Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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Glen
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by Glen »

Ophiuchus wrote:Good morning, I hope your plants weathered well. I have leaf burn on all my plants, in ground and in pots. With the exception of Fernleaf and Chinese Goddess that are in 3gal pots. Burned leaf species include Graceful, Emerald, Kanapaha, Asian Lemon, Blue Chugii, Old Hamii and Contracta.

I haven't notice too much top kill yet on in ground plants, how long does it take to die off? I've got my fingers crossed new leaves will emerge after this brutal storm.

Can you still divide culms that have been top killed?
Leaf damage can be assessed fairly thoroughly within a few days, once the temperatures are warmer. It may take longer to see how much damage was done to dormant buds. Sometimes unbranched culms stay green for years after a freeze, but their buds were killed, so they can never produce leaves. The forms of B. textilis and B. chungii are pretty good at losing their leaves without receiving permanent damage. The others you mentioned seem less hardy. I have no experience with B. contracta.

If the culm has any green left, you should be able to use it for a division. If the branch buds were killed, the plant will be less vigorous at first. Especially with divisions like this, it is important to divide before any growth starts. I once made divisions just shortly after growth had started, and the dividions really suffered (but they did live). Basically, they will have enough carbohydrate reserves and rhizome buds for one good surge of growth in the spring. If you damage that flush, they will have a much harder time, and be weak for a while.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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For the temperate species, don't be deceived by leaves that hang on, if the color changes to more of a sage even though they hang on they are likely done for. It can take weeks for the leaves to drop, you think they are fine and then one morning you go out and they are all gone.

I have seen culled culms in a brush pile unroll their leaves weeks after I cut them down.
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mshaffer
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by mshaffer »

I guess I will have some nice moso poles after this storm is over :/
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Glen
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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needmore wrote:For the temperate species, don't be deceived by leaves that hang on, if the color changes to more of a sage even though they hang on they are likely done for. It can take weeks for the leaves to drop, you think they are fine and then one morning you go out and they are all gone.

I have seen culled culms in a brush pile unroll their leaves weeks after I cut them down.
With my tropicals, it just takes a day or two of weather in the 60's or 70's to see the damage. Leaves will either curl or bleach to a light color right away. Sometimes the curled leaves are alright, and they will flatten back out when the weather warms. Leaves that are burned will sometimes only loose their tips and/or margins. Any leaves that are damaged too badly fall off promptly (usually the first windy day after temperatures warm).

The difficulty I have is in assessing damage to culms, branches, and buds. Buds can look fine, but be dead. I have also seen it take a long time for dead culms to loose all of their green color.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by mshaffer »

Hmm, looks like most of my Moso is intact this morning. I guess I've been using Dulles Airport's temperatures and they are colder than where I am.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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Also in my experience with temperates having some degree of culm damage, even if the leaf buds are undamaged mine did not releaf until well after shoots emerged which suggests that the shoots emerged based on culm energy so I could not connect the dots between limiting downsize by having viable leaf buds. Perhaps others see something different but I remember it taking weeks after shooting for the leaf buds to fire on damaged culms.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by Alan_L »

I remember that in my garden some species elongate the leaf buds before shooting, and some after. I can't remember if defoliation changes that, but this post from April 18, 2014 seems to indicate that it's the same:

http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com/2 ... overy.html

(For me the Ph. aureosulcata family shoots right around this time, and Ph. bissetii is already well under way.)
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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Here is a photo I took today after a rain, these are Koi branches/culms I cut 3-4 weeks ago and tossed on the brushpile, they have been in full sun with temps in the mid 60's, the rain unrolled them and they are still green.
koitrim.JPG
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by Ophiuchus »

Leaves are dropping and I'm putting the water to the plants heavily. The plants look bad, but I think it is just cosmetic until new leaves come out. I'll just have to wait and see if I've suffered any losses. Tonight is the last of hard freezes for a little while anyway.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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Sounds like the tropical forms waste no time dropping leaves. For comparison it will be interesting to see how long Alan's, Steve's hang on.
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Glen
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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needmore wrote:Also in my experience with temperates having some degree of culm damage, even if the leaf buds are undamaged mine did not releaf until well after shoots emerged which suggests that the shoots emerged based on culm energy so I could not connect the dots between limiting downsize by having viable leaf buds. Perhaps others see something different but I remember it taking weeks after shooting for the leaf buds to fire on damaged culms.
Because tropicals shoot so late, they will always start releafing before they shoot, if leaf buds are still alive. If they get too much top damage, they will produce early "survival shoots", but these will still be preceded by some growth of foliage buds.

