Its a good think you didnt have to go out in that weather! At least your palms are nice and warm in their enclosures, I bet you didnt think you would get this type of winter weather so soon after the mild fall most of us had.
Good luck!

I forgot to mention, it POURED this moring here. You cold barely see where you were going and alot of leaves and tree branchs fell off the tree (some of the trees are still holding onto there leaves). And an umbrella was of no use because of the strength of the wind. Some grassy areas are baically ponds after this morning, but it still doesnt amount to the tpe of weather you guys got in the mid west!

All my palms were covered from the 2 inches of rain we recieved. Right now its nice and warm outside, but tommorrow will stay in the 30s during the day, and 20s at night :(

Yea T7
After Oct-Nov with no temps below 30(F)
This is the big welcome back to winter,like it or not!
Now we are lucky if we make it back to 30 now!

Jim-

Glad your enclosures held up. It looks like I was right about the storm tracking more north. I hate that heavy wet stuff, at least you didn't get a foot of that! We ended up with about 8.5 inches here in Burnsville. Looks like dln949 was the one who hit the jackpot this time with over a foot. Here and in Rochester luckily it is the very light powder as it stayed very cold throughout the storm.

And now for the cold behind it... Your signature shows it is currently +1F there in your town. In my back yard it is -2.4F currently! Lowest of the season here so far. I just watched my thermo cube extra heat peak out before cutting off. It hit 53.5F before shutting off, then it slowly goes back down to 35 or so before coming back on. That means I have AT LEAST 56F above outside temp capability with my setup, including my always-on 14 watts of ground heat. It's fun to watch, I'm actually hoping we hit -15 or -20F sometime this winter just so I can see how good this thing really is.

Dln949-

Thanks for posting your update and pictures. Also thanks again for the ideas on the enclosure, you know I used a version of yours. Mine is a bit bigger (wider) but otherwise quite similar. I think my math is correct in figuring I use about 180 watts of power when it is all-on. Besides my 14 watts of always-on ground heat, I have the two strings of xmas lights (one c7 and one c9) and a 15 watt CFL fixture on the thermo cube. I really need to find the time to figure out how to post pictures directly to these forums, I have tons of pics I've taken along the way.

Well, let's see.....

At 6.6 cents per kWh, and assuming that on average at any one time you have a load of 77 watts, and if there are 720 hours in a month, your average monthly cost should be about $3.66. Nov - March that will cost you $18.30.

dln949

Thanks. It was good to see some pics.

The dynamics of sheltering a palm in zone 5 are certainly being highlighted as its best to be prepapred for the worst. Surely this storm arrived a month early.

I won't complain about our 25F tonight after reading your stories.

Great way to look at it dln949. Less than 20 bucks per season to have a nice mature palm tree growing right here in Minnesota! Only drawback is I can't stare at it growing in my back yard for about 90 days...

Good info guys,heres some more-

Low last night (my house) -2(F) official low 0(F)
G-house(cactus etc)unheated and covered with 1/2' TO 1" SNOW/ICE 12(F) this was as cold as it got in there last year.
G-house umbrellas covered with 3" of snow 15 and 17(F) unheated
Styrofoam containers unheated 7(F) this may be a problem since they are on the same heat circuit as the small um-g-houses which are more efficient as snow covers them completely.
Snow cover kept me from needing to heat last night as temps stayed marginally acceptable to leave heat off in all but the styrofoam containers.
Washy and Butia stayed around 50(F)
I got about 50(F)out of my umbrella g-house,with a tarp and layer of thin plastic over it-approx 35 c-9 lights inside.
I will be glad to hook my thermo cube up when it gets here so I am not heating it so much!
Wish I could have sprayed this stuff with freeze-pruf before this event,it will probably arrive today.(-;

Wow, your already looking at a zone 6b winter and winter didnt officially start yet!

Tonight's going to be in the low 20's here, Im prepared to put x-mas lights on my palms, but Im not sure if its worth it. Any help would be appreciated!

I still have not been able to figure out how to post pictures directly to this forum. I posted a link here to some pictures of my outdoor palms throughout the summer and fall, and how I protected my largest Trachy, for those who might be interested. I covered the inground trachy earlier this year than I probably would have to in future seasons. It was planted in 4/09 FYI. The light colored tarp (boat cover) is tied over the trachy enclosure and over the leaf bags now. The silver insulation is not exposed and visible now that the enclosure is complete. I just covered the needle palm (3 1/2') a few days before the snowstorm. Trash can over it with a ropelight inside for a little heat right on the dirt, under the mulch, and around the trunk. I hope the link works...

