You dont know what is really killed off by frost for a couple of weeks-or more. Looking at your photos and only the Jambu is in serious trouble. The Starfruit is hard to say if that's just leaf or leaf and small branch killback. You have a greenhouse so they have a great chance to recover. The Tropical guava looks fine,just some leafs will be shed.

Where are you and what were the low temperatures?

Why did you have them outside when you have a greenhouse?

One more thing- potted Tropical plants take a worse beating in pots in winter then if you plant them in the ground. I've seen that over and over through the years.

Hi Stanofh, Thank you

Im in Austin Tx, it went from 76 to 26 on Saturday night, then high 32 to 23 on Sunday. i was out of town and when we got back it was on Sunday night, I started water down the pot, cover with blanket and seaweed spray which I know now that didnt help but making it worse. I have a makeshift greenhouse in the box that we never thought it could go down that low to put up. Yes, I do think the wax jambu is done, since I killed one that way 2 years ago (a cold freeze and it dropped all leaves and never came back in the spring). 2 nights ago my husband finally put up the makeshift greenhouse and I have to top the starfruit and guava to fit them into it. We are forcast higher than 40 on our lows for the next 10 days, so I'm hopeful that everything will recover before the next frost hit. I will put a heater with thermostat in the gh when it is lower than 40. I called Superthrive customer service to ask if their product would help, and they advise to water with 1/4 teaspoon once a week until spring, which their product is not a fertilizer but vitamin so I might try that to keep the root's nutrion on the wax jambu and starfruit. Heck, what do I have to lose, right? It looks dead all over my courtyard now, SO SAD to wake up every morning to see worst sight of death as leaves are turning darker as many trees are slowly showing their damages. Pray for them.

Right now, they all have that thick mulch layers and I am not gonna water it so often, maybe once every 10 days since there isn't any green leaves on the trees.

Sapodilla looking worst today

Sapodilla still looks ok. Just been knocked out of active growth look. Its going to be a few weeks to send out new growth. NO biggie. They are not as tender as the books and internet make them out to be.

That is a very nice potted Starfruit. You want to nurture that one right now extra carefully. Don't let it go dry,keep as warm and humidity up, as possible.

You might not be able to plant them in ground in Austin Texas z8b,but when you shelter them from winter you sure have a great climate for growing them in containers all summer and fall.

it's 62 degree and 43% humidity in the greenhouse, and a lot of mulch. How warm should I try to maintain the Greenhouse? Thank you, 48 fruits froze to black was a sad sad scene, this is my second winter with the starfruit, last year it was in the alley and it fruited from fall to spring too... if only i could get it fruit during the warmer month. When I bought the starfruit, it was in early spring and it was also top off with very little young leaves. It was in the greenhouse but it got really cold prior that year. So I am hopeful. Thank you. I was planning to put the starfruit down on the ground on a very shelter location next year. I guess not now.

Hey Sarah, I'm in the northern Dallas area and all my guavas got hit really hard since i was out of town that weekend also. I have them all in pots and put them in my patio and covered it all with plastic but due to the strong winds a lot of the plastic came off :( The guava, hibiscus, and figs looks like the took the most damage. I moved most of my guavas inside but all the leaves are dead and im hoping they will come back eventually. Was really hoping for fruit on at least one next season. My mangos looks like they were doing fine but day by day their leaves started browning. They are still ok and the weather doesnt seem like its going to get too cold in the upcoming weeks so i'm hopeful my plants recover. Good luck and keep us updated on your trees....

Should I fertilize with high nitrogen to encourage new leaves? or is it a bad thing at this stage due to the damage?

Pwr, from all I was told, not to fertilize the trees anymore until mid march (after last freeze). Since the new growth is more susceptible to freeze and would probably kill the sickly tree the next temp dip. I hear ya about them mango leaves. I do hope that this is just foliage damage to an extend that the tree would recover. I did bring my trees inside the house but with a dog and 2 kids under 3yo, having 10+ potted trees in the house isn't a very good idea so we decided to put up that makeshift greenhouse. My guava still have branch that is green and stiff. So I hope they will flush out in Spring.

Pwr, figs suppose to go into dormant, leaves turn yellow and drop, so you dont need to baby it much, it needs the chill hours. A nursery grower is suggesting that I should give the leaf-less trees some TLC with Vitamin B1 at every other watering. I'm considering doing that since as far as I concern my trees look dead already. What do I have to lose? right?

What benefits does vitamin b1 on plants? And do they sell that specifically for plants ?

They always look worse before they look better. It takes time for the frozen cells to show sometimes. Can be weeks.

B1 Is good for shock. So,wouldn't hurt to water them with that. You might try to make sure that you water them with tepid,not cold tap water from now to spring warmth. Might help.

Pwr, figs do go dormant every winter and are pretty cold hardy. They should be ok in most year around Dallas.

Vitamin B1 does not seem to have any affect on plant growth. There was a study in 1930 that said it helped in transplant shock but later the author of the report said that with more test it did not appear to have any benefit. Many claims on garden products tend to be advanced by the companies that sell the products. I did not find any university studies that supported the claim that Vitamin B1 helped on plant shock.

Stanofh, between B1 and Superthrive, which one should I use for now? which one would you use?

My trees are getting worst and worst looking each day, they are in the greenhouse and we are not gonna have another dip of temp below 40 until at least another month. So I am hopeful.

It the outside temperatures are not going to be below 40 degrees, the plants may do better outside without the high temperatures that can occur in a green house. Temperatures vary greater in a green, especially if it is not heated or cooled. The high temperatures would put more stress on the injured tree. I would not change the fertilize that you were using before. If using Superthrive just continue to use the same amount.

