Cold Damage

[Borgy230]

Well I am seeing a little bit of cold damage here and there, its very obvious some varieties handle the cold well, and some dont!
First is Compte De Germini
Second is Sweet Marie
Third is J. Coppinger
fourth is Thanksgiving

 

[Borgy230]

And in the meantime, other crotons like this Franklin Roosevelt are doing awesome!!!

 

[Phil Stager]

you got off pretty well so far - some assorted pics from tonight:
1. aughhhh, what was a nice Frank Brown in the middle; defoliated Tortise Shell at left
2. ...and panning one foot to the right, all's well
3. ...and panning one foot to the left of #1, uglyyyy

4. These plants on the north side had not recovered from last year; two more pics of this part of the yard in the next post since I'm outa pic space here.

 

[Phil Stager]

..and here's two in that north part of the yard, fried Crysophylum and a toasted John Bender.

last two are in part of yard exposed to north winds:
3. defoliated Mortii and a soon to be be defoliated Queen Victoria
4. same drooped QV seen through healthy Dr Tang to left and colorful Picturatum at right.

pics taken tonight

 

[Crazy for Crotons]

Phil, there's the droopiness we talked about on the phone. In doing some checking and repotting the wilted plants, I noticed the main problem is an underdeveloped rootball that is more susceptible to cold damage. This is more often the case in recent air layers or cuttings that have rooted but are not well established. In a one gallon container, these are particularly easily damaged. I've pulled most of the leaves from these wilted plants in an attempt to minimize the moisture transpiration from the leaves. The plants look less wilted now since they have less leaves to try and feed.

I threw the root rot theory out the window as all the exposed roots looked healthy during the repotting process. My wilted plants are in a wide variety of potting mixes from moist to some that dry out quickly so there's no correlation between having wilted plants and soggy soil.

 

[Phil Stager]

Except for the terminally wimpy varieties, I agree completely. A good solid well-established root system is required for cold tolerance. ..and by cold tolerance, I mean anything under 45F; wind is another matter, although without a good root system, same problem.

 

[Moose]

Well I am seeing a little bit of cold damage here and there, its very obvious some varieties handle the cold well, and some dont!
First is Compte De Germini
Second is Sweet Marie
Third is J. Coppinger
fourth is Thanksgiving

Rob - I am not totally convinced yours is simply cold damage as I believe your garden temps are warmer than mine. I think you may be seeing wind burn damage with a bit of Brrrrrrrrrr added.

Phil - my Queen Victoria has gotten pretty beaten up as well, just not as severe as yours.

No moe cold fronts, you Tampa Bay guys and gals need a reprieve!!!

 

[ScotTi]

And in the meantime, other crotons like this Franklin Roosevelt are doing awesome!!!

Here is a pic taken today of my Franklin Roosevelt. Killed to the ground in the freeze of last Jan. Looks to be laughing at the cold this year.

 

[Moose]

Scott - another year in the ground made the difference. A stronger root system that like Phil mentioned earlier in this thread.

Jan. 15 - just 45 days to go and we should be out of the harsher cold fronts!

 

[ScotTi]

Ron, I have noticed a 100% improvement of the inground plantings this winter. I did no new inground planting after Aug. A good established root system is needed up here in the cold zone. I have plenty in pots waiting for a spring planting.

 

[junglegal]

I've been to scared to plant any of mine yet. I keep hauling them in and out of the greenhouse. I know that won't be possible very long. The only one I put in the ground earlier this year was Rudy Bachmann and it's not got a leaf on it! My AFD #5 in the ground has looked worse previous years, only about 20 defoliation so far.

 

[Jeff Searle]

Hang in there people, I think the light just might be at the end of the tunnel(??).

 

[ScotTi]

Hang in there people, I think the light just might be at the end of the tunnel(??).

The light is always at the end of the tunnel, but how long is this tunnel?

Hit 70f today untill the clouds came in from the west and by afternoon back in the low 60s ​

The Gulf waters in the 50s do not help when the seabreeze rolls in.

 

[Moose]

I find it truly amazing that the gulf waters temperatures have dropped so much after how warm they were just back in Sept.