Its mid 2008 and Hurricane season is once again a reality in our lives. No one who has lived here long will forget just how nasty a hurricane can be and I am sure that you will have a lot to concern yourself with, just as we do, when a storm is approaching. There are many steps that we can take to protect ourselves from the ravages of a major storm and there are also some simple steps that you can take to prepare your Date Palms. Prepare my palms? Is that worth doing? Won’t a Cat 3 hurricane destroy them no matter what I do? Well, how about, Yes, Yes and no, not necessarily.

The past few years and the storms they brought have taught us a few things about this material. One fact that has been firmly established is that your Date palms will usually survive even a major hurricane with a little preparation and then a measure of post storm care. Even where the terminal bud is shredded by the wind, if you follow a few simple instructions there is no reason why you need to cry over dead date palms. How do I know you ask? I have lived it and so did my date palms, that’s how.  

Case in point; Hurricane Wilma in October of 2005. That was a wild time here in Palm Beach County. Wilma glared down on us with the full force of her eye wall twice in a matter of an hour or two and Date Palms all over Palm Beach County took a pretty solid hit. In many cases, the terminal buds (the centermost fronds) were basically destroyed and hanging out the sides of the canopy. During the weeks after the storm, I surveyed many properties and hundreds of date palms and was told repeatedly that the “expert” the owner hired (prior to my arrival at the site) had told him that such an occurrence means that your Date Palms are dead. Talk about a recurring theme; I get so tired of saying “baloney” that I was ready to print it on a piece of paper and hand out copies. Never in my life have I seen so many overpriced “experts” pop out of the wood work dispensing pure BS in the hope of selling some one new material.

I am no PhD nor do I claim to be an all knowing plant guy but there is one topic that I am very comfortable with and that is the performance characteristics of Date Palms under a variety of cultural scenarios including catastrophic physical damage. In my experience & opinion, the odds of survival after a catastrophic hurricane far exceed the odds that your palms will die provided the palms were well established and healthy before the onset of the weather event and provided you do some real simple work.  

Here’s why;

The destruction of the terminal bud as a result of wind damage is purely structural in nature; it is not a systemic event and was not the result of any kind of internal functionality issue. This form of damage is external in nature and has not affected the palm’s ability to generate new growth nor its root system’s ability to support the growth process. As such, and assuming that your palm(s) were healthy and well rooted at the time of the event, the terminal bud can fully regenerate and the canopy completely reestablish. All that you need to do is to follow a simple protocol immediately after the weather event.   

1. Remove the damaged tissue as soon as possible (after the event) in order to avoid the establishment of disease that could then become create a systemic issue. What I am telling you to do is to cut off all of the damaged fronds including the terminal bud if it’s shredded. It’s a hard concept to wrap your mind around but it is true that you can cut off the entire terminal bud at the point where it emerges from the trunk and provided the palm was otherwise previously established & healthy, it will completely regenerate. Yes, it will take a while but 6 to 8 months later (and far more often than not), you will have a new evenly developing canopy so don’t be shy; if the tissue is damaged, cut it off. 
2. Once the damaged tissue is gone, perform a soil drench using Cleary’s 3336 combined with Subdue as a disease prevention measure and also spry the canopy or what’s left of it with Mancocide. Repeat these applications 30-40 days later. 
3. Lightly fertilize the palm with 15/5/15 w/minors (or similar). Go real light, say 1-2 pounds per palm and then repeat the app in four-five weeks.
4. Begin regular irrigation establishing a wet to dry, wet to dry cycle as soon as possible.
5. If your palms were surface inundated by salt water storm surge, turn on the irrigation for a period of approx 4 hours and thoroughly saturate the entire area with fresh water and then go back to your wet to dry cycle.

The bad news is that the tissue that is damaged is toast. The good news is that previously healthy, well established palms should recover fairly rapidly and you should begin to see evidence of that recovery soon after the storm. Your Date Palms are probably the toughest palms on your property so follow these directions and you may very well have the opportunity to enjoy them for years & years to come.

Please be sure that you clients are aware of the need for pre storm preparation work.
Now is the time to get that work done.

We wish you the best that good preparation and a little luck will bring you. Melissa, the troops and I will be here through thick & thin to stand next to you in all that we do together. Think ahead, act on your thoughts and above all be safe. Happy Hurricane Season 2008!