Question
Hello, my name is Greg. We live just east of I-75 in North Port, Florida. It was unusually cold last night and we did not cover the palms. As of today the foxtails (2) and the xmas palms(2)are brown. The pigmy dates (2) seem to be o.k. Should we water them? Should we cover them tonight or is it too late? Should we add fertilizer? Not sure what to do. Any help would be appreciated. We had them all planted in the summer of 2008 and they have been doing great.

Answer
Hi Greg, East of 75 got a freeze, west got a hard frost; a hard frost will do superficial damage to palms, but they normally recover after the damaged fronds are shed; new growth will emerge that is damage free and the palm will grow normally. A freeze is a differnt matter, if the freeze damaged the root ball, then the palm may or may not recover; there isn't anything you can do about it at this point but wait and hope mother nature cures your palms ills. If the root system is still viable and didn't succumb to the freeze, they should recover for you, for the freeze was just marginal and hopefully no terminal damage was done. Don't water, don't fertilize, just be patient and watch for new emerging fronds, this could take months, so I emphasize, "be patient",when and if you do see new growth, then you can commence proper irrigation and then in the spring, you can fertilize....tonights temps are not supposed to be as cold as last night, and I beleive you will see a frost at worse, so I would set out a couple of flood lights if you have them at the base of your palms, this will keep the ambient temperature around the palm high enough to prevent frost damage....I got my fingers crossed for you. Nick..(Port Charlotte)