{"id":9898,"date":"2020-01-17T05:39:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardens.theownerbuildernetwork.co\/?p=9898"},"modified":"2025-10-30T21:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:18:16","slug":"caring-for-frost-damaged-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/2020\/01\/17\/caring-for-frost-damaged-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Caring for Frost-Damaged Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"While
While a snowy winter can be good for your garden, frost can damage your plants.
(Photo: 0x010C\/Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While a snowy winter can be good for your garden, cold\nweather, particularly frost, causes the water in plant cells to freeze,\ndamaging the cell wall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frost-damaged plants are easy to spot. Their growth becomes\nlimp, blackened, and distorted. Evergreen plants turn brown and the leaves of\ntender plants take on an almost luminous appearance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problems brought on by frost are often made worse in places where plants face the morning sun. The sunlight causes plants to defrost quickly, rupturing their cell walls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minimizing the damage of frost<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hardy plants and tough evergreens can also be damaged by\nprolonged periods of severe cold. When the soil freezes, roots are unable to absorb\nwater. Eventually, the plants die from lack of moisture. Frosty weather can\nalso kill blossoms and damage fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But frost damage does not necessarily mean the end for your\nplants. Many plants will recover given time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also ways to minimize damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Many
Many plants will recover from frost-damage given time. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protect plants from the morning sun in winter <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Protect damaged plants from the morning sun, which can impair growth if plants defrost too quickly. If you can’t move the plants, try covering them with a sheet of black plastic to block out the sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protect
Protect damaged plants from the morning sun, which can impair growth if plants defrost too quickly. (Photo: GEykyn\/Pixabay) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cut frosted growth in the spring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cut back frosted growth in spring to a healthy, new bud. This will allow you to prevent further dieback and encourage plants to produce fresh, new shoots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cut
Cut back frosted growth in spring to a healthy, new bud. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Use a balanced fertilizer on damaged plants<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Use a balanced fertilizer when caring for frost-damaged\nplants. Your best is a mixture with equal amounts of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and\nPotassium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A balanced fertilizer will help damaged plants recover and encourage\nstrong, healthy growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Use
Use a balanced fertilizer when caring for frost-damaged plants. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shelter damaged tender plants in the greenhouse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dig up small, tender plants and take them into the greenhouse<\/a>. Many will quickly produce new growth and recover, provided they are not subjected to prolonged periods of heavy frost, wet, or cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dig
Dig up small, tender plants and take them into the greenhouse in winter.
(Photo: Glen Bowman\/Flickr) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Check on young plants regularly<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you do not have a greenhouse, check on your young plants regularly. Young plants will often lift themselves from the soil surface if there is a hard frost after planting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure the ground around them is compressed to ensure their roots are always in contact with the soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Young
Young plants will often lift themselves from the soil surface if there is a hard frost after planting. (Photo: Jacques Gaimard\/Pixabay)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dealing with snow in your garden<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Snow acts as an insulator, protecting plants from the cold\nand frost. However, a heavy layer of snow can cause leaves and branches to\nbreak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gently shake or brush excess snow from the branches of large\ntrees, shrubs, and hedges, to prevent them from becoming disfigured by the\nweight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should also avoid walking on\nsnow-covered grass.  You might damage the\nturf beneath and leave unsightly marks on your lawn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So just how much cold will kill a plant? Not much, most experts\nagree, although this is usually dependent on the hardiness of the plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, temperatures falling below freezing will quickly injure or even kill many types of plants. But with prompt and intelligent care, many cold-damaged plants can be rescued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While a snowy winter can be good for your garden, cold weather, particularly frost, can damage your plants. Here’s how to care for your injured garden wards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13557,"featured_media":9902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn how to rescue frost-damaged plants and restore your garden after cold snaps. Expert tips to save injured plants and prevent future damage.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sma_last_campaign_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,182],"tags":[247,241,248],"class_list":["post-9898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colourful-gardens","category-tips-and-tricks","tag-frost","tag-gardening-in-winter","tag-plant-care-in-winter"],"modified_by":"Freddie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theownerbuildernetwork.co\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}