LaBelle palm farm devastated by winter freeze, drought slows recovery

LABELLE, Fla. (WINK) — A rare winter freeze followed by persistent drought has devastated palm tree crops across Southwest Florida, with some growers losing up to 75% of their inventory.

Gene McAvoy, manager of A1 Palms, said the damage has set the business back significantly. The sound of crushing a palm frond reveals the extent of the problem—a healthy palm doesn't make that brittle, dead sound.

"We were hoping to really start selling a lot of these this year, and we have been, but just, you know, basically took the wind out of our sails," McAvoy said.

The winter freeze proved particularly brutal for the delicate trees.

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McAvoy explained that the palms simply cannot withstand the extreme cold temperatures experienced this winter, with most leaves frozen and damaged.

"Anything that was under about six foot was killed, dead," he said.

Recovery will be a lengthy process. McAvoy estimates it will take at least a year, possibly two, before the damaged palms grow back and become sellable again.

"It's going to take a good year, maybe even two years, before they grow back out and are sellable because people buy them for aesthetic beauty, not for looking like they're brown and dead," he said.

The palms are now shedding their dead fronds as part of the recovery process.

The more dead brown fronds remaining on a tree, the longer it will take to return to its full green appearance.

"Palm trees don't make a lot of leaves every year. They only make five or six, seven leaves a year," McAvoy said.

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Just as the palms began recovering from the freeze, a new challenge emerged—drought. The dry conditions have slowed growth even further, making fertilization less effective since rain is needed to wash nutrients into the soil.

"When we fertilize and when it's dry like this, the fertilizer doesn't do much, because it takes the rain to wash it into the soil and get it into the trees," McAvoy said.

Despite the setbacks, McAvoy remains committed to rebuilding. He's cleaning up damaged areas and preparing to plant new trees across the farm.

"If you're going to be in the palm tree business, you have to have palm trees," he said.