The big chill

[Anoxos]

I've had my dormancy-requiring plants placed outside for over a month now, letting them get used to the drop in photoperiod and the supposed steady drop in temps. It hasn't worked that way this year.

We maintained a steady too-warm 60-70F up until two days ago. Then the massive cold front blew through, and dropped temps to below freezing literally overnight.

I managed to get my 'coldframe' up for the plants the next day. It doesn't affect the temps much, but it keeps things nudged above a hard freeze and stops the wind. The Sarrs seem unaffected, but the VFTs all collapsed. They all wilted all at once.

There's nothing more I can do for them now. I just hope that they make a comeback in spring. Anyone care to expound on their chances?

 

[Alvin Meister]

If the VFT rhizomes are still white, they should be fine. Brown and mushy = bad.

 

[JMurphy97]

The same thing that happened to you happened to me. Are you close to Wisconsin?

 

[Anoxos]

I live in the SW corner of Indiana. The same cold front hit you that hit me, you probably missed the tornados we got though...

I haven't unpotted the VFTs to check on them. I figure I can just wait and see if they come back in spring. I'm afraid the unpotting would do more harm than good right now.

 

[CP30]

Shooot, the same thing happened to me in south Louisiana! one day the high was 85F, the next 63F, and then BAM it dropped into the 20's last night!
I came back home after being out of town and found my VFT sitting in trays of ice.

 

[Gemini528]

Here in California we've had steady 60's to 70's during the day and getting as low as 50 during the night. It's better here. There hasn't been such a drastic change in temperature like you've had. I hope it'll steadily drop in temperature. My VFTs haven't gone dormant yet, and they're outside too!