I might be the biggest idiot ever, but ... I couldn't make it back to my trees in time.  I had to travel out of town for a week, and didn't have time to move all of my pots indoors.  We had a night three days ago where there was rain, then temps dove down to 27 F, with about 8 hours at temps below freezing.  All of my pots/soil, which had been well-wet were pretty much frozen.  I'm hoping that the dormant trees could handle those kinds of temps and the soil in their pots being frozen.  Most had roots sent into the ground, so maybe if I don't cut them out, I'll be fine?

I'm keeping an eye on two of my Loquats which were also left outside, they still had leaves on and still have leaves, and don't have roots into the ground... maybe I'll get lucky?

I'm going to take cuttings this week and get them out to friends "just in case". 

Curious to hear if anyone else has had their pot farm survive temps like these?

Loquats only 5 inches tall have survived for me fine in ground here in zone 7a with minimal dieback. I have them unprotected since grown in ground from seed have never had significant dieback--they are now beautiful tall trees. Of course in pots makes them less cold hardy, but if they have any size to them at all they should be OK. Loquats are not frost sensitive plants for freezing dead to ground, although they have frost sensitive blossoms.

I hope they make it.  If it helps, I've read similar stories with the trees surviving.

I had one die back but it came back from the roots last year.  So even if the upper parts die back, all may not be lost.

You're fine. My large loquats I used to keep them outside until temperatures were in the 20s. The figs should be fine as long as they're dormant. Some of the soft green tips may die back.

I wouldn't worry too much about 27F. I doubt the soil froze very much unless it wass below 32F for at least 24 hours. Chill out.;)

My 2 year old in-ground endured 22F las winter with no damage.

I  had a cutting I rooted last spring and I missed it when I got my figs in, it was in the 20s for a week and 2 nights where down to 0 . I brought it in to the greenhouse, the tip bud is dead but the rest of the tree is growing.Rex.

I agree with Bass... the figs should be fine.  I've had dormant potted figs survive temps colder than that, for much longer periods of time than that (months).  If you plan on keeping them in a place where they'll get that cold for long, it might be best to prevent them from getting lots of water in the soil though.  But I don't think you'll have to leave them out there with roots into the ground, as you were suggesting.  Go ahead and put them wherever you'd prefer to have them for the winter.  (I've got no experience with loquats, can't comment on those).

Mike 

Are most of you folks posting talking about in-ground or pots?  My in-ground trees have been able to survive below-zero temps.  The ground never freezes more than an inch or so deep, though.  All of the (30-35) trees I'm worried about are mostly in 3gallon pots, and the soil in the pots was fairly stiff...

And thanks for the replies, btw!

Hey Jason. I think I've heard Martin mention that his potted trees often freeze solid in their pots inside his garage. And his come out fine each spring.

A local friend of mine also left a couple of potted (2 gal I think) fig trees out, winter before last, just as an experiment. We had sub-zero temps that year and the small trees actually died back to the pot but re-sprouted in the spring from the soil line.

I've also left some of my potted figs out this winter with temps going down to about 20 so far. Most look to still have green bud tips. I also have a few on my front porch as I write. It's supposed to get below 20 over the next couple of nights. But I don't have results from that to share yet.

Overall, my first guess would be that your trees will recover just fine from the 27 degrees. But there is also the factor that you're in a warmer zone. Your plants may not have been dormant enough to handle the sudden dip in temp. Just not sure here.

Also depends on if they got frost directly on them or not too. Obviously, direct frost would kill back any tender tips and would be more of a concern to me than the 27 degrees.

Just a few of my random thoughts. Hopefully this helps some anyway.

My tree is in the ground, but we had 3" on snow on Christmas and it went down to 16 overnight.  It did not go above 32 or so for 3-4 days.  The tips of the branches and buds along the branches look just fine!  I think your trees will be OK !

@Jason
Your figs should still be very fine.
Not sure about them loquats, I just gave up on them here in NJ (tender/evergreen and growing big).

I'd be scared, too.  Let us know how they do.  I'm sure all of us would be happy to rebuild your collection if the don't survive.   Hopefully they'll do fine.

I made it clear in my post that I was talking about in-ground trees but also said the soil in your pots wouldn't have frozen with the duration you were talking about.

That being said, I did have some fig trees in 1 gallon pots last winter that endured 35 nights of frost and probably a dozen nights below 32F with one night down to 22F.  None of them had any damage.  They had already been dormant for a couple of months before having the night down to 22F.  I'm too busy worrying about my dragon fruit and bananas to even think about moving my figs into shelter.  Since they grow wild around here I guess that helps me to be more at ease with them.

Jason you trees should be ok, all my trees are still outside and they are fine.

i keep all my trees in container. but they are all figs.. so can't say much about loquats. but fig trees with enough roots in 3 gal container left out in the below 32 degree weather for 2 days has survived with minimal damage. some of the leaves were burnt, and some of the node were frozen and thawed turning into mushy, but otherwise they were fine. but that was in spring. as soon as weather warmed again, the buds were back.

Jason,
I've had numerous plants in pots experience being wet and being exposed to wet freezing weather without any real damage. I know mine have been down to the low twenties so I think you'll be fine.
I'm only talking about figs -- just to be clear.
mgg

When I read the title, I almost asked my wife to respond. But my wife only knows one answer whenever I pose that question to her....:)


Im sure you'll be fine

Loquats should be fine into the teens, If you want some more I have some for you, but they were out in the same cold. Last year I did not bring in them in at all.

I think you should be fine. Happens every year here. As I write, almost 80% of my 
pots are outside. We had many days of freezing temp. in the mornings plus snow.
Temp outside now is below zero, maybe -2*C.

Thanks, y'all!

Jason, Doubt very, very seriously that you are an idiot.

I would think that the amount of time would not have frozen that much of the soil. Water that is not pure freezes at a lower temp than pure water, and water with dirt in it (or dirt with a little water in it is definitely not pure. So even if it did freeze, it probably only froze when it was several degrees below freezing. Also, dirt is a pretty good buffer for temperature.

The question that didn't get asked/answered, is what to do from here. How fats do you thaw them out? Do you warm them up or keep them cold? How warm? What strategy leads to the least amount of damage? Will they continue to deteriorate if left dormant? Should they be put in a greenhouse and forced to break dormancy to minimize damage? I gots lots of questions, but no experience on this one.

Welp, I guess we'll see?  I let them naturally thaw out over the following 6-7 hours above freezing; rechecked the pots, all are thawed.  Going to tally up what I have this weekend and get lists out to a couple of folks I owe to, and go from there.  I'm going to invest in larger pots for my prize figs this year, and will probably end up airlayering most of my crops to finally (hopefully) kill off the RKN issues a small portion of my trees have had... new pots, new soil, new everything... hoping for the best.