Here is a link that might be useful: MN Palm's pictures

mnpalms, that's a healthy looking beast you have growing in your backyard. I like the way you have it arranged, it looks nice.

What did you use to wrap the fronds of the trachy when you set up the enclosure? I used some thick, soft rope, but that was kind of hard to work with, something like a strap would have been better, I think.

So here's how you can embed an image: For each of your photos on photobucket, there should be an option that says "Share". Under that, select "More Options". Then, select "Get Link Code". (I know, this is already starting to sound like an act of Congress.) Then, under "IMG for Bulletin Boards and Forums", choose the one that starts with IMG for the full photo size. Copy the code for that. Then, in your GardenWeb posting, paste that code, but strip out the [IMG] and [/IMG] parts, keeping just the http code. Then, you type some internet gobbly-de-gook around it so the whole thing ends up looking like this, but all of it enclosed within : img src=http://url, where http://url is the remaining code you copied from Photobucket. You'll know it is correct if you look at your GardenWeb posting in preview mode and you see your photo embedded in the message in place of the img src=http://url stuff.

Finally - yes, $18.30 is cheap. But, that's just for the electricity. Let's not forget the cost of supplies. And - and, take our hourly wage times the number of hours we spend on this site, monitoring what others are up to, trolling for good ideas, dreaming about other plants we could try to push the envelope with, inventing better protection methods for next winter; And - the intangibles, such as the expense of convincing your wife that the palm tree is *not* taking over your life (sorry, I'm sexist, I just have this sixth sense that everyone, or nearly everyone, who posts on here is a guy). Quite a hobby.

dln949

Mnpalms
click on the html code,it should say copied,if it doesn't copy it.
Paste it here,like so

Maybe it wasnt at that temp for too long. As long as its established it has a chance of survival. Hope it makes if for you, ad even if it doesnt you have lots of other amazing plants. It is about 30F out here as of now, but my pindo palm is seeing 50.2F inside its protection right now, and thats with 35 mph wind gusts. It looks like the protection I used will keep my plants about 15-20 degrees warmer then the actual outside temp, so if it goes down to 5F this winter the lowest temp. for my palms will be about 15-20F and probably higher if its not windy. Im happy that the protection is working, since this is my first year using it.
Good luck to everyone out there, hope everything makes it through. I dont know how you guys manage to protect your palms so well, but they all look ready.
This storm was definately a learning experience, and if your palms can survive this, they shouldnt have much of a problem with anything that hits (execpt for record cold, but let's not think about that!) Something tells me that at some point in the winter we are going to get a really nasty snow storm by the coast too.

Thanks for the info guys, also thanks for posting the pics Jim. I'm going to try a practice/test picture posting in this thread shortly.

Dln949- In your last paragraph you are so right! I do all the plants and landscaping, my wife doesn't have any interest in it. She likes how the palm looks, but is not too happy about all the time and energy I put into all the plants. I try not to think about the money tied up in all of it... Throughout the summer there would occasionally be a new pot along the other side of the pool. Eventually she would notice, roll her eyes! By the end of the summer the whole 38 feet of the back side of the pool was potted palms and banana pups in pots growing out of control!

It was a back-breaking task to move all the potted plants into the 3-season porch (which they FILLED). Then more recently move everything to my store where they will spend the winter. Now it looks like a jungle in there! I'm starting to worry about my biggest basjoo though. It is pushing 12 feet (14 feet in pot). Putting out 6-foot leaves. I might run out of ceiling before the winter is over. Its pups are growing big and fast also. I lived and learned the spider mite issue with the basjoos. I think I have it under control now and might just end up not losing a single one. Only a 4-footer is quetionable as to making it and looks sad. I caught the rest of them in time. One small trachy got the mites also but I nuked them with that Volck Oil spray and I think it took care of it. Trachy didn't look bad, it just had a bunch of the webs from the mites under many of the leaves.

I have a Monrovia trachy in a pot which was about 4' when I got it last spring. It seems Monrovia trachys grow like weeds because of the fungus they use. The thing is 5-feet now and has about doubled its trunk size. I hardened it off well in the fall and it took plenty of snow and 20s lows. I'm thinking that by spring I might just have a second inground trachy in my yard...

