In-laws were responsible for my wife's plants ~1.5 weeks. They left plants in car with freezing temps nearly entire time. Can these be saved? Wife is devastated. I know nothing about plants. Please help.
some look sturdy enough to survive. give all of them their measured amount of water, proper lighting, and sufficient time recover. hope for the best. and now you know to arrange for better plant-sitter.
SwampCrittr
My MIL is visiting for the next week and “loves plants”… I’m currently terrified of this…. She arrives in 4 hours.
Slowloris81
This is why I don’t let in-laws over.
ExcellentStatement43
I think all you can do is water them if they’re dry, and anything that doesn’t bounce back, cut it off. I’d look into how each plant prefers to be pruned (cause nodes). In the future, I’d look into alternate care since 1.5 weeks wasn’t enough to necessarily warrant a sitter for those plants. I’d definitely drop my plants off and make sure they had a window spot that was conducive to their growth (were I to be handing them over rather than having someone come over, mostly because established plants tend to hate sudden environmental shifts.
J-Ollie
I would trim back all of the monstera and try for new growth, and attempt to propagate any green stem left on the joya and the pothos.
RubLucky5188
Plants can be very resilient. Like others said, just give ’em some tlc and hope for the best. I’m sure some of them will pull through. Good luck.
streachh
Only time will tell. It’s unlikely, since these look like tropical plants, but plants are amazingly resilient.
Pretend like they aren’t all sad looking; cut off anything squishy/blackened bc that’s definitely dead, and then put them back in their places, water them when the soil feels like it needs it, and wait.
You won’t know for sure for a long time. If they aren’t dead/dying, it might take weeks or months for them to revive. You might care for pots that end up being dead, and that will be sad, but you might be surprised at what comes back, too.
In the meantime, time to take her to a local nursery 😁
something_beautiful9
Family are the worst sometimes I swear. I always bring in my bulb plants and tropicals in the winter that aren’t cold hardy. I had several pots of beautiful Delilah and other non hardy bulbs that I very clearly several times told every they were bulbs not empty pots and also had beautiful huge tropicals. Went to water them one week in January and found them frozen outside. While I was working family came over and decided to rummage through the plant room while moving things and put some outside and left them there in below freezing. Lost hundreds of dollars of plants -.-
cussy-munchers
Some can be saved. I would be asking for payment for all the ones that don’t survive. That is a lot of money down the toilet due to irresponsible people
BriarnLuca
Ok, so good news, a lot of the plants look good.
The last one, that’s a peace lily I think. She could be fine, or dead. Water her and see.
The big snake plant, I’d trim off the wilted leaves and watch her.
Kind_Most8248
At first it was like timid then when the big plants started I was like “damn,” 👀
Michigander_Mom
Damn they should have just said no, and not this bs. Thats so damn rude. Even if you think plant sitting is ridiculous, this is money and time and care down the drain. At least they could have respected that.
Healthy-Charity5988
Hope you are good too?
PerceptionUpper
Most of the succulents should be good, cut back any dead or wilty growth if it doesn’t bounce back in a couple days to weeks, for the rest of them that’s other peoples ball for sure on here 🙂 Also they assumed responsibility for them and if they left them in the cold then y’all should atleast ask if they can cover the cost of replacing the collection. We are here for you guys!
mohrhoneydew
Poor plants!
OakMan777
I appreciate all of your feedback and I’m so thankful for every single one of you. I will be trying to recover as much as possible. I am not a plant person myself, but this community seems to be so helpful. Thank you!!!
Looks like my wife will be taken on a trip to the plant nursery this week 🙂
saltfish
Water them, allow them to drain, put them somewhere where they won’t move or get direct light. They need a week to relax before you make any decisions.
Crazy-Employer-8394
Omg …. I *am* destroyed! What is wrong with these monsters?!
nifer317_take2
Former-Replacement11
Why in the world were they in a vehicle and for a week at that??
CakeFrog3
I recently went on a week long vacation and left behind 100 plus plants including delicate propagations. No sitter! Anything that might have dried out I left in a ziplock bag with only a tiny opening. I bagged up half of my collection and the other half were just fine on their own. I’d leave it up to the bags and fate every single time, the only people I’d trust with my collection would (and should) be paid for their services.
Good news is all of the plants that suffered can easily be chopped and propped- and the ones that are too far gone will be fairly cheap to replace. Definitely send your in-laws the bill though!
HibiscusGrower
Oh that’s terrible. I would be so upset.
If the plants can recover, they will do it mostly on their own. The only thing you can do is avoid additional stress. The tips below should help with that:
– Keep them in a bright location but out of direct sunlight, in a temperature that is comfortable for humans
– Keep the soil just lightly moist
– Don’t fertilize until you see new growth
Good luck, I hope they recover
Darksideluna
Saddest thing is, most of those would have been fine just left in their usual spot. That snake plant would have probably never even noticed you were gone. Why were they in a car?
redhill00072
I accidentally froze some of my plants when moving out of my dorm in 0F and while the leaves did not survive, the roots did. I had a pothos and an Alocasia. It’s took almost 6 months before I saw any new growth.
etsprout
Wait, so it was your wife’s own parents who neglected her plants? Actually left them in the car for almost 2 weeks?? Why do I feel like this is a theme for them as parents….
