Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
ltran54

Bad winter!

Marie Tran
10 years ago

This is Marie reporting from Houston Texas. We had a bad winter, yes, we did, few nights in teens....

How are your desert rose now? My DR looked terrible.....
You don't want to know how many I lost.....

Please report from where you are....

Marie

Comments (28)

  • chuy415
    10 years ago

    Marie- so sorry you're having a bad winter in Texas! I feel for all of you there. Here in Southern California it's been a warm winter so far. But I think we may have rain coming soon.
    What I posted is a picture of a 10 month old seedling that has a light colored caudex and not sure if it's sick or infected. It's not soft but just afraid it may not survive. I checked around the leaves and saw an aphid that I removed with a wet napkin and soap. Anything else I can do??
    So sorry again you've lost an Adenium or two :(

    Chuy

  • rcharles_gw (Canada)
    10 years ago

    Hi Marie from Vancouver Island, Canada.
    It has been a very odd winter, but then these changes in weather seem to be apparent no matter where you live.
    We had been having a relatively dry winter with temps. around 32F - 50F (daytime) which is expected, but usually a little wetter.
    Thinking we where heading out of winter, we got our first snowfall since Dec.
    and it is still snowing (7-10cm) right now. It usually does not stay around long.
    Adeniums are tucked away and warm for now, but they have to come inside here for fall/winter.
    Hope all is well and safe with everyone.
    Rick

  • Marie Tran
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Chuy, the seedling is kinda yellow, but it is okay looking.
    By the summer, it will look better.

    Marie

  • chuy415
    10 years ago

    Thank you Marie- I sure hope so. Will keep an eye on it.

    Chuy

  • Marlene666
    10 years ago

    Marie, I feel great sadness for you loosing many of your plants. You have put so much effort into your grafting and showing us your beautiful results which are out of this world. It is such a terrible loss. If I could send you some cuttings I would but I do not think they would pass quarantine. You have educated a lot of adenium lovers. I would curl up and cry!

  • User
    10 years ago

    Hello all,
    Reporting form UK. First of all the good news, hardly any frost , I only recorded one so far and no snow. Thats all the good news. Secondly the bad - many events of hurricane force winds (up to 108 mph) over a couple of months. Heaviest rainfall since records began with large areas of south west flooded and homes destroyed.There are many videos on youtube ( check out Newlyn Bridge). Not good weather for Adeniums, or anything else for that matter. Let us all be glad that Spring is on the way and get ready to post some cheerful pictures of new growth and blooms. If plants die they make room for more. Best of luck everyone.
    Brian UK.

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    10 years ago

    Hi Marie ,

    Reporting from Virginia Beach, Virginia .

    This winter has been one of the coldest winters we have seen in over 20 years. Temps in the single digits with record snowfall... ;-(

    My trees have held up pretty well since I brought them all inside for the season. But, I still had some little ones collapse. I counted three losses and I also had some soft branches as well. I did cut them back and sealed those trees.

    I did lose a large Pindo palm and I'm keeping my eye on a few others.

    This has been a hard winter on us all.. I'm so sorry to hear of your trees. Did they stay outside all season? Did you cover them? I thought you kept them outside and would bring them close to your house for some protection.

    You have some huge trees in heavy containers..

    I know they are your babies.. We all feel for your loss and again. I'm so sorry.

    Laura

  • maark23 TX/8a
    10 years ago

    Hello everyone,
    Reporting from El Paso,Tx. This winter has been strange. We did not get that many cold days like up north. We got not rain or snow. It was just dry.

    I brought most of my plant inside, expect some cold hardies. I did however lose some plumies. I had to toss four plants. :(. I'm not sure what happened to them since I barely watered them and they were kept warm. I will need to find replacements.

    So sorry to hear about your loss Marie.

    Most of the plants and tree around here seem to be waking up. We already have trees in bloom. I also have some mini daffodils blooming. I didn't even see them come up.

    I took my surviving plumies out two weeks ago, and gave them a good watering. They are now outside enjoying the warm temps. I'm hoping spring comes soon and this cold goes away!

    Mark

    This post was edited by Maark23 on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 21:50

  • Pagan
    10 years ago

    Well, this far north, it's been straightforward---you have to bring the plants in since the temperature ranges are fairly consistent and leave you no choice.

    I did lose a potted agave that probably would have survived except it was rained upon and then froze. I only have irises planted in the ground and I am assured those will survive anything that doesn't eat them.

    The ground is still frozen but I can see young shoots coming out already. I didn't know they could do that---I thought the ground had to thaw first! And we're still seeing temperatures dropping below zero. Will those sprouts die?

    I did pull out a gardenia last autumn, shoved it in a pot and put that against the heating vent in the kitchen where it has confounded me by not dying!

    Brian, I have been following the news of floods in the UK---I am accustomed to them but I can't imagine being in the flood with temperatures below 30C.

