Dallas Weather

[JasonDFW]

Speaking of soil, I had to replace my Queen palm at the beginning of the year because of the rock hard clay in my area (Katy). It simply would not take root on the North side of the tree, and that was staking and restaking for almost two years. I fertilized properly and the tree grew about 5 feet in that time but as I said would not take root on the North side.

I replaced the Queen with a Pindo palm and it has taken to the soil very well. It's growth rate has been a lot slower however which is somewhat bothersome.

It's my understanding that the Pindo is hardy to 15 degrees, is this true? Any advice would be appreciated.

One thing you might want to try for the clay soil is to amend it with expanded shale. It seems to really work in the clay areas in Dallas and is strongly recommended by one of the local experts on palms. Many people recommend it over any other clay soil treatment for palms.

Pindo palms are way more cold hardy than Queens, and yes 15

[tcole]

Well when I said "towering monsters" I meant to put more emphasis on the monstrous part, specifically the proportions of the canariensis over most everything else. Of course the real "towering" palm of SoCal would be the robustas, but without the giant crown and thick trunk. I do see a lot of dactylifera in SoCal though, I guess they do or used to do a lot of production in the deserts east of there.

I know the robustas and filibustas seem to do very well in the Houston area. The thing I meant about the weather was the high wetness that seems to take the extreme colors out of the blue hespers and seems to chip away at the filifera trunks a bit with age. It seems as though blue hespers there even grown in sand don't have the blinding colors of drier climates.

You seem to know a lot about palms in the area. Do you happen to know much about the big 83/89 freezes and their effects on the different species in Houston or perhaps the coastal area? Something like, "most of the bismarkias were killed, but most of the blue hespers survived." Just making that up as an example. I wasn't around then and am always trying to get info on that.

Jason

89 was cold in short concentrated bursts over about three to four nights in December. As a result, that damage was negligable along the coastal areas/s.texas with regard to palms. 83, different story altogether, but Houston plants seem to not have suffered as greatly as those even farther down the coast. One explanation may be radiant heat in the city but certainly the plants benefited from being "wetter", not as stressed. South Texas was pretty dry that year going into that freeze/frost and the palms would already be somewhat stressed. Also, a number of those that died were of weaker genetic strains.

As to radiant heat, as Houston continues to grow and infill, you are starting to see more cold intoleratnt specimens planted and surviving. Houston's official temp measurements are from Bush, which on some winter nights can vary as much as ten degrees from inner loop neighborhoods. I have even noticed a 2 to 3 degree difference bewteen River Oaks and Montrose due to RO's canopy and lack of heat absorbent surfaces. It sort of reminds me of how you will find citrus gardens and even dwarf phoenix specimens in London in spite of its latitude and cold suseptability; the central city stays warm even when the "official" measurements show otherwise.

[Guest danax]

Pindo palms are way more cold hardy than Queens, and yes 15

[JasonDFW]

JASON, it appears you will be happy re: today's weather. Big D gets some rain and low temps from mother nature. We got a few clouds, but the heat index is up there and it is sticky. Sigh. August. Hurry up October.

I wasn't that happy with yesterday's weather despite the fact that the temperature never broke 82

[Gary]

One thing you might want to try for the clay soil is to amend it with expanded shale. It seems to really work in the clay areas in Dallas and is strongly recommended by one of the local experts on palms. Many people recommend it over any other clay soil treatment for palms.

Pindo palms are way more cold hardy than Queens, and yes 15

[tamtagon]

you mention the smooth holes as I did exactly that with my Queen.

[dalparadise]

I wasn't that happy with yesterday's weather despite the fact that the temperature never broke 82

[JasonDFW]

Jason, forgive my ignorance but what is "expanded shale"? Would this be a form of Gypsum? I did fill the hole with an enriched palm soil but am not sure if this was in the mixture.

It's also funny that you mention the smooth holes as I did exactly that with my Queen. When planting the Pindo I worked the soil over pretty well, so hopefully that will suffice.

