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Eyes or pips freeze damage

3 years ago

How susceptible to frost and freezing are new eyes? Supposed to get down to 25 degrees the next couple nights. I've had plenty damage in the past to new leaves but most of these eyes are barely an inch long. Not taking any chances right now, I've covered about 25 today.

Featured Answer

undertheoaksgardener7b

3 years ago

No wagon, but I had a beer and ibuprofen afterward.

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Comments (17)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
in theory.. the pips have been there all winter .... so cold should not be an issue ... and for me.. they been in frozen ground .....

once they start to leaf out.. they have to be protected ...

ken
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
oh... and dont leave the black pots on too long into the next day ... warm sun under the pot will make them leaf out faster
old_dirt 6a thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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hi btbeme, you must live down the road from me. i also live in the outskirts of chandler (cooper and riggs) and it froze pretty hard here last night/early this morning. so i share your pain. our fountain was, and still is as i write this, filled with ice cycles! all my sisso trees were hit hard. the smallest one had a heat lamp on it last night, and it still suffered some damage. the others are too big to cover and almost all the leaves are browning. my ficus seems to have done ok, it is larger and it looks like only the leaves on the tops got some damage. i remember a hard freeze like this about 3 years ago. the ficus got a lot of damage during that freeze, along with some other plants in the yard, but they eventually recovered. just be patient and don't remove any of the damaged limbs until the weather warms up in spring. by then, you should be able to see new growth as well. i would go ahead and still cover any plants that you can again for tonight and keep your fingers crossed. i don't think that it is going to be as cold tonight as it was last night, but it still will be cold. good luck.
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put them in the garage .. the cement floor is a great buffer to wild temp changes ... as is a sand floor [my barn] .. anything.. since encapsulated ... in my blindingly cold z5.. i swear my attached garage is z7 at least ... no wind.. and that heat sink of a cement floor ... [its not that its warm or anything.. its that its constant.. and if it is 3 or 4 degrees warmer than outdoors.. well that would be all you need.. eh???] the beauty of the garage .. is that they can stay there for a few weeks.. w/o having to cover and uncover.. recover.. etc ... do NOT leave them covered if sun is expected the next day.. but dont uncover them too early.. most frost/ freeze is immediately just before sunrise.. if you use the garage.. keep the door open during the day.. to keep it cold as possible.. or you will force them even faster ... all those posts you skipped.. because you thought it would never happen to you.. lol .. what a hoot .. i wish you luck ... ken
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Another question about eyes, pips, etc.
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In the American Hosta Society Glossary of Terms compiled by C.H.Falstad,III and published in The Hosta Journal Vol. 29, No. 1, page 25, you will NOT find any reference to the term 'eye'. Oddly though, if you follow Steve's link to the AHS Hosta Dictionary it is referenced, go figure. In common Hosta parlance the term is applied rather loosely to dormant buds as well as shoots, mostly shoots, which clearly is incorrect. They are only 'eyes' when they are dormant buds, which means the shoot has not yet begun to come up from it. In other words, you would only see 'eyes' if you were to dig up a dormant Hosta in the winter. As soon as the dormant buds begin to swell and start sending up cataphylls it ceases to be an eye, it is becoming a shoot, it is no longer dormant. So, odds are when someone says Nursery X sent me a 3-eyed Hosta, following incorrect, but common, Hosta vernacular they are telling you they received a plant, probably bare-rooted for shipping purposes, with 3 shoots on it and depending on when it was shipped, the leaves may have begun to unfurl. Personally I try to refrain from using the term 'eyes' on Hosta crowns, I prefer to use 'dormant bud' and 'shoot'. To me, eyes are what you find on a potato....but that's just me being pedantic. And I have to keep reminding myself that some Hostas do NOT exhibit a stoloniferous growth habit but a rhizomatous one. Stolons go above ground, rhizomes below. Pieter
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I don't see any virus, just cold damage as you suggested. Every year we have a few odd looking things happen around here too because we always seem to get hit with a cold snap when they start emerging. Last year it was Niagara Falls hit and this year it is coming up beautifully. Vanessa
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steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
3 years ago
Not doing anything to protect them this year. Looked like a little damage last night to montana Aureo with two more colder nights coming.
old_dirt 6a
Original Author
3 years ago

Ken - Yeah, I don't want them to leaf out any sooner than necessary. On the other hand, it's only going to be a high of 38 today, not sure how sunny.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
it was 70 yesterday ;... and snow on the ground this morning ...

