i had frost damage on a few plants before. the frost basically prunes the plants for you. do nothing except pick up the bits that fall off. then i would wait for any sign of new growth. to begin watering again. the small jade that i froze dropped segments all the way down to a small stump above the soil line, and is currently doing fine. good luck

I agree with Doug.
Just wait for the plants to recover on their own, and don't add water until you
see definite signs of growth. With frozen tissue, rot is a greater threat than ever.
I, too, have frozen a couple Jades - and both plants are alive today. I'll include
a link to a Thread on a frozen Jade: Frozen Jade - back from the dead....

Josh

OMG I think I lost almost EVERYTHING in my greenhouse! I am so upset right now! I'm crying! OMG almost everything looks like it's melted! Holy crap I'm so mad right now!

~Erin~

I am so sick to my stomach right now. I don't know what to do! The majority of my plants are melted! I don't know what to do! I'm seriously so depressed about this! I cried!

~Erin~

Senecio jacobsenii is melted
{{gwi:467167}}

portulacaria afra variagate is melted
{{gwi:467168}}

Aloe 'whalmsley's blue' is semi melted and mushy
{{gwi:467169}}

Rhipsalis cassutha is mushy
{{gwi:467170}}

Sansevieria trifasciata hahnii is semi melted and mushy
{{gwi:467171}}

Euphorbia Milli leaves are wilted. Hopefully they will grow back
{{gwi:467172}}

Kalanchoe luciae is melted
{{gwi:467173}}

Echeveria Shaviana cristata is melted
{{gwi:467174}}

Sedum morganium is melted
{{gwi:467175}}

Adromischus cristatus is melted
{{gwi:467176}}

Aloe 'blue elf' is mushy
{{gwi:467177}}

NOID is mushy
{{gwi:467178}}

Crassula capitella 'campfire' is melted
{{gwi:467179}}

Graptoveria 'Opalina' is mostly mushy except for the newest leaves.
{{gwi:467180}}

Sedum nussbaumerianum is melted
{{gwi:467181}}

Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi is melted

Aeonium 'kiwi' is melted

Haworthia limifolia var. ubomboensis is melted

Haworthia attenuata is mushy

X Alworthia 'Black Gem is melted

Aeonium Cristata 'sunburst' is mushy

Gasteria bicolor is gone

Add to the list:

Crassula 'Morgan's beauty'
Both Nepethes vetricosa
both of my moth orchids

Tonight I'm putting a hallogen light in there. All I can do is pray they come back but I'm guessing they won't. I was doing so well! This is so discouraging! I'm very depressed about this. Leave it to me to do everything right and then one wrong thing kills almost my whole collection! UGH!

~Erin~

It makes me sick to see and imagine. :/

~Erin~
So sorry about your plants. In the winter here in Ohio ,I worry too. A few days with no power and mine would be the same. When the weather warms, I can send you cuttings of what I have .let me know
Sharon

Sorry for your loss. You will have to rethink your greenhouse a bit I guess, it wasn't warm enough. Gardening is all about trial-and-error. Take the long view of things and move on.

Sorry about your losses, but unfortunately sometimes one loses plants (part of the learning curve).

Once you're done w/ a good cry, give it a day or so & then you might try clipping some things to re-root (like healthy looking branches of Jades). Otherwise, I agree w/ everyone else, just leave them all alone, do little or nothing & give them a chance to start recovering.

~Erin~ sent email. Paula

Tragic.

I know how frustrating it is to lose a plant or two at a time (I think we all might...) - I can imagine the feeling with so many. All may not be lost, though. Hopefully, some may surprise you...

Tom

Sorry to hear about your plants Erin! I hope some come back for you.
Tami

Often times you can't calculate the damage until many days later as tissue dies. If you're fortunate, some of your plants will have the growth points intact and can make a comeback. Some plants may sprout new growth from the root systems. Some will be gone.

Warmth and good light are the best way to push a recovery. Slowly pick away at rotted parts. Good air circulation is a must.

