sorry i cant answer your question as i dont live up there but yea they grow like weeds here in VB! there wasnt a trace of 1 around 10 years ago and now all of a sudden they shoot up everywhere...

As most of you probably know, Im trying my pindo in the ground for the first time this winter. Since we get pretty much the same exact weather, if it works for me, it'll work for you (but I wont know if it does until spring).

I think if its big enough it shouldnt have any problems in a zone 7 (with some protection of course). Do you have any pics of it?

Mine isnt going to see any temperatures below 15F and if it passes that maybe Ill be less strict with protection next winter. :)

Good luck!

i am trying 2 10 gallon ones this year i live on staten island. they were planted on june 2
I tied their leaves together already. I put to wooden poles on each sides and i wrapped them in christmas lights (50 c9 on each) When the weather gets below 32 I will cover them with a burlap bag, a garbage bag on top. I will tie it all up and turn on the christmas lights. When it gets above 40 i will take it of.

Sounds like a lot of protection, but its better safe than sorry! Im sure yours will overwinter pretty easily with that protection. Keep up updated :)

I hope im giving mine enough. Its going to be wraped in this tarp thing for bushed (its cloth) when temps get below 20-25. A trach can will go over it everytime a cold rain or heavy snow falls. If temps go below about 18 then a garbage bin will defiantely go over the burlap (might put some x-mas lights in their as well but I wont be positive until a night like that comes). If temps go below 15 the x mas lights will be on the palm followed by the cloth tarp followed by a garbage bin. That should keep that nasty wind out and hopefully generate enough heat to keep the palm above 25F.

Good luck!

I have a Butia Eriospatha I am trying here in Iowa

FWIW, I had one survive the winter in the ground in Michigan. Completely defoliated, and I thought it would die, but the darned thing resprouted and had a decent little clump of fronds by the next fall. I covered it with a foam box and a lot of leaves and straw, but no artificial heat. And, that particular winter (probably 2005-2006) was sort of on the cold side, with about 2 months of consistent snow cover on the ground.

I felt sorry for it, and potted it up the next fall. It has wintered in my garage since then, and has gotten a lot bigger.

I have had one in the ground for 3 years here in Oklahoma City. It gets a tarp a 150 watt flood light and mini Xmas lights on a timer. 15 degrees F for a week last Feb plus horrible wind and hail all spring and it does nothing but thrive. Grown about six inches of trunk in 3 summers...

Thanks for all the advice it really helps. I am amazed at some of the survival stories and more hopeful it can work without massive assistance.

I thought TZ7 was being overly optimistic, but StatenIslands report supports the theory as does MI. Hey MI - the pindo must have survived the second year too!? Hummm I will definately cover it with burlap and clear 6mm tarp plastic when I plant it next year and suppy a light bulb for cold nites below zone 8 (15*).
OK TZ 7 please tell me how to load my pics on this site
:-) I know Jim Hardy will be happy too!

I think once a pindo palm is estabished it can handle cold pretty well. Since its not established it could probably use all the protection it can get, but I figure I will expose it to the cold at a young age (and I cant find the time to build a structure (which would take a while with my building "skills")).
Mine's going to get the full effect of most winter days (except for the 1 or 2 days that dont make it out of the 20s), but will probably not see any damaging low temperatures (if my protection method actually works and since this is my first time attempting this anything can happen!)

Heres how to post your pics.
1) Make a photobucket account.
2) This one is usually the hardest for some people. You need to get a wire that you can use to upload pics onto your computer
3) Save the pictures you want to something you can remember and find easily
4) Go to YOUR homepage on photobucket and click "upload pics". A window should open that you can use to find the pics you saved.
5) Click on the file you want. It will upload to photobucket.

****Repeat steps 1-5 if you want to upload another picture****

6) A page will open and you can edit the picture, give it a title, ect... After you finish that click save changes.
7) You will be redirected to YOUR homepage. Below where you clicked "upload pics" you will see all the pictures you uploaded.
8) Click on the picture you want to upload to this site.
9) A larger version of the picture you clicked will appear.

10. Scroll down a little and keep your eye to the left side of the page.
11. You should see 4 codes.
12. Copy the 3rd code down (second from the botton) called "Html code". *Make sure you copy the ENTIRE code.
13. Make a message on here and paste the code you copied to yoru message. Dont worry about what it says because it makes NO sense at all. If you want to add more pics after that one, or if you want to write more, make sure that you skip a few lines so you dont confuse your writing with the code.
14. Click the preview button and your picture should show. If it doesnt than something went wrong (usually coping the wrong code or leaving a part of the code out).

- I think Im getting a little better at giving instructions, but tell me if it isnt clear to you.