Here's an link for the expanded shale, which I believe is a bit different than gypsum:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extensi.../Expdshale.html

I'd never heard of it before this year, but it seems to be commonly stocked at the nicer garden outlets. I had to dig up a tree several weeks ago that I planted too close to the house this spring, and despite it drying out from the exceptional drought, the clay was still fairly loose.

Jason

[westguy]

I moved to Houston during it's hottest summer ever. I lived in Dallas my whole life before that, and that summer was particularly dry. I never really noticed the climate difference, because, according to my body, hot is just hot. It is green here - especially during summer when everything in DFW is burnt.

[houstonfella]

Thank goodness for this "cold" front Anyhow, low humidity and lower temps are so welcomed in the Lone Star in August. Ed Brandon (sniff sniff .... my bad) says Labor Day probably will be the best Labor Day weekend we have had in years. Happy Labor Day to all HAIFers. Texas Proud

[The Great Hizzy!]

Goregeous morning. Even at 11:00 AM, it felt like a fall afternoon. Almost no humidity. The heat index felt like it was maybe 80 degrees.

Of course, September starts tomorrow so we're basically home free anyway, give another week or so.

Thank goodness, too. Although it's been a "mild" summer for Houston standards, it's still been good and hot compared to the other 8 months of the year.

[houstonfella]

Goregeous morning. Even at 11:00 AM, it felt like a fall afternoon. Almost no humidity. The heat index felt like it was maybe 80 degrees.

Of course, September starts tomorrow so we're basically home free anyway, give another week or so.

Thank goodness, too. Although it's been a "mild" summer for Houston standards, it's still been good and hot compared to the other 8 months of the year.

And we will have months and months and months of Sprall!!!!! Kim HAIFER defined this season for me. I called it Falling. But Sprall fits. No winter, just Sprall.

[KimberlySayWhat]

I like early March sprall the best.

[Gary]

Here's an link for the expanded shale, which I believe is a bit different than gypsum:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extensi.../Expdshale.html

I'd never heard of it before this year, but it seems to be commonly stocked at the nicer garden outlets. I had to dig up a tree several weeks ago that I planted too close to the house this spring, and despite it drying out from the exceptional drought, the clay was still fairly loose.

Jason

Thanks for the info Jason, I'll check it out.

[940]

I moved to Houston during it's hottest summer ever. I lived in Dallas my whole life before that, and that summer was particularly dry. I never really noticed the climate difference, because, according to my body, hot is just hot. It is green here - especially during summer when everything in DFW is burnt.

I live in the DFW area (2nd time in 20 years) and I'm not going to lie..this summer has been awful...very similar to the one back in 2000 that broke me in again after moving back down from NYC...dry heat or not...lol! If you don't have a sprinkler system, then you're dealing with a crispy brown landscape everywhere. We've had 43 days of over 100 this summer..that's not usual, considering a couple of years ago, we had two different summers where the temp only hit 100 once each time. It's hit or miss..and unfortunately, we got delicate flower slapped this summer. They are comparing it to the summer of 98 (which was even hotter) that dalparadise mentioned. My relatives in Houston would tell me how green it was there this summer and how much rain they received and I was green with envy. I wish it wasn't like Phoenix sometimes up here during the summer...but at least it's not every year like that as it is in Phoenix.

You know it's a bad summer when they tell you plenty of times on the news that you should have soaker hoses surrounding the foundation of your home b/c the clay soil could shift thus causing the foundation to do so also.

The tide is turning though, Thank God...and a bit early this year too. The temp is sitting at 78 now which I think has been the high today. Rain all around...60% chance tonight...50% tomorrow..lows between 60-65 most of the week depending on exactly where you live in the metro. Hopefully this will stay for a while until the first blue norther rolls through. Must admit that this area's weather is full of extremes, especially the last few years that I've been back to Texas. Threats of tornados scaring the crap out of me in April/May...a cold winter low of 7 a few years back at my home in a northern suburb..wtf?!!...snow and or ice every year I've been back at my home too..113 degrees one September back in 2000 a few months after a tornado caused havoc on downtown Ft Worth...drought conditions this year with area lakes very low...too much rain two years ago with area lakes flooding and the summer being green the entire time....it's definitely feast or famine up here.

