Tally how cold can it get before the Plumeria freeze? I have 20 plants in 5 gallon pots, stored under an open car port, it got down to 41 degrees this morning. Gary was suppost to go down last Friday, to put them in the garage, but he did not go. My neighbor, is going to move them inside today, when he gets off work. Do you think they will be ok?. I could not put them inside 2 weeks ago, because the soil was soaked, so I put them under the carport to dry out, before I put them inside. These are the smaller plants, I just bought. These include Raspberry Sundeae, Mr. Ambassador, Bill Moragne, Hot Pink, Fabolouse, Broomstick, etc. I am just sick. Barbra

Barbra, I left several well-rooted potted ones outside, along with a big seedling in the ground, when the temps dropped to 33 or 34. Most nights they weren't even covered, just sitting next to the house or a fence on the south side of the house.

I don't recommend taking those chances for newer plants, but I don't think you should worry too much about 40 degrees. They should be fine!

Tally, I pulled up the big seedling just today to get it ready for the 20's in a couple days, and geez the trunk was ice cold! Still, it seems fine so far. Good luck at your appointment--hope it goes your way!

Tally, good luck, I hope your qualify. Wishing you the best! I feel so much better, knowing they can take 41 degrees. The Farmers Almanac said that the Texas coast would be hit with cold weather on Dec 3rd. That is why I dug everything up, I wanted to make sure everything was protected by that date. My neighbor just called to let me know that he moved the 20 small plumeria inside the protected carport. He said it is currently 44 degrees there. The protected carport is set up with 2 overhead lights, and a heater that goes off when it goes below 50 degrees. I am so happy that I already brought in 45 plumeria including all my big plants, and desert roses. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors. Barbra

Well, this time they told me phase I was poverty to moderate income and now it was open to everyone, but I made too much money! At least we don`t have to move or dig up the garden.
My plumeria usually stay out no matter what. I pull in seedlings and move the pots to an area protected from north wind. Most of them are in the ground and I do not dig those. The ones in ground have all their leaves right now, the ones in pots, dropping them like mad. The only time I ever lost, or saw a plumeria in Galveston freeze, was the winter after Ike. I still think the combo of all those stressors-salt water flooding, drought, hard prolonged freeze did them in. Plumeria that were 50 years old died and they had been through worse freezes.
Brought in fig cuttings, bowiea, hoya and a few other really picky tropicals. Supposed to stop raining this morning so I`ll move a few plumeria and some other things. 39 is our predicted low on the island over the next few days, they keep lowering the temp for Houston though so I`ll move more than I normally would at 39. Back to the 70`s on Monday!
Stay warm.
Tally HO!

33 this morning. I still have five in ground.

another front for the weekend. Jim made an area by the coop for some of the plumeria so yesterday on my day off I hauled some of the ones in pots back there.
I have 40, 50? in the ground and they will stay there.
The ones in the ground still haven`t lost their leaves, even the ones in the back where they get blasted with north wind. All the potted ones have lost or are losing their leaves.
It was kind of interesting to see 2 plumeria about the same age and size next to each other, one with no leaves and one with all it`s leaves. The difference between being in the ground and in a pot.
Tally HO!

I left a Samoan Fluff in the ground on a south exposure so I think it will be ok with some frost blankets and Christmas ights when needed. We will see.

I have 3 that just don't fit into the greenhouse anymore but can fit into the garage thanks to very high ceilings (11 feet) and my new dolly. So that dolly will pay off in the first year as I cart them in on cold and rain days and cart them out for days like today. I just have to park outside those cold wet days.

Nice! We have no garage, it went in a hurricane before I bought the house, hit by a tornado.
Hopefully there will be no hard freezes this year.
I have no idea where I would put all the trees if we did, I still do not know how Emerson digs up those giant trees of his. He does have a hoist in his garage, which is unheated.
It isn`t even so much the tall ones but the BIG ones, the ones that are as wide as they are tall.
Tally Ho!

Boy it was nice today 70 degrees. starting Thursday 6-12 inches of snow, up to an inch of ice, highs never above freezing, lows in the single digits and wind chills below 0. yeah this weekend is going to be fun! If we get the ice I'll be busy repairing peoples overhead electric lines to their homes.

