Cold and, above all, frost can cause significant damage to the most sensitive plants, to the point that its leaves can be burned. If that happens, unfortunately most of the time they end up rotting all its parts: the branches, the trunk and the roots.
Can anything be done to avoid it? Yes of course, but we have to act as soon as possible. So that, let's know how to recover frozen plants.
Identify the symptoms of cold in your plants
Echeveria 'Curly Locks' with red spots on the leaves from cold.
To know if a plant is frozen, the first thing we have to do is, of course, identify it. We must observe how are you after a few cold days. Sometimes it will be enough to have a bad time one night so that the next day it looks bad, but it can happen -especially in palms- that the damages are not shown until the good weather returns.
What are those cold symptoms? Basically the following:
- Appearance of yellow spots on the leaves (occurs in the Cycas recently bought), or reddish.
- Cacti and succulents turn reddish.
- The leaves dry out, having brown spots that quickly turn black.
What can be done to get them back?
Once we have identified the symptoms of cold in the plants, we have to start doing some things in order to recover them as soon as possible. A) Yes, with scissors previously disinfected with pharmacy alcohol we have to cut all those parts that are affected. Cacti and succulent plants will only be treated if they are soft, in which case we will proceed to cut to their health with a previously disinfected knife, and let the wound dry for a week and then plant it in a pot with a sandy substrate (such as pumice).
We also have to do is protect plants, either inside the house in a room where a lot of light comes in from outside, inside a greenhouse or by wrapping them with a thermal blanket first and then with transparent plastic. Around the trunks we can put a mulch of leaves or bark so that their roots can better withstand the conditions. This way, if there is frost again they will hardly notice it.
Last it is highly advisable that we treat them with fungicide. Fungi are microorganisms that will not hesitate to infect a plant that is weak. But if we treat them with this product, we can be calm.
With these tips, plants are sure to come out ahead.