Frozen Greenhouse Large & Very Old Brugs

During the really cold few days that we had a month or so ago the additional GFI attached to the end of extension cord froze, hence the 2 heaters were non operational. We were in the midst of a the super bowl here ( our business had a NFL contract) and I did not have the digi thermometers up and running. We had the fan to circulate air on a different plug and normally that is something I listen to see if we have power, that plug was not effected. Main plug to the GH is GFI it was fine. Just trying to be safe. Back in the 70's we had a similar situation but not this sever temps. Temps dipped to 13 ish range for a few nights.

Ok the large brug stalks are still firm but the outer skin will come off. All the small branches gone. I know some will return from their roots but what a loss. How would you all handle this???
Some of the really large Plumerias were in this GH.they are gone....Huge Plumerias. We have 2 GH's one for the smaller Plumerias that one was fine. All the tropical were wedged into the frozen house also. Some of these Brugs I've had since the mid 1990's. Every year I would top them off to get in the GH peak. Their is nothing like a 15' brug with who knows how many blooms attached... magnificent. Not this year.
If we need to purchase a few new cuttings what are some single/double choices that will thrive in our N. Texas heat & humidity.

I thought about taking cuttings of what comes back from roots on the large ones & root then discard the 8-10" stalk base. They were big mounds of Brugs. Almost like starting fresh again. That way it gives the new plant fresh environment to begin again??? Most are root bound anyway.
Must have had 30 cuttings rooting in there most were in the 3-6' range for friends this spring. The water was a block of Ice.

I will try and get some pics of the devastation up later.
and my palm....massive bird of paradise...gone, old 20yr begonias...gone.
I'm starting to sound like Charlie Sheen here...his word is winnning..LOL...mine gone.. or dead. hahaha

Any advise / help is greatly appreciated.
Thank You Karen

Very high humidity in there, the best I could do

Ohhhhhh My, that is painful to see!

Cocobid,

Wow, your damage is far worse than mine! You have my deepest sympathy. ERCOT and the rolling brownout they required without notifying their customers is responsible for my greenhouse disaster.

I really don't understand what your set-up is like. Are your two heaters electric? If they are, were they connected to the same outlet? May I ask why a GFI was attached to the end of an extension cord? Would you mind explaining your set-up in a bit more detail?

I've lost track of the number of times my DH has warned me not to exceed 15 amps total for the greenhouse outlet. I have 2 greenhouses, too. The small 8' x 8' x8' is for my orchid collection. In years past, I heated that greenhouse with a portable electric 1500 watt 2 speed space heater. I could only use the low 1350 watt setting because my Modine propane heater in the larger greenhouse has an electric ignition. The GFI outlet is in one of the bathrooms. My greenhouse outlet is connected to the same circuit. If my set-up (I was pushing it a bit.) exceeded 15 amps, it would trigger the GFI in the bathroom. I had that happen several times last winter when both the space heater and the propane heater came on at the same time. So this year, I increased the size of the larger greenhouse and moved the contents of the small greenhouse in to avoid losing power to the greenhouse. I even convinced my DH to let me have a 250 gallon propane tank installed so I wouldn't have to go out in the middle of a freezing night to change out the smaller propane tanks I was using in years past. In previous years when the last tank ran out of gas in the middle of the night (... and it always happens in the middle of the night), I've had to turn on the sprinklers and leave them on all night long to keep my plants from freezing. Then get someone to go fill the tanks first thing in the morning. This year, I thought I had taken care of all potential problems. Wrong. I didn't think ERCOT would be so stupid and allow 2 power plants to shut down for maintenance just before a blue norther. Air got into the gas line and kept the heater from coming on although the fan did. When the power came back on, I assumed everything in the greenhouse was fine. Six hours later, I decided to place an additional temperature sensor in the greenhouse and was greeted by droopy translucent-leafed Brugmansias.

This is what my greenhouse looked like after the droopy translucent leaves turned brown, about a week later. The photo doesn't show all the damaged plants. About 75% of all my plants were affected.

Now a month after that photo, most of the Brugs affected have died down all the way to the ground or have a little green stub left above ground. A few of the damaged trunks survived, but have splits or circular dead spots in the bark. The good news is that many of my Brugs have sent up new grow from either what is left of the trunks or from the buried portion.

Some of the Brugs still haven't shown any signs of growth. I checked the feeder roots of those Brugs. Some root balls are still alive and healthy. They should be putting out new growth soon. I hope. Others are dead. The feeder roots are brown and the "bark" is falling off the anchor roots. Those won't be coming back.

Some of my plumerias are OK. Others are dead or will have to come back from the little stubs that are left. I have also lost a number of tropicals.

This is a photo of what small anchor roots and their feeder roots should look like if the Brug's root ball is alive.