Our hobby is wonderful, but be careful not to get too attached to your plants. Few things are irreplaceable.

x

you should not throw any of your plants out allow them to dry and callous. then you will see what will grow or not. i can say that the Kalanchoe luciae is one that i froze very early last spring did come back as well as a jade that kept about 1 inch of stem above the soil line that did not die. good luck

AND DON"T WATER.

Erin, I get attached to my plants too. You put so much work into them and they are so beautiful. When you see them looking like this, it is upsetting. A few years ago, we had a bad frost overnight. It was a rare event. In the morning, everything sparkled. When I got home from work, the whole back yard had black leaves and mush, except for the grass! Yea, the bushes, roses, etc did die back some, but they did ultimately survive. So be patient!

This is the beginning of winter, so I guess you'll need to think of a way to warm the greenhouse some to prevent further damage. Or perhaps move some of your more favorite ones into the house?

Erin, I live over here in Mobile and our temps dropped to 25 degrees but with a small heater in my greenhouse, I didn't lose anything. You can pick up an inexpensive heater at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot or even Target for under $50.00 and be able to save all your plants. I did bring my orchids inside to be on the safe side but nothing was affected. Don't know how low the greenhouse went but there weren't any problems. I wish you luck with nursing your "babies" back to health. I have quite a few succulents and am willing to share if you are interested.
Beverly

Thank you all for the words of encouragement. As if the frost damage to my plants weren't bad enough, I found out the following day a close friend of mine passed away and today (I know you all are going to laugh) I turned 30 years old! Yes! I am 30 *gasp* LOL Anyway, I went out and bought some brooding lamps for the greenhouse to keep it above freezing and I have moved all the damaged plants back in to house. They are back in the front office. They are receiving full sun, no water and air circulation to prevent rotting. I'm hoping most will make a recovery but I'm not holding my breath! Thanks again for all the support and kind words. I need to perfect my greenhouse a little more LOL

~Erin~

Hi again CC,

If they were not in full sun before, pls. don't give them that now, too extreme a change, likely to cook/bake anything left. Bright, indirect light would be best, if they WERE in full sun, pls. disregard this comment.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend, condolences.

pirate_girl - they were in full sun before so they should be ok. Thanks! I'm just trying to stay positive.

So far the list of completely lost is pretty short.

Here's a list of the fallen so far:

Sanseviera trifasciata 'Hahnii'
Haworthia attenuata var. attenuata
Gasteria bicolor
Haworthia limifolia var. ubomboensis
Kalanchoe luciae
NOID

~Erin~

Happy birthday, fellow Capricorn!
I'll be turning 33 next week....finally made it to that sacred age ;-)

Josh

Thanks Josh!

~Erin~

Right now it is 65 deg and a nice 77 deg in the green haus' as I call it and BioDome as my son calls it. This has worked for me in the past. I added the lights this year as the past 2 winters have been cold. I use the blocks to heat up during the day and then slowly discharge heat in the night. I used the lights so far Monday thru Weds morning as I got down to 45 in the morning, 32 ambient temp.
original look
{{gwi:467191}}
Low to ground and close together to retain more heat. Who does not like to cuddle?

{{gwi:467192}}
Inexpensive lighting and thermometer from Lowe's.
{{gwi:467193}}
{{gwi:467195}}
Daytime. Only problem is that i have to get down low to get in LOL. Feels good in there!
{{gwi:467197}}
Night time with lights.
{{gwi:467199}}

Erin! Talk about a whole lot of stuff going on in your life.

I am so sorry too for the loss of all your plants! That same thing happened to me when I forgot to turn the heat back up once and I lost many plants.
I use two space heaters at all times. Only one is always going and another for back up on the extra cold days.

E-mail me and I can try and help you to replace a couple too. Everyone here has been so kind and with the help and generousity of everyone here, you will be back up and running soon again.

