Graeme, sadly I have to say, prevention is better than cure!!, ie: layers of frost cloth not touching the plants or there is a winter spray which works to about -2 in your case you now really have to hope for some pups as there is no going back, check out Kerry's experience on this site + her resulting list now on the NZ brom society web site, for your chances of survival with particular plants. I would put the damaged plants under cover and let dry off for a bit then trip off all the dead parts of the plant then try and keep them warmish to give the best poss chance of sending up a pup in what seems like far off spring.

Hi We in Southern Brazil may have this problem specially if we live uphills. Well time and tide and frost we can not control but we can protect our plants ou cultivate those dwarf blue pine trees and schrubs. They are lovely. While in a amazonian area we try tropicals unless we can refrigerate. In cold climates try peonies unless you can heat. You have to have a protected warm controled area to have tropicals. Miracles are not up to us. If the frost doesnt happen frequentely remember once is enoug. You get out on traveling and the night preceded by a sunny cold day and the morning preceded by a windless cold stary night...the white blaket covers everything and everything is killed not by the ice but by you. You must have a heated controled area to cultivate tropicals!
It may take two, three, four yaears without a frost but they come.....

Hi Graeme,

I would recommend you try a product called "Seasol". It isn't a fertilizer but is a soil and plant conditioner and I can't speak highly enough of it.

During the last five or six years my garden has sustained severe cold, heat, hail and wind damage at various times and each time this product has come to my rescue.

I use it each week for the month following the damage and the pup production is amazing.

The only thing is that I don't know if it is available in NZ but I know it is now exported internationally so it probably is.

You can Google "Seasol" to read all about it or check the link below.

http://www.commercial.seasol.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=4&Itemid=6

Hope this helps, all the best, Nev.

Sorry about your plants Graeme, it must have been a bit of a shock to come home to. I hope you have a bit of luck saving something from them
BA

Graeme,
Belated and sincere commiserations for your devastating frost damage. I can certainly relate to your pain.
Like Neville, I cannot recommend Seasol highly enough, although with extreme freezes like that nothing much is going to prevent damage when the broms are exposed in the landscape. However, the damage might not be as bad with certain precautions. Of course, that doesn't help you now with the damage already done.
I disagree with Gastaldi's harsh comments, and urge you not to give up on your beloved broms. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel, but it will take time.

Regards your questions, I'll summarise what I did after such a tragedy.
1. Prune the dead leaves? Maybe best to leave as is for now, and try not to look at them. The dead leaves might give some protection, in case the "unmentionable" occurs again this winter. I left mine alone for ages, more because I was too sad to deal with them.
2.+ 4.I did nothing, and some burn victims pupped of their own accord. Maybe keep them on the dry side, if you can, and close to or on the ground.
3. I would wait until it was warmer to feed them, and then with your usual fert in mid-spring, to encourage growth. If you feed them now, any fresh new growth will be more vulnerable to further cold damage.
5. Unfortunately, the extent of damage can take several weeks, sometimes months afterwards, to be fully realised. If you can raise the humidity around your broms (but still keep the broms themselves dry), this might help lessen damage from a subsequent severe freeze this winter.

I am continually amazed at the resilience of so many broms - but again, it takes time. It was over a year before my damaged, but surviving broms, came good again. It's a big job to get rid of all those awful brown papery leaves, but regrowth, from both the centre and of pups, will happen to those which are not dead.
As you may have already found in your N.Z. brom society web page, as Jaga wrote, there is an extensive list I compiled of extent of damage to specific varieties which might help you. If you (or anyone else) want to read about my experience, I have also written an article on it which will be published soon in your N.Z. newsletter - OR, you could email me (through my GW member page), and I'll send it on to you.

Again, I am very sorry about your sad experience, but please don't give up! Serious bromeliad retail therapy and chocolate got me through it!

Cheers,
Kerry

The comments about leaving the burnt leaves on in case of another frost is very timely, as it looks like we might have the worst frost of the winter tonight. I've had major damage to a lot of very nice unnamed hybrids, including a pink variegated Exotica Velvet, which looks like an oversized Fosperior Perfection.

Apart from walking through them and wringing my hands, I will do nothing else until spring arrives. That's the downside of working with plants outside their preferred climate. They've had 2 sprays of Vaporgard and frost cloth, but frost cloth was not put on for a couple of really sneaky frosts, including one that happened on a cloudy night, which I've never seen before.

