Quote:
Originally Posted by blue777
So the front of my osmanthus fortunei tree is beginning to turn brown while the back is completely green and fine. Here in Georgia, it got extremely cold last week and I fertilized the trees a couple of weeks ago.
Any idea what this looks like?
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Your plant should recover and grow new leaves. The browned leaves look like they got windburned and dehydrated from cold temperatures and wind during your cold snap. It probably didn't help that you fertilized it in winter but now you know not to do that again.
Those plants are generally fairly tolerant of cold temperatures and are sturdy, long lived plants but they need to not have a lot of direct exposure to subfreezing east wind if that can be avoided. If you get another cold snap like that, especially if there's a harsh wind chill, cover the exposed front parts of the shrub with a flannel bed sheet or thin cotton blanket to provide it some shelter at night. In the day time if the sun is shining you can remove the sheet so it gets daytime sun exposure.
My rhododendrons' leaves will get browned like that with high wind chill and the leaves all curl up into tight tubes so they look like sticks. When it warms up they uncurl again. The very badly browned leaves drop off and are replaced with new leaves starting to grow in spring.
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