Just got my power up after three days in snow without electricity- My grow space would have had a heater through the temperature drop, but obviously that didn't happen. Anyway, I lost over half of my collection, far more plants than I can afford to replace, just nine days after my birthday and I'm devastated.

Anyone wanna send plant pictures and such to cheer a heartbroken grower up?

I think a lot of us will have similar scenarios. I was not able to keep my winter storage areas above 32F all the time. It will be a while 'til I know where all the losses may be. Certainly the plants weren't exposed to the extremely low temps nor for a long duration surrounded by freezing air so some will manage and some will have some recovery. But some may be a complete loss. Time will tell. Single digits predicted again tonight, but tomorrow is supposed to get above freezing during the day. After 10 days of constant freezing, I'm looking forward to something warmer and some sun creating warm pockets. But I'm afraid some water leaks may show up with the warmup too. Some of the water lines were hand dug years ago in hard clay and gravel and aren't deep enough for the temps they've had.

Sorry about your plants. I've needed to cut down on the numbers for a while anyway, so I'll be discretionary about what gets replaced.

Sorry to hear about your loss. It's never easy to lose them. I am thankful that the temp in our house miraculously hasn't dipped below 40 this whole time and that I brought all my outdoor plants inside. They may not be super happy with the inadequate airflow and virtually no light but at least they're at an ok temp. Apparently we will be getting power back soon. I'm hoping today but certainly not holding my breath. Hang in there, stay warm and try to be thankful you at least still have some of your plants. We're gonna get through this

Yeah I am sure that the plant losses are going to be considerable for many growers. Here this last summer was a huge killer for many old growth landscape cacti that just could not deal with the heat for all those many days above 110F.

I am not sure what kind of plants you were growing, but I am sure that when the time comes (later this spring) there will be plenty of people who would happily send a few plants your way for postage, which I certainly would be happy to do.

I do not have a lot of things in flower but here are some pictures of plants with some colorful flowers going:

I'm sorry you lost your plants.

I only just found out the full extent of what's going on down there from my partner in California, last night. Being Canadian, I've certainly experienced a lot of heavy winter storms, horribly low temperatures, ice storms, power outages, etc. One year, I had my furnace break down in winter and couldn't get anyone out to fix it for a while. It was terribly cold. So I can sympathize with the struggles you guys are going through. I hope things start to improve soon.

Lots of fleece and sherpas if you have them or can get them. Both are wonderful for keeping warm!

I don't have a lot of blooms to share at the moment. Just some Gonialoe flowers:

MotherMycelium said:Anyone wanna send plant pictures and such to cheer a heartbroken grower up?

A very wooly Euphorbia cyathium with at least some of the parts in focus.

needrain said:I think a lot of us will have similar scenarios. I was not able to keep my winter storage areas above 32F all the time. It will be a while 'til I know where all the losses may be. Certainly the plants weren't exposed to the extremely low temps nor for a long duration surrounded by freezing air so some will manage and some will have some recovery. But some may be a complete loss. Time will tell. Single digits predicted again tonight, but tomorrow is supposed to get above freezing during the day. After 10 days of constant freezing, I'm looking forward to something warmer and some sun creating warm pockets. But I'm afraid some water leaks may show up with the warmup too. Some of the water lines were hand dug years ago in hard clay and gravel and aren't deep enough for the temps they've had.

Sorry about your plants. I've needed to cut down on the numbers for a while anyway, so I'll be discretionary about what gets replaced.

From what I've seen there's been a lot of losses among gardeners in the state, I can only imagine how much damage this prolonged freeze is going to cause to native plants, not a lot is built to handle this kind of cold.. I hope that your collection pulls through! I'm always broke as hell so my collection is relatively small compared to most other growers, but I lost somewhere around thirty to forty plants, depending on how well some of them pull through.. There's a few that aren't entirely mush that may have some hope left. Some of them I had hope for but it turned out they were just still firm because they were frozen solid..
I'm so so looking forward to spring, I live in a swampy area of south texas so the wet is kind of commonplace in this area at least, so I don't have to worry in that aspect. I hope you're able to keep everything dry!

Corber said:Sorry to hear about your loss. It's never easy to lose them. I am thankful that the temp in our house miraculously hasn't dipped below 40 this whole time and that I brought all my outdoor plants inside. They may not be super happy with the inadequate airflow and virtually no light but at least they're at an ok temp. Apparently we will be getting power back soon. I'm hoping today but certainly not holding my breath. Hang in there, stay warm and try to be thankful you at least still have some of your plants. We're gonna get through this

It really never is, especially as growing is typically my coping mechanism for chronic pain/mental illness issues, a lot of the time my wellbeing is strongly influenced by theirs.. I'm so glad to hear that you've been able to bring them in and keep them safe through all of this! It dropped to like the twenties in my home, seeing as I live in a trailer with poor insulation, even the toilet water froze, and sadly my non-mammal pets didn't make it either, and they were in my bedroom.
Fortunately a lot of plants can handle that kind of mistreatment for a lot longer than they can a freeze at least! They might not be the happiest about it, but they can put up with it! I've been lucky enough to keep power since it came back on yesterday, I'm just hoping it stays- It's been on and off twice before it came on the last time. Fingers crossed!! Stay warm and safe, no warming the house with gas burners! I know it seems obvious but from what I've heard there's already been over 500 deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning.. Hopefully it comes on for you soon!!!