Y'all in Texas watch out. Its coming your way.

Mike

Canadian Blast to hit Calif. starting tomorrow night. January tempts are coming in early Dec. Get the socks out! roxanne

For sure Roxanne- lol. It's a cold one tonight. Around 38 at its lowest. Bbrrr

Chuy

Chuy, colder for Thursday night.....good luck, roxanne

I wheeled into the garage 2 Celadines, Lei Rainbow and DSP at about 6am today. The wind shifted blowing all the fog away just as I was leaving and temps had dropped from 68 to 53.

I'll probably rig the portable heaters tonight but not have to use them until tomorrow night. Now onto lesser problems...I haven't winterized the the boat yet. Funny but I think an engine is actually cheaper than the Plumerias now.

Gary is down at the coast, putting up stake covered plastic protection around his citrus trees. I am so glad that I put my plumeria inside already, I just wish I could have covered my torch lilies and crab claw plants, they are still outside in 10 gallon pots. Tonight the snails get Mexican beer, I hope they party tonight. Barbra

just make sure it is not Light Mexican beer...they like the strong stuff. Still waiting to buy snail garland...roxanne

22 degrees, wind chill in the single digits, 3 inches of snow ontop of 1/2" of ice. More snow coming. Tomorrow mornings low will be 8!! Greenhouse was at 57-61 when I left for work. The plumeria in the barn should be at around 45..I hope! havent made it out to them to check but there are 3 heaters so Im sure they are fine.

K, I bet youre right on the motor.

I feel you you all down south. I cant believe its going down that far. Hope you can protect everything!!

mike

It froze here 32F Thanksgiving morning (zn 9a). The temps have since went back up to 50s or more at night but we had several nights in the 40's before that.
I still have many of our 8+ foot plumeria in the ground (pots sunk). Some of the leaves got burnt by frost and turned black but most of the leaves are still green. The plant tips and stems still look good some have inflos starting and one has seed pods.

The weirdest thing is that this year NONE of my plummies are dropping their leaves! Usually they would be having yellow leaves and dropping by now and especially after an especially cold night. We have had several nights into the 40's as well. I don't know what to think...

This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Fri, Dec 6, 13 at 13:30

It has not gone down to 32 degrees yet, today it was 37 the coldest so far. Roxanne, no light beer for my snails. I never thought of snail garland, sounds wonderful. I think I'll paint them purple and gold . LSU fans buy them. Barbra

honeybunny...purple and cobalt go in our house....maybe there is a way to work them into leis for our luau. Your snails seem to be HUGE compared to ours. mahalo, roxanne

31 degrees in my backyard right now. This is my first freeze in 2 years. The small G.H. is still at 53 and the big is at 40.

K, I hope you were able to get all your big plumeria inside, before today. Thank goodness, it did not freeze at the coast. I just looked out my kitchen window and my tomatoes in SA are toast. Barbra

I'm worried. It's 34 right now, this morning. Very early for this kind of cold. My stuff is exposed and naked.

Darn it, Canada, stop sending us your cold air! We were up to 88 degrees last week and then the high temp four days later was 31. Sheesh!

At least all mine are small enough to be just pulled out of the ground and carried to the garage. It's about 40 degrees in there with no heater. Mike, your electric bills must be huge with lows like that and a GH and barn to heat! Stay warm out there!

the gray skies and cold have got to go! Only down to the 40`s here but the wind chill has dropped it to the mid 30`s. too early in the year!

Sultry, I know what you mean, the plumeria in the ground all have the majority of their leaves and act like nothing is going on. Some of the ones in pots are sending out new leaves and blooming! I moved them inside anyway. The inground are staying unless it`s a prolonged hard freeze. A couple of hours of freezing doesn`t seem to really bother them.
Stay warm everyone! No end in sight. It should be in the 70`s this time of year.
Tally HO!

