Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
lsoh_ohzone5

What to do with plants? Ground frozen

lsoh
10 years ago

I live in zone 5, but Bay Laurel sent my blackberry order (placed in December or January). The ground is frozen solid. These are 2 bare root blackberries. 10" sticks with good root systems. Roots wrapped in a plastic bag.

My first thought is to temporarily put them in small pots. (I intend to pot them in the long run anyway.) As is typical for us in the winter, I can't open the doors to the shed where I keep the pots and potting soil until the weather warms up. I could buy new pots and more potting soil. But that seems like a waste of money and it kinda torques me because bay laurel shouldn't have sent the plants this early.

Can I wrap both plants (the entire plant for cleanliness in the fridge) in plastic and put them in the fridge?

The forecasted lows for the next 10 days are 37, 6,17, 34, 22, 18, 19, 28, 25, 28,
The forecasted highs for the next 9 days are 37, 21, 48, 41, 30, 29, 43, 40, 43
Can I just keep the whole bundle in an unheated garage?

Other ideas?

Thanks.

Comments (4)

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    Bay Laurel doesn't have cold storage. They can't hold the plants as well as you can with your colder weather. Any option you mentioned will work. Hold them as close to freezing as possible but don't let them freeze. Even if they do freeze but not much below 32 they would likely be OK.

    So your shed is froze shut? Hopefully you'll thaw out soon!!

  • hairmetal4ever
    10 years ago

    If it were me (and my wife didn't complain too much) I'd stick them in the fridge. Best way to keep them dormant until you can plant.

    As far as them sending them early, if they had waited, the plants would have leafed out - Bay Laurel is in a zone 9 climate IIRC and I'm surprised they're even still dormant now, to be honest.

    This post was edited by hairmetal4ever on Tue, Mar 11, 14 at 13:59

  • lsoh
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks guys. Saved me a trip and $.

    Let me explain the shed. There's a cement ramp in front of the doors. The ground freezes and expands. The ramp heaves up. The doors can't swing open. When the ground thaws, the ramp returns to normal. Usually not a problem because we store the lawn mower and yard stuff in there. Don't need that stuff in the winter.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    10 years ago

    I had to break up the ice in front of my shed to get in. Most of the snow has thawed now, but 10 inches expected, and cold weather again. I have 2 blueberries from Bay Laurel. I put them in pots, and in the south window. Well they are outside right now, it's kinda warm today and cloudy, so start the acclimation Also a blackberry stick, is in the south window, The blueberries are in about 5 gallon pots, they will stay in there this year. I knew they were coming as I signed up for the free UPS service that alerts you to deliveries. Plus Bay Laurel sent info too. One blueberry had a weak root system, I'm a little worried it will not make it. The other is great! Yeah the weak one looks like the soil was wet too long, and when it got here most of the roots were ripped away from the plant in the mail, or rotted from too much water. So it's hurting big-time. The other was just moist not soaked and was fine. I have the proper mycorrhizae fungi for blueberries, so applied it, hopefully it will help the plant recover. I'll also add beneficial bacteria when I have more plants to apply it too. I can put the extra in the garden, but it has to be growing season! I don't know how much the beneficial bacteria really help, but they are cheap, and certainly can't hurt. I'm trying bacteria as fungicides this year too. Actinovate is the product.

Sponsored
Hoppy Design & Build
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars9 Reviews
Northern VA Award-Winning Deck ,Patio, & Landscape Design Build Firm