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#1
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Frost Damaged Petunia?
I live in Atlanta, and despite living here for 15 years (and KNOWING
the last frost is always later than you think...), I planted hundreds of petunia in my flower beds in nice, manure-rich beds, but didn't get a chance to put mulch around them. That very night a cold front blew through and temps dropped. It was above freezing most of the night, but the temps were 30F for about 2 hours before sunrise. When I awoke, the petunia looked fine--just a light layer of frost on all of them. But when I got home that evening, all of the blooms had wilted. I put mulch around them and pinched each of the wilted blooms and hoped for the best. It's now been 2 weeks of 60-75F temperatures, and the petunia still haven't bloomed again. The leaves are a nice, deep green and the plants themselves aren't wilted, but each little bud that appears turns brown and shrivels before ever opening into a bloom. Has the frost permanently damaged these plants? Do I need to rip them out and start over? Or can I expect some blooms in a few weeks once the plant has a chance to completely renew all of the buds? |
#2
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Frost Damaged Petunia?
"kicksave" wrote in message
oups.com... I live in Atlanta, and despite living here for 15 years (and KNOWING the last frost is always later than you think...), I planted hundreds of petunia in my flower beds in nice, manure-rich beds, but didn't get a chance to put mulch around them. That very night a cold front blew through and temps dropped. It was above freezing most of the night, but the temps were 30F for about 2 hours before sunrise. When I awoke, the petunia looked fine--just a light layer of frost on all of them. But when I got home that evening, all of the blooms had wilted. I put mulch around them and pinched each of the wilted blooms and hoped for the best. It's now been 2 weeks of 60-75F temperatures, and the petunia still haven't bloomed again. The leaves are a nice, deep green and the plants themselves aren't wilted, but each little bud that appears turns brown and shrivels before ever opening into a bloom. Has the frost permanently damaged these plants? Do I need to rip them out and start over? Or can I expect some blooms in a few weeks once the plant has a chance to completely renew all of the buds? Your petunias are fine. Here (upstate NY, zone 5, where summer runs from July 7th to July 11th), petunias take an awful beating from the weather. I've had them survive multiple frost attacks in late October, and stick around until November when they finally give up. |
#3
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Frost Damaged Petunia?
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message ... "kicksave" wrote in message oups.com... I live in Atlanta, and despite living here for 15 years (and KNOWING the last frost is always later than you think...), I planted hundreds of petunia in my flower beds in nice, manure-rich beds, but didn't get a chance to put mulch around them. That very night a cold front blew through and temps dropped. It was above freezing most of the night, but the temps were 30F for about 2 hours before sunrise. I have Petunias in hanging pots that have come back for the last four years in a row. Nothing was done after the blooming season. They just keep coming back. Betsy in Central NJ -- NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth |
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Frost Damaged Petunia?
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