Oh no! I am a new gardener and have just put in a garden in the last couple of weeks. We had a freak snap of very cold weather here in NC last weekend and there was a frost warning, so I covered by tomato plants with old plastic mulch bags. We did not end up getting frost that night. I took them off the next morning and the leaves were a little wrinkley, but not too bad. By that evening, however, the leaves on my three tomato plants and my green pepper plant had all shriveled up! Did I kill them? Was it the plastic bags or could it be something else? Will they come back? Should I remove all the brown droopy leaves? Help! Poor plants...

Algerunc,
Here's what I got from some info someone told me one time...
If you cover your plants, and the actual covering
*of what ever* touches your plants, than the frosts also touches your plant...
If you have a cover over your plants, and there is a stake or cage or something to hold the covering away from the leaves, your plants are protected...
Because nothing actually touched the leaves, only
an air pocket around the plant between the covering...
Does that make sense...?????...

If the plant was healthy and the roots were healthy and basically untouched from the cold
weather, I'd say, leave them for a bit and see...
the plant may send out new leaves!!!!
Worth a try!

As for the leaves..... if they are brown,
I'd pinch them, and try to get the plant to make new leaves... sometimes in the plants life,
the plant may try to heal the leave and take away it's enegry from making a new leaves....
So, pinch them all, if one or two have a bit of green, leave those for now, some photosnythesis can still happen with bits of green.

And if you have a couple of plants in the same
predicament, do an experiment, pinch leaves on one plant and not the other... and observe which plant did what after which plant was pinched and which one wasn't...
I am a great believer of experimenting , the only way you learn to be a good gardener is to see how plants react to things....

Weezie

P.S. Welcome to The Garden Helper's Forum by the way, it's very good to have you here!!!!

* * * *
Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





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