    Keep the hot coco flowing, folks

    Pagan

  • Marie Tran
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It is nice to hear from my Gardenweb friends. Thank you for the replies.

    I hope spring comes soon....(not soon enough)

    I am going to tie up my hands this year and stay away from nurseries. Buying is easy, caring for them in the winter is so hard.

    Marie

  • ginger9899
    10 years ago

    Marie I wasn't going to reply because I live in Florida and well, we all know my winter has nothing on yours by a long shot! But FYI I have struggled a little because both my adult Adeniums and many seedlings have been real finicky about going dormant. Some did, some didn't, so watering has been a real tough decision, we'll see if I made the right decisions as spring comes. I also had to cut a huge rot portion off my oldest after an accidental fall led to a major repot and pruning at the wrong time. Luckily it is a trooper and already created its own large abscission zone so hopefully that's over. I guess winter is a little tough on all of us. I feel for you guys with the freezes though and admire your skill and tenacity to carry on through

    -Heather

  • averil
    10 years ago

    Hi Marie, sorry this winter has brought problems for your plants. Your plants are all so gorgeous and a loss must be heartbreaking. I'm in southern England. It's been a mild but wet winter and thankfully mine are ok but I have to keep them all indoors. They are just starting to wake up. However snow in July wouldn't surprise me
    Kind regards
    Averil

  • ssk22 Ohio 5b
    10 years ago

    Hi Marie,
    I am in Ohio,and we have had a terrible winter. Total of snow fall is almost 70" and another storm coming this weekend. Record cold in the minus zero range for weeks. I lost a lot of my plants(boo hoo) guess I will be buying more when the weather warms.where is that groundhog?????
    Sharon

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    10 years ago

    Hello Marie from Jax Florida. It has been a cold wet winter and I for one have had enough rain for the year. I can say I have faired better most. The grafts came inside and just hung out in an unheated room with great light. I just moved them to the greenhouse. The greenhouses were the places to be. I use heat lamps and did not let them get below 45. Lucky not to have to run them all the time but this year I used them more than any year. The greenhouse guys hung out and just partied. Some lost all leaves (that was the plan) where others decided to bloom some. Now everyone has red spikes of new growth at end of their branches. They have a mind of their own.

    Texas got hammered this winter. I have a friend on the Hosta forum in Dallas and I seemed to get what she got 2 days later. The cold came down too far. I am so sorry you lost so many Marie. Your collection is what got me so interested in going beyond 'Default Pink'. Spring will be here soon. Paula

  • Marie Tran
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Paula, your DR are looking good.
    I wish I live in Florida.

    I will post my plants tomorrow.

    We are having a nice weekend here, but Monday and Tue will down to 32 degrees at night again. I hope this will be last time for this winter.

    Marie

  • Loveplants2 8b Virginia Beach, Virginia
    10 years ago

    Hi Marie,

    Thank you for the nice email..

    I understand how this winter has been so brutal and I'm truly sorry for all of your losses. It really hurts when we take such good care of our favorite varieties and give them the best care and attention . You still have some beautiful trees and COT to focus on and I'm sure in time, you will be able to replace the ones you lost.

    Just remember that spring is here and it's a time for growth in many ways. This is a curve ball, but you will make the catch and score that touchdown!

    I know you will..

    Hugs to you !!!

    Laura

  • kayjones
    10 years ago

    I am sorry to hear of the losses of your plants. I lost a few as well, but like all things, plants have to die sometime. I'm trying to console myself with the previous statement!

    I had every one of my DR's in the enclosed Florida room, where they have always done well over winter - not so, this winter. We had about 2 weeks of below 30 degrees at night and some limbs froze. At last check, the bases were all still firm and in good condition.

  • Pagan
    10 years ago

    spring is in there somewhere!

    {{gwi:339452}}

  • mateopava
    10 years ago

    As Mark mentioned, it was a very dry winter in the El Paso/Cd Juarez area. I recorded one night down to 17F on my patio and a few nights in the 20'sF. My Adenium survived inside in a unheated room. I only lost one plant, a Pelargonium, that I left too far away from the wall one night when I recorded a low of 22F on my patio. 5 other Pelargonium's just 4 inches away up against the wall survived just fine. Amazing what a difference just a few inches can mean to a plant.

  • greenclaws UK, Zone 8a
    10 years ago

    Hello Marie, I'm sorry to learn of the loss of some of your exquisite plants, I hope you are able to rescue them and the remainder will thrive as usual in your capable hands. Florida would be the last place I would have imagined this to happen.
    The winter has certainly had different effects wherever we are situated. As Brian mentioned, the UK has been utterly blown away and also swamped in parts. Even high up where we live (thankfully with no floods) the ground is completely saturated and will take ages to dry out. I really feel for those who have lost homes and possessions as a result, one can only imagine what it must be like. We had 'snow' on 2 occasions this time, but not enough to make even a mini snowball and have had several frosts so far. Hopefully the current sunny/mild spell will continue and we can bid winter 2013/14 goodbye. As you all realise the UK is not really that DR friendly at the best of times so my DR's are all housebound and in the main are OK, despite the seedlings being ravaged by an attack of the dreaded spider mites, sigh.