My experience with this is not extensive, but I would say that tropicals can up-size in years when they loose most of their leaves, as long as bud, branch, and culm damage is not severe. As I mentioned above, this seems to apply to some species more than others. Also, because shooting for tropicals occurs mostly during summer through fall, their ultimate performance is heavily reliant on the current year's growing conditions.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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needmore wrote:Here is a photo I took today after a rain, these are Koi branches/culms I cut 3-4 weeks ago and tossed on the brushpile, they have been in full sun with temps in the mid 60's, the rain unrolled them and they are still green.
I have seen something like this when thinning live culms from running bamboos during the warm season. Their leaves hold on for quite a while. I think this also applies to tropical bamboos at this time of year. I have never had to contend with temperatures cold enough to kill mature temperate bamboos, so your observations are pretty interesting to me.
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Glen
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

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Ophiuchus wrote:Leaves are dropping and I'm putting the water to the plants heavily. The plants look bad, but I think it is just cosmetic until new leaves come out. I'll just have to wait and see if I've suffered any losses. Tonight is the last of hard freezes for a little while anyway.
One thing to watch out for.....
When these plants loose most of their leaves this early, they really want to grow more leaves. This will encourage them to take advantage of warm spells by producing new leaves from dormant buds during warm spells in winter. If these buds get a hard freeze after they have started to emerge, they are particularly freeze sensitive. If you loose these buds, it will be much more harmful to the plants than if they get to keep those buds. Because the rootballs on potted plants will warm a lot during the day, they are extra prone to this early growth. If you do get a hard freeze after this growth has started, I recommend protecting potted plants, in order to minimize this potential damage. It is not a life or death situation, but it may make a difference if you are trying to maximize production or aesthetic appeal of sale plants.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by pokenei »

After consecutive weeks with highs of -10s and lows of -20s (-30 at its lowest + windchill), there's finally a break. +2 high today. Talking in degrees Celsius.

I am pretty sure all leaves are fried, but seeing the leaves partially uncurl today gives a tiny bit of joy and false hope. Realistically, the best I'm hoping for is that my bamboos can partially releaf in June, but top kill is expected.
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Re: Tips for this weeks FREEZE

Post by Ophiuchus »

Glen wrote:
Ophiuchus wrote:Leaves are dropping and I'm putting the water to the plants heavily. The plants look bad, but I think it is just cosmetic until new leaves come out. I'll just have to wait and see if I've suffered any losses. Tonight is the last of hard freezes for a little while anyway.
One thing to watch out for.....
When these plants loose most of their leaves this early, they really want to grow more leaves. This will encourage them to take advantage of warm spells by producing new leaves from dormant buds during warm spells in winter. If these buds get a hard freeze after they have started to emerge, they are particularly freeze sensitive. If you loose these buds, it will be much more harmful to the plants than if they get to keep those buds. Because the rootballs on potted plants will warm a lot during the day, they are extra prone to this early growth. If you do get a hard freeze after this growth has started, I recommend protecting potted plants, in order to minimize this potential damage. It is not a life or death situation, but it may make a difference if you are trying to maximize production or aesthetic appeal of sale plants.
The plants look rough, but I think most will survive if not all. Although there has been leaf loss, there are still plenty hanging in there. Some of the leaves that were curled have flattened back out, but the leaves have turned a darker brownish green.

As I am new to planting anything cold sensitive, I don't remember the winters being very bad here. I'm curious to see how long it takes for total replacement of leaves. I hope I can consider this storm to be as bad as can be expected.
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