AM.. as i recall.. is always the first one to start leafing out .. and the first one to get damaged ... go figure ..

and ... they can releaf even from a bad frost or even freeze ... on stored energy ... but the plant might be set back a season ...

and if they go all gooey on you from such.. just leave it alone .. it will dry and flake off.. and give some protection to the plant under the goo .. do not get all wound up about it.. and go out there chopping all the ugly stuff off ...

ken
n2hostas (Kansas)
3 years ago
No damage here! And even more pips on the upward direction! But... freeze could still happen.
djacob Z6a SE WI
3 years ago
Hopefully I am not looking at a freeze this year......last year we had one in mid May, I believe. All the leaves were up, some more than others. Krossa was hit and the leaves showed it most of the season. I am in no condition to run around covering things up this year.

debra
peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
3 years ago
old_dirt I am glad you got them covered. I have had damage to emerging eyes of that size in the past. You had enough problems last year, better safe than sorry.

Debra I will be keeping my fingers crossed for all of us!
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
my hostas are only pips..none have unfurled..
my saddest situation..some macrophylla hydrangeas that usually die to the ground have leafed out!..it seemed possible that I could have blooms this year..but the freezing temperatures could take them down..
still deciding if and how I could cover them..

I bought these years ago..I believed the "reblooming" hype..it's not true!..they don't bloom in colder zones..I'll never buy (or recommend) macrophyllas to anyone in a zone lower than 7...
undertheoaksgardener7b
3 years ago
What a good topic! I have spent the past 3.5 hours covering and moving hostas. Deep frost is coming tonight and tomorrow. If it were only for 1-2 hours, I would at least put sheets over the hydrangeas with some posts to keep the sheets off the growth tips. Sadly, 6+ hours of freeze will not be phased by sheets.

So, here’s my potting shed. The rest of my yard looks like Old Dirt’s.
frankielynnsie
3 years ago
My yard also looks like old dirt's without the rocks on top. I put out over 50 pots and hope the wind doesn't start blowing. I used every big pot I have saved over the years and then covered other areas with trays and sheets over the trays. My husband didn't understand why I have been saving all those pots for years.I haven't had to use them too many times but we are having 2 nights of 32 degrees and many of my hosta are leafed out. The blessings and curses of early warm weather.
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I covered one peony..it's young..this will be summer #2..I had the perfect sized box so I covered it..
the hydrangeas cover at least a 4 by 12? area..supporting sheets over that large an area needs 8?10? supports..weight all around the bottom..it was too involved..I'm sad that the weather's cold..I'll live with whatever happens..🙁

utog..that's a lot of work to move all those pots..I hope you had a wagon..
djacob Z6a SE WI
3 years ago
In case anyone is not aware, the most recent Hosta Society Newsletter has an extensive article about what works best in frosts situations. I think most of you are already doing what’s recommended. Nonetheless, it’s a good read.

debra
undertheoaksgardener7b
3 years ago
I saved them all. The hydrangeas took a frost hit, but should still bear a few flowers. I am sore all over from so much lifting and carrying.
nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
3 years ago
I just saw my hydrangeas 😪..some leaves look ok some don't..the hostas seem fine..I took a pic of Striptease and Pineapple Upside Down Cake..I didn't know until now that they were up..
miles10612
3 years ago
Hydrangeas are fine unless you put coverings on them that touch the leaves, then from my experience the leaves are damaged. I run around the yard with large garbage cans and carefully put my hydrangeas under them as best as I can. It doesn't always work since the plants grow larger each year but at least it's worth a try. What I do know is that sheets put directly over the hydrangeas will harm the leaves wherever they touch the leaves if moisture forms and then frost, etc. The Hosta society article confirmed what happened to me. I guess the best thing to do is to put in stakes before it gets cold in the fall and then in the spring suspend the coverings over the stakes which prevents the leaves from touching the covers, but who has time to do this in the fall? If you do, please come to my place and I will gladly pay you well to do so for me, lol.

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