    Hi Sharon, good grief, 70'' of snow!!!...I would only have 2'' more to go before I was buried under that lot...!

    Spring will soon be here in full force folks!
    Gill UK

  • ssk22 Ohio 5b
    10 years ago

    Hi Gill,
    Wonder where you have been. I'm surprised the UK got such a small amount of snow.i'll send some of ohio's snow.
    Sharon

  • Marlene666
    10 years ago

    Hi Gill
    Were you able to control or kill the spider mites? What did you use?.
    I have spider mite on some of my adeniums, never noticed it before I introduced an adenium grafted plant that I had purchased elsewhere and what I thought was sand on the plant ended up being spider mite. Now I have spider mite on all my young seedlings.
    Are you or someone else from the group able to help me?.
    Marlene Hervey Bay Au

  • rcharles_gw (Canada)
    10 years ago

    Marlene,
    I have used a product I get here (Canada) called 'End-All" which is a Safer's Product with pyrethrum in it.
    I have also used Brian's mix: 1 Tbsp liquid dish soap + 1 Tbsp olive oil + 1 Litre water. Mix in spray bottle and shake. Keep well shaken while using.
    BOTH products would be sprayed on plants all over (top and underside of leaf) and rinsed off after an hour. Do Not have in sun after these are sprayed on until rinsed off with plain water.

  • kodom087 z9a
    10 years ago

    Hello, Marie.
    Sorry to hear about the loss of so many of your beautiful adeniums as well as everybody's. I spent yesterday trimming off rot off about a total of 8 branches of different adeniums. I did seal the cuts with a very thin layer of wood glue...a tip I've learned from Laura.Luckily I have not lost any of my older adeniums but one rotted branch was getting to close to the grafting point and it already has lack of branching to begin with. I'm paying particularly close attention to this one.
    I did, however, lose a bunch of seedlings. Probably more due to my error of under watering them. Oh, and as I mentioned in my grafting experiment post, I lost both of those I had grafted together.
    While I share your sentiment about trying to refrain from buying more adeniums this year I have a feeling I will cave in to my addiction and go on a hunt for more. Speaking of which, when do you think the best time to visit Chaya's nursery? LOL

    Kirk

  • Marie Tran
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It is very nice to hear from everybody on this thread.

    Kirk, it is still so early to see Chaya's nursery. His plants still in Thailand somewhere.....maybe at the end of April.

    I lost total of 18 plants, plus 11 more with only root stock. In these 11 pots, maybe 3 more will not be save.

    I used Elmer wood glue and it was a big help to many other smaller rots.

    I also lost 1/3 of my crown of thorn collection plants, about 25 pots. Some are big....

    When you have so many and no room to keep them in the winter....I learned my hard lesson.

    This past week was so cold that I didn't even go outside to check on them.

    I hope this weekend with warmer weather, I will snap some pictures to show and tell.

    Marie

  • greenclaws UK, Zone 8a
    10 years ago

    Hi Sharon, no need thanks, had enough of the white stuff last year...give us a break eh? lol. Hope you and your plants have a better season...and everyone else too. Not been posting much as things are quiet I the DR dept currently, the 3 big guys went properly dormant for their first time. and are now breaking into leaf again...thank goodness!

    ...decided to reply to Marlene in a separate thread as I don't want to take over. Really hope your remaining plants are going to be OK Marie...good luck with them, we all know how you love them.
    Gill UK.

  • Pagan
    10 years ago

    Oh, Marie. I had no idea you lost so many. I only have 6 adult adeniums myself and still managed to lose 2, including by favorite one. I learned the hard way that these plants do not recover from frost burn at all.

    I still do look forward to your spring photos, though.

    Pagan

    PS Hello everyone!

  • sam401
    10 years ago

    Hi to all!

    Sam reporting from Cairns Australia.

    We're at the tail end of our summer/wet season over here, and its been particularly hot, wet and soggy due to a few cyclones that have been threatening the coast. None have directly hit here but we got the wind and rain. At one stage it rained for 3 weeks straight!
    I have managed to keep nearly all of them alive by bringing them under cover to avoid them getting water-logged.

    We were going to bring them all indoors last week as there was another cyclone looming but it looks like its going to miss us again and hit somewhere south of us PHEW!!! But we are going to get even more rain though, GREAT!

    Sorry to hear of your losses through your winter.

    Sam

    This post was edited by sam401 on Sat, Mar 8, 14 at 18:30

Sponsored
J.Holderby - Renovations
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars4 Reviews
Franklin County's Leading General Contractors - 2X Best of Houzz!