I live in Phoenix Arizona and we have had some pretty cold weather lately, in the 20's some mornings. We have around 30 hibiscus planted along the front of our house and they are not looking too good. Is there anything we can do to nurse them back or not? I think the cold weather is over now. We need some suggestions please.
Thank you,
Michelle
Wow! What a gorgeous sight it must be when your hibiscus are in bloom. Sorry to hear about your hibiscus. The first thing you need to do is prevent further frost damage from occurring to your already stressed out plants. Watch the weather closely. If temperatures start to dip below freezing again, use newspapers, old sheets, or cardboard to keep frost from settling on your plants. Misting your plants can also prevent frost damage. Lightly mist the plants with water the evening before you suspect freezing temperatures. This covers the leaves and branches with a thin layer of ice, which acts as a protective insulator to settling frost. The next morning, mist the plants again to gently melt away the ice before the sun comes out and warms things up (this is when the real damage happens). Secondly, back off on watering. Lost leaves and colder temperatures means less moisture is lost to evaporation. Translation: plants will need less water. Thirdly, you'll need to wait until your hibiscus leafs out before you can assess how much cold weather damage was done. Hold off on pruning until the plants have had ample time to leaf out and recover. Unless your hibiscus sustained prolonged exposure to damaging temperatures, most of them should recover.
Good luck!
Ellen
About The Author: Ellen Brown is our Green Living and Gardening Expert. Click here to ask Ellen a question! Ellen Brown is an environmental writer and photographer and the owner of Sustainable Media, an environmental media company that specializes in helping businesses and organizations promote eco-friendly products and services.
I live in Phoenix too and the prevailing wisdom is, don't do anything just yet. They may survive and if they do, will put on new growth once it gets warmer and then you can prune off all the damaged parts. This is wait and see time of year because it is possible that we might have another freeze, which is a very unusual occurrence here. (01/19/2007)
By Pat
Here in Florida the number 1 rule for frost damaged Hibiscus is to "leave them alone". When Spring comes, new growth will come out and then you can cut back any branches that do not come back. Is you cut back now you will probably cut back too much. (01/19/2007)
By Richard
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