FreezePruf? Not so much
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer
Over the weekend, I tested a new product designed to protect plants from a sudden frost and extend their bloom time. It's called FreezePruf and it is made by the manufacturers of Liquid Fence.
I sprayed my begonia and my dahlia thoroughly and left my coleus unprotected on the afternoon of what was predicted to be a frosty night.
Sure enough, the next morning the ground, and the cars, were covered with a silver frost and I checked my container plants for damage.
The coleus, as you can see from the picture below, was devastated by the cold, but the begonia and the dahlia seem fine.
I cheerfully reported here on Garden Variety that the product appeared to have worked as designed...protecting plant cell walls from the expansion and breakdown that freezing temperatures can cause.
However, when I took a look at the containers a couple of days later, the begonia leaves had browned and wilted. So had the dahlia, only slightly less so.
(You can see in the photo above that some of the leaves have browned slightly, although they have maintained their shape.)
I don't know what I did wrong. I sprayed the plants thoroughly. But both were clearly showing frost damage that had only revealed itself after the warm sun had "defrosted" the leaves.
I welcome anyone else's thoughts about what may have happened with a product that is getting all kinds of positive press. I am perfectly ready to believe I screwed up.
On the other hand, maybe it isn't nice to fool Mother Nature.
Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer
Comments
Susan, how cold did it actually get that night and for how long? Based on what you relate and the pictures, I can only conclude that, even with FreezePruf, it got cold enough to damage but not destroy your begonias and dahlias. The damage looks to me to be delayed cold-induced bronzing, which can occur in these species with even a few minutes exposure to 32 F temps. If it in fact, as I suspect, got down to 27-28 or maybe even colder for a while and stayed below freezing for many hours, some damage is to be expected, and the FreezePruf performance was far superior to what untreated plants would have done. You have to admit the treated plants are still there, at least partially green and still in flower, whereas the untreated plants are toast - - and would have been with even 10 minutes at 32 F.
Garden Variety readers...this is the scientist behind FreezePruf. I'll try to answer his questions!--Susan
Posted by: Dave Francko | November 12, 2009 5:33 PM
I'm not into flowers, so I know nothing about their hardiness. However, I sprayed FreezePruf on my canna lilies and they survived freezes down to about 30F and remained unharmed for a few days before being knocked out by upper 20's nights. I had also sprayed my cold-hardy bananas (Musa Basjoo & Musa Sikkimensis) and they survived upper 20's with no noticeable damage and no other protection, only FreezePruf. Finally the application must have worn out (about 5-6 weeks had passed) and they burned in the cold. That's amazing to me. Since they claim protection varies by species, you might want to try on other plants and see what results you get. No? Best of luck!
Posted by: Juni Perez | November 18, 2009 9:06 PM
Poor shivered flowers. You should build a green house for them you know.
Posted by: TheGardener | January 24, 2011 9:43 PM