I'm definitely thankful to have those that did survive, mostly it was the more hardy cacti, I'm very glad for them as they're some of my favorites, not to mention hardest to replace due to price. Good luck!!

mcvansoest said:Yeah I am sure that the plant losses are going to be considerable for many growers. Here this last summer was a huge killer for many old growth landscape cacti that just could not deal with the heat for all those many days above 110F.

I am not sure what kind of plants you were growing, but I am sure that when the time comes (later this spring) there will be plenty of people who would happily send a few plants your way for postage, which I certainly would be happy to do.

I do not have a lot of things in flower but here are some pictures of plants with some colorful flowers going:

Oh man, yeah- I lost a lot of plants during the summer too- It's really humid in the area of Texas I live in so first sunburn would hit and then the humidity would make the burned areas rot, it was a disaster.. Thanks climate change!

I would be so so thankful for any gift plants once things get considerably warmer, I lost nearly all of my tropical and epiphytic cacti, softer bodied cacti and succulents, not to mention a lot of non succulent plants that never stood a chance.. The poor orchids in my bathroom are just melted, as well as my monstera deliciosa..

Ooh wow those are stunners! It doesn't really have to be flowering plants, just seeing life is nice, the reminder that there's always room for growth and life, thank you so much!

Macrocentra said:I'm sorry you lost your plants.

I only just found out the full extent of what's going on down there from my partner in California, last night. Being Canadian, I've certainly experienced a lot of heavy winter storms, horribly low temperatures, ice storms, power outages, etc. One year, I had my furnace break down in winter and couldn't get anyone out to fix it for a while. It was terribly cold. So I can sympathize with the struggles you guys are going through. I hope things start to improve soon.

Lots of fleece and sherpas if you have them or can get them. Both are wonderful for keeping warm!

I don't have a lot of blooms to share at the moment. Just some Gonialoe flowers:



It's been awful here- I moved to Texas from Florida, so this is my very first time ever experiencing snow.. Gotta say, not a fan! Not to mention our house isn't insulated or built for this kind of thing at all, it's a little trailer with holes in the floor here and there, water froze solid inside of the house.. Fortunately our power is up now, it's still cold as hell but at least we have heaters/heating blankets and such now, even though our water isn't turned back on yet in the case that the electric goes back off, which is a real worry..

So far we've been using lots of extra blankets, thermals and layered clothing- I have chronic pain issues that really flare up in the cold so there was no shortage of sweaters at least!

It doesn't need to be flowers, but those are positively gorgeous!!

Baja_Costero said:

A very wooly Euphorbia cyathium with at least some of the parts in focus.

Oh wow he's so fuzzy!! More than prepared to deal with the winter lol

Well... I just went out to the motor home on my property that I overwinter my plants in to clear out the dead from their pots and compost them, so here's the turnout. 42 plants dead, not counting the few that are a *little* softer than usual but may still come through it, or at least I'm going to let them try..

Don't toss those! It looks like most of them should be planted and kept. I'm betting they will survive just fine.

I agree with plantmanager. I see some that I'd bring into warmth for a few weeks, trim dead parts & watch for new growth & side shots by May. I'd make an intensive care unit in a long pot or shallow seed flat of good draining cactus soil with succulent/ cactus types close together instead of each a pot so they are easier to watch over until May.
P. S. I sent a private tree-mail earlier. I'm Trudy in Youngsville LA

plantmanager said:Don't toss those! It looks like most of them should be planted and kept. I'm betting they will survive just fine.

They may look like they're fine in the photo, I have a shit quality camera, but everything there is just mush, there's no tissue that didn't get frozen solid and then rethawed to be goop inside even if they look okay visually, to the touch they're just goners and leak fluid everywhere when handled

tabbycat said:I agree with plantmanager. I see some that I'd bring into warmth for a few weeks, trim dead parts & watch for new growth & side shots by May. I'd make an intensive care unit in a long pot or shallow seed flat of good draining cactus soil with succulent/ cactus types close together instead of each a pot so they are easier to watch over until May.
P. S. I sent a private tree-mail earlier. I'm Trudy in Youngsville LA

Ooh I'll go check your message after responding to this, I haven't seen it just yet! But yeah no everything in that pile is a lot worse off than it appears to be visually, all of the plants that are on there were totally soft to the touch on the stems/roots/leaves and leaking fluid when handled, like semi deflated water balloons unfortunately, I was pretty thorough as I checked even if my camera doesn't portray it as well. A few of them I pulled out to give a chance, but pretty much all of those were goners sadly.

Just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten you! We have a cold front coming tomorrow, but gorgeous weather forecasted for next week, so it's my hope to get a couple cuttings out to you next week!