Freezing bulbs: Duration vs. low temperature
Peter Taggart (Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:07:04 PST)
Plants kept on the dry side survive frost much better than those which are
wet. Massonias, Alstromerias,Freesias, Lachenalias, Ferrarias, Ixias.....
can survive down to minus 15 c provided that they are fairly dry. Yes they
do suffer from the drought, but they survvived for me this way. Minus 18 c
in an even colder winter did more damage and few of the frozen bulbs of a
more tender nature survived. That year the frost also came with less
warning and the plants were wetter. If plants are turgid they are a lot
less frost hardy from Loderi Rhododendrons to Opuntias to Alstromerias.
Peter (UK)
On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 8:21 PM, Nathan Lange <plantsman@comcast.net> wrote:
Don't forget to water your plants. Plants are generally more
susceptible to cold damage if they are also water stressed. Cold
weather arrives with dry air and this has certainly been the case
this past week in California. I watered a lot of dry plants
yesterday. Remember to water early in the day and keep all water off
the foliage at night. Any water left on leaves at night can freeze
and do significant damage. The alternative is to pretend that you are
growing citrus and run the water overhead all night long to keep the
temperature of the ice from going too far below freezing. Of course,
controlled water stress *prior* to cold can generate some beneficial
tolerance to cold temperatures in some species but this should not be
confused with water stress *during* the cold period.