Good luck :)

YUP-;-)

Thanks for the instructions TZ7. I will have my wife help me try it when and take some good shots on a sunny day - she's better at IT. Since I am OK with a computer I thought I could do it alone, but rather have help. Hopefully pics soon.
You will also see the enclosures I built and what you do not have with construction - you do have in computer skills. Its mt first time building those things - its a simple box. I like your idea but I would suggest you keep you pindo dry wrapped etc.. and under a plastic garbage can much of the time once deep freezes set-in. The cold winds are just a bad as the cold itself to these palms.

Thanks for the compliment, and the protection tips. I was hoping we would have a dry fall and until a week or 2 ago we only got about 2 inches of since the beginning of september, but within the last 2 weeks wever gotten over 3 inches (counting todays non stop rain this morning). Usually palms are more cold tolerant when kept dry, but with this rain, and my clay soil they are pretty flooded right now. Oh well, Once november comes if rain comes like this they will defiantely get a garbage bin on them because I wouldnt want the cold rain to rot them BEFORE an actual cold spell gets the chance!

Whenever this rain ends maybe you can get some nice pics in!
It looks like thursday might not be bad and saturday (halloween) will at least be around 70, and sunday looks like the sun will be out again.

Also Im going to keep it wrapped inside the garbage bin so I can avoid the rain and snow from rotting it away.Originally I was going to use burlap, but I found a thing to protect shrubs from frosts and its a pretty decent insulator.

........................................................................................................
Do you think I should keep the X-mas lights inside the wrap, or outside it? The garbage bin will be on it so the wind wont get rid of any heat, but garbage bins arent really "ideal" for keeping in heat. Im just afraid the palm will be overheated if I keep the lights inside the wrap.

Good luck!

Hi TZ7,

I agree lights should be on the outside of the wrap and the garbage bin should be removed on unseasonable warm weather days that are sunny - not to over heat the palm when its in its winter rest state. Mine are still outside in pots and even planted ones are not protected yet.

Mine too. Even my hibiscus are still blooming pretty well (some of the flowers are a little smaller though). Nothing is really growing now though (all the bananas (leaves already cut off) are on standstill and the elephant ear is slowly pushing up another flower (its a very "happy" plant). The calidums just wilted on me a few weeks ago (probably because I stoped watering them), so I justr cut those back and will take the pot in so they come back next year.

I must admit though, November is comming pretty quick. It feels like it was summer just yesterday, but im sure winter will probably feel pretty long if its a cold one.

Good luck!

PS
Thanks for the help with the X-mas lights.

you are welcome :-)

I have been growing pindos palms for ten years.The only protection I give them is a big piece of clear plastic on nights when temps.drop below 10degrees.I take the plastic off the next day as soon as temps get above 10degrees.I found that they do better if you let them experence some cold weather.I only do this for the frist couple of years after there planted.I dont plant anything smaller than 3gallon plants.I dont put mulch around them either.I tried that on my frist palm and It roted in the ground during the winter.I dont know about your winters but in Ga.we get most of our rain in winter.My oldest pindo does just fine without any winter protection,and we had temps.down to single didgets this past winter.Ive found pindos just about impossible to kill.

Thanks for the advise Butiaman, that is very encouraging-wow 10 years. Are you around Atlanta or costal? It would be great to see a picture of it. Are you a zone 7b?

Even though, I think our 7a here in costal NYC is more severe and lengthy than yours; I am going to place sand bags around the base of mine during the winter when its planted and tent it. Thanks for the tip on over mulching it. Yup some winters the snow and ice here can get bad for a spell.

I read Butias do like it somewhat dry as their native habitat are grasslands with dry spells. Even now in NY its been rainy and I do not want it too wet for too long even if its in a pot for now.

Hi everyone! It has taken me about a summer to figure all this stuff out. I thought you might like to see my back yard as of about 2 weeks ago. the summer is over- looking forward to next year...

Here is a link that might be useful: okcpalms.com

Beautiful pics,great yard.
I love the Bismarckia.
What kind of Banana plants are around your pool?

I believe they are musa basjoo. They are what started it for me about 10 years ago. Bad year this year though...

Leaves look unusually wide to be Basjoo.Interesting

Great photos and site. It looks tropical around the pool. What zone are you?

Nice pics. Very tropical!

Oklahoma City is in zone 7a. Our backyard faces south, the bananas are not very sheltered. and the wind can really tear them up. My mexican fan is in the most sheltered position I have available. sheltered from the north by the house and the west by a large group of cedar trees. The pindo and the trachys are pretty exposed. In a couple of weeks I will put a tent over them for the winter...

Oklahoma, that's impressive and you confirm my belief that you can plant cold tolerant palms in 7a with strong southern exposure and wind breaks. When I looked at your site, I did not see a pindo palm anywhere. Could you send a pic so I can see how its doing.

