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Help, hard freeze recovery

asudevil311 - zone 9b

11 years ago

Hello all, I live in Phoenix, AZ and over the past 4 nights we have had mid to high 20's as lows for overnight temps. I have 2 Ficus in my front yard (15+/- ft in height each). The steps i took to prevent damage are as follows:

-watered during the day
-wrapped their trunks/ some of the branches
-halogen lamps at lowest branch shooting towards highest point of tree
-box fans blowing in same direction as well

Long story short is that I am getting browning along the entire outer area of the canopy of the trees. If you look up into the trees there is still green, however.

2 years ago this happened (i think it was 2 nights at most and not 4 like this time) it took till the middle of summer to see what had returned, and what was lost (in terms of branches).

I'm basically looking to see what I can do immediately in terms of fertilizing, watering, etc that would help my trees out in any way possible. All of your help on this is appreciated and I thank you for taking the time to read this as well.

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
hey

i am of the opinion.. that fertilizing a stressed plant.. is not helpful ... you arent going to make it recover 'faster' by feeding it.... you plant has tissue damage.. and fert will not 'fix' such ...

proper watering is always good ... no reason to change such ...

frankly.. there is nothing you can do.. other than wait and see ...

except.. contemplating a more hardy plant for the front of the house...

you dont mention the whole latin name.. but googling ficus comes up with zone 10 - 12 ... next to your name you have a 9 .... if you are z9.. and its a zone 10 plant at best.. time to replace them.. IMHO ..

ken
asudevil311 - zone 9b
Original Author
11 years ago
Ficus nitidus I believe.
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My grand plan to put the frost sensitive plants on the south side of the house/fence to protect them from the wind tunnel created from the neighbor's oak trees met a tactical flaw in the plan: 3 days of bone chilling nights. But at least I found out what plants I added last summer can laugh at the cold... My Achillia, dill, blue-eyed grass, most of my mints, an almond scented plant that I think is a cultivar of a butterfly-bush, and amazingly enough my shrimp plant are all quite happy that the plants next to them are gone and they can stretch their branches easier. I guess they get to stay and I'll try again with their neighbors. My papaya is really really REALLY upset with me, and considering the rotten vegetation smell its giving off, I don't think its going to pull through. But I'll wait an see what happens. I totally forgot to protect my kiwi and it looks equally upset. Hopefully it'll grow back from the ground. My varigated devil's backbone is also very annoyed, but I know from last year it will come back just as strong. The lantana, pentas, and Persian Shield got killed to the ground but I can already see the pentas coming back and assume the others will as well. My in-ground plumeria and ti plants are also upset with me and those concern me the most. The ti will come back since you have to practically put them in a wood chipper to kill them and cutting them back like this encourages bushiness, but it would be nice if they could survive a year or two to fully develop their leaves. My green ti will get 20" leaves if left alone long enough.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years ago
well at least that one is claimed to be z9 ...

but on some level.. you are still zone pushing .. and that usually depends on your micro climate .... and obviously you simply dont have the micro necessary for this one to work ...

i guess my biggest concern ... is what is the effect on the presentation of your house.. since they are 'out front' ...

out in the back acres.. who cares.. its an interesting experiment ...

but if these things are repeatedly looking carpy ... the priority would be the presentation of the house.. not whether this plant is important ...

ken
Dzitmoidonc
11 years ago
When I lived in FL and we had frosts, the advice was always the same: do nothing until the cold weather has passed. If you prune out the frozen parts, you have less protection next frost. And definitely, never, never fertilize. This will encourage the plant to make new tender growth, just the kind of stuff that freezes first.

Be patient, spring is only a month away for you. Then you can prune to your heart's content.

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