Our recent winter storm was unlike any I have ever seen in my lifetime of living in our area. Temperatures in the single digits for extended periods and hard freezes, including a layer of ice over everything, for extended periods.

So, what can we expect to see from our plants and trees? What do we need to do, if anything, to help them recover?

Some of the live oaks in the area have begun to show browning effects over most of the canopy. This is normally a slower natural process of the trees self-pruning their older evergreen leaves and replacing them; however, the recent weather has sped up the process and caused the trees to lose and replace more of the leaves at one time. According to the Texas Forest Service, these trees should bounce back with little to no damage.

Our Elms were in the process of budding before the freeze. This could mean a loss of those buds and will cause the tree to have to expend extra resources to begin the process over. These too should recover with little to no loss. This type of later freezing weather is the reason our pecans wait until the last minute to bud. For most of our other species, they were in a dormant state already and should not see any negative effect other than a few broken branches due to the weight of the ice that accumulated.

As for our other shrubs and plants, you will likely see a more dramatic effect including brown leaves broken or drooping branches or yellowing of new growth. It is best not to prune any of the branches or discolored foliage as this will provide some protection from a later freeze should we get one before the Spring green up.

The best approach for most of our damaged or discolored plants is to leave them alone for now and just observe how they respond in the coming weeks as the weather begins to warm, and the daylight hours increase. Do not prune or remove anything yet. Even if it looks completely dead, we could see some surprising recovery.

When considering water and fertilizer, do not fertilize or water at this point. Fertilizing could encourage too much new growth too early and put the plant’s remaining resources at jeopardy and risk of being frost bitten again with a late freeze. Overwatering can jeopardize the health of the roots.

The key is to be patient, observant and give the plants a chance to recover on their own. In most cases you will be surprised at how resilient they can be.

For more information about this or any other agricultural topic, please contact the Madison County Extension Office at 936-348-2234.