As either a container plant or even landscaping plant, a palm tree (Arecaceae) supplies daring, evergreen foliage and a tropical-looking increase form. Most of the approximately 2,500 palm species are native to tropical and subtropical climates. Those tender palms need to grow indoors or in a greenhouse in cold-winter climates. A few palm species withstand freezing temperatures, however they gain from strategic places along with other protective measures during cold weather.
Cultural Tactics
Keeping your hands in great health gives it the best chance of surviving winter. In fall, allow the palm’s increase to slow naturally and for the increase to harden for winter. Providing fertilizer regularly during the growing season, though, can enhance a palm’s cold-hardiness. Use a slow-release fertilizer that is intended to last few months and contains a formulation of 8-2-12+4Mg. Apply the fertilizer in spring, autumn and summer — at three-month intervals, sprinkling it upon the soil surface at a speed of 1 1/2 pounds of fertilizer per 100 square foot of the hands’s canopy region, and then water the soil.
Psychological Protection
When cold weather is predicted, it is time to protect an outdoor palm. Before the sun sets, cover the hands using a heavy frost blanket made for horticultural use, or cap it with a regular sheet or blanket. Hold the fabric off the palm’s leaves using bets or other supports. Unfortunately, no good way exists to protect a tall palm tree’s terminal mind of fronds from chilly weather. Wrapping a palm’s back with burlap is an added protection measure, however. The sheet or blanket should be removed the following day, after the chilly weather passes, however, the burlap can stay on the tree a few days or more. Unwrap the back, however, for periods of warm weather.
Portability
Growing your hands at a container and moving it indoors for winter will shield it from cold weather. Take it indoors before the first freeze, and don’t move it back outside until all danger of frost passes. Give the palm an indoor place with bright, indirect light. Palms suitable to grow in containers include needle palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix), which attains roughly 6 feet tall and is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 10, and windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), which grows 8 to 10 feet tall and is hardy in USDA zones 7 through 10.
Care After Damage
If cold temperatures turn your palm tree’s fronds brown, then wait until after the chance of further cold weather passes before you remove these fronds since they still have some insulation value. When you take off the brown fronds, use a pruning saw cleaned with rubbing alcohol to stop spreading plant diseases. If no green is at a leaf stalk’s base, then the hands likely won’t recover. Soaking the soil from the palm back to 6 feet outward with a mix developed by landscape architect Howard Garrett may help. Combine 1 gallon of water with 1 cup of compost tea or liquid humate, and 1 ounce all liquid seaweed, apple cider vinegar and molasses. If your palm doesn’t survive winter, then look at replacing it with a more cold-hardy kind of palm.