washingtonia .F. dying!!?

[redsquirrel]

or plant another Trachycarpus

[Nathan]

are you old enough to remember the dead parrot sketch from 'Montbeliardii' Python? if not ask yer dad

Lol, indeed Ade

Sorry to say David but from that pic of the new spear it does look like it is on its last legs...

[redsquirrel]

dont give up on it though david,i had one of those very young 4 stem plants from a band q get fried last winter,cut them all back and kept dry,3 of the stems re-sprouted. i expect it is toast again this year,if my big washy pulls,which im sure it will,im tempted to bin it this year and save up for a trithrinax campestris instead

[derrick]

Small washingtonia inside corrugated shelter after cold weather pics.Dead or Alive have to see spring

[sam140]

Dave the hardiness in washy f mostly comes from years in the ground. It needs to be out in the sunniest mircoclimate part of your garden in sharp drainage. You want a plant a little bigger and once you plant it out in Spring just leave it.

[redsquirrel]

that wont stop it getting damaged though sam,this one has over a meter of trunk and judging by the rate it is browning and going floppy,i reckon its a carker this year. took a bad hit last year but the damage taken was a lot slower showing

[sam140]

It will get some damage even in an average winter. As i said siting is critial. If it is cold and wet they are nowhere near as hardy. Bristol is a lot wetter, Cambridge is one of the the driest places in the uk.

Thats what exotic gardening is all about doing the best you can and then taking your chances.

It will have a chance of survival if its been in the ground a good few years, even with that damage.

[redsquirrel]

im waiting for it to pull then put a corrugated plastic rain shelter over and round it.poor thing was only just putting out complete leaves again and the spear was only half as thick as last year.to be honest,in a way im hoping it does give up,not going to be a pretty sight again this year.it is situated in the higher part of the garden so it does drain and i put the buckets of boos around for a bit of extra shelter so is normally in the sunniest spot but as you say,we dont get the best weather here

[davidjonesUK]

well i took a photo a day or 2 a go after i removed all the fronds expent the spear in the middle it still seems to be alive here are to photos the last one was took today. i will be posting more to keep you all updated.

[Dave Brown]

Darren, if you have had -9.8C that is below the hardiness rating for the palm.

Sam, my Washie is in heavy clay and seems to thrive in it. This is where we need the database. As I hear all the time about it needing very well drained soil to survive, but mine is not. The database would enable us to build up a profile of what conditions they are surviving in, rather than the theoretical.

[simon]

Just the fact that it is in clay doesn't tell the whole story though, Dave. Being in an area of low rainfall presumably means that drainage is not so critical. If the plant needs good drainage, someone in a higher rainfall area would not be so lucky.

[Alexander]

In the wild they grow close to water in canyons and along dry riverbeds. A bit like Phoenix dactylifera does in Arabia.

Alexander

[Dave Brown]

Just the fact that it is in clay doesn't tell the whole story though, Dave. Being in an area of low rainfall presumably means that drainage is not so critical. If the plant needs good drainage, someone in a higher rainfall area would not be so lucky.

Simon, the soil is a sodden, soggy mess from November to March or April, and the whole of 2007 and 2008. You just cannot work it other than to throw pots. I cannot imagine a plant very fussy about drainage being happy in that over the the coldest part of the year. I suspect belief has come from the "Palms must have good drainige" in books, rather than practical experience of individual species.

All my Phoenix will happily sit in water over winter. Not that I did it deliberately, but I ended up with P dactyifera completely submerged down to -2C without batting an eyelid.

Alexander the key to good growth seems to be warm/wet soil. Being heavy clay, it contains a lot of water and is slow to react to air temperature changes. This is detremental in spring as it takes a long time to warm up, and an advantage in autumn as it takes a long time to cool down. Most growth is between May and November.

[Axel]

Most of the palms discussed here don´t need superdrainage at all. I have the same experience Dave has with Phoenix Can. in a pot without drainage holes during winter.
Dave´s butia is in heavy clay as well and i bet they love it during summer. It obviously doesn´t care in winter. Give it superdrainage and it doesn´t grow all that well, except with heavy irrigation. People in the UK may think of the eastcoast as being very dry but that´s pretty funny for people from dry winter climates. There is enough winterhumidity and rain on the eastcoast to confirm that the regular palms as discussed here don´t need superdrainage to survive.

It´s all conventional wisdom that hasn´t been tested properly. Im convinced most of the palms here die from a direct or indirect (funghal attack on damaged part) hit on the growing point.

Axel

[tenchy]

looking a bit toasted david. my phoenix palm looked like that in the end but had broken leafes from the centre.

im going to get another one or maybe two in the spring. with any luck there will be some bargains about