Chamaerops are know for being extremely drought tolerant (when I plant my C.cerifera this spring I will plant it on the edge of my succulent bed),10F is approaching the cold limit for Chamaerops under optimal conditions,why not cover them(from rain) after first frost and water very little until spring?Once established...

Chamaerops planted a few inches deep will stump sprout in N.J. if mulched. I have a wrapped/occasionally heated one which is about 5'high with 2'trunks. My cerifera by the house is almost unscathed with just good protection and mulch.

I just checked on mine today and it had spear pull,it has been a mild winter here also,I just checked it a couple days ago and it was fine it was protected but its been really nice here for the past few weeks so I unwrapped all my palms,anyways it snowed about an inch 2 days ago and now it has spear pull,I also have another one,it is smaller and has been un-protected all winter and no spear pull.It seems to be doing better than all my other palms.
and all my palm are in their first winter.Strange isnt it.
We dont get much snow or rain but Ive had spear pull on 7 of my palms.

You got spear pull on your Chamaerops in NM zone 7b and it was a mild winter? That surprises me. I have successfully overwintered them in very snowy, cold winter. Yes, with some degree of die back but not lethal. It seems that Chamaerops as a genus of palms shows a great deal of genetic variation (thus a range of distinct forms). This may account for the relative hardiness of some and lack thereof in other specimens. Better luck next time. PS. Don't give up on a palm with spear loss. Sometimes they do regrow them.

I guess you know the drill,get those palms with spear pull treated with fungicide asap.I think there is a big temptation to uncover protected plants to early and a lot of damage occurs in late winter early spring because weather is not consistantly warm enough yet,we all need to remember thet plants are in weakened state coming out of winter and can get sick very easily this time of year,I would still protect the - now opened spear areas from futher moisture untill WARM weather is here for good whenever the hell that is!!!And its still better to keep them dry it sounded like this is their first year,always a fine line that first year with transplant shock and then first winter thats probably what got them -chamaerops need a lot of gdd to recover I think about 4500 gdd best of luck!!!

Well, I removed the blankets because I was concerned about having them hold in all that wetness. There were a couple of dry, sunny days so maybe they dried out at least a bit before the next round of flooding. After the storm passes, temps will drop but not to dangerous levels (min. upper 20's and low 40's by day for a couple of days, then rising). Excuse my ignorance, but what does gdd mean???? Take care.

Fan Palm Equilibrium Threshold
DECLINE

Palms have no true dormancy period. In the mature phase, every leaf lost must be replaced, to maintain a delicate equilibrium of mass. If they do not grow, they decline.

If a palm is stressed by damage to fronds, loss of spear and/or defoliation by exposure to extreme threshold freeze (short-term subzero cold) or periodic threshold freeze (long-term subfreezing cold), then there is a minimum growing degree day accumulation required for the palm to recover 100% damage and resume growth. If that minimum is not achieved in one growing season, unable to fully replace damaged tissue, a palm expends stored energy to replace greater lost mass, not to grow, and begins a decline period ranging from one to multiple seasons, at the end of which the exhausted palm finally dies.

That explains why there is a notable absence of long term surviving palms in USDA Zones 5-7, even when it is demonstrated that palms can survive common expected winter cold in those regions. It also supports why palms lose fronds and achieve their distinct shape during the mature phase of their lives. Every leaf shed must be replaced by another leaf, to maintain balance.

Limiting damage from lethal freeze (or drought) reduces the number of GDD (see below) necessary to replace mass and resume growth. Perennial protection will extend the life of the palm, even if it is decline mode

GDD Growing Degree Days

The GDD threshold for a palm stressed to loss of spear, defoliation, or both is variable to species, like the duration or severity of freeze exposure. The following are GDD estimations required for full recovery and the resumption of growth. Insufficient GDD may result in the decline period that leads to death of the palm.

The GDD formula used is the 24 hour period high-low temperature sum, less 100, for each day of the frost-free growing season, from 1 April to 1 November. (50 base for each temperature)

Rhapidophyllum hystrix ~2800 GDD
Trachycarpus fortunei 'greensboro' ~3200 GDD
Trachycarpus takil ~3200 GDD
Trachycarpus fortunei 'bulgaria' ~3200 GDD
Trachycarpus fortunei ~3200 GDD
Sabal minor ~3600 GDD
Sabal birminghamn ~4500 GDD
Chamaerops humilis ~4500 GDD
Seronoa repens ~4600 GDD
Butia capitata ~4700 GDD
Washingtonia filifera ~5600 basically this means the high and low added together ex Hi 75+ Lo 45=120-100=20gdd so if tour total is 20 as here and say thats your total for april 1 you would add up your totals for the whole month so lets say that every day in april is 45 to 75 take that # 20x30days in april gdd 600 then add up for growing season April-October in my area S.E.Iowa last year was approx 3685 remember this does not apply to the south as far as regrowing leaves because they dont deal with palms needing to regrow all their leaves-this was lifted from "growing palms in colorado springs usda zone 5b"a very informative site to say...