Well this is not something I am used to and I am sure some of you will be hard pressed not to snicker just a little. It FROZE last night. Of all the brugs, CG was the hardest hit for some reason. Pictured is Tropical Sunset. Do I trim off all of the frozen bits or wait a few days to see what perks up. It is not supposed to get down to freezing again.
Most of the buds look ok but open flowers are mostly toast so I will yank them. Butterfly took the frost like a champ with nary a drooping leaf. She is against though and not open on all sides like T Sunset.
Although not a brug, this impatiens from SoCal was still looking pretty in pink despite the cold.
I'd leave them alone. It doesn't look like a hard frost. Even after a hard frost a lot of the blooms will go ahead and open, so you should have blooms yet.
Thanks Brugie. I will watch them.
Oh my! My yard looks just like that but worse from last night! Last year I did not touch them. I let all the frosted leaves dry up on their own. I did not want to have any cuts where I yanked anythign off where fungus could start as this is our rainy season. I also wanted the frosted leaves left to protect my stems if it frosted again. It worked. I had very little stem loss.
I live in No. Ca so we will get more frosts, it looks like. This one hit so early and so hard. Last winter we had only 2 nights of frost and that was in late January I believe.
But where you are I bet you do not expect any more. You can wait till you are sure all danger for the winter is over, and then either cut it back or just take off the dead leaves. It will leaf out again fairly quickly.
If any mushy branches, cut them off below the mush.
Brugs bounce back very quickly!
This is a little thing that works for me at the end of the season that you warmer climate people might try when there is a frost
I do it when we get a frost and still have plants outside,I've done it in my veggie garden and keep my peppers going till november sometimes
Also worked well on cannas
I wish I had done it when my GH plastic came loose when it was below 0 and a bunch of my plants froze
but I didn't notice it....way too crowded
get up BEFORE the sun comes up
This has to be done BEFORE the sun hits the plants that are frosted
Get your hose out and water the plants-
NOT the ground
THE PLANTS,leaves,stems etc.....
Hose them down good
I'm not sure what makes it work but it does and there is very little if any damage to the plants
It has something to do with breaking up the ice crystals I think
Never tried it on a hard freeze but a hard frost it still works
In Florida ,when they're getting a freeze I've seen them with big sprinklers and hoses covering the orange tree plants with a layer of ice
I guess it insulates them
Not that it will help now but maybe try it next time
And I do feel sorry for you guys
really
I swear I'm not giggling
I mean it
Seriously
I have it under control
yeah right.......
You are very helpful CC but still mean! LOL
Hey Frogs, this pic of my Pink Fairy rose should make you feel a bit better.
I was expecting the snow but the rose wasn't. heehee ~Blooms
That is a cool picture. LOL! Seriously, it is very pretty.
Crestedchik: Living where I do in Kansas you are correct about spraying the frost off plants before the sun comes up. We have to do this alot going from winter into spring. This last early early spring my DH was spraying off my strawberry plants and my flowers and he saved every one of them..
Sorry frogsrus I had to chuckle...... just a little bit! ;) I have one or two memories of you hopping into our winter misery threads and sharing glad tidings of how lovely it was in your neck of paradise.
Frogsrus, I'm appalled to think of such weather in one of the spots I count on being warm when I get there. Southeren California is supposed to be warm, freeze not supposed to happen there. This global warming stuff seems to encourage the wild and different weather.
I do remember one April 7th being down in the Anza Borrego and being warned that chains or snow tires were required to go up to Julian. Couldn't believe that either!
CC I was out before 5 am with the hose. I am sure that any neighbors who happened to be awake thought I was insane. They have sprinkler systems in the vinyards in the napa valley now too. Sure beats the tires they used to burn when I was a kid. We would get out of school because of the poor air quality.
It is not supposed to freeze heere AT ALL much less in early December. Sheesh. My neighbors bananas have scowls on their little banana faces. The hummers are camped out on my patio in the mornings all puffed up and cursing the weather. I am sure going through the sugar water.
Blooms that is a beautiful pic. Julian is in a completely different weather zone than I. I am just barely above sea level but am on a mesa. Some of the canyons here freeze quite badly.
Thanks everyone. I will let the big brugs be and hack on the CG that seems to have been the worst hit for some reason. A double white that I was turning into an alley tree is questionable so I will watch for mushy stems. Gosh durn it and it was jjust setting blooms too.
I wish I had seen this thread before I started trimming my Charles Grimaldi this afternoon. It had major frost damage, with leaves that were just limped shriveled things. I mostly just pulled these off, but also did some light pruning. Is this going to hurt the plant?
Great thread -- glad I haven't had a chance to start cutting on mine yet. Guess I'll just pull off the leaves and leave them until Spring. Thanks for starting this one, Frogsrus!
Seems to me, when I first came on this brugs forum, someone talked about misting the brugs to prevent frost damage & I think it was monika who said, no it wouldn't work with brugs since they are a tropical.... Anyone remember that ?! I will try and search for it and post it here if I find it!
Here it is...monikas post of May 23, 2004....in part....
" We know about from own experiences, sprinkling fruit trees to save them from frost but the brugs would freeze with the water, because being a tropical to subtropical plant, their cell structure is different. It will burst. You can almost compare it to a potato. When it gets frost, it is over. "
Peppers are tropical I think and it works with them.....
Like I said though
it works with a frost
Probably NOT with a freeze
By the time I get out to water at 5 am the temp is above freezing.
Kaufmann, I never in a million years thought I would be the one to start this thread lol. It is usually a non issue here.
Some things around here are SAD. Most gardens here are not planted with frost in mind. I think every impatiens in town has bitten the dust. The bougainvilla are still happy looking though. My neighbor's banana has a disgruntled look about it though lol.
Well, I sure hope it all bounces back for you quickly :)
