Washingtonia robusta winter protection

[Dave Brown]

Winter is now arriving,and following on from last winter when my Washie suffered extensive damage, I decided it might need a bit of protection this year, particularly as we are in a solar dimming phase and may have a colder winter than we have become accustomed to.... apart from the last one.

Melissa's topic on Winter protection SEE HERE inspired me to think outside the box where my Washie is concerned. I had been wondering how I would protect a 10 foot tall palm.

Then it came to me overnight, literally..... I woke up with a potential solution

I have a 2.7m diameter parasol with a removable cover. The plan was to cover the frame with polythene and somehow atach it to the trunk.

I spent a couple of days sizing up the task and working out how I could make the project work. Then this morning I went out and bought a sheet of construction grade polythene.... amd the project commenced

I bought 40m of rope from the 99p shop back in 2007 to tie the 6m x 3m Gazebo down in gales, and it has proved to be pretty strong. My plan was to drill holes in the end of the parasol spars, insert screws to attach the rope to, then add the polythene and staple the cover around the rope. Simple eh

The frame with screws inserted and rope added

Here with the polythene in place

Then the polythene was stapled around the rope..... I know, I know staples are not good, so 3 layers were used and I demolished a stapler in the process. About 1000 staples were used I'm still worried about the NE Gales this will be exposed to. If you have seen the Washingtonia Blizzard You tube vid you will know what I am talking about

The parasol is lashed to the trunk in 5 places and the winder is lashed to stop upward or downward movement

Here is the finished protection.... just hope it lasts the winter

[bev]

well worth a try dave, nothing ventured nothing gained!

i hope the winds will be kind as that is one lovely looking palm!

good luck

lee

[Las Palmas Norte]

You're lucky to have an attempt Dave as our -6°C to -7°C temps last week would have done in any Washingtonia robusta within 500 miles. Best of luck and keep us posted on your and it's progress.

Cheers, Barrie.

[eyefi]

might be worth putting 2 or 3 guy ropes on the parasol edges?

[redsquirrel]

interesting Dave. should do the job .eyefi suggestion is a good one too.a few,6 even, ropes from the top would help keep it down in the wind

[collins99]

Good thinking Dave , lets hope it works for you because that is a great palm ..

nick..

[Dave Brown]

Thanks for the guy ropes suggestion eyefi, I'll run a few ropes from the spars down to the base of the trunk. It'll look a bit like a hot air balloon , but hopefully won't suffer as much damage as last year

Barrie it is a shame about the temps in your location, but I had -12.9C back in 1987, and even with Climate change at it's max that is only likely to have made at most 1C difference, so in a worst scenario I might get -11C now.

[medjool]

Well Dave
Looks interesting,it may fly perhaps a washingtonia may land in leominster shortly,good luck looks wing shaped for lift off!

[davidjonesUK]

kewl dave hope it stays on, O medjool, mary plam tree instead of mary poppins

[bobbyd44]

looks like it should work dave. maybe if you angle it slightly to the provailing wind it might just be enough to stop it taking off!!

[Conifers]

Untie and remove it when strong winds are forecast - windy weather generally won't be too cold for it.

[redsquirrel]

i must get on with my shelter Dave. the poor thing really has come back well considering the bashing it took last winter.ive already bought some builders polythene but have been putting it off as i dont like ladders.got to be done though,can you see how skinny the trunk has gone just below the crown,wont take much to rot that lot if it freezes.was a lot thicker last year

[Dave Brown]

. maybe if you angle it slightly to the provailing wind it might just be enough to stop it taking off!!

The problem is we can get high winds from just about any direction over winter so upright is the best position.

[bobbyd44]

no prob dave..

[Birmingham Chris]

Mary Poppins!

I guess there'll be some movement / rock in the palm too so that might help to stop any major headaches......