Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Extension Service

by Richard Maples

Communications Specialist

Cooperative Extension Service

BITTER COLD DAMAGES SOME LANDSCAPE PLANTS

An `early' spring enticed many Arkansans into planting landscape plants and vegetables sooner than they normally might. Now, following the recent spell of frigid weather, many of those plants are suffering.

"How badly your plants were damaged depends on how low the temperature dropped where you live," says Janet Carson, horticulturist for the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas.

"If the temperature hovered at the freezing mark," she said, "most plants are going to be okay -- unless you had tomatoes or squash that weren't protected by something such as hot caps or milk jugs. Temperatures below 40 can really set these plants back.

"You probably ought to replant tomatoes and squash. It would take the plants a while to recover, and when they do they would be slow producing."

Carson noted that many parts of the state had temperatures below freezing. "I'm hearing reports of potatoes and corn being burned back. Crops, such as green beans, corn and potatoes can recover, but you'll need to help them by fertilizing.

"Potatoes will spend so much of their energy producing foliage to replace what was burned back that they won't produce as many tubers underground," she said.

The more tender perennial plants, such as peonies, may have been "nipped back," according to the horticulturist. These plants need to be protected when temperatures dip below freezing.

Warm season bedding plants, such as impatiens, may have been damaged by cold weather in some parts of the state if they weren't protected. These plants should be replaced along with the warm season vegetables. "Wait a few days to assess the damage before you start pruning back the plants," said Carson.

As with many other plants, the amount of damage done to fruit trees that had fruit on them depended on how cold it got in your area. Peach trees can tolerate a temperature of 28 degrees without damage. You'll just have to wait and see how they do.

"If you moved your house plants outside too early, the parts that were frozen will look like someone poured boiling water on them," Carson said. "All you can do is clean them up and hope they sprout back out. In the future, wait until the end of April to put out your more tender plants."

For more information, contact your county office of the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas.