We are now experiencing a long and severe freeze that has spread across the country. To us, the extreme cold made our landscape look grotesque, shabby, and mostly brown! Gardeners, if your lawn or landscape looks even remotely like mine, I Let’s just say I’m a little bit bummed. Because everything in my landscape was affected to some extent, although the most sensitive plants were fully protected!
I forced myself (patience) and decided to wait instead of removing the damaged plant right away. Before I’m trying to clean up all kinds of landscapes. I have not touched any of the many freeze-damaged trees, shrubs, or plants on my property. If so, remove all plant protective cover immediately.
The next step requires a great deal of patience. There are good reasons to choose not to clean up “freezer-burnt” plants all over your landscape right away. But first, let’s review the precautions you can take to limit the damage to your plants, reduce the work required to help your plants recover, and mitigate damage from future freezes.
Tropical and subtropical plants have soft leaves that are susceptible to cold damage. Note: All plants have a “cold” threshold and require protection from extreme cold. To protect it from the cold, move the plant indoors or into a heated garage if you can move it. Or, move it to your porch or patio, then cover each plant (top to bottom) completely with a light cloth and add another outer layer of plastic on top of the cloth to keep the heat close to the plants. catch the heat. Another option is to (temporarily) surround your existing porch or patio with plastic and add space heaters or lights to increase the temperature.
Once the plants have been moved to a protected area, water acts as an insulator providing warmth to the roots of the plant, and moist soil stays warmer than dry soil, so be sure to water each thoroughly. Many gardeners know, but if you’re new to gardening, adding a layer of mulch to your plants in the fall and winter will insulate the roots, protect the roots, and allow the mulch to decompose in a matter of months. Leaves, grass clippings, pine straw, and hay each make excellent mulch when applied loosely to the base of the plant, 2 to 3 inches deep. .
What are the signs of “freezer burn” in cold-damaged plants? For one thing, plants don’t look like they did before freezing hard! , loses swelling and droops severely. Leaf color changes from green to reddish purple or brown. The reason this happens is that during prolonged freezing, the water between and across the cells of the plant freezes and refreezes, causing the cells to swell and burst, destroying the plant tissue.
This type of damage is usually irreparable, and recent prolonged freezing caused the stems of many plants (insert citrus trees here) to split and simply flake off, indicating plant death. Many locally grown plants such as banana trees, angel trumpet, tropical hibiscus, canna, pentas, and vinca all suffer the consequences of prolonged freezing.
There are a few things gardeners can do to help plants heal naturally from frost damage. The degree of damage depends on the degree and duration of freezing temperatures. One thing this seasoned gardener has learned from personal experience is that the worst mistake a gardener can make is to go outside and start. hacking Move away anything that has damaged your plants. Gardeners… keep this in mind! Keep the pruning shears away from the plant.
It takes days and weeks to show us how much damage the plants have suffered. It’s okay to remove slimy or mushy debris from plants. It reduces the onset of disease and fungal infections. Another sign if a plant, shrub, or tree succumbs to extreme cold is when gnats fly around or the leaves turn black with no new growth to be seen.
For trees, shrubs, or “woody” plants, gently scratch the bark in small areas to determine where the “green” layer ends or begins. Mark “living” tissue areas on the limbs, but defer removal of damaged material until spring. Removing damaged material too early can cause more damage to the plant when another prolonged freeze occurs. This will require the removal of even more plant material, and the plants may not be able to withstand your fervor. Please do your best.
With a view to plant care, caring for and growing plants is a gardener’s labor of love! For a moment, I wonder if I’ve prepared my plants for what direction winter is heading. We all get a fair amount of exercise by moving our plants around to maintain them, but the truth is that plants sustain each of us! . Congratulations on the beginning of the new year. Until next week! Let’s go out and grow a greener, more sustainable world, one plant at a time!
Dear fellow gardeners and gardening enthusiasts, save date! The Orange County Master Gardeners’ 2023 Annual Plant Sale is scheduled for Saturday, March 18th.th, Visit Jewel Cormier Park at 8235 FM 1442 Orange TX 77630 from 8am to 1pm. We have a large selection of citrus and fruit trees, flowering shrubs, perennials, annuals, vegetables, herbs, succulents and hanging plants. baskets and more! We are looking forward to seeing you all!
If you have specific gardening questions or would like more information, please email jongreene57@gmail.com or contact Orange County Master Gardeners. Helpline: (409) 882-7010 or visit our website: https://txmg.org/orange, Facebook: Orange County Texas Master Gardeners Association or Email: extension@co.orange.tx.us.