Dln949- the outdoor trachy is tied up with two tiedown straps which are about an inch wide. You know, those things that automatically grip and stay tight when you pull the other end of the strap through the buckle. I found it to be an excellent and easy way to get the fronds under control, especially when you don't have the use of a second set of hands. Actually I did the whole palm protection setup without any help from anyone!

Jim- How big was the trachy that saw below zero temps? Should be a good experiment, I hope it pulls through. Are you going to be heating it from now on?

Test picture posting... August 2009 shot.

Ok that was fun. I'll do it one more time, thanks again guys for the tips on how to post pics here!

Snow trachy and needle, late October 2009. Coldest October we ever had, colder than the entire month of November. These trees saw several 1-2" snows and lows in the 20s in October.

Nice pics by the pool. This is just a guess, the palm by the pool probably appears to have suffered more from cold winds than just plain Oct. cold. Your Monrovia trachy in a pot which was about 4' would look great planted around the pool.

TZ and Jimhardy, I have a temp recording device and it appears we touched 19F last night. I placed a light bulb in my tracky enclosure. It was still only 21 at 10am:( The entire country is below nornmal because of Jimhardy's storm.

Even the deep south went cold - check out these highs -
New Orleans LA 49, Atlanta 45, Jacksonville FL 54, Las Vegas 49!!!

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to say what great pictures you all have taken!!!

dln949...Your covered palm looks like a snowman!!! All you have to do is put on some eyes and a carrot nose!!! Voila!!!

Jim...stay warm...You too Don!!!

Have a great Day everyone!!!

VB is having cold temps today...icy patches in my backyard for the first time this winter...Brrrr....

Laura in VB

T7
You should be good with that level of protection,you can always throw a tarp and some plastic over it,that will add another 10(F) at least.This is what I did with my Washys cover and it now gets a 50(F) total bump in temp.The Washy stayed 52(F) when we hit -2(F) Thursday morning.....SO, I am going to stay with this protection for it all winter,it's nice cuz I can keep an eye on it and take the tarp off for more sun when the weather allows.To bad for the Trachy though( the one that saw -2)this was supposed to be it's home. )-:
This Trachy has seen more time below freezing(at least) in the last week or so than above!

"TZ and Jimhardy, I have a temp recording device and it appears we touched 19F last night. I placed a light bulb in my tracky enclosure. It was still only 21 at 10am:( The entire country is below nornmal because of Jimhardy's storm.

Even the deep south went cold - check out these highs -
New Orleans LA 49, Atlanta 45, Jacksonville FL 54, Las Vegas 49!!!"

My storm (-; hahaha
I have no sympathy for the south when its below zero here 45-55(F) sounds pretty dang good!(-;

Heres what the Washy is in + a tarp & another layer of plastic now

MNPALMS-THE TRACHY THAT SAW -2 IS THE ONE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIRE ARCH,RIGHT UNDER THE BIG TREE TRUNK-BEST PIC I COULD FIND-
THE REASON I DIDN'T HEAT IS THAT IT WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT NEEDED IT AND I DIDN'T PUT A SENSOR IN WITH IT UNTIL AFTER THE -2 EVENT-EVERYTHING ELSE WAS COVERED IN 1-3" SNOW AND STAYED 15(F)(CACTUS HOUSE)TO 20(F) WARMER >SMALLER COVERS

Went into the cactus/palm g-house on a hunch today.
Both Tesan have spear pull and the same wagxfort that pulled last year.The wagxfort did recover quickly in spring with a total of 6 new leaves.Oddly the Cordyline australis,C.Cerifera and Trithrinax Campestris(Blue needle palm) are fine at this time.
Sometimes the damage doesn't make a lot of sense.
I won't be able to check some other stuff until some of the snow melts as it is providing some insulation still.
Another palm that had spear pull and total defoliation and did completely recover with 8 new leaves-is the Naini Tal.
I will be a little sad if this one is damaged again.
The trick now is to see if they continue to lose leaves from the center out,if they do not(or at least not to quickly)they usually make a full recovery-in spring(-:

well jim Im sure everything will, do fine again next year

Hi
Well I want to complain for the opposite reason. The storm that passed through the deep south pulled up a tropical front. Set at least 8 record highs in Dec. Worse the night lows are in the 70's No strawberries for me !!
What is there about gardeners that makes them want to grow something WAY out of the climate zone??lol
gary

I know what it is for me-see above^

May as well bump this topic back up...

