Maureen tell me you are not "So depressed" about losing some tomato and pepper plants?

I understand about 21 degrees being low but they are only plants.

If you do this again next year add a heat source like Christmas lights. I have a new portable greenhouse with tomato and pepper plants. I even put one of my fig trees in there. I have supplemental lighting during th day and Christmas lights on at night. Today I picked out a portable heater but did not buy it yet. After reading your post I have decided to buy it now rather than waiting till next month.

Buck up girl and pull yourself together. Spring comes early in Arizona and your season will start all over again.

Well, it's not just the peppers and tomatos, although that hurt after putting up the greenhouse in the hope of harvesting all those green tomatos later. The broccoli and cabbages also suffered a lot of damage, and the peas. Not to mention my jasmine, a geranium, all the lovely marigolds, and a bunch of lantana. I know they're just plants but I'm a new gardener and they represent a lot of time, effort, and money so it's hard to see them go, or hurt. Thank god I brought the adenium in.

--Maureen

About four years ago it got cold here and a bunch of my neighbors lost trees. I watered and covered ever tree and did not even lose a branch. I put a lot of time money and effort into preparing a garden for next year. Which includes the greenhouse and raised beds. If everything dies do to a cold snap I will be kicking myself for taking half measures. I'm sure my wife would be upset at me too but I would not be depressed. I'm sure thats not what you really meant either.

It looks like we are going to have a cold winter everyone. If temps are expected to get cold at night don't stop at just covering everything. Add a heat source.

Here is a link that might be useful: Publication AZ 1002 Frost Protection

Wow, 21, where do you live? I live in the East Mesa area and it was in the upper 30's.
If it would have gotten that cold here I would have been kicking myself since I had Christmas lights on a lot of my new frost sensitive trees but didn't have them on since I didn't think it would get that cold here.
Your post was a good wake up call for me. Today, I finished hooking up more lights and cut more frost cloth to size and have it by the plants ready to go.
I too made a little temporary greenhouse out of sheet plastic and T posts. It is on the West side of my house so it picks up some solar gain late in the day and I also put a 120 watt flood light in a holder that sticks in the ground in there for heat. Hopefully that will be enough.
Sorry to hear about your plants. That has to be very frustrating.

Agility mom, I live in Marana, which is just north of Tucson. We are a few hundred feet lower than most of Tucson, and I figure the cold air must flow down to the valley floor and pool here, because it will frequently freeze here when most of Tucson doesn't.

Thanks for the sympathy. :-)

--Maureen

Sorry to hear about your losses...I can totally relate because I'm new to gardening, too, and I also lost a tomato plant and a basil to the cold, even though I had them both covered with frost cloth! However, I suspect they were both a bit 'weak' to begin with, since 2 other tomato and basil plants close to the 'frostbitten' ones had no problems getting through at all. It's funny because I'd never really seen frost damage before; but the physical damage immediately and strangely reminded me of watching documentaries on Mt. Everest hikers who had frostbite...that same weird darkness of limbs. Sorry to be macabre but it really did strike me as odd!
Fortunately, my strawberries, carrots, spinach, and peppers also survived (so far). Tonight and tomorrow night will be another trial. But I do live in central phoenix where it's generally supposed to stay a little warmer than the outlying areas. We'll see. Good luck to you, Maureen...hope your remaining plants make it through! :)

Oh, one more thing. I remember watching Channel 3's Garden Guy, and he said if you have a plant that's not completely ruined from frost damage, that it's important to not cut off the damaged limbs, because they actually help keep the remaining health part of the plant warm. So, it's a bit counter-intuitive!

I've been covering peppers and tomatoes every winter for the past several years. I usually loose some outer leaves and leave them on the plant until I am sure there will be no more frost.
Unless you have a really good greenhouse those unripe tomatoes probably would not ripen anyway in the cooler temps. Fried green tomatoes are delicious!
As to watering, I've heard this helps, but I also have concerns for smaller plants like peppers - mainly being that the roots get water soaked and since the plants are not growing and there it little evaporation, there is a good chance of killing the plant with too much water -I've lost some peppers in winter from fungus because of this. The other issue is that the water will evaporate on cold dry nights which can increase change of frosting when it is not below 32F.

How long does it take frost/freeze damage to "show up" after it occurs? I cover my most sensitive plants, but I don't bother with stuff like the big bouganvilla behind the pool. I'm sure it took a hit last night, but how soon will it be obvious how much damage there is? I would guess it'll appear more quickly on "soft" plants and take longer to show on woody plants, trees, etc?

sparkly - usually you see it by the morning after, when the leaves look darker than usual and then they droop or wither.

Don't prune anything until next spring - the dead stuff acts as a protective layer for the inner parts.

Thanks, LG. I actually hadn't done a "walkaround" before I posted that, but I just did. There is indeed visible damage on the big bougie behind the pool, and (interestingly) the south side of my remaining cherry tomato. The tomato is on the west-facing wall, and the south side of the plant is no more exposed than the north side.