Rolling blackouts were terrible without warning they just pulled the plug... effected so many hospitals, business and residents under the coldest temp we have had in N.Texas in years. I am so sorry for your losses. I would be royally pissed with ERCOT our business were effected almost shut down and we were in the middle of production for super bowl business.

We have an electrician that keeps our business's up and running and he takes care of our needs here at the house. A few years ago when we added the Plumeria house I had him out to add a dedicated breaker for the houses. I wish I could get into the details but that is not my thing. But I do know what we have learned is that a GFI in high humidity can freeze and not work....
The set up we have for the Brug house is a dedicated outlet that runs 2 electric heaters & a fan. That outlet was not effected but I added an additional adaptor to the end of that cord that had 3 additional plugs that is preceded with a GFI. That is were our problems began. That add on outlet failed completely. It is now in the garbage.. The cord to handle the wattage is ample to carry the load. Sticker shock when we bought that LOL.

On to the subject of root balls this GH took a major multi day & night hit, we know the official lows but I suspect the temp was lower here at the house than at the airport. What scares me about this is weakened root balls and it becoming a mess with disease later on. As bad as I hate to say this, I'm tempted to just clear out the house and start fresh. Breaks my heart....... You know with our extremes here in Texas if the roots are weak and rotting below the soil and as large of a root mass as some of have what kind of problems do we have down the road. What would you do??

Normally this time of year this GH is just a blooming fragrant joy to spend time in.
None of my friends when they heard will even bring up the subject they know how upset I am. The hardest part is still ahead we have to discard and clean this mess up.

Have not added any Brugs in years most were just classic favorites. It seems in the past 10 years with the growing popularity of Brugs a lot more data is out there regarding what crosses will be more suited to different climates. Need to get my hands on a good list of crosses that handle out heat & humidity here.
I hope that more of yours wake up :) :) I'll keep my fingers crossed for you .
Thanks Karen

About the Brugs: Whether I would throw them out or not would depend on how long ago I had potted on or repotted them and the amount of root damage. I haven't checked all the pots especially those nearest the greenhouse wall, but those rootballs I have checked are either alive with no visible signs of damage or completely dead. I might find some rootballs with some damage as I work my way toward the outer edges. I can't tell you what I would do. I know the more damage the roorball incurs the less likely it is to return. In the past I have tried to save 3 Brugs with damaged and rotted roots. Only one, Sam, survived. It is about 5' tall now. Fortunately, it was in a small pot and near the middle of the greenhouse.

This list is a few years old, but it might help you in your search. It's not always fool proof. I've had my Brugs go into summer dormancy. Even the so called heat tolerant ones.

Many of my Brugs are putting out multiple shoots. D-mail me later this summer because I will probably forget. This ranch keeps me busy. If you will pay the postage, I'll send you some cuttings.

Veronica

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/797671/?hl=10+Favorite+Brugs

Veronica~~~ Great info just printed the list and will begin searching for a few special ones. Ranch life is a 24/7 job, from people I know that live that live life on a farm/ranch love...love their life. A while back I ran across this website http://thepioneerwoman.com/ she lives on a ranch on OK and is a writer but I found her recipes to be rather simple and really good.
I'll keep this thread updated as we start to see shoots. 2 so far have sent out some greenery, they were in the center.
Thank You for your help Karen

You're welcome.
Veronica

Veronica,
I have to ask, what is the name of your ranch? Do you have people come in to hunt? The reason I ask is that my husband hunted out in Texas on a ranch. The lady that owned it was named Veronica.

It's the Spring Branch Ranch. We raise registered Angus. Not hunting allowed with one exception. Every few years when the wild hogs and feral pigs get so numerous that the pastures begin to look like we just plowed, a neighbor organizes an area wide hog hunt My DH has to keep reminding me that they are not pets, but I've raised 3 heifers whose moms went dry and all the weaned calves come to the paddocks nearest the house. Eventually I come to think of them as pets.

We do have several neighbors who raise either deer or exotic animals and allow hunting for a fee.

Hi Karen,
Im so sorry to hear about your greenhouse plants freezing, that would sure be hard to deal with, I hope you can find
some that will come back from the roots, I can send you some cuttings for postage later in the summer too.
Best wishes,
Karen

When my power was out for a week in February 2010 and over 3' of snow, my brugs looked like your's, except a lot more of them.
Old, new hybrids, and lots of hard to come by ones .. all died back to the ground ):
I will tell you to take care of the plants, as normal. Water and feed them. If there is life in the root ball, they will come up again.
I will bet there is life still in the roots.
A year later, my greenhouse is a tropical jungle again. You would hardly guess the devastation.
I hope your's will come back the same.

I would surely not want to have to go through it again, but I learned a lot in what happened.
Brugs are a lot tougher than we think.