Jim and dln949:

Looks like all of us are in for round two of the snow! East coast got hammered last week, we look to be in for another one like we had a few weeks ago here now. Just in time for Xmas. It's still a bit early to forecast the exact track but it looks to hit the heaviest yet again in dln949's backyard! So far we are hearing 6+" here in the Twin Cities, likely more...

I just read(from this morning)in the forecasters discussion on weatherundergroud that somewhere in that area will see blizzard conditions and 1-2' of snow

Hi mnpalms.

I don't know - the forecast over at Weather Underground right now says 3-4" here on Wednesday night, and "significant snowfall" on Thursday. Whatever that means. Meanwhile, the forecast for Minneapolis says a storm total of 16-20". Ouch.

dln949

Well now it looks like we will get the worst of it up here in the twin cities. Jim down in S. Iowa might get away with rain! Rochester looks to be a little tricky with freezing rain at times but surely some snow too. The more north you get.... Our forecast is at about 30 degrees or so through this event so it will be the heavy stuff! Good foot+ of powder up north which is what I've been wanting for weeks though.

Temps are going to get up to 50 here which is pretty good. It would probaly get much higher, but the snow cools the air down a little since it is extremely widespread. Another problem is this next storm might melt most of the snow which means lots of flooding. At least all our precipitation should fall as rain. Hope you guys in the midwest dont get it too bad (this is the 2nd time for some of you).

Yea,I have heard 1-2" of rain here(at least it's not freezing rain!)which should melt all the snow,hopefully.
This would be nice cuz without the snow on the ground the temps would be 10(F) warmer on sunny days.Yeaaaaaaa!

I dont mind some snow, but I cant wait to see some grass again! And like you said it really warms temps up when the snow is gone (even is the snow cover does protect plants a little). I sure hope freezing rain doesnt fall here (so far none in the forecast, yay) that would cause a real mess and if you havent shoveled and freezing rain covers the snow, there is no way thats going to be shoveled easily anymore! This storm is really pulling up a lot of warm air.

Good luck!

Still have big time accumulations here from the last storm that really hugged the coast--much less just north or west of here. Now, just read that we have another once in 25 year storm building in the West and headed east. Coastal areas SHOULD be safe from icing but there is going to be a BIG plume of heavy rain and severe weather moving out of the Gulf.Hopefully, all the cold air currently locked in will move out of town before this gets here because there could be a MAJOR ice storm on the way--especially for Midwest and interior New England. Another issue of local concern is having 3 plus inches of rain on top of the mountains of snow--expect flooding to be the biggest concern this time around. My trachys look pretty good so far considering the recent dumping (no snow weight damage)--fortunately they handle cold and WET quite well for a palm--about as amazing as their tolerance to absolute minimum temperature cold conditions. Were are those umbrellas now?!

So true how snow cover keeps temps down. The white reflects the sun's energy also. Even when it is still cool, if you have some brown spots it is amazing how fast the snow disappears. Funny how that works. Something to brighten the spirits, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Just think, as of recently the DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER AGAIN!

The latest update says Jim down in Iowa might just get out of this one. Southern MN will see the freezing rain and snow mix (yuck). Where I am in the cities, right on that line, we are still looking at 6-12". From just north of the cities through north central MN where our lake place is looks to get the 12-20" (YAY!). Good luck guys, keep us posted here as to what you end up getting. I'll do the same. They are saying this one could be an Xmas week "recordbreaker"...

What with all these consecutive once in a lifetime storms, I'm beginning to feel like Shirley McClaine. Happy holidays!

This is only December too!
This is normally an uneventful month but with the cold entrenched and El Nino moisture battling in from the west and southwest we are in for a WILD ride!
The morning report said some of the models are trending more east now,which means we may well get into the snow here yet.
Will see,that may change on the next model runs.One thing this storm does not lack is moisture!
I also saw they said the next storms after this will bring in more snow!Get ready for a WILD RIDE!
Should be fun,if we make it through(-:

There are tons of records being broken (too bad they arent record highs or something) I still cant believe the amt. of snow that is in my area this time of the year. Every once in a while a big snowstorm comes, but I havent seen any this bad in december, and the days are much colder than they should be too. Our coldest month average wise is January, but I think because of the ocean influence febuary is the coldest month (its when we get our lowest temps, and the biggest snow). Thats probably because the water is at its coldest in late winter. So this winter is really just getting started!