Oooh, further commiserations to all our N.Z. brom friends who have been suffering the effects of the dreaded "F" word.

I do so hope that last night was not as feared.... multiple digits are crossed for you all!

K

Oh , my God your God and ours. My coments are harsh? The weather is harsh! We plant keepers may realize this.
Imagine once in a while I have to rescue frost bitten plants... my this is non sense.
No sense at all. Once you live in an area where frost may happen and you want to keep frost sensitive plants you have no option besides keep a protected and heated area. Otherwise we will continuously rescuing our tropicals. We will live in pacic and our plants too. Everytime we have a cold stary night we will get crazy carrying pots inside the house...
Try tulips, they are beautiful. Imagine all the time we rescuing frost bitten plants....It is possible but torturing to us and to our tropical plants it is just deadly, isn´t it? You may keep bromeliadas even in South Pole but it is gonna be very expensive, for sure. It is not the place its us and our knowledge, resourses and good sense that makes the difference.
Think this way: Would you like to freeze up to the point to need specialized care to rescue you for sure death every once in a while? Would you like to have most of you burned by ice? How happy would you feel after a sunny cold day while you look at a most stared sky while you are in the nude and tied to a post? No, no. If your plants are subjected to frost keep them protected. Some areas will need heating system with good ventilation and so on.
I just adore those polar bears...but they won´t be happy here. This is obvious. To rescue frost bitten plants once is enough! Did you forget to wear heavy coat during those frost mornings? How did you spend that night? Were you on T-shirts watching the brighty stars the night before?
How come your plants were there in the cold? How come you were not there for your plants? How long do you live in a frost subjected area? Didn´t you know? Plants are for our delight but we have to be responsible. They can not run away from you and your cares. It was you who took them under your care, they did not choose you. But...but if they could would them opt to live with you? You who found my comments to be harsh would you like to live there ...if you were a Neoregelia? Would you? Am I being harsh? Ask the Neo?

How can we blame the weather? Time and tide waits for no man the English guys say and we here in South Brazil say
Cold asks no permission to assault and it is not picky or choosy taking us all. Keep happy plants and be a happy guy.
Cheers!
But remember plants have no feet and no wings...it was you who took them home with you. Make a home for them...tropicals need a heated home in harsh winter nights and days and night and day you are the one....only you beneath the moon or under the sky...(Remember that old beautiful song....). I would say only you summer or winter I count on you, be there for me , be there by my side..let us watch those stary nights but bring a coat for me too...I am your Neor...
I live in Brazil but I know Auckland may endure very harsh winters. I never been to NZ but I will never leave my tropical plants without good heating system. Southern Australia and Tasmania may be also very cold during winter nights. I have never been there too. People who live there never forget their coats when out in winter nights...They would die...tropicals too. Obvious? Yes! I do think so too!
But as we saw... it is not that obvious....is it?

My fellow brom-lover Gastaldi - you have made your strong arguments very clear - thank you. I suppose the truth can be harsh, and you are quite right with all that you say. I appreciate and respect your passion and strong beliefs.
I suppose it was more your negativity that I found harsh. Sorry if I offended you - 'twas certainly not my intention.

You see, we really do try to do the best by our bromeliads, even if we stretch our friendship with them at times. Yes we are probably crazy, but tulips would not grow well for me here (not cold enough), and I do not love them, as I do bromeliads. As for my own personal experience with a nasty frost, it was a freak of nature never before experienced in my particular area. It will only take one more experience like that for me to move to higher ground - if I want to keep growing bromeliads in the landscape. I certainly have taken more precautions since then to protect the most cold-sensitive, including building a heatable green house.
When our beloved bromeliads suffer, even if it may have been prevented, I think we need sympathy and encouragement, rather than blame. Most of the time, our bromeliads are happy - like me.

Cheers,
Kerry :)

Hi All,

Thanks for your responses so far...we certainly have some passionate members out there willing to "share the pain" !
Yes, I was aware of the Brom casualty list as compiled by Kerry now on our NZ site, some great info there thanks. As it appears many of us are singing from the same songsheet, thought I would chip in again with my thoughts...

Firstly, Todd was right, we have just been hit AGAIN with 2 more "freezers" this past weekend around Auckland, but they nay got me !...I have the frost cloth spread far and wide and now have plants securely tucked away in every spare nook and cranny in the garden, shadehouse and inside for a precious few. I haven't touched anything yet and agree with Todd and John/Agatha, leaving the dead leaves ON is the way to go until things warm up.

