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Freeze warning for overnight

Posted by sujiwan 6 MD (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 26, 12 at 18:09

After this unprecedented run of long-lasting hot weather, all my shrub roses are in lush leaf. Temps are expected to dip into the high 20's to low 30's for several hours. What will happen to these roses in early leaf? They are too big to cover with what I have available.

What are we rose growers with these conditions going to do to help the plants after the freeze(s) that are still to come before May?


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

All my plants are totally leafed out. I'm not doing anything. It happens, the plants recover.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

I'm stressing about it a little bit, but whatever leaves die back will regrow. If I had wilt pruf I'd use it. I guess I'd be more worried if there were buds on my ramblers. I just don't have the energy to cover 60 bushes.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

The critical temperature is around 27-28 for typical roses.

New shoots that are frozen will wilt somewhat right away and develop dark centers after a few days.

Wilt Pruf is not supposed to help with deciduous plants. It helps evergreens get through periods when the roots can't take up moisture because the ground is frozen.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

  • Posted by RpR_ none (My Page) on
    Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 10:47

When I have plants that must be covered, but only have so many covers with a hard freeze (low twentys) being forecast, I ofen water them heavily as the wet ground and rising water mist helps ward off freezing.

I use old sheets, blankets and mattress pads for overnight cover.
Mattress pads work extremely well.
Car covers,for large vehicles work well also, and are the expense, if you have to cover large areas.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

I covered mine... Aphids has already gotten to it poor thing and i have been trying to get rid of those pesky burgers.. So I covered my rose :)


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

I had no way to prepare for this. I just started re-growing this year after many years of non-gardening. Totally taken off-guard, have nothing at home to help. They few I just planted hardly had leafed out yet; in fact only one of them could even be considered in that state. So I'm hoping for the best. I think the low overnight in my area was about 30 and they looked ok this morning *fingers crossed*


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

New spring foliage contains lots of sugar which is a natural antifreeze. Mom Nature takes care of her own!


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

as long as the roses (or any other frozen plants) are not east facing, they will gradually thaw without cell death. The risk arises from a too fast thaw in easterly aspects. Even so, there will be new growth along, just a bit late for the blooming. Happens a lot in the UK where we can still get hit by killer frosts as late as June.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

  • Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
    Wed, Mar 28, 12 at 21:17

We got down to about 27 and I had a handful of leaves that looked wilted but that was all. The only things I covered were my 3 hydrangeas because if the tips die I lose all my bloom for the season. The roses will bounce back.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

Gezzy petes I forgot to cover for the freeze warnings last night, we also have them for tomorrow and my rose is finally starting to produce blooms...


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

We had this in 2007, after a very warm winter, early spring most of my roses were blooming or had buds. Then for two successive nights April 6-7 it went down to 25 degrees. It was also Easter that year. I lost not only most of the buds, but my two Japanese Maples were badly damaged, my hydrangeas were toast.

I would water well and if you have non-led christmas lights, you could string them around your roses. They do heat up and can increase the temp around a plant by 1-2 degrees, which could make a huge difference. It's the temp and the # of hours at that temp that cause the damage. I wouldn't worry about 28 and above. It's when it gets below that you get damage.


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

Thanks buford!


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RE: Freeze warning for overnight

A couple of my roses have leaves that look crispy now since the freezes and some wilting too. Yikes, and I even covered a couple of them and they still look wilty. Hope they recover well!


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