Everything out front (west of the house) looks fine, including a bougie there and my orchid tree, which has lights in it, but not to the tips of the branches. I provided zero protection for last spring's hot pepper on the south side of the house, not even water, and it's untouched too. Microclimates are interesting!

It got down to 17 degrees last night here in Marana. We must have set a record. My losses are mounting. :-(

--Maureen

Thats terrible piranhafem. With those kinds of temps its really hard to keep frost sensitive plants alive. Even trees like Citrus and figs can be killed with those kinds of temps.

My greenhouse heater has not arrived yet. I have a 400 watt HPS in the greenhouse running all night for heat. Its lighting up the whole yard. Its like a lighthouse in the backyard more than a greenhouse. I don't care what the neighbors think. I have tomatoes and peppers and a fig tree in there.

Yep. Darkened, wilty leaves. I had damage to the top bits of my tomato, basil, and pepper...but I think they could all make a comeback with the remaining healthy parts. At least I hope so.

Unfortunately, my Pachypodium (aka 'Maddy') has the worst damage (from last night) that I've seen. But I'm assuming she'll just drop her leaves eventually, go dormant, and come back in the spring just like last year. She's such a beautiful, perfectly-shaped plant...she's GOT to be OK! lol...

I've had healthy peppers frozen to the ground re sprout from the 1" remaining stem. Even if the pepper does not loose much, it will be better if it is trimmed back a bit after the last frost.

Unlike peppers I've never had much good with 2nd season tomatoes. The seem to do better as new spring plantings.

I had peppers growing in a home made outdoor hydroponic unit all year. Its really hard to kill a pepper, especially when its getting 130 gph of nutrients flowing over its roots 24/7

Maureen, where in Marana are you located? In continental reserve we only hit high 20s...the hibiscus got walloped, but the only other plants showing even minor damage were Yucca recurvifolia and Caesalpinia pulcherrima.

Ugh, sorry for the plant losses. They can be a bit depressing can't they? For some reason, my little garden hasn't had a frost since Dec 26, 2007 (yes, I keep track along with precipitation, LOL--I think it's a combination of my garden being slightly sloped and my neighborhood being very sloped and near a very large wash that channels heavy cold air away) but I'm sure one is coming, and I've been a very, very naughty boy planting quite a few frost sensitive plants over the last couple of years. For now, even my basil looks good, but I know my turn is coming some time soon. I always tell myself to ONLY plant things a zone hardier than I need, but tender stuff sneaks in to my garden (okay, I help it a bit).

Frost damage usually shows up within a day or two, and like others have said, it's usually black and wilted foliage.

Good luck and may Jack Frost stay away from all of us!
Grant

Melt, I am a long way downhill and downriver from Continental Reserve, north of Marana Rd. amidst the cotton fields. It's amazing how much colder it can get here, easily 10 degrees colder than higher elevation areas of Marana. I have learned my lesson and will no longer bring any plants that aren't hardy down to 15 degrees onto the property! I don't think my little navel orange tree is going to survive, or my sago palm. :-(

--Maureen

If you can't grow oranges, maybe you can grow apples. They need a freeze. Or any of the other stuff that grows in the higher altitudes in Arizona. Just a thought.

Hey Dorothy, I do have a little apple tree, variety Anna, that I planted just over a year ago. It seems to be doing well, although it did not set any fruit its first spring. I am very curious to see if I will get any apples this year. I also have an established nectarine tree. It bore a ton of fruit this summer but it was so sour I couldn't eat it plain/raw, had to cook it with lots of sugar. Even if I never manage to get sweet fruit from it, it's a gorgeous tree and I will enjoy it for its decorative qualities.

A neighbor down the road has a mature pear tree that bore TONS of the most delicious, Bartlett-type pears this fall. I covet that tree!!

--Maureen

Reviving this thread to sympathize. We had virtually no winter here in Upstate, SC this year and a very early spring. Up came my hibiscus, tall and lovely; up came my lantana as bright and bushy as ever as well as most everything else. Temps in the high 80's many days. Then, a frost and freeze for two nights in a row and now my hibiscus is dark and damanged, my lantana is shriveled and stunted and the tops of other things are singed and almost black. I, too, am depressed after all the work and $$ I put in my new gardens last year and the high hopes I had for this year. Will they come back? I do not know (and I'm sure my son being in Boot Camp heightens my sadness over losing plants--LOL!) but yes, depressed a bit here as well.

Oh, no, I'm so sorry!
I just got 7 little tropical hibiscus ups tonight. I'm going to have to baby them this year since their so small and special. This weekend will be a little too chilly for them with a low of 45 and windy.
I was so excited that they arrived in such good shape.
So sorry for your loss and good luck to your son.
I'm a retired, disabled veteran.