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T. Knight | profile | all galleries >> My Home >> My Aloe collection and how it was affected by the January 14 Freeze tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

My Aloe collection and how it was affected by the January 14 Freeze

I've been growing aloes since the late eighties at my home in Apache Junction, Arizona. On January 14, 2007 we had a very severe freeze. It was below freezing for several hours. The coldest it got at our home was 21 degrees Fahrenheit. When we got up that morning and looked at the plants outside it was awful! Aloes were frozen solid like Popsicles. As they thawed out the yard had a strange smell. You could see where the plants were damaged, some had dark green wrinkled areas on the leaf tips and some plants turned all limp and wilted. My 15 gallon Aloe helenae froze solid. Over the months its stem died and I cut away the crown. As of November 2007 the crown appeared to be rooting in, but I can't be certain yet if it will survive. We lost SO MANY plants! I dumped probably hundreds that were in pots. I had more empty pots than plants. The ones in pots were hit hardest. Plants that were damaged would look like they were recovering, then they would die. I saved a large aloe dhufarensis, a large aloe fleurentinorum, two old aloe pachygaster and a small aloe speciosa by cutting away the crown. I set them in soil in pots after the cuts had healed and they eventually rooted in. I learned if I saw an aloe that was thin when others near were fat it's stem or roots had died. I have a medium aloe africana that way that I need to cut the crown off of. The most tragic loss was a large Aloe ramosissima that flowered three times. The hardiest aloe was the big aloe littoralis. It had very little damage. We were unprepared for such a hard freeze. No one knew or suspected it would happen. The plants that were left were the ones that were able to survive the hard freeze. We learned the hard way which plants were hardy and which were not.
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe littoralis
Aloe pretoriensis
Aloe pretoriensis
Aloe pretoriensis
Aloe pretoriensis
Aloe pretoriensis
Aloe pretoriensis
Aloe (sinkatana x hereroensis) x pubescens
Aloe (sinkatana x hereroensis) x pubescens
Aloe (sinkatana x hereroensis) x pubescens
Aloe (sinkatana x hereroensis) x pubescens
Aloe bellatula
Aloe bellatula
Aloe aculeata
Aloe aculeata
Aloe aculeata
Aloe aculeata
Aloe aculeata
Aloe aculeata
Aloe pretoriensis x vaombe
Aloe pretoriensis x vaombe
Aloe pretoriensis x vaombe
Aloe pretoriensis x vaombe
Aloe pretoriensis x vaombe
Aloe pretoriensis x vaombe
Banjo's grave aloe
Banjo's grave aloe
Aloe camperi
Aloe camperi
Aloe chabaudii showing severe freeze damage
Aloe chabaudii showing severe freeze damage
Same Aloe chabaudii 11 months later
Same Aloe chabaudii 11 months later
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe claviflora
Aloe dhufarensis
Aloe dhufarensis
aloe falcata
aloe falcata
Aloe fleurentinorum
Aloe fleurentinorum
Aloe gariepensis
Aloe gariepensis
Aloe gariepensis
Aloe gariepensis
Aloe glauca
Aloe glauca
Aloe globuligemma
Aloe globuligemma
Aloe globuligemma
Aloe globuligemma
Aloe helenae
Aloe helenae
Aloe helenae
Aloe helenae
Aloe hereroensis
Aloe hereroensis
Aloe hereroensis
Aloe hereroensis
Aloe humilis
Aloe humilis
Aloe sinkatana
Aloe sinkatana
Aloe karasbergensis
Aloe karasbergensis
Aloe longistyla
Aloe longistyla
Aloe pachygaster
Aloe pachygaster
Aloe psuedorubroviolacea
Aloe psuedorubroviolacea
Aloe pubescens
Aloe pubescens
Aloe pubescens
Aloe pubescens
Aloe rivierei
Aloe rivierei
Aloe rivierei
Aloe rivierei
Aloe seedlings
Aloe seedlings
Aloe sinkatana x ferox
Aloe sinkatana x ferox
Aloe rubroviolacea
Aloe rubroviolacea
Aloe sinkatana x rauhii
Aloe sinkatana x rauhii
Aloe tauri
Aloe tauri
Aloe speciosa hybrid
Aloe speciosa hybrid
Aloe striata
Aloe striata
Aloe striata hybrid
Aloe striata hybrid
Aloe tomentosa
Aloe tomentosa
Aloe vacillans
Aloe vacillans
Aloe vacillans
Aloe vacillans
Aloe variegata
Aloe variegata
Aloe vryheidensis
Aloe vryheidensis
This Aloe africana has a dead stem
This Aloe africana has a dead stem
Cutting the dead stem of the Aloe africana
Cutting the dead stem of the Aloe africana
Aloe africana stem cut to live tissure
Aloe africana stem cut to live tissure
Aloe marlothii showing new roots creeping down dead stem
Aloe marlothii showing new roots creeping down dead stem
A pile of dead plants
A pile of dead plants