We had a soot backup a few weeks ago. Our garage, which is where I over winter my tropicals, took the brunt of it. We had to open the doors so the smoke would go out. Of course it had to be a morning that was in the teens. Unfortunately, I think I've lost all of my bougainvilleas and mandevillas. They've turned all black and there's no new growth so far. The bananas and cannas and everything else have new growth.
Should I just put them in the compost now, or do they have a chance of coming back? I'm just sick about this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Advice please
I would give them a chance--if they'd been exposed to weeks of temps in the teens then they'd be goners for sure, but many plants can tolerate a brief exposure to cold temps and come back from it. Some plants will come back more quickly than others, that's probably why some things are coming back and showing new growth and others aren't. I'd give them a bit more time if I were you--I can't guarantee that they'll come back but I wouldn't give up yet.
If they are covered with black soot...they may be having trouble photosynthesizing (making food) because no light is getting to the leaves. Can you wipe off some of the leaves...cut the rest back? Would running a vacume lightly over the plant with the soft brush end help remove the soot?
The leaves have simply turned black and whithered. I think it's more the soot than the cold. My angel trumpets the same thing. Are these plants less tolerant to pollution do you suppose? 10 plants in all. I'm just sick. Thankfully most of the soot went into the garage and not the house. The oil guy didn't come til about 4:30 in the afternoon and the temp was only down to 47 degrees in the garage.
If the black is from soot rather than cold then I would definitely wipe the leaves off. The way I interpreted your first post, I was assuming you were worried about the effect of the cold temperatures more than the soot, so I figured the black leaves were caused by the freezing temperatures. But if that's not the case, then get the soot off them ASAP and hopefully they'll come back fine.
I cleaned them the next day when I realized it. The leaves are beginning to get crunchy. Do you think the whole plant has been effected and will eventually sprout new growth? I sure hope so. Thanks.
Angelica: I think you should give them time .... I'm sure they weren't harmed by the temp's in the garage if it didn't stay below freezing for many hours. I would put them in the bathtub, and give them a good warm shower to get all that soot off! Don't cut them back, just let them rest another few weeks until the weather is warm enough for you to move them outside. I think the damage done was definitely from the soot, probably clogged their pores pretty good! But, if you can get that soot off, I wouldn't worry about crunchy, dead leaves ... the wood should still be viable and the plants will more than likely begin to sprout new growth as soon as Spring arrives in your area!
Did you make sure you cleaned the stems as well? That can make a big difference in their willingness to come back. I sure hope they make it!
did you scratch the stems to see if there is any green?
I cleaned them all really well the next day. The stems seem to still be green on the old growth. All the new growth, however is brown. I'm just hoping they're not all completely dead. That would be devastating.
I've never run into this so I didn't know if it was the soot or the temperatures. At this point, I'm pretty sure it's the soot. Like I said, other plants are fine, including about 100 callas that I started from seed in the fall. I would think they would have been less tolerant to the low temps.
Thanks for everyones advice. I'll keep you all posted.