trachys - unheated greenhouse or leave outside ?

[daz h]

quick bit of advice please ,
got a couple of small Trachycarpus fortunei in pots both about 3-4 ft ( the actual plant) the trunk is about 1-1.5 ft.
ive bubble wrapped the pots and mulched them and currently have them against the south facing wall of my house , just planning to fleece them when the worst of the weather hits .
or i do have a unheated greenhouse but the condensation in the winter is awful and im thinking this will just rot them.
am i right ? would i be better off leaving them outside ?

[Dave Brown]

It depends on how cold it gets, as Oxfordshire can have quite cold minimums.

Self sown one leaf seedlings here take down to about -8/9C without any damage, and dug up, potted ones are fine left completely unprotected in my average coldest -6-ish. From what you said, against the wall should be fine, unless we have really severe weather like Dec 2010. Then I would just protect more for the duration of the cold spell.

[daz h]

cheers dave.
should be ok then , dont get much below that here and they are sheltered from the winds where they are, so fingers crossed.

[allangreenbean]

It gets to -10c round here (east anglia) and mine are left outside, even the seedlings in pots. I think they quite enjoy it.

[jungle jas]

I managed to kill a 5 foot potted Waggie in the winter of 2010 because I couldn't decided where to plant it, by spring I did not have to bother! Minimum temperature -8C, but the problem was the temperature did not get above freezing for two weeks. I would leave them outside unless you have a really long cold snap, then drag them in, afterall they are not that large.

[daz h]

cheers all , no they are not that large to drag in the greenhouse but with the staging i built (which is how i found this place - think it was daves plans ) they would have to go down the middle of the greenhouse which means i cant really get into it to wipe down the condensation or open the windows.

[Nigel Fear]

They'll be fine outside. [or in a greenhouse, if it makes you feel better. ]

Just so long as if you haven't bubble- wrapped underneath the pots, preventing drainage.
Condensation won't be a problem either.

[daz h]

no havent wrapped underneath the pots , and got them raised off the floor to help with drainage

[Yorkshire Kris]

If the weather repeats winter 2010 then many different potted plants could die including palms. But that is very unlikely. I lost a potted waggy in 2010 but an unprotected Phoenix canariensis_CIDP was fine last winter in a pot.

[Dave Brown]

cheers all , no they are not that large to drag in the greenhouse but with the staging i built (which is how i found this place - think it was daves plans ) they would have to go down the middle of the greenhouse which means i cant really get into it to wipe down the condensation or open the windows.

I bet the wood has gone up somewhat since 2009, daz

[daz h]

it was still a damn sight cheaper than buying a ready made or flat pack set of staging - think i got it done for £35 ish, but then after seeing on here what its possible to grow in this country it has cost me a fortune in palms , bananas and bamboos

good to know your pheonix carensis made it kris picked one of those up the other week reduced to £3 from homebase,
they have got some nice Chamaerops humilis in there which im keeping my eye on waiting for them to come down to a similar price