Frost and Aloe plants

[dcfish]

I carelessly left my aloe plant outside during the first frost of the year, and now the leaves are very spongy and droopy, and more or less look dead. The plant is now indoors for the winter, but I was wondering if anyone had seen this happen to an aloe before and if there is hope for the plant to perk up and come back to life

[dcfish]

for further description, the leaves are also a very dark green, and kind of moist

[Kisal]

Yes, your plant is damaged. I had that happen to an aloe that I left on a windowsill overnight, when the outdoor temperature unexpectedly dropped down to the mid 20s. I had closed the drapery over the plant, and the cold air collected between it and the window glass.

Your plant will survive if you provide good care for it through the winter. The key is whether the crown and central leaves are undamaged. If they are, then all will be well; if they are also damaged, the plant is unlikely to regrow.

Here is some information I found through Google:

(https://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Ask_the_Expert)

Frost-damaged Aloe Vera
I have a beautiful LARGE Aloe Vera plant that I have had as a house plant for over a year now. I was living in Mobile, Alabama, where I could leave the plant on the porch. Now I live in Atlana, Georgia, and I had the plant on the patio, until we had some freezing temperatures one night. I realized I had left the plant out and brought it in the next morning. The plant is wilting. It has "seeped" some fluids, some of the partial leaves are still firm while others are completely withed, the most center leaf is still bright green and standing tall.

Now my question is what do I do to attempt to revive the plant? Do I cut the wilted leaves at the base, leave them alone ?? Please if you have any advice, guide me.

Thanks, Cyndi

Expert Reply
Your aloe has certainly been damaged by the frost, but it sounds as though the roots and the growing crown have survived. That's good news! Bring the plant inside until the cold weather is over to avoid additional damage.

Trim back the damaged leaves. You can take them all the way back to the soil if they're severely damaged, or just cut back to healthy material if they're only damaged at the tip. Dry the cuts as much as you can. Succulents are prone to rot in moist, damaged tissue.

Water the plant lightly, and in a few days, give it a very light feeding with a balanced fertilizer. It should look better in a few weeks.
~~Lou"

[dcfish]

Thanks. The plant is actually looking a lot better now after just a few days. There is a lot of damage to the ends of the leaves, but the center is still bright green, it is several years old and up until now had been very healthy, so I think it will pull through. I was planning on just leaving the dead ends on to fall off on their own instead of trimming them- is that a bad idea?

[Kisal]

I doubt that leaving the damaged ends on will cause any further harm to the plant. I'm not sure, though, as I've never done that.

[Spotted]

Hi. I've done the same thing to my poor aloe plant. This winter, we moved into a house, and in the car ride, my plant ended up getting partially frozen.

As far as cutting the leaves, that depends on the damage that they have. When Aloe leaves start having trouble they tend to let their moisture travel down to their roots. In the hotter climates that is good thing, but if too much moisture reaches the roots, in the climates we have our houses, that can cause problems. Again. that depends on the damage.

[dcfish]

For anyone that is wondering, it seems like leaving the dead leaves on the plant is a terrible idea. I trimmed some and left a few on, and the trimmed are healing and looking better, while the untrimmed ones continue to look terrible.

[Nathaniel Toby]

I left this out last night, wasn't even below 40°!! It looks really bad. Help! It was already in rough shape from lack of sun at the house I just moved from and winter just ending (I'm in Minnesota). Advice?

[catgrass]

When you put it outside did yo put it in full sun? Looks like a bad sunburn to me. I'd move it into shade where it will get bright light and see if it comes back. I'd wait to cut dead growth off until you see some sign of life. 40 degrees is not enough to make it look like that.