Frost Damage to Garden Plants – What to Do……..

The winter of 2010 & Jan 2011 will be remembered for the severe frosts, snow and bitter biting winds.

The other key feature is that this severe frost remained for many days & weeks and continued to penetrate plants and garden soil to a greater depth night after night causing further damage and in many cases killing plants totally.

When the temperature level drops below -5 Celsius, some shrubs can be affected such as fuchsia. Pittorspornum, libertia grasses, below -10 Celsius, many others are damaged, such as cordyline, griselinia and phormium.

Temperature levels dropped to minus -16°Celsius in some places in the first two weeks of 2010 and early Jan 2011 and perhaps a degree or two lower in others. This is very cold - these temperatures are plumbed only every fifteen or twenty years, and then only for an exceptional night or two.

But the big freeze saw low temperatures last for a week and more, without thaw, depending on location. When this happens real damage is done to plant tissues. They freeze and the ice crystals slowly grow, just as the ice thickens on a lake, and eventually the ice bursts the cells and the cells die.

Very often this damage appears as dried out leaves, or mushy leaves, but sometimes the damage is done inside the plant, in the buds or in the cambial layer, that slippery layer of cells between bark and wood. Some damage will not be evident until growth begins in mid march / April.

What to do:

To establish whether there is life still in a plant - simply scrape back the bark on the main stems of the plant checking a number of areas along the main stem from top to toe on the plant. Scrape back the brown stem to check for green healthy wood under the bark. Where green coloured stems are present there is a good chance this plant will re shoot. If however the stems are brown or black, and brittle there is every chance this plants has failed.

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Key Steps

1. Check the main stem for green healthy colouration under the bark.
2. Where green colouration is present cut back to this area in mid March.
3. Apply a dressing of Supergrow fertiliser in early spring & repeat in early summer.

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Where brittle and brown stems appear

1. Cut the dead & damaged plants back to healthier wood / stems in mid march
2. Wait for new growth to appear in Mid April – Many plants like Fuchsia and Escallonia will re shoot from the base ( at or near ground level)
3. When growth appears feed entire hedge with Supergrow fertiliser in Early spring & repeat dressing in early summer.
4. If in doubt leave the plant alone until late spring and check for signs of new growth.

            Click here to view our Supergrow Fertiliser

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