My plants are suffering from the cold snap! Will any of them survive?

Question

I got too excited about my first attempt at gardening and now the notoriously unpredictable weather in Oklahoma threatens to kill my plants.

I planted mostly herbs along with some strawberry, cayenne pepper and beefsteak tomato plants.

The strawberry plants and most of the herbs are fine, but some of the leaves on the basil, pepper and tomato plants are turning mushy and/or brown or black. I have covered them with buckets and bowls from the house to protect them from the cold, but they still look damaged.

All told, there have been three full days of cold temperatures and this is the fourth. It may be another day until temperatures return to normal. Is there any reason to believe that some or all of my plants will recover from this, or am I totally screwed?

Note: So far there's no serious damage to the stems, just the some of the leaves near the tops of the plants don't look so good.

More info: There was only one night where temps dropped below freezing, and that didn't last long. Even then there was no frost. Mostly it's just been cold and kind of windy.

The plants are in the ground and have been for about a week. The basil seemed to have spread its roots pretty well and were flourishing before the cold hit.

Thanks for your help, guys. The weather is warmer now and it looks like most of the plants will be fine.

With the exception of a basil plant that lost about 75 percent of its leaves, most of the other plants should get along fine. I've removed the buckets and bowls and pinched off any damaged leaves so the plants won't waste a lot of energy trying to repair them.

It's encouraging that I was able to save them. Thanks again!

Answer 1

Yup your screwed!
I would wait a few weeks and re-start with healthy looking plants from your local nursery. The tomatoes and peppers I am sure are goners.
Even if they did come back from the roots everything I have read says they won't be as good as they could have been before the freeze.

Oh yeah and I have heard good things about the arkansas travelers variety of tomatoes.

I do want to share with you my favorite gardening web site.

www.gardenweb.com
They have a Oklahoma gardening forum for us okies to talk to each other.

Answer 2

How cold was it any way and for how long. I tend to be hopeful, but the basil, pepper and tomato plants really can't take the frost. I know you've done a lot of work to protect them and that did help. Just keep on covering them when you have freeze warnings and see what happens, but it's not looking good. We've all rushed the season, so don't give up. Gardening is good for the soul, even with the disappointments.

Answer 3

I've had this same problem and gotten an e-mail about it from the Missouri Botanical garden in St. Louis(of which I'm a member)Here is what they say:
In the aftermath of the recent record-breaking cold spell, gardeners must be patient with their damaged plants, especially our trees and shrubs. The freeze puts a damper on what had turned out to be an early, but beautiful spring.

At this time it appears the worst injury is limited to open flowers, new buds, and new foliage. Spent flowers will be shed and most of the damaged leaves will continue to deteriorate in the days ahead, eventually drying up and falling off. Expect the appearance of your garden to decline aesthetically for a period of weeks before fresh, new growth returns. It may take until mid-summer before your garden looks “normal” again.

Perennials with damaged leaves and stems can be cut back to the ground and will respond with rapid new growth. However, resist the temptation to prune frosted trees and shrubs. Healthy well-established plants will produce new growth. How quickly this occurs will depend on individual species, location in the landscape, and the severity of the damage sustained.

Resist the temptation to fertilize heavily. With the loss of flower buds, all of the trees energy will be channeled into vigorous vegetative regrowth. Fertilizer could actually produce excesses of growth that will have to pruned at a later date, creating higher maintenance in the long term.

Water cautiously. Avoid soggy conditions which can do more harm than good, but do irrigate during long dry spells. Reducing water stress may be the single best thing you can do to help your plants recover this summer.

Overall, consider this untimely freeze only a temporary setback. Given time and patience, our gardens will recover. Since every dark cloud always has a silver lining, on the plus side we probably won’t have to worry about raking up any Sweetgum balls this autumn.
Hope this helped.

Answer 4

In Oklahoma you will need a cold frame, or wait until there is no threat of a frost, which the weather service can tell you. You can make either a temporary cold frame each year, or make a more permanent structure you can store until you need it the next time. If you can afford it, even a small greenhouse can really help your plants survive cold weather, and start your vegetables early for a longer harvest season. I used to live in CA, and our early plantings were done in March, with the end of season veggies collected in November. Cold frames were good there, too!

Answer 5

Ow!

The weather has been wacky where I live too. Last week we had short-sleeve weather, then a couple of days after I got my plants in the ground we got snow!

Fortunately, I had a clear plastic tent- you might even consider it to be a portable cold frame- that I could stake down around my little gardening area. The plants are fine now, and the temperatures are returning mostly to normal.

Some of your plants might survive, but you'll need to give them some TLC.

Good luck!

Answer 6

If you can build or put a good size of clear plastic over your plants and bury the plastic in the ground all around your garden. If your garden is fairly big then put pots full of hot coals to keep the plants from freezing. If small then maybe the plastic will be enough.

Answer 7

Well: in what you should of done first is to use " Mulch after
planting seeds for the Garden Veggies that way those would
be safe during winter's Frost yes & get some plant food Spikes !"

Answer 8

Same boat here...I planted some similar plants. I also planted flowers and bulbs, I live in Indiana and am probably experiencing the same weather as you...keep your fingers crossed because I have been told that we may be SOL...however, this weather streak should be ending this week, so we may recover our new life in our gardens! Good luck!

Answer 9

No. Unfortunately, every one of your plants will suffer the same fate many fruit crops have suffered all over the country as of late. This will lead to a fruit shortage, and subsequent famine. Luckily, I was smart enough to stockpile Chunky soups, and grow my fruit and vegetable plants, inside the house. Sorry about your plants. You can have some of my soup if you want.

Answer 10

are they in pots or the ground? if in the ground put some fleece over them or bubble wrap, this year may have to be a lerning curve! I always grow my more tender veg/ herbs in pots so if we do get some bad weather (and lets face it in england that happens a lot!!) i can bring them in or protect them better. never give up though give them chance to surprise you! however i never plant basil outside anyway. too unpredictable. you can get loads of hardy herbs that will last forever!