Post Freeze Impacts to Vegetation? (Houston, San Antonio: house, living, dangerous)

[txbullsfan]

My concern is my Bermuda grass. Usually by this time of year it's greening up. Now it looks shocked, brown and dormant or dead. The only thing thriving are the weeds. There are some green blades here and there coming through but it's sporadic and few.

Do I use my topical liquid Bermuda weed killer spray for active growing weeds all over my yard through my hose bottle attachment like I do every year (too many weeds to individually spray each weed)? Do I grainular weed and feed to apply the pre-emergent to prevent weeds from coming back in the future that I typically do this time of year or is it too early because of shocked, non feeding and growing plants? Only feed? Do I cut grass to remove what may be a dead top layer of grass or wait? If I cut, what length? Do I bag, when typically mulching puts clippings back into soil for nutrition? Etc.

I've heard and read so many conflicting things regarding frost / prolonged deep freeze, our winter storm and Bermuda grass and how to revive / Jumpstart it. I've called local landscaping companies here in SA and read multiple articles with conflicting information.

Some say water and weed and feed (granular) like normal. Some say don't use granular weed and feed right now but use the liquid. Some say mow 1 setting higher. Some say mow a few settings lower (not scalp though). Some say bag the dead clippings. Some say "just thatch and water".

I don't want to do anything detrimental to my yard so I have to re-sod my yard. I also want to be proactive and get it Jumpstarted and off on the right foot for the year.

It's unfortunate there is no reliable, consistent, reputable, non profit source of information regarding Bermuda grass / Vegetation, our local climate and the unprecedented winter storm we just had.

[trekwars2000]

Originally Posted by NBTX11

Y’all need to understand something about palm trees. They can recover from “being smoked”, “crown collapse”, “spear pull”, etc. It’a no guarantee but many of them do. The worst thing you can do is prematurely remove a palm that might recover.

A majority of the Washingtonia palms in Houston and probably San Antonio will probably recover, if given enough time (months). They just will. They’re resilient palms. Water and possibly fertilize them in the spring. Cut off obvious dead fronds if you must. Look for new green in a month or two, but it could be summer before they aggressively put out new fronds.

Washintonia palms survived -5 in El Paso in 2011. Not all but some. Some also survived -11 in Las Cruces New Mexico in 2011. Many with crown collapse. They are alive today.

Some will die, but that won’t be evident until summer. Some Washingtonia Robusta will recover. This is the tall thin palm. ALL Washingtonia Filifera will survive. They are already pushing green leaves. Those are the thicker trunked Washingtonias. ALL. Sabal palms will survive. Virtually all Canary Island Date Palms will survive in Houston and San Antonio but will take an entire year to recover. Maybe more. Most true date palms will recover (Phoenix Dactylifera). Windmill palms (Trachycarpus Fortunei) were hardly touched at all, completely fine.

From Austin north there will likely be massive palm death though, but I expect decent recovery in downtown SA and warm areas of Houston. Queen palms are toast though except in all but the warmest areas of Houston/Galveston. I expect most queen palms to die in San Antonio, they can’t really handle anything below 15-18.

We were in SPI this weekend and it is brown. Wow. Not sure how cold and for how long it got down there.

The Queen Palms there look toast. I'm not sure what it is, but there are big brown bushes everywhere now. Leaves look a little like Magnolia. Maybe Plumerias or Ixora? Brown everywhere down there. Its sad, wish we would have gotten to see it before. But it will recover.

[NBTX11]

Originally Posted by Azure110

My pride of barbados are dead for sure.

The palm trees (no idea what type they are) I have don't seem to be too fazed though but again they are pretty big with large trunks. I didn't plant them.

Sounds like you have Sabal Mexicana (Texas Sabal Palm) palm trees. These trees have thick trunks and virtually no damage. Could also be Washingtonia Filifera (California Fan Palm), however those have damage to them to a degree, but will recover as well.

[NBTX11]

Originally Posted by trekwars2000

We were in SPI this weekend and it is brown. Wow. Not sure how cold and for how long it got down there.

The Queen Palms there look toast. I'm not sure what it is, but there are big brown bushes everywhere now. Leaves look a little like Magnolia. Maybe Plumerias or Ixora? Brown everywhere down there. Its sad, wish we would have gotten to see it before. But it will recover.

SPI queen palm will recover fine. There are many recovering on Galveston and it was colder there.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by NBTX11

SPI queen palm will recover fine. There are many recovering on Galveston and it was colder there.

Thanks. I saw a YouTube video of someone from "The Urban Forester" damaging palms that look dead that would have clearly recovered. Someone needs to tell that guy to STOP!!!

If he drills into these, he is damaging palms that would have recovered. Palms cannot heal from cutting until their trunks - they are different from trees. Someone needs to tell that guy that. If he does that, the palms WILL DIE that would have been fine after a few months.

[Montirob]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Thanks. I saw a YouTube video of someone from "The Urban Forester" damaging palms that look dead that would have clearly recovered. Someone needs to tell that guy to STOP!!!

If he drills into these, he is damaging palms that would have recovered. Palms cannot heal from cutting until their trunks - they are different from trees. Someone needs to tell that guy that. If he does that, the palms WILL DIE that would have been fine after a few months.

I watched it... and was absolutely horrified! "Oh, there are just a few fronds standing stiffly... need to cut it down." Sad that he actually said he was not a palm expert!

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by Montirob

I watched it... and was absolutely horrified! "Oh, there are just a few fronds standing stiffly... need to cut it down." Sad that he actually said he was not a palm expert!

People need to post that he is wrong. That is a clear conflict of interest that they stand to profit by giving blatantly WRONG ADVICE!!!

[NBTX11]

I watched the video and this guy is completely and totally wrong. If there is any green whatsoever, let the palm be and heal itself. Even if you don't see green, let it be for a while and see if it recovers. This doesn't happen overnight. The palm is not going to fall over immediately.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by Montirob

It dropped to 9 degrees early Monday morning - only the 6th time, I believe, since 1899 (yes, 1899) that is has been in the single digits.

Wow! I heard on the radio while warming up in the car and charging my phone that Tuesday morning that it was -2F in Dallas at 9AM and went to +2F at 10AM. Haven't experienced single digit or below zero temperatures yet; can't imagine 9F after already borderline hypothermic at 14F.

Originally Posted by NBTX11

Queen palms are toast though except in all but the warmest areas of Houston/Galveston. I expect most queen palms to die in San Antonio, they can’t really handle anything below 15-18.

It registered 14F on my car thermometer that morning. When I got power back the next day, the TV weatherman confirmed that 14F temperature.

Palms are pretty much brown here in West Houston. But some have already had their trees clipped clean. Currently experiencing "autumn" with the live oaks shedding their leaves (normal this time of the year, but delayed 2 weeks due to the storm). Yuck!

[NBTX11]

The palms should not have been cut down yet. But hey, it's their trees and if they want to waste money cutting down a potentially live tree, it's their money. I have seen many palm trees come back from the "dead". Brown leaves does not equal dead. As long as the tree can produce new leaves from the trunk eventually, it can recover. If you don't see any green by mid summer, cut it down.