Nev & Kerry - thanks for the sympathies and kind advice re the Seasol soil conditioner. This is available here in NZ, so will get some to try for sure. Nev, you mention you used it each week for a month (ie; 4 times ??) after the damage. Did you use it at normal strength ?...and as a foliar spray into the cups etc, or mixed with water straight into the soil/pot/roots ?

I too think that leaving them alone, keeping them dryish and lifting them slightly from their soil, could help promote pupping. I will then hit them with the Seasol once it warms up a little in another few weeks and trim accordingly.

Gastaldi - I'm sure Kerry doesn't think you are harsh ? maybe there's a little misunderstanding going on there ? Anyway, thanks for your input and I know where you are coming from re being prepared etc. I have had unprotected "garden broms" for years across many species and positions and NEVER had damage like I've had this year. Sometimes unfortunately we are "caught out" when we least expect it (as Todd mentioned) and heated greenhouses are simply not possible for many smaller growers. In the "subtropical" zones (ie; Auckland and where Kerry lives in NSW) frosts can be quite rare in most areas, so it hard to find the balance between a nice looking, unobstructed garden, versus having plants locked away under constant winter protection. Many of the Brom species and hybrids we grow are quite hardy to light frosts and suitable for outdoor growing here in NZ and Aus - even in Winter. It's the HARD frosts and the frequency of them that can rattle us.
In saying that, I have learnt some lessons and will certainly be rethinking my positioning of plants for next year, including a few likely mods for my shadehouses....as methinks the Global Warming phenomenon seems to also have a new cousin called..."WFW"....Worse Freezing Winters!!

Cheers
Graeme

Hey all

Sorry to read about the destruction!

Graeme, I must agree and say that with global warming winters are becoming even worse. Here on the East coast of South Africa Summers are not that great anymore. Hot and humid was the order of the day now its rain, rain and more rain, more clouds = less heat, on days when the persistent clouds lift all the broms get fried!

Come Winter-not a drop and with very little moisture in the soil the temps drop off dramatically after sun set, sure I live in a valley on the banks of a small river and should expect colder nights but this winter has been really bad, no frost and freezing but mornings down to 5c 3-4 times a week in July, previously we would have 3 nights down to 5c the whole winter! Some of my more tender palms are looking very ratty but the broms are suffering more from the dry conditions that anything else.

Lets hope Spring comes early!

Hi Graeme,

Re. the strength and method of Seasol application:

The most recent application was via the "hose-on-pack" in which the Seasol is available in 2 X 2 litre containers for about $12. It is premixed in these containers and attaches directly to the hose.

I bought the twin pack containers (which was a bit cheaper) and just attached each one in turn to the garden hose, turned it on and just "let her rip". I sprayed it on everything; brom's, ferns, vegies and other plants as well as myself each week for four weeks. (It's very safe and I don't think you could really over do it)

By using these containers it is diluted automatically as it passes through the fitting on the lid of the container.

Previously I have used the concentrate and mixed it to the ratio for "stressed plants" and applied it with a watering can as well as a sprayer for plants I couldn't reach with the watering can.

The results seemed equally as good with either method of application, it's just that the "hose on" pack is quicker and more convenient.

Good luck! and all the best, Nev.

P.S. My dog even likes the taste of it!

Thanks Nev,
So I assume it got all brom leaves wet and the cups totally filled to overflowing each time ? I guess with the cup type broms, this is the key to feeding them well, but assume for best results, you've got to also make sure the soil/roots get some at the same time too, to ensure all round top pup production?
Cheers
Graeme

Patience, I think, is key here. So much good advice and I really have nothing to add. Except in the case of Aechmeas.

We discovered after several nights of frost that the center leaves of Ae. blanchetiana had detached from the middle of the bromeliad. We left them alone and, by the spring, they had reattached and the Aechmea survived. Another case for patience (and maybe faith!).

Hope for the best, provide the cover you can and wait until spring!

Best wishes!