Thank You for all the support and offerings. Just returned for the GH and some are starting to put out from the roots so will just have to take the wait & see. The one plant that I really really hope we did not loose was the Red Cloak, we started with one years ago and have given countless cuttings out. We have 4 nice ones and have not seen any signs of life yet. If anyone know of a source for these we might need one. But crossing fingers we won't !!!
Brazilian Red Cloak (Megaskepasma erythrochlamys)
Hus & I have had a sinus infection all week and still have it and this is not the time go go do a clean up down there.

Here I am fretting over the loss of a few plants and 1/2 of a nation was wiped off the planet.
My heart goes out to the people of Japan...what a beautiful country and they so love the art of gardening and placement of their gardens.

Try here....
http://www.zone9tropicals.com/megaskepasma-erythrochlamys-brazilian-cloak-p-618.html

or here on Ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brazilian-Red-Cloak-PLANT-Megaskepasma-erythrochlamys-N-/260723915999?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb45b3cdf

I just had to look and see what it was....really nice !

Cocobid.. just found this thread.. I feel your pain... in the same boat but on a much smaller scale. I am in West Texas. Odessa. I keept my brugs in the garage this year instead of moving them into the potting shed due to the larger size they had grown. The shed just was not big enough. Well.. the door did not go down all the way and reopened on our coldest night.. 14 degrees. I did not know it! Frozen brugs and palms! My oldest brug Mountain Magic was closest to the cold and is definitely a gonner ... I am afraid even the roots are gone.. smaller pot. I am seeing some sprouting on my Daybreak from the roots already... it was the on further into the garage but the entire top of the plant was frozen. All of my hibiscus plants are gonners.. the BIG one I have had for 15 years. Breaks my heart. My neighbors are not going to understand why there is no big garden in front of the house this year.

Oh, so sorry for you folks. I can relate with losing plants to the cold! I think you will be surprized what will come back from the roots. Don't give up yet.

Teresa in KY

Have to say I had the same thing happen to me this winter. The ice storm was bad enough, being too sick to even care was awful but the rolling black outs were the culprits.
I think it tripped a breaker that kept the GH heater going when the black outs happened.
Next time I opened the doors all I saw was a brown jungle of dead leaves. The good news is the Brugs are making a comeback. And, my Hibiscus are going to make it too. Stripped all the dead leaves & cut back anything that looked mushy & already have a bud on my Ecuador Pink. Was sick about the Hibiscus but have to say most of them have green leaves & are going to make it. Year before last I took cuttings from the Brugs & put them in the GH. Left the pots & plants outside. Was going to empty a pot & re-use it when I noticed green growth down in the root ball. Left them alone & all 7 came back & bloomed last summer. Lost a lot of more tender plants but the things I really care most about are recovering. Beginning to think I'd better go back to English Smocking or take up knitting. But, playing in the dirt is so satisfying.

Judy

Yes..Karen... it was quite a hit you too there.. the GFI's are tricky.. there's a few things that set them off.. water can be one if it causes a bridge between your power and the ground.. and one GFI on a line with one is redundant..and not in a backup.. protection way... but having two on a line shouldn't cause a problem.. but they don't really trip as a reaction to a problem.. but trip in response to a draw.. which showed a tendancy towards this excessive draw.. so they can get fooled into trippng.. like through a surge turnnng multiple or larger things on after a shutdown..
your 15 amps should allow you to draw 1650 watts. max.... at any time..and these cords should have at least a 14 guage wire in it.. a GFI on the cord should have been sealed for moisture..as they are often used in an exposed location.. they can be finniky.. 12 guage wire should allow passage of 20 amp servce and be able to carry...2200 watts..
well all the best for spring... after chtting with you.. was amazed as to your drive to continue ..and your upbeat atttude n having to do so..
oh.. is the greenhouse covering there the white boat wrap .. nice defused even light

Well, unfortunately, it appears my very first brug is not coming back. It is my mountain magic. It was closest to the front of the garage on that 14 degree night when the garage door went back up and stayed open all night. Some of the others are coming back but I checked it out and the root ball is mush too. Just too cold even for that big pot all night. I lost my palms and hibiscus too. Such a cold winter.. and now we are dealing with fires all around and no rain since last September. We watch the weather on TV and see the rain in other parts of the country.. never had RAIN ENVY before.... LOL

Tammie,
I'm sorry you lost your Mountain Magic. I think I may have lost mine as well. I don't see any growth on it as yet. None of the large potted plants (mostly Brugs) located closest to the greenhouse wall have come back. I also lost some large plumerias and a 5 year old Cordia sebestena.

Our county was put in the highest drought level possible a few weeks ago. Exceptional drought means that it is worse than what happened during 1950s. No rain in sight. Our boys who live in the San Francisco Bay Area have been rubbing salt in our wounds. A La Nína year for them means lots of rain.

