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Re: See, It's Like This...

Message from Jim Wilmington DE 7a

> I would like to see a year where no protection is required! <

In my region, 2002 was such a winter. The low that year here was 19F. Another great winter was 2012. Very little snow. Mild conditions throughout.

That winter, my palms were unblemished.

In 2002, I didn't have any in-ground, but I assume that if I had, they'd have been happy. A near 9a winter!

Think how much better off our plants would be if we KNEW ahead of time how the entire winter was going to play out. How cold? How long? How windy? How snowy? It'd be a great tool if we knew in November the answers to all of that.

Imagine if we knew in November that the winter low was going to be 20F. Hell! I wouldn't protect ANYTHING! 20F isn't even worth throwing leaf rakings on palms.

On the other hand, if we knew it was going to be a very rough winter, we could take extra measures to protect our plants. I don't provide extra heat, but if I knew in November that on January 15th it was going to go down to -5F and the high would be 8F, I think I'd be ready with a strategy to address that.

Speaking for myself, my protection methods are designed with a "typical" northern Delaware winter in mind. Not a very mild or harsh winter. That means a winter with a reasonable expectation of 2 or 3 nights in mid to upper single digits, 2 or 3 high wind events, and about 2 feet of snow.


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