Right now they need no fertilizing. So,if superthrive has small amounts of it..go to straight B1. I tried my own transplant experiment with B1..one laurel went into shock and died,the other did not,kept all its foliage. That was years ago..but I tell you that is how it worked out. For frost and freeze I've never tried it. It wouldn't hurt as I said.

My own plants here are showing more cosmetic damage after a 33f night last week. I expected that.

For you Sarah,as long as you keep the potted roots in mild temps..they can come back.

For the starfruit Sarah you might consider a heating pad. Like the kind used for starting seeds that they sell at those Hydroponics stores. THAT would rush recovery up.

Well, I looked up Superthrive on google. It does contain Vitamin B1 and says it is not a fertilizer. Some people swear by it while others say all it is good for is removing money from their pockets. I read that an extension specialist says it does not work and suggest applying a small amount of nitrogen for transplant shock. It is suppose to contain 50 different vitamins and hormones.

It sounds like snake oil to me, but if money is no object I guess it should be safe to use, but I would not like to add vitamins and hormones to my plant if I were going to eat them. They apparently do not say what the 50 vitamins and hormones Superthrive has in it. I just stick with synthetic fertilizer. At least I know what I am applying.

ha- That's why I don't worry about the B-1. It even smells like the one the Doctor gives you.

Carambola seems the most damaged.....let them in a sheltered position until spring temperarure will arrive...then cut the death parts and hope the oldest wood survived.

Gosh, it's coming again, forecast to get low to 24 for 2 nights tomorrow... Yuck. All of my new trees are in greenhouse. Pray for us

If you don't want to use a mega watt space heater Sarah, a spotlight or lightbulb used in those cheap fixtures you can get a auto supply or Home Depot,will work. 24f is lethal. You MUST heat them to well about the 32f mark.

I put old christmas light and a small heater inside the greenhouse. The heater has a thermo set at 65 osculating inside. I hope it works. I also have back up just in case. And I pulled cover my greenhouse with 3 more layers of cloth to lock in the moisture. It got down to 30 this morning for at least 6 hours, today it will be 23 with high of 30, and same is predicted for tomorrow. Oh Lord... I cant sleep

That should work. I see the cold has sunk well into northern Mexico along the Gulf. Keep them warm Sarah!

I just moved all my plants into the garage for the week and kept the light on, There is a thermometer in my garage so I can always tell if the temps are good enough. Worked out fine, the coldest it got in the garage was 43 and thats when it was 15 degrees outside. I just moved my plants back outside since its going to be in the 70s this week :) but I dont think any of my guavas survived the cold from couple weeks ago :/

i just noticed, last night, some new leaves growing on two of my smallest guava plants. Im super excited and hopeful that my bigger guavas will spring back too!

pWR, all 4 of my big guava trees have green sprout from the trunk now, so is my starfruit and cherimoya tree. Hopefully 2 more months they get to nurse well inside the greenhouse.

Stanofh, yes, they were pretty warm inside the greenhouse, and so no damage done, that is adding to the damage from the December freeze. It got down to 17 for 2 nights here. Brutal winter

in Houston this summer was quite warm and some of my trees had unusually short period of dormancy. not being dormant due to the warm winter and then getting hit w a hard freeze may have compounded the damage.

Our Tropicals also froze , we literally had 3 days of very cold winter , before and after since it's almost spring here in Houston , will be warm

Sarah how are your plants doing? Ally guavas ate growing back from the bottom of the trunk. What's weird is that the smallest trees took the least damage and started go grow back faster than the big trees which ended up taking more damage and are now barely sensing up new shoots. Also those shoots are coming from the soil, not the trunk for the big trees and the shoots ate coming from the trunks on the small ones.

All of my big pot trees are coming back, the starfruit, avocado, guava trees, all are coming back shortly after the first freeze. The Molix sapodilla is barely shooting out new growths now.

is the guava growing back from existing wood or from the soil? 3 guavas here too major damage and are growing back from the soil. last one hasn't done much yet

i had 26F temps 4 weeks ago, but it had rained for 2 days prior, soaking the ground and containers.... i think the roots in some containers froze solid.

i had an eggfruit in a raised bed that died. several mango, like 8 of them died, most 1 or 2 yrs old, but also my fruiting 4yr tree from seed.

(1 mango survived next to the house on the driveway. i thinjk the heat from the cement driveway helped)

i just read a report from Florida in 1963. a freeze hit some tropical grove, and they defined the damage. the starfruits all came back

mine has defoliated 3 times due to cold. its sprouting new leaves now.

the guava are the same. they always loose leaves and always come back.

i lost a 6yr old Mamey in a 12 gallon pot. it was really large and pretty.

White sapote didnt even blink. neither did the feijoas... THe Acerola lost leaves, but its coming back strong.... Muntingia Calabura looked dead till yesterday. i saw a small sprout at the base of the tree. It (was) 15 ft tall and had been cut back 5 times. the trunk is the size of my thigh or larger, it will have to grow back from the ground, but at least it has roots and it grows FAST.

live and learn for the zone pushers.

I am surprised about the sapodilla. I wanted to buy one recently, and the people at the nursery suggested against it and said it wasnt very hardy.

Andy, all of my guava came back from their old woods instantly after the freeze. I guess they all just have foliage damage. Starfruit and avocado came back right away as well, and sapodilla took 2 months but is sending out new leaves now.