The date palm can cope with light frost. It is therefore conditionally hardy. As long as the temperatures don't drop too low, you can overwinter a date palm outside. What you need to consider if you want to get date palms through the winter well.
How to overwinter a date palm?
To successfully overwinter a date palm, place it indoors in a cool, bright location or outside in a sheltered location with an insulating base and covering. Avoid too much moisture and protect the palm tree with burlap during frost.
Date palm is conditionally hardy
A date palm can tolerate up to -6 degrees. Date palms that you have planted directly in the garden bed survive frosts quite well as long as the temperatures do not drop any lower.
When caring for date palms in pots, it is recommended to overwinter them indoors frost-free. In exceptional cases, you can leave them outside in a protected location.
Overwintering date palms indoors
A cool, bright place in the house is needed for date palms to overwinter. Suitable are:
- bright hallways
- Entrance areas
- cool winter gardens
- Basement with window
- Garages
- Garden houses
If it is very dark at the location, you should install plant lamps (€89.00 on Amazon) so that the date palm gets enough light.
Caring for date palms in the garden over winter
If you want to overwinter a date palm in a pot outside, place it in a protected location and make sure that the palm does not get too wet.
An insulating base is just as useful as covering the pot with burlap or special garden fleece.
If the date palm is growing directly in the garden soil, spread a thick layer of mulch around the palm. When temperatures drop, you should briefly protect the date palm from frost with burlap.
Tip
The bigger the date palm gets, the more difficult it is to bring the pots into the house in winter. It is therefore better to place the tubs on wheels so that you can move them more easily and quickly move them to another location if there is a risk of frost.