I hope you escape all the fires that have raged through north and west Texas. I pray we don't get any. The winds have been so fierce that the fires would impossible to put out. No formal fire departments around. Rural areas have to rely on volunteers.

Maybe we need to do a community rain dance. LOL

Fires are so bad everywhere that they have set up a hotline to check for road closings.. You can periodically smell the smoke in the air.. getting tired of that.. even the smoke from 150 miles away at times! They are showing the "fire map" on the news right now! LOL not funny... just ironic that we have a 'fire map' on the news. As for the drought. I have lived here since the early 70's and this is the first time whe have ever had water restrictions. The scheduling for watering is actually causing me to water my yard MORE than I normally would! I don't like it because I like to keep my water bill down but if I skip a day according to the schedule then my yard has to go longer than I want and with humidity as low as 3% it can not wait until the next scheduled day. It is also bad because sometimes I have to water when the wind is blowing 35 mph but it is when they allow me to water and if I skip.. I can't water again for several days... what a PAIN!!! I have more sense than they give me credit for.. let me water when it is appropriate PLEASE.. go fine the idiots with a river running down the road every night.

I do live in town so I don't really worry about the fires getting my home ... just worry about the people living near them... lost 30 homes southeast of me.. haven't heard from a friend in the area yet.

We went thru this Fire Storm problem here in 1998 here in FL...and they keep saying on the news that this year could be a repeat......it is pretty scarey, and I sympathize with all of you in this position. Here's hoping you are all safe.

We can see the haze from the smoke & smell it here in the D/FW area. Hope your friend is okay. Some idiot around Weatherford has been deliberately setting fires. Hope they catch them soon. Our water rationing is year around. You can hand water or use soaker hoses anytime. No sprinklers between 10 am & 7 pm. Sure do a lot of hand watering!!
Stay safe.

Hugs,
Judy

Shows how dumb the policy setters are. Hand wateringin the long run wastes more water because it encourages the production of shallow roots which require more frequent watering.

Just found this old tread...How funny!! Well not really... but going back and rereading that pain...
So here we are.
That summer of '11 was one of the hottest in recorded Tex history. Not a good year for Brugs or even trying to establish a new group of plants. I've since changed a lot of how the GHs function and many safety factors to help deal with outages going forward. I also have around 100 plumerias. And on that note I lost several huge Plumerias, well I thought I had. This was just a devastating emotional time. The man that helps me in with our garden also helped deal with the devastation and make decisions. The big ones were in huge pots we cut to the roots...pure mush. Frankly at that point I forgot about them and moved on. That summer we were just trying to keep things wet. So around comes fall and rumbling around behind some large plants I noticed something green emerging from those very pots. Yes....Plumeria coming back from their roots. Speechless!!!


So back to the Brugs....Most came back from their roots. I can name the ones that did not. Strange looking at what did & did not I can only determine that how much water the pot may have had or not determined the survival rate.

This year I will have the time to really create a garden area I've been wanting to since the freeze happened. We all have times in our lives that our lives are not our own...it is has been like that the past 3 years. Between business & personal stuff...life happens.

Thank You for all the kindness during that time Karen

This message was edited Jan 30, 2014 9:32 PM

OK Karen... you know we want to see pictures ...Right... that mass of Plumerias ...and all the Brugs... in this best year going......will you move them all out to inground plantings
Best of Luck with it all...

Gordon Hi How is the kitten? Adorable!!!!!!!

Was down in the Brug house Friday and our spring leaves are emerging. I pray for an early cold snap in there to loose the nasty worn our Texas summer leaves. They do nothing but set up a breeding ground for bugs. Everything is fresh in there. Bougainvilleas are strutting there stuff. Not sure if this is a good thing...but Plumerias are showing claws??? it is only 2-2.

The Pic of my Husband on Plumeria row stretches about 40ft, we layer in different sizes. In one of the pics you can see a very small plumeria planted under the giants...and the little ones bloomed like crazy. This year I'm also adding back behind the tallest Plumies some Orange Giant Amaranth & Love-Lies-Bleeding - Red & Green Amaranth should look really neat. The tallest ones without leaves around 14'.

Our Brugs have there own part of the garden shaded from West Texas sun, it just cooks them. We rarely plant Brugs in the ground. This year due to the shade the tall plumies generate I'll be able to plant a couple of Brugs under their canopy. The summer of 11 I put patio umbrellas in the pots creating shade..it was just a rough year.

We will do a complete pot empty of soil this year. Meaning we remove most of the soil from root bound pots and starting fresh. This year we will be experimenting with adding Coir to our soil mixture. Watersorb we have used forever..really helps. At the end of the day...it is all about soil..