Last week our temps dropped down into the 20-30 degree range. I had all my hoya, which are outside, covered with quilted mattress covers and blankets. It was very windy during one of the nights and the covers were blown off. Some hoya have frozen leaves. I'm not sure what to do with the plants. Should I just leave them alone for now, or should I cut off the frozen leaves? What about the frozen stems.
Here is calistophylla.
Here is diversifolia
my poor deykae
And finally, here is fraterna. So far all the rest show no signs of damage from the cold. The smaller ones were brought inside the house. I didn't have much room for the bigger plants. I also had to bring in the small rhipsalis plants that I have.
I'm really sorry that this happened to you Imadigger. I feel your pain. It has to be tough to be in a place that rarely gets cold, and have all your tropicals outside with no place to go when there is a cold snap. I hope they make it, but the ones that you showed us look pretty bad.
Doug
Oh Eileen, believe me when I say "I feel your pain!" If everything survives the rest of this crazy winter we are having, I can replace your fraterna for you. My two big ones on the double tomato cage setups had their blankets blown off, too. :(
I wouldn't cut anything until warmer weather arrives. That being said, though, I did take the leaves off that were turning to mush just to avoid the inevitable mess.
OH gosh...I am so sorry...I just got back from a trip and saw this post.....
Remember, the plant's heart is the root area and the roots. If they didn't freeze, you will get new growth. Actually, I would cut the frozen/dead parts off the hoya IF the roots are alive. I would not water them unless you know it will stay warm...dry they have less chance of freezing. I just thought about watering them with Hydrogen Perixide...it has lots of bubbles in it, and I have heard of people using it to 'aerate' plants. You might ask about that on another thread. Also, a dead or mushy stem could start rotting and the rot can continue all the way thru the trunk into the roots if they are weak. From where you see the mush, keep snipping down the stem and stop where you have live stem (most of the hoyas will show a bit of white sap or the inside of the stem will be green. Do this in the morning and only before noon while it is warm. ....These are just ideas...
You also might ask Karen (KaBob) as her whole greenhouse froze last year...she has gone thru it...
Good luck
Eileen,
I'm so sorry to hear about your hoyas freezing. We sure have had some weird weather here in central Florida lately, haven't we? We had temps a couple of nights down at 35 and 36 degrees and lots of frost.
I brought my orchids and hoyas inside where they will stay for a couple more weeks to make sure we don't have any more of that freezing cold! I moved a lot more plants into my unheated Florida room, which is packed with just a little space to walk through to the door. With lack of space inside, the rest of the plants are crammed together out on the deck with blankets over everything.
The banana tree, huge schffelera tree and all the large tree philodendrons in the yard look like brown mush but they will come back ... they are just going to look pretty awful until they get cut back severely next month.
I remember reading somewhere on another forum awhile back about folks using hydrogen peroxide for plants too. I found this when googling and it's very interesting. I might give it a try with some of my plants: http://educate-yourself.org/cancer/benefitsofhydrogenperozide17jul03.shtml
Carol, thanks for the info. Tomorrow morning I'll cut off the mushy leaves and check out their stems. I am going to bring them inside the house tonight. We are supposed to have cold temps again, and I'm not sure what night. To be on the safe side, they will be inside.
Lin, thanks for the link about the peroxide. At this point, I don't think it would hurt to try it on them. I'll keep you posted on how they do.
OH, I would use it...but I would put any moisture if they are going to be cold.....
How are your frozen hoyas??????
Well, I cut off all the mushy leaves, which left just stems. They are again under covers because of the cold temps-in the 30s at night with a wind chill that brings it down to the 20s. I don't expect to see any new growth from them for a few months. Hopefully, once spring comes, they will send out some new leaves. Time will tell.
I know this is unrelated to Hoyas...and Ive already posted it on the Gesneriad section...but I had some Episcias which arrived and they had been , well, destroyed by frost somewhere in either NY or Madrid....I gave up hope...but, I kept the remnants in a very warm humid propagator, and .....this week I saw some growth on one of the ones I had absolutely no hope for.......you never know....you have to be optimistic...
Good luck with them
Dominic
Dominic, I also had epicia that got cold damage. Just before Christmas, we had some cold nights, down to below 50 degrees. I found out the hard way that they didn't like the cold. They lost all their leaves. Three out of six are slowly coming back. I lost their tags, so I'll have to go by my pictures when they get bigger. Now they are inside the house, sitting on the kitchen window shelf.
