Enjoy EP--I've got a question (Rio Rancho, Hope: work, house, weather)

[desert sun]

I planted a few windmills and california fans in the spring, I want to know if I should tie the fronds up and wrap in burlap and keep them this way all through winter, is this a good idea? or should I only do on nights below freezing, what would you do in my situation.They are all 5 gallon palms. Thanks for any info.

[EnjoyEP]

Originally Posted by desert sun

I planted a few windmills and california fans in the spring, I want to know if I should tie the fronds up and wrap in burlap and keep them this way all through winter, is this a good idea? or should I only do on nights below freezing, what would you do in my situation.They are all 5 gallon palms. Thanks for any info.

Here is my thought -

I would tie all of the frond up tightly together (in a "spear" like direction pointing "up" towards the sky) and leave 'em like that all winter. I learned that trick from numerous stays in El Paso where palm trees are far more commonly planted than in ABQ due to a slightly warmer climate. Even in El Paso's palm-conducive climate, they still do this commonly in the wintertime.

The thing is, the fronds are not going to continue growing in the wintertime anyway. In fact, with 5-gallon sizes only, most will probably die off, and that is fine. What you are looking for is to protect that very precious middle spear area where the new frond growth comes from...that is the area that keeps a palm living or can kill a palm if it freezes...you want to protect this area.

Looking at ABQ's current weather, with daytimes still getting into the 80s and high 70s (and night lows in the high 40s and low 50s), I probably wouldn't do the frond tie-up yet (although not being there...regrettably...currently, I cannot say for sure, you'd have to determine what the weather has been like at your house). I would probably wait for the frond tie-up until days were more in the 60s range and nights were falling below 42 or 41 degrees.

As for the burlap around the trunk, IF you do not mind doing that every night, that would be ideal. That would allow the trunk to soak up needed sunshine year-round and breathe. However, that can get real old - doing that late October though early April - most nights. So, if you get to a point where it is consistently below 42 degrees (palms you should not wait until 32 degrees), you can just tightly and warmly wrap that trunk, and then tightly wrap around the burlap some waterproof type plastics to keep all moisture out.

Hopefully this all works out for you...if they survive a winter or two, they'll grow like gangbusters and you'll not have to "winter protect" as much in the future.

[desert sun]

thanks for all the info, I really appreciate it,its hard to find someone who knows how to protect palms in the winter here,I sometimes go into the gardenweb forums but I seem to be the only New Mexico resident on there most of the time so its hard to find good info for my climate.just a couple more questions.
1st question-
my windmills have fronds still pushing up, and im sure they will still be pushing up around the first weeks of november,if I tie them up around this time will the new fronds stop pushing or will they try their best to fan out.

2nd question-
if the nights are expected to be in the 30's range for several weeks or months-lets say from mid Nov. to Feb. is it safe to burlap and plastic wrap it and leave it that way for those couple of months. Is it alright keeping it like this in the daytime sun.

again thanks for taking the time to get me all set for my palm protection, Im actually located by the arena in norther Rio Rancho so Im not sure if its colder than Albq.