25 Comments
some look sturdy enough to survive. give all of them their measured amount of water, proper lighting, and sufficient time recover. hope for the best. and now you know to arrange for better plant-sitter.
My MIL is visiting for the next week and “loves plants”… I’m currently terrified of this…. She arrives in 4 hours.
This is why I don’t let in-laws over.
I think all you can do is water them if they’re dry, and anything that doesn’t bounce back, cut it off. I’d look into how each plant prefers to be pruned (cause nodes). In the future, I’d look into alternate care since 1.5 weeks wasn’t enough to necessarily warrant a sitter for those plants. I’d definitely drop my plants off and make sure they had a window spot that was conducive to their growth (were I to be handing them over rather than having someone come over, mostly because established plants tend to hate sudden environmental shifts.
I would trim back all of the monstera and try for new growth, and attempt to propagate any green stem left on the joya and the pothos.
Plants can be very resilient. Like others said, just give ’em some tlc and hope for the best. I’m sure some of them will pull through. Good luck.
Only time will tell. It’s unlikely, since these look like tropical plants, but plants are amazingly resilient.
Pretend like they aren’t all sad looking; cut off anything squishy/blackened bc that’s definitely dead, and then put them back in their places, water them when the soil feels like it needs it, and wait.
You won’t know for sure for a long time. If they aren’t dead/dying, it might take weeks or months for them to revive. You might care for pots that end up being dead, and that will be sad, but you might be surprised at what comes back, too.
In the meantime, time to take her to a local nursery 😁
Family are the worst sometimes I swear. I always bring in my bulb plants and tropicals in the winter that aren’t cold hardy. I had several pots of beautiful Delilah and other non hardy bulbs that I very clearly several times told every they were bulbs not empty pots and also had beautiful huge tropicals. Went to water them one week in January and found them frozen outside. While I was working family came over and decided to rummage through the plant room while moving things and put some outside and left them there in below freezing. Lost hundreds of dollars of plants -.-
Some can be saved. I would be asking for payment for all the ones that don’t survive. That is a lot of money down the toilet due to irresponsible people
Ok, so good news, a lot of the plants look good.
The last one, that’s a peace lily I think. She could be fine, or dead. Water her and see.
The big snake plant, I’d trim off the wilted leaves and watch her.
At first it was like timid then when the big plants started I was like “damn,” 👀
Damn they should have just said no, and not this bs. Thats so damn rude. Even if you think plant sitting is ridiculous, this is money and time and care down the drain. At least they could have respected that.
Hope you are good too?
Most of the succulents should be good, cut back any dead or wilty growth if it doesn’t bounce back in a couple days to weeks, for the rest of them that’s other peoples ball for sure on here 🙂 Also they assumed responsibility for them and if they left them in the cold then y’all should atleast ask if they can cover the cost of replacing the collection. We are here for you guys!
Poor plants!
I appreciate all of your feedback and I’m so thankful for every single one of you. I will be trying to recover as much as possible. I am not a plant person myself, but this community seems to be so helpful. Thank you!!!
Looks like my wife will be taken on a trip to the plant nursery this week 🙂
Water them, allow them to drain, put them somewhere where they won’t move or get direct light. They need a week to relax before you make any decisions.
Omg …. I *am* destroyed! What is wrong with these monsters?!
Why in the world were they in a vehicle and for a week at that??
I recently went on a week long vacation and left behind 100 plus plants including delicate propagations. No sitter! Anything that might have dried out I left in a ziplock bag with only a tiny opening. I bagged up half of my collection and the other half were just fine on their own. I’d leave it up to the bags and fate every single time, the only people I’d trust with my collection would (and should) be paid for their services.
Good news is all of the plants that suffered can easily be chopped and propped- and the ones that are too far gone will be fairly cheap to replace. Definitely send your in-laws the bill though!
Oh that’s terrible. I would be so upset.
If the plants can recover, they will do it mostly on their own. The only thing you can do is avoid additional stress. The tips below should help with that:
– Keep them in a bright location but out of direct sunlight, in a temperature that is comfortable for humans
– Keep the soil just lightly moist
– Don’t fertilize until you see new growth
Good luck, I hope they recover
Saddest thing is, most of those would have been fine just left in their usual spot. That snake plant would have probably never even noticed you were gone. Why were they in a car?
I accidentally froze some of my plants when moving out of my dorm in 0F and while the leaves did not survive, the roots did. I had a pothos and an Alocasia. It’s took almost 6 months before I saw any new growth.
Wait, so it was your wife’s own parents who neglected her plants? Actually left them in the car for almost 2 weeks?? Why do I feel like this is a theme for them as parents….