TZ7, I think your right we can get pindos to grow here protected or within a micro climate or both.

They are realy interesting palms, and more cold tolerant than most people give them credit. Im looking forward to the day where I have a huge pindo that only needs burlap around the trunk and some mulch to get it through the winter (and in a few years, it might be at that point). They are painfully slow growing plams when they are establishig themselves, but after that they rocket off (but take a while to reach fruiting age).

Good luck!

Jelly palms are very popular in my area. I'm in zone 8b but it still can sometimes get down to about 15F here in the early morning hours, I have never seen one damaged by the cold.

Sorry, the pindo is behind the trachys with a couple of sabal minors... I will post more pics later today

Looking forward to the Pindo picture:-) How long has it been planted?

Hey guys... Sorry I took so long...brooklyngreg web site is updated with a pindo pic...I will post some pics showing protection in a couple of weeks..

Here is a link that might be useful: okcpalms.com

Great pics. Those windmill palms are very healthy. The pindo is huge too and so is the washingtonia. Definately a very tropical yard!

Thanks for posting the photos. I enjoyed seeing the collection.

They were all good and the butia pindo looked execllent and survived a zone 7 winter!

This is directed at Brooklyngreg: I read further up in this thread that you said MI claims to have a zone 7. There is nowhere in Michigan that is a zone 7. The city of Detroit is a zone 6b. The southwestern part of the state along Lake Mighigan is probably also a zone 6b, but because they're along the lake, it also keeps them cooler in the summer. I live in the southeastern part of the state just south of Detroit and I used to consider my area a 6b until last winter. We get hotter than the western part of the state in the summer, but a little colder in the winter. For years we didn't get below -5 degrees, but last winter we hit -12, so now i consider my area a zone 6a. Anyway, those are the warmest parts of our state. Not far from, but not quite a zone 7.

And can anyone tell me how they manage to tie up their pindo fronds? I have one that has very stiff leaves that curve downward. Seems almost impossible to tie up.

Hi Island Breeze:

That was a good analysis of zones. I personally belive MI to be generally 5b - 6b depending on location. I was probably quoting someone from MI if I ever said it was a zone 7 by the lakeshore. Clearly, outside of a rare microclimate MI is 6. Any part of MI that anyone said was a zone 7 along the lake, would be a low 7 at best and still require extra palm protection for a zone 6 for the rare nights that make record cold dips.

Last year New York City had a low of 6* and that made that winter a 7b. However, our cold is prolonged compared to a more naturally southern 7b that breaks the cold snap must faster.

Below normal temp winter outbrakes differ per location: southern outbrakes have "cold snaps 3 days or less " and us northerners have "cold spells-5, 10 even 15 days or more". Therefore zone 7b isn't 100% the same. Usually we are a 7, but have had many winters where I saw we were a 8 and one exception when we were 6b. Our northern winds are palm killers, so if we can just protect palms from wind and moisture freezing in the bud we can do well. Hope that clarified my viewpoint.

We are defiantely much cooler than an area in the south with the same zone. Zone 7 and 8 make up most of the southern states and most of NYC and its surrounding areas are zone 7 (many winters are a zone 8, and like I said on a different post we even had one zone 9 winter by me, which was a record) but these cant compare to those zones in the south.
Its even worst on the west coast. Coastal oregon and central california are both zone 9 (I believe a very small area of the oregon coast is a zone 10, and alot of southern california is a zone 10) but they are extremely different because coastal oregon will very rarely be above the low 70s even during the summer, and southern California is much warmer and drier and 90s can happen really anytime of the year. Thats why they have sunset zones over there, at least we dont have that big of a problem by the east coast, but a palm in a zone 7 in northern alabama will do much better than a palm in a zone 7 by NYC, or any other zone 7s along the mid atlantic region.

Good to hear from you Islb.
It might be best to start at the bottom with a loop and then start wrapping,at least the leaves on Butia's are relatively soft.
How are your plants doing and whats still going outside?

I think it's a joke to compare z7 up north to z7 down south based on lows but I think most people already get that.
It's seems like there is always something about a different areas weather that is desirable.
In the case of Mich,(most years)I would love to have the higher low temps so I didn't have to heat the palms so much!
But on the other hand,we do get warm-ups earlier and warmer weather(usually)over the whole summer.(-:

That's right T7, I recall at least one winter that was a zone 9. It barely went under 20* if at all. Wasn't it preceded or followed by another mild winter as well. I even thought - wow a palm could have survived this mild winter. (I did not know about cold weather palms then-too bad)

Funny, when I was writing, I was thinking T7 has a keen interest in zones. I still have to post my backyard microclimates and looking forward your feedback.

Yeah Jim, each zone has it own ups and downs sort of speak. I know IO can have prolong warmth and early heat which I am sure you cash-in on :)