, though. I also like birches, but they are definitely a softwood tree. The hemlocks here tend to grow closer to water or marshy areas along with birch, beech, and maple. White pines compose about 30-40% of all trees in a typical forest around here. I am right on the zone 4/zone 5 edge. The extremes of the climate range from around -20F to nearly 100F.
Last edited by GraniteStater; 05-28-2009 at 11:02 PM..
Some of the maples I have on my property include: sugar, red, silver, and norway. I like the brilliant foliage and shade they provide. Silver maples tend to have weak branches, though. I am also like birches, but they are definitely a softwood tree. The hemlocks here tend to grow closer to water or marshy areas along with birch, beech, and maple. White pines compose about 30-40% of all trees in a typical forest around here. I am right on the zone 4/zone 5 edge. The extremes of the climate range from around -20F to nearly 100F.
I know around here many White Pines, including two I planted 2 years ago, have died, and I think it is from drought and heat stress, that is why I have been planting more southern pine specimens, like the Longleaf Pine, which can deal with hot and dry climates easier. I have also noticed Loblolly Pines have been doing really well around here.\
Oh and Tennessee, just make about a cup of the peroxide solution and pour it right into the trunk and down the hole where the spear used to be, and then don't water it again until it dries.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
