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Iowa Palm Trees
Unreal!
Robert Williams
- vp hotels
- Moline, Illinois, United States
- I am the VP of Hotel Operations for Heart of America Restaurants and Inns. I have worked for this company for over twenty years, and it is a dynamic, entrepreneurial company, with 17 restaurants and 11 hotels. We deliver memorable experiences for travelers who expect high quality, high value, and excellent customer service. We currently operate 12 franchises and original concepts in 10 metropolitan areas in 6 Midwestern states. We are a growing Midwestern (Family owned) hospitality company with 29 properties and 2500 employees.
4 comments:
They are not sufficiently protected! They will be doomed like. You should have dug them up while you could have OR you really need to amp up the protection. Windmills can survive with that kind of wrapping in zone 7 in southern Connecticut... but Iowa is A LOT colder than zone 7. More like zone 5 with persistent cold and biting, desiccating winds. The canopies of the trees ABSOLUTELY must be protected or else expect them to die. Wrap the trunks with additional layers of insulating material (on top of existing wrap and heating wires). Extend wires up through the canopy of the tree, tie leaves together well, wrap heavily and enclose the top very tightly. It may be ugly... but it will be better than hundreds of dead windmill palms by the New Year 2009! You guys absolutely have to take such measures NOW. Who supplied the palms anyway? The only palms I would even remotely consider planting in such a harsh climate are Needle palms. Good marketing, maybe? Bad investment... let's hope not, let's hope you heed the warning and not waste your thousands and thousands of dollars!!!
Awsome marketing plan. I am from Southern Ontario, Canada and you caught my attention. I was thinking about taking on the challenge of planting a couple of windmill plams. I'm in zone 7 so I think they could handle it if wrapped properly.
I would not say they are "DOOMED". Though they may need more heat. I would shoot to try and keep the whole palms around 33F. They certainly can withstand short periods of temps down in the single digits, but repeatedly, and for days on end.. maybe not. I also agree with wrapping the tops as mentioned in the other comments to your other post below this one on the main page, however I disagree with wrapping too tightly. That can also kill them. I know, because I have seen one killed by it being wrapped too tightly. Its gotta be able to allow moisture to evaporate some out of the crown.
Also, protection from the wind is a must. getting some air around the crown is totally different than subjecting them to biting cold/ dry north winds of winter. The protection ISNt just to keep the leaves from shredding either.
I hope this works out for you. Im keeping my fingers crossed. LOTS of people are. I still think its kind of crazy that you spent so much money on such an "iffy" project. I wold have started out with two or three first, but thats just me. There are other people who do palms in Iowa though, and get them to survive just fine, although they use EXTENSIVE protection methods, right down to creating green houses around each palm, that are heated.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Im excited to see the palms, Good Luck with them. You should know that wet burlap is the same as a wet trunk , no protection at all. The burlap must be covered also.
The spears are in danger . They should be wrapped with a towel and covered with a plastic removable bag. The bag and rag should be removed on clear and moisture free days above 32* and exchanged for a fresh towel and bag before the next night or moisture event...rain or snow.
This keeps moisture from causing fungal disease , a condition that will kill the palm.
The fronds will die if they are not kept above freezing 50% of the time. The palm can regrow new fronds in the spring and summer but it will eventually die if the fronds are lost for several years in a row.
Perhaps Dr. John from Colorado, a well known Botanist and fellow palm grower from the Rockies will see your exhibit and offer advice on keeping the molecular cells in the fronds established correctly. Good Luck and thanks for sharing this blog with others. It is being observed my hundreds of palm growing hobbyist across the country from Canada to Florida.
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