This is sure strange weather hitting everyone. In some ways we have it easier as all of ours have been in for some time. We at least don't have to worry anymore about cold temps. Hope all your plants make out ok and stay warm. Peg

Hi Everybody, I'm in the San Francisco Mid-Peninsula and, needless to say,we had Reaaaaaaaally Cold Temps, also, I took most of my Plumies into my warm living room when I first heard of the temps. drop. I have been doing it since the last couple of years.
All lot of them still have lots of leaves, inflos and buds. I had to leave two, for lack of space, outside by my north back patio window.
I did cover them with old vinyl tablecloths(using the felt side on contact), needless to say the Big One had frost bite anyway! Should I remove the leaves and the inflos now ?
Some of the branches failed the "prick test", should I cut them off or wait until they start "waking up?
Last year "They" started waking up in February!!!! I'll be VERY appreciative if Anyone would answer my post !!!!
Annamaria

Annamaria,
I would remove any leaves and inflos which are frost damaged, curled, yellow, or brown. At this point they have no value anyways and you are just saving yourself the effort of picking them up off the ground in a few days. If you know for sure you have legitimate frost damage to the branches (not just the tips or superficial bark damage) I would also cut back to clean wood right now and seal. Using some pruning shears and wood alcohol to clean the blades.

Something to keep in mind is how deep (or shallow) the damage has manifested itself and your best friend is time and a keen eye. Before you start chopping away I would investigate a bit further with that pin to see how far into the branch it goes before you hit clean wood. Any chance you can take some photos?

Thanks, kms2, what's the difference between ordinary alcohol and wood alcohol? I will take some pictures and send them to your email, I'm a total failure at posting them on the web. Where are you located exactly(9)? I'm supposed to be in zone 9 also.
Very thankful,
Annamaria

In my mind I was saying the same thing as you are thinking. Ethyl Alcohol, Isopropyl alcohol, or "rubbing alcohol."

I'm in San Antonio, TX. I have had some recover from frosted tips without much problem and some that I had to cut areas out. In conjuction with your old table cloth cover which by the way is a great idea (soft insulating thermal break on the inside cover and a water resistant outside) is to put some incandescent Christmas lights among the tips. this generates a small amount of heat which with a good cover can give you a few more degrees of safety.

Here is an in ground plant riding out a cold night with Christmas lights and several layers of fitted sheets and clothes pins.
{{gwi:1225321}}

Even if you can't post the photos they are good for comparing to be sure the damage is not spreading. Usually you can tell in a week or so if there is real damage which the plant cannot manage on its own.

31 last night on the island, I brought in or put under cover all the plumeria in pots, pulled the ones out of the community garden plot-where there is no cover or protection at all and pulled a couple of smaller plumeria from the ground. Ran out of time, Jim covered the dragon fruit and put down frost cloth.

No signs of damage yet, leaves still hanging onto a few of the plumeria. The palms look a tad burned on the edges and some of the brugs have some damaged leaves but I think everything is going to be fine.

Ya`ll stay safe up in the frozen north.
Tally Ho!

amazing how far south this arctic air pushed. I hope you guys and gals in south texas are staying warm.

its frigid here. Hopefully warming back up today.

Mike

Mike,
22 degrees isn't much to complain about in a national context when compared to other places...I guess the good news is the mosquito population will be slow to recover this spring.

I uncovered a Samoan fluff this morning which is still in ground. The leaves are beat up and ugly because I had it bundled with about 5 layers of sheets over the top of a strand of incandescent christmas lights and it rained so things got heavy. But all in all I did not see any cold damage to the tips, branches and seed pods.

I didn`t cover any of the plumeria in ground. Low 29, wind chill 13. We had at least 8 hours total below freezing over the two nights. Today it is sunny and 60`s.

The brugmansia, gingers, bananas, one passionvine, clerodendrums and a couple of palms are not happy but minimal damage.

Plumeria, no damage whatsoever. The one I was most worried about, no protection from the wind, north part of the yard, is actually sending out new leaves!!!

The ones in the house are all starting to send out new growth.

come on spring!
Tally HO!

Oh, my gosh, Tally! That's a huge cold front for you! Did your plants make it okay?

Mike, you must've been so busy with all the power lines being overloaded! Hope you all are thawing out.

K, glad that your Samoan Fluff made it through. All my brugs that were outside froze to the soil line. I hope that's the last big freeze for us!