Hardy Plants and Cold Weather Don't Always Mix

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Hardy Plants and Cold Weather Don't Always Mix

Filed under: Plant

By: Tom Fryd

Many people love to put their houseplants outside for the summer. A problem
arises when they forget to mark the calendar and bring the plants inside before
the temperatures begin to drop. Plus plants need to acclimate to the new
surroundings.

If the plants go through a night that's just a little too chilly the leaves may
turn brown and start fall off.

Does this mean the plant dead? Will it recover?

Plants drop leaves for a variety of reasons - seasonal, stress or just dying.

Depending on temperature, length of exposure and general plant health, all play
a factor to determine if houseplants like spider plants and peace lilies showing
burned leaves only will recover or if it is time for the compost pile.

When houseplants are subjected to long periods of cold exposure many times the
leaves become discolored and dark. Some varieties such as Dracaena massangeana
show black tips and leaves, others like the chinese evergreen show leaves, which
appears greasy.

Cell collapse is what is happening to the leaves.

Stop for a moment and think of what happens when people become sunburned - skin
starts to peel after a few days, the cells have been burned. Plants drop leaves
- their skin.

What about when a plant loses all of their leaves and the only thing left are
branches that don't look good. It's possible the plant may be too far gone!

If you want to try and revive the plant - go ahead you've got nothing to lose
and lots of experiments to try. But first, pull out the clippers.

Begin by scraping the bark high on the trunk. You're looking for a part of the
plant that is all green inside. If you find any brown at all keep moving down
the trunk until you find green, you'll know when you find it.

When you find that green on the stem or branch, remove everything above that
growing point on that branch or stem. Now go through every trunk and branch. The
plant may stand some chance of coming back - looking "tropical" again may be a
long shot.

DO NOT run out and start fertilizing the plant and watering heavy. In fact, you
probably should reduce the quantity and frequency of watering.

After extreme exposure to cold temperatures most tropical plants have a very
difficult time in re-growing to their old shape and stature - even under optimal
growing conditions.

The energy you put into saving a plant suffering from extreme cold temperature
damage may be better directed at replacing and caring for a new one.

The best action to take is to mark your calendar and bring your plant inside
early, before any signs of cool weather. Better yet, keep your plants indoors
all year round.

With 25 years of indoor house plant growing experience Thomas Fyrd writes for http://www.plant-care.com Read more on Cold temperatures and plant growth from the pros.