Having read all the postings ,i will add my bit,I live a stones throw from the beach in Port Macquarie ,and yes I do get frost in my backyard,I have been down to -5 on 3 occasions,rare? yes but it can happen,Now i mainly grow Vrieseas but i have found the plants that suffered the most where the plants with DRY root systems,as the air cools it loses the ability to hold moisture,but the plants still transpire,eventually the rate of transpiration is greater than the plant can supply moisture through its root system as the pot is dry the roots virtually suck in air , the cold then starts leaf collapse (going limp) then airlocks form in the leaf veins ,with moisture depleted the plants is doomed ,the damage is done before the frost get to the plant, its just the final straw,ever notice that in a group of plants there is one or two that suffered and not the rest ? bet that was a plant with dry roots. i know some plants are very cold sensitve and there is little you can do there,but it will be more suspect if the roots are dry. this sounds like it should happen in warm weather But moist air holds warmth so the rate of transpiration slows down.If the humidity is say 90% the plant wont transpire , You ever noticed that a lot of vegies go limp in your fridge ? but if you put them in WET the dont.yet your fridge is COLD This year it was cold but my back yard flooded (and the plants) 5-6 times the plants in my building stayed much drier (cause i could 'nt go out in the swamp) they suffered ,not badly but they did just the same ,the worst place for wet and cold is along my drive way where the best lookin Vrieseas are mocking me ,i have done some dilebirate tests on this and for ME it works, dry roots ? cold damage follows ,i am not saying this will work for you but you can easely test this, and it my not work for all genera, but my Ae.Chantinii's are ok with it ,but they suffer if the roots are dry,anyway i thought i would just mention it , best of luck ,i sympathise with all that lose their precious babies. Jack

Thats interesting jack. I am never sure about how much water to give the babies when its cold. I do tend to keep them drier over winter, but make sure the tanks are topped up. After reading your post in a different thread, where you mentioned Vrieseas like moist soil, I have been giving the pots a little bit more.
We've had one small/mild frost in 8 years (last year) so although they are not common here, they can happen. I was told frost flows downhill like honey, so if you can build/plant something to deflect it, half the battle is won.
Also, watering the leaves before sunup is supposed to stop the cells bursting. I can't remember the exact theory, but it made sense at the time.
Another pearler i heard was to water them at night, as somehow this was supposed to protect the cells also? Go figure?
BA

Hi BA ,in regards the frosts etc ,i have found with all the types of Broms i grow that a dry pot will result in severe damage. if plants got frosted ? yes water the plants well to get it of before sun up ,no matter how cold,if it rains? no frost while it rains, the principle is simple ,thats why it pays to take notice in science class at school.in winter its best to not top up tanks,its the pot that counts.bye Jack

Thanks jack. Will change my tactics and see what results!
BA

Hi sorry to hear about your plants. I live in fear every winter with temps here down to -5 some years. All good advice so far. Too late for this season but thought I'd add. I feed all my plants with potash in autumn. It is supposed to strengthen the cellular wall and it seems to have reduced damage. I also spray the more tender plants with an anti-transpirant, like Stress Guard but I use a bulk one from a hydroponics supplier as it much cheaper. Have to reapply every few weeks but it keeps even quite tropical plants from succumbing.

Hi tooma......,

Welcome to our forum, great to see another Aussie getting involved in our friendly, helpful group, and for me, a local to boot!

Since I joined the group I've learned heaps of new stuff I never even thought about previously, and the speed of the return answers you get when you ask a question is just amazing.

We have members in this forum from all over the world with the one ambition and that is to help each other in the pursuit of brom. growing pleasure, and I'm sure you'll enjoy being one of us.

Now that the official welcome is over, down to business; I just live down the coast a bit from you and as we've had some very cold weather this winter I'm interested in what you've added to this discussion and have a couple of questions for you.

I had heard about using Potash but no one seemed to be able to tell me what quantity or type, i.e is it in powder form mixed with water and applied as a spray or watered over the whole plant, or in granule form and applied as a top dressing?

Next question is about the Stress Guard, I have a product which is used for orchids and is $20 per litre. Is the stuff you get from the hydroponic store any cheaper and what is it called?

Sorry to hit you with questions straight up but we don't believe in wasting knowledge on this forum and fine details like this need to be shared around.

Thanks in advance, all the best, Nev.

Hi Toomanyplants and all ,the fact that you growers spray plants with a anti transpirant answers your own question(s)as i explained in my previous follow up, keep your roots moist in winter,thats when the greatest amount of transpiration takes place ,water does NOT cost $20 @ litre ,you can still use it ,am not saying that,but for mine ,? i will keep the pots watered ,Bye Jack