Will trees and shubs with freeze damage survive and can I help them?

Question

Kentucky had a bad freeze for days a couple of weeks ago and now most of our trees and shubs (which were planted 1 - 3 years ago) have dead leafs. We covered the flowers but didn't think about doing anything to protect trees and shubs. Will they survive and is there anything I can do to help them? Trimming? Fertilizer? More watering? Mouth to mouth? I would hate to have them die.
Thanks for your expert reply!

Answer 1

They will come back if they have been healthy before. Releafing is a great energy drain on the plant, so if they plants were running on "low" in the energy department, no they may not come back.

Even if they do releaf, they will require years to recover the energy drain. So treat them kindly. They may be prone to more insect problems. I wouldn't prune out any living wood, only dead wood. The reason is pruning living material is wounding the plant and woody plants have to form and maintain internal chemical barrier walls against infection and that's a big energy drain. It's OK to prune out dead, it's ....dead.

Don't fertilize until the new leaves are out and working. And then fertilize with care. Too much is bad. Water as necessary, remembering soggy soils are as bad a drought as it rots the roots.

New leaves will probably be smaller than usual, don't fret about it. Let the plants regain their strength........and it's thru the leaves they regain their strength.

Answer 2

As hard as it sounds, the BEST next step is PATIENCE!!

Make sure that your trees and shrubs have adequate water (no standing water!). Give them 1/2 or 1/4 strength fertilizer. You want to give them a "nudge" not a "blast"!! The fact that your plants are several years old MAY help!!

In a few weeks or so, you will be able to see which plants have survived. There may be branches that are obviously dead. Prune them off! If some plants put out weak leaves, MOTHER them!! Just keep giving them diluted fertilizer until they recover.

On the other hand, if some of your trees/shrubs DON'T survive, you have to ask yourself a question: Were these plants REALLY best for my climate??? I live in Northern California and I know that it is really easy to hide my eyes and to plant things that grow great in the "WARM" weather cycles, but not in the "COLD" weather cycles.

I live in an area that is "borderline" for growing Bouganvilleas. I planted a lovely plant against my house about 4 years ago. For the last couple of years, we had very mild winters and my bouganvillea grew 20 feet up and 15 feet wide. It was really spectatular!! BUT this last winter, we had an unusual set of below freezing weather for 15 days straight. My Bogi froze all the way back. I waited two months and have cut off the dead limbs (if you scratch them with your nail, no green shows). I am now waiting to see if anything comes back from the roots, which were protected!

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

really what you're seeing is only part of the approach. Irrigation earlier to a freeze is sweet performed some days earlier to the freeze. moist soil will carry extra warmth than dry soil, if the farmer has time to irrigate and allow the solar warmth up the moist soil. Irrigation merely earlier to a freeze can really cool the soil, as wind blows over the soil floor, evaporating the water. Water sprayed on the leaves can seem after any plant from freeze damage, with some significant provisos. Water must be utilized continually after the temps attain freezing to the point at which temps upward thrust above freezing, regularly the following morning. the continual bypass of water keeps the ice which kinds, and for this reason the plant, at 32 ranges. without the continual water bypass the temperature will proceed to drop, causing extra damage to the plant than might want to have got here about if no water develop into utilized. also it takes dissimilar water to chilly seem after with this technique. something like one inch per hour. If a lot less water is used, the temps drop and the freeze/ice damage will be extra intense than if no water develop into utilized. cutting-edge citrus groves use micro-sprinklers placed less than the timber. those are grew to develop into on for the time of a freeze, and help keep temperatures above freezing less than the cover of the tree. In a intense freeze (citrus isn't damaged until eventually 27 ranges F) outer branches and fruit might want to be damaged, besides the indisputable fact that the trunk and major branches might want to be kept.