Recent Frosts - any damage?

[Paddy Tobin]

My water pipes are frozen under two feet of soil. Only a thaw will relieve the situation and this is not forecast.

Paddy

[johnw]

My Nerines are frozen under fleece.

Not a good sign.  Will your heater not deal with the cold? Is it turned on?

johnw

[angie]

Paddy I to have no water as well, contacted the water board to let them know and they said it must be my pipes that are frozen when I informed them that my neighbours a 1/2 mile away were also without water they there attitude changed, I can manage without water but I do hope we keep the power my mum is oxygen 24/7 and that would be a worry.
Angie

[Diane Whitehead]

My water pipes are frozen under two feet of soil.

This happened to my parents once.  No one else in the neighbourhood
had a problem.  They found the problem was in their rock garden.  One
of the rocks was touching the water pipe and conducting cold from the
cold air down to the pipe.

[johnw]

I'm hoping my frames full of snowdrop seedlings in pots are okay. They're covered with a double layer of bubble wrap, some netting to hold that in place, and an inch or two of snow. The pots aren't plunged, only sitting on a layer of old vermiculite and sand, so they're almost certain to be frozen solid, but hopefully not damaged. I'll take a look later and throw on some extra bubble wrap. Too late to bring them in now, and my lean-too is already filled with pots of more mature bulbs from seed and chipping.

Martin - The potted snowdrops here freeze as solid as rock for 3 months and still come booming up in mid March.  We always heel the pots into wood chips and top-dress with 1/2" of wood chips. Occasionally a missed pot will just get tossed in without plunging and they're fine.  G. reginae-olgae might be touch & go but that may be more to do with our lack of heat.

Keep in mind we have the sort of weather you're having into late March, sometimes from November without letup.  

johnw

[Martin Baxendale]

Yes, I'm pretty sure the seedlings will be okay. I just can't help worrying a little because they're my youngest seedlings, still tiny bulbs, and some of my latest and most interesting crosses, including last year's seed crop just starting to germinate - amongst them, a fair few crosses with Rosemary Burnham as the pollen parent 

But even though I'm sure they'll be fine, I'll still find myself out there later throwing some more bubble wrap over the frames (Mark, I find bubble wrap much better than fleece for frost protection. I use it to cover frames, wrap tender shrubs and to just throw over plants in the open ground. This year, since I had flu when the freezing weather arrived, I didn't get out with the bubble wrap as much as I'd have liked to, so a lot of stuff is taking its chances - interesting to see what survives.

[johnw]

Martin - Just a further note.  We always cover the frames with opaque (white) plastic to keep any sun off the frames.  The freeze-thaw / rapid temperature fluctuation cycle seem to be most injurious to frame plants in our protracted cold climate, I think the fluctuation is worse.

Close to the house there is one spot which has been frozen solid since mid Decemeber.  The Galanthus nivalis are peaking up and the buds are tightly clasped between the leaves but you can see white, they showed in early December.  They could stay snowless until the mid to late March thaw (if we don't have a typical January thaw fro a week or so) and yet the flowers always come through it all unscathed.  Amazing isn't it?

Seeds of corcyrensis are just sprouting in the greeenhouse. No signs of nivalis seeds yet.

johnw  -   -1c at 10:45 pm

[mark smyth]

I have heated plunges but dare I turn them on while pots are frozen solid?

[Michael J Campbell]

Mark,turn them on at 1°C and then increase by one or two degrees at the pots thaw out, should not do any harm.

[ashley]

My water pipes are frozen under two feet of soil. Only a thaw will relieve the situation and this is not forecast.

I really sympathise Paddy.  When our local road was resurfaced in 2008 the old water pipes were damaged so all last winter we and our neighbours had to rely on a temporary pipe that looped over a ditch & hedge.  Of course this froze regularly and stayed that way for days.  However by a weird stroke of luck the council people finally came the week before Christmas to replace the underground pipe.   

[angie]

Got our water back on this morning, hope you have too Paddy.

Angie

[mark smyth]

I'm so stoopid. The plunge with the Nerines has never had the cable installed. Too much manana.

[Anthony Darby]

I'm so stoopid. The plunge with the Nerines has never had the cable installed. Too much manana.

Just as well you didn't turn it on then!

[mark smyth]

The thaw was welcome today but Nerine leaves are still flat

[Paul T]

Ouch, Mark.  Would turning your other plunge on have helped heat the glasshouse anyway though, to keep the cold out a little?