Return to the Hydrangea Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
Posted by
Springwood_Gardens SW PA 6A (
My Page) on
Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 14:42
| Ouch...Looks like last night was a disaster for the hydrangeas and lots of other plants. Blankets and other coverings did NOTHING. I worked the night shift and when I got home, every leaf on everything was frozen solid right down to the ground!
This was reported to have been a near certainty from OH through PA, MD, DE, NJ, and parts of NY.
I've only owned my own property for a handful of years and don't recall the plants ever having gotten hit that hard.
My dumb question is: If all the leaves on everything are now darker green and completely limp, is the growth done for or does it need to be completely shriveled up to a crisp to be considered so? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| Oh my lord. So sorry to hear that. Reminds me of a time when I lived in Atlanta and about a quarter of the trees were lost when temps suddenly dipped hard. Frost damage is different on every plant out there and may not be obvious until many weeks or months later. It is common for damaged new growth looks mushy and wet; this look can then turn to a scorched look, a bleached look or even a brown look. It is more hard to tell on old growth. Regardless what happens, this problem usually does not kill hydrangeas. You may end up with ugly leaves for a while but new growth should start in several weeks! Keep them mulched with 3-4" of mulch up to the drip line and maintain the soil evenly moist. Do not add fertilizer while the plant recovers. |
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| Yes, Atlanta had an "Easter freeze" several years ago (and other places did too). Plants that are hardy anyway will eventually resprout new leaves from dormant buds. They may be ugly for a little while, but they will come back. Don't cut anything back until you see new growth. I'm sorry! |
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| Good to hear. I was worried that I may not get blooms this year. I didn't think such a light frost would cause damage but it did. Here is a pic of my damage from 31 degrees for about 3 hours: 
|
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| Unfortunately, my hydrangeas look even worse. The temperature fell to 27 degress in Spencerville, MD. The smaller leaves were damaged the most. I was watching the temperature all morning and it just going down, even after daylight began. Very sad. |
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| I feel a little lucky (not really). Covered mine with burlap but here in NE Ohio it went down to 26. I obviously had some damage but not as bad as I was expecting. Similar to the pic above. |
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| My hydrangea got really zapped here in ct after leafing so early due to the warm weather- about 20 plants in all. Lots of Nikkos, and 8 endless summers. The leaves have turned brown already. I know the plants will survive, and I've probably lost most if not all the blooms, but can anyone tell me if I should cut back, to where, and when? TIA |
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
| Yes, that is a good question. More specifically, if the stems coming out of each bud were killed part way but not the whole way down to the bud itself, would the stem still grow back to form a bloom? I'm saying this because it looks like for most people (myself included), that there seemed to have been no actual bud kill, just some growth that had already come from the buds. |
RE: Last Night's Hard Freeze - Central Atlantic region
| | |
- Posted by pippi21 Z7 Silver Spring, Md (My Page) on
Thu, Mar 29, 12 at 18:49
| Spencerville, Md. gardener..mine got hit hard too..Do you think we should cover up tonight too? I planted creeping phlox and calif. poppies yesterday and they look ok today. I had wanted to try to plant some of the others out that need to come out of the WS milk jugs. I have lots of larger nursery pots that I can use to cover the newly planted ones up overnight. |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in.
If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Hydrangea Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
