The Grass Doctor

How to make palm tree more resistant to cold?

Hi, I live in Alabama and have a Chinese Fan Palm outside in a pot. My neighbor has an identical one. As soon as the temperature falls below 27F or so, the leaves on my tree start drying up and the green leaf color does not seem as bright, bascially by spring i end up cutting half the leaves off. Its 2 years old and both last winter and this winter we had to take it inside, which results in many bugs and spiders coming from the soil/pot. My neighboor never takes it in and his leaves are bright green and palm tree looks great. Is there a special fertilizer or something that i can purchase to make it stronger in cold weather?

Public Comments

1. wrap the trunk in some burlap to retain the heat. if it's really cold, you might need to bring it inside depending on size.
2. plant it in the ground the roots will freeze inside a pot
3. I grow large numbers of palms in central England, many of them raised from seed, and I have to protect a good number of them. I've got a few Trachycarpus fortunei, the Chinese Fan Palm, and these are one of the hardiest palms, as you probably know. Plants, as with most other living things, each have their own individual characteristics - as with people too - which means that some individual plants are hardier than others. When I was younger I used to try to sort out the hardiest of my palms, but now I aim to keep them all going. Firstly, as mentioned elsewhere, potted plants can potentially suffer more cold damage than those in the ground - if roots are damaged, they find it harder to regrow after any other damage too, and can potentially die. As yours is in a pot, you can use this to your advantage, by siting in the warmest micro-climate that you can - this may be on a south facing wall. Once you've got the best location, you can then add some protection for it. It's possible to make a structure to surround it, possibly using wood, and then with something like plastic stapled onto it. This enclosure can be infilled with something like straw, or dried leaves - the secret is in the air that's trapped, which creates a multi-layering, in addition to the outer layer. Much as us humans stay warmer if we're wearing several layers of clothes, as the air acts as in insulator. Garden fleece is also useful, and this comes in several thicknesses - it generally keeps the air below a few degrees warmer, and lets sunlight and water through. You can use this with or without an enclosure, and it alone is sufficient for just a few degrees of freezing. You can use it in layers too, not just as a single layered cover, and it's generally pretty cheap. Then I occasionally add other layers and barriers. If your garden slopes towards your plants, then cold air is likely to fall towards to your palm, so having a break in between will also help. I save polystyrene packaging that comes with some products, I've got some large sheets that came with a fridge freezer, and these are placed around, or over my palms. Some shops will gladly give you some of these. Otherwise, I also use cardboard boxes, as these have air trapped inside their corrugation - they're better when dry. Finally, burlap, or something similar, can be wrapped around your palm. I also use pipe insulation, the stuff from places like Home Depot that you put around water pipes - this can be great for thin trunks, and prevents freezing too, as it would with water pipes. On one really cold night, I threw some old carpet over some of my more tender palms, and this really helped. Overall, layer stuff, use anything that's a good insulator. and potentially add something really solid that's heated on a cold night, which would give off it's warmth over several hours. I've had some bricks in the bottom of my oven, or by heat souces, and I often wrap these, to delay the emission of heat outwards. If these are enclosed, below other coverings, it's important that they're not immediately next to your plant and will cook it, but any insulation above it will help trap some of its heat during a freezing night, warming the surrounding area by a few more degrees. Final thought - mature palms are generally more cold hardy than when they're younger, so yours is likely to find things easier in future. If you can get seed from a local palm, consider trying to grow it, as it's likely to be suited to growing in your area. Feel free to message me with any queries, or for more exacting advice. Hope these ideas help. Good luck! Rob