[Trae]

I posted this on the old board, but it seems worth repeating now. Highlights from my first year (1998) in Dallas. I know it was an unusual year, but it happened:

-I arrived in July to 110 AIR temperature (as reported by the evening news. Heat index was a reported 120)

-Spontaneous brush fires at multiple freeway exits

-Three or four tornadoes that summer -- one of which went right over the top of my convertible, dropping small hail onto my car. I had to seek shelter with others under a freeway overpass.

- Temp reading on North LBJ after midnight one night -- 98 degrees (admittedly an unreliable source, but jeez...)

- A plague of crickets swarmed into department stores, grocery stores, EVERYWHERE. I would crunch them walking to my car every evening for several days.

- A couple of hail storms producing large enough hail to dent cars and break windows cropped up close to my home -- I suffered no damage, however.

- Two people seated in my section at a Rangers game were removed by paramedics for heat exhaustion at my last game in that miserable ballpark.

- Mud rained from the sky, due to a dust storm west of Ft. Worth. Freaking MUD raining from the sky.

- By December there was 1/8" of ice on the roads for a couple of days and many were impassable.

- Two years later a major tornado ripped the sides off several buildings in Downtown Ft. Worth. Not a little damage -- MAJOR bomb-type damage.

Together, these weather events seemed like I was witnessing the seven signs of the apocalypse. After a couple of summers, I realized it was just Dallas weather. It did feel a degree cooler than Houston one day when I worked up a good sweat riding my bike, though.

I live in the DFW area (2nd time in 20 years) and I'm not going to lie..this summer has been awful...very similar to the one back in 2000 that broke me in again after moving back down from NYC...dry heat or not...lol! If you don't have a sprinkler system, then you're dealing with a crispy brown landscape everywhere. We've had 43 days of over 100 this summer..that's not usual, considering a couple of years ago, we had two different summers where the temp only hit 100 once each time. It's hit or miss..and unfortunately, we got delicate flower slapped this summer. They are comparing it to the summer of 98 (which was even hotter) that dalparadise mentioned. My relatives in Houston would tell me how green it was there this summer and how much rain they received and I was green with envy. I wish it wasn't like Phoenix sometimes up here during the summer...but at least it's not every year like that as it is in Phoenix.

You know it's a bad summer when they tell you plenty of times on the news that you should have soaker hoses surrounding the foundation of your home b/c the clay soil could shift thus causing the foundation to do so also.

The tide is turning though, Thank God...and a bit early this year too. The temp is sitting at 78 now which I think has been the high today. Rain all around...60% chance tonight...50% tomorrow..lows between 60-65 most of the week depending on exactly where you live in the metro. Hopefully this will stay for a while until the first blue norther rolls through. Must admit that this area's weather is full of extremes, especially the last few years that I've been back to Texas. Threats of tornados scaring the crap out of me in April/May...a cold winter low of 7 a few years back at my home in a northern suburb..wtf?!!...snow and or ice every year I've been back at my home too..113 degrees one September back in 2000 a few months after a tornado caused havoc on downtown Ft Worth...drought conditions this year with area lakes very low...too much rain two years ago with area lakes flooding and the summer being green the entire time....it's definitely feast or famine up here.

Sounds like hell up there.

[TheNiche]

Sounds like hell up there.

As strange as that kind of stuff is, I just got back from Denton last night. It rained practically the whole time I was there.

[JasonDFW]

As strange as that kind of stuff is, I just got back from Denton last night. It rained practically the whole time I was there.

I drove about 800 miles yesterday down from the midwest and the area northeast of Denton was the greenest area of the whole trip. Almost a neon green at the edges of the highway.

Jason

[houstonfella]

Good for DFW to get that rain. Months without (or even weeks and weeks) without rain sucks. The grass gets brown and trees look stressed. But in Houston, we have been blessed this summer with lots of rain and when I got in from Shreveport (where they still need more rain), I knew I was on the Gulf Coast because it looked a lot like Ireland. Anyhow, cheers to Sprall in Houston and Fall in the rest of the states.