Good luck and merry christmas everyone!

Thanks for the update Jim. WHen I see Iowa on the weather map I think of your palms. They forecast half of your state getting hit hard.

Our snow in the new york city melted down fast - about 6" left on the rare grassy spots and streets are over salted and clear. The long range says rain here and cool temps. So far no brutal outbreaks which is good news. Dec could be worse here. Sure we had rare snow, but temps were doable.

The only concern was that at one point we went to 21* (for a few hours)in the blizzard which is rare for our costal city to drop so low in a storm, especially in december when the ocean is still 50ish! Temps usually hover 25 - 34* in our snowstorms due to marine influences.

You listening to me is like when I hear VB is 27* and I can't even imagine that as bad weather compared to our icy 50 mph wind dropping temps to teens and worse.

Well as of 6:00 AM Xmas eve day here in the SE corner of the twin cities we have about 7 inches of new snow as far as I can measure. We are now in the lull between waves of the storm. Looks like southern MN got it pretty good also. Dln949??

This is supposed to be about half or less of the total we will end up with by the time this thing is done! So far the "El Nino" prediction is holding true here so far (more snow, not as cold).

Global warming? Or what they have now had to change to calling "climate change" because they got busted using false data? I wish global warming was true and not just a political tool!

This is strange its snowing to the east and snowing to the west and raining here. The rain froze last night and this moring the trees looked amazing with small icicles all over them. forcast is for rain next day or two.

Storm is now pulling out of the Arklatex region right now,supposed to really wind up before it occludes and slows down.They are now saying 6+ here.We'll just have to wait and see where this thing goes but somebodies getting dumped on for sure!

It looks like we got about 4" overnight - but then it has been raining all day, so it seems about 1" melted away. What I hear is that we'll get another 6" overnight tonight.

(Everyone in the living room thinks I just went to the bathroom, they don't know I slipped away to check out the Gardenweb.)

dln949

Now were back to all rain,hahaha
Fine by me,we'll see(-;

This is the first christmas ever where theres a flood watch until 2am lol. Rain a nice change

All the snows melted here,at least for sure on the south side.
How long do you think that's gonna last?(-;

We still have snow here :( At least it will be a white Christmas (actually more of a slushy rainy christmas). Worst part of it melting is the black ice that forms every night. Thats an accident waiting to happen!

Good luck (and it looks like the next big storm is on New years so the answer to your question is the snow will be here soon again!)

Today featured gale force winds and rain. The recent deep snows have all but melted away. Expect an arctic front to come in early Tuesday--only around 29 F/min 17F., then slightly milder (40F), already see coming attractions for yet another coaster storm next weekend. Batten down the hatches!! What a winter! Spent the day on the Internet ordering more palms!

Too bad people cant migrate like herds of animals! I saw a weather channel story on the brutal Iowa cold. Could be worse- I saw a young lady on the Today show who's from Minnesota say she once was outdoors in -60F cold. The nose and lungs feel like they are burning she said.
You feel better now?-lol.

Well our snowless landscape lasted about 20hrs
Got about 4-5" of the fluffiest snow you'll ever see,you can actually see the individual little snow flakes.Easier to move then the last snow,a broom does the trick.
Looks like the atmosphere reloads middle and end of the coming week.

Most of the snow melted here too (except for a scattered pile or 2 in the front yard) it should all melt by tomorrow. Today was very very windy. Im surprised there werent any wind warnings out because they were gusting probably in the 50 mph range (not too much damage around, but things were thrown a little). More snow possible next week, by then I hope to bring in my potted pindo palm.

Good luck!

We ended up with a solid foot here in my neck of the woods. The final stages of the storm brought rain and very wet snow with temps in the upper 30s. Would have been a lot more snow if it didn't stay so warm...

Got 20+" up north just like I was hoping though! Perfect for snowmobiling.

How did you guys down in Rochester do in this storm dln949?

I think I heard that the official total here in Rochester was 5". Not nearly what was predicted, but we did get a lot of rain - I don't know how much - probably a lot more than was anticipated.

dln949