I would not give up on those just yet as many say, and you would be surprised what will come back! I was at a nursery that had teh same thing happen to them. They lost their heat and it was in the teens in there for hours. They even had ice stuck on 6 feet Cactus that gave way and bent over, and everyone of their succulents went mushy, especially their jades. Many jades dropped entire branches right down to the soil level, and yet they never touched them for weeks. Most came right back from the soil level and they look great! Many are more than 50 years old.

We are all pulling for you and very sorry to hear about your losses.:-(

Iloveto grow::::: Looking very nice and great ideas.

Mike

Erin, I am sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. Friends are an important part of your life, and it is hard to lose one.

Sounds like you are taking good steps to save what plants you can. Email me when you are ready to rebuild your collection as I will have plants to share with you.

It really is heartbreaking, and I feel for you. I've lost just one plant this winter, when I didn't see it coming (Aeonium castello-paivae f. variegata 'Suncup'), and boy was I a-cryin' for a bit, because it just had to be one of my very favorites that's adorable and that I'll likely never see again!...but you really suffered a loss. I hope there are some surprises among the affected and you can begin again.

Colleen

Hi Erin,
I just joined tonight and I feel so bad for you! My condolenses for your friends passing. Losing my plants is a nightmare for me, but in looking at your pictures I realized I had alot of what you lost (probably the same sizes too). I'm not sure if you can message me here with your address, but you can also email me at dellis530@gmail.com. I can put a little care package together for you. Some might be cuttings if thats ok. Chin up!!
Denise

PS no sympathy for turning 30, lol

Hi Erin, I to am so sorry to hear of the loss of your friend it can break your heart. I am so sad to see your plants like this, your collection is so nice. I to will have plants to share it will be spring or a little later before they are ready as I do not have much room inside for propagation, I have many types of rhipsalis that i can send you cuttings of as well.
If you should get a chance you should check out any local flea mkts and farmers mkts there in PC, as a lot of times you will find some great plants for sale reasonable and there is a man that sets up sometimes at the flea mkt in gulf breeze that sells several varieties of desert rose plants very reasonable priced, he grows them from seed and they are beautiful.
Happy belated birthday to you, ahhh to be 30 again!!!LOL Ronda

Erin: I knew about the plants, but I didn't know about your friend. I'm so sorry.

If I may offer a silver lining, I believe God has a purpose in all things, and it may bring some comfort and hope to know that there may be one with your recent loses.

I had a very dear friend back in high school. I grew up on the east coast, and one year into college my family moved to CA. When I said goodbye to my friends there, I knew that some of them I would probably never see again - just the way it goes sometimes, 'though we usually don't ever intend for it to. I had never figured that he'd be among those I'd never see again, but 3 years later, I got a call that broke my heart - my friend had drowned in a local river. I flew back for the funeral, and while I was out there I got to meet some of the friends he had made in college after I'd moved away. Among them was this rather stuck-up guy who struck me as quite nice to look at but a bit of a prick. (I'm sure the fact that he was mourning our friend's death probably played into his countenance, but he was still a prick.) I promised both my old friends and my now new friends that I'd keep in touch, but this one guy I wasn't going to go to any lengths for.

Six years later, I actually found that same guy online (MySpace, back when folks were still using that), and we started talking. Four months after that, we started dating. (Yes, long-distance. Very, very long distance.) After 3 years, he moved to CA; and last year, we got married. :)

While, of course, neither of us would have opted for our friend to die, something beautiful came out of his passing - which is so completely appropriate for our friend, because he was a beautiful, beautiful human being, just so full of life and love and vibrance.

Often, we never really get to see the purpose in why painful things happen. I hope, though, that maybe one day the silver lining to your friend's passing will finally shine through and bring you hope and peace.


*CG*

Hi Erin...SO Sorry for the loss of your friend. My deepest condolences.

Hoping some of your plants will recover for you. Keeping fingers crossed...Good luck!

CG, thanks for sharing your story, happy for you that something wonderful and positive came out of something so very sad and tragic.

Erin ,
I'm hoping that you're surprised by the adversity of these plants , and, that at least some, do indeed live on....be happy to send some cuttings in the spring to help you re-start things...let me know and keep us posted !
Best Wishes !
Jay