Caring for Cold-Damaged Plants

There will be few plants that make it out of Houston’s most recent winter blast unscathed. Even with proper covering, some plants will still be damaged. Check out these tips to help care for and treat your ailing plants once the weather warms up a bit.

Saving plants after a freeze is possible, but it really depends on the hardiness of the plant, extent of the damage, and climate. Although freezing temperatures can harm or even kill many types of plants, quick action to care for cold-damaged plants in the aftermath can help.

  1. To assess injury to a plant, first identify its tolerance to cold. You can check out the USDA Plant Hardiness Map here. From this, you can determine if your efforts to rescue the plant will be worthwhile.
  1. Another factor to consider is how long the plant(s) were exposed to freezing temperatures and if they were protected by frost cloth, a blanket, or any other similar material. This will help you understand the scope of damage to the plant tissue.

 

  1. Since a hard frost freezes the water cells in a plant, it causes dehydration and damage to the cell walls. Cold injury occurs mostly when the sun comes up and the plant defrosts too quickly. To help minimize frost damage, lightly mist foliage before the climate gets too warm. Potted plants should also be misted and moved out of direct sunlight.

 

  1. Sometimes damage from freezing temperatures cannot be seen until the spring, but frost crack to young trees and other woody plants occurs from sudden drops in temperature followed by daytime heating from the sun.

 

  1. Avoid pruning damaged leaves or stems unless the plant is moved indoors or to another sheltered location. This will also prevent further damage should another cold spell occur. Wait until spring to cut away the damaged areas and prune dead stems all the way back. Live stems will only need injured portions removed and the plant will eventually regrow once warm temperatures return.

 

  1. Cold-damaged plants should be watered thoroughly and as soon as possible, especially if the soil has dried out or you were unable to properly water before the freezing temperatures hit.

 

  1. Although you may be tempted to fertilize right away, consider holding off until the spring to give the plant an added boost then.

 

If you need advice on rescuing your cold-damaged plants, give our experts at the Garden Center a call at 281-354-6111 or stop by for a visit. We also sell frost cloth by the foot, in case you want to stock up for the next cold blast – it is Houston after all and our weather is so unpredictable.

 

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