A few questions for you experienced Cape Coral residents (Christmas: house, price)

[st468]

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice!

I am pretty skilled with the care of palms believe it or not. Just looking for the easy fix for the Florida place though- palms that are already big and mature. I'd be standing out there when they are planting them sprinkling root hormone in the hole, etc... I do grow cold hardy palms in-ground here in MN (trachycarpus fortunei aka "wind mill palms") and cold hardy yuccas such as y. rostrata and y. thompsoniana. I also grow and winter in the ground cold hardy bananas (musa basjoo). They come back like perinnuals each spring and grow to about 10-12 feet. The palms do get some protection from about Thanksgiving through the first of March, the bananas rhizomes get mulched. My biggest palm is about 8 feet tall now with a 10" diameter trunk at the base, about 12 years old now. They are bullet-proof down to the single digits unprotected once mature. It all looks good around the pool here even though we only have about a 4-month pool season in MN.

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by Samiamnh

Thanks Fiege and Billy for the advice and you make some good points...gas ,tolls ,wear and tear are all something to think about.Two years ago I covered my boat and carefully "summerized" it. When we got back in November,a pepper tree branch had grown under the cover and caused the cover to be torn off......we found the boat full of water and leaves,a family of frogs,seats all stained with mildew......a serious mess that kind of turned me off to storing the boat.
Up north it costs almost $1,000 to store our boat at the marina for the winter.....money saved if we take the boat south.
Billy did you mean to say I could buy a boat for $1500 to $2000 every three years??......Not much of a boat for that money.

What are the odds of a tree growing up under a cover? I have actually seen some fairly decent CC's in the 17 foot range for around $2000, they may need a little tlc. $1000 is a lot of money to store a boat, I would probably tow it too in that case.

[rikoshaprl]

Originally Posted by wellsme

Hi,

Try to stay away from Christmas Palms, although beautiful they can't handle well the very brief cold spells that occur yearly. We lost six last year.
Good Luck

You are scaring me. I put in four small (6ft) Christmas palms. One has gone through two winters, three have gone through three winters. They are thriving so far...

[Billythepokerkid]

Originally Posted by rikoshaprl

You are scaring me. I put in four small (6ft) Christmas palms. One has gone through two winters, three have gone through three winters. They are thriving so far...

You are probably in the clear 3 years later.

[wellsme]

Originally Posted by rikoshaprl

You are scaring me. I put in four small (6ft) Christmas palms. One has gone through two winters, three have gone through three winters. They are thriving so far...

Sorry, I should have been a little more clear on our Christmas Palm experience. We planted our 10' trees in Nov. 2009 and they never had a chance to take before we had the cold spell the following Jan. which killed them. Also, we are not in CC much, so we are not able to care for them as we should (we now have a tree service). I have heard from others that the Christmas Palm is not as hardy as say a Foxtail or Phoenix.
As Billy stated after three years you should be in the clear, but be sure to fertilize them as required. Here's an informative site DISCUSSING PALM TREES WORLDWIDE - PalmTalk.
ST468, well, it looks like you could tell me one or two or three etc. things about growing palms. Good Luck.

[st468]

Xmas palms (adonidia merrillii) aka "dwarf royal palms" are beautiful little trees. They are marginal in zone 10a though. About as hardy as coconut palms. Under 35f they start bum out, under 30 they get leaf burn and/or can defoliate, 25f for any extended period will likely kill them. I have a couple growing in my living room in MN that I raised from seed. Great indoor palms for those outside of zone 10. The trick with the less hardy stuff is to plant in the spring so they have a whole summer to root in before any chances of cold.


Trachycarpus and y. thompsoniana (this yucca flowered and produced seed this year) in Minnesota zone 5a


Minnesota bananas (musa basjoo and dwarf orinoco)

[rikoshaprl]

I like the Christmas Palms because:
They drop their fronts without needing pruning.
The seeds turn red at Christmastime.
They are good near power lines because they don't get too tall.
They look like Royal Palms.

[Donna-501]

Originally Posted by rikoshaprl

You are scaring me. I put in four small (6ft) Christmas palms. One has gone through two winters, three have gone through three winters. They are thriving so far...

I have lost so many of those that I am not going to replant any. The cold kills them.

[Donna-501]

My first batch of Christmas palms lasted about 10 years and we got some cold weather for about 2 weeks and all 8 died. The second batch was about 6 years old. A few died a few years ago and then last year it did in some more, as of now I have 3 left.

[rikoshaprl]

I wonder if there is anything to protect them from a quick cold spell like when they spray orange groves with water before a freeze.