What to do if the weather turns cold to very cold

03/22/12
Newsletter Topics

#1 - Tips of the Week

#3 - 10 Plant Myths Debunked

#2 -

What to do if the Weather turns Cold to Very Cold

Mother Nature has given us a very mild winter that officially ended on Monday. Yes it’s now officially spring and our spring flowering trees, shrubs, and bulbs are bursting at the seams to show off their beauty in bloom. But wait, this is the Tri-State, frequently referred to as Yo-Yo Ville when it comes to our daily weather temps. We are now very vulnerable to a return of cold to very cold weather. Most of us have experienced snow on the field for opening day baseball, frost on the eve of Mother’s Day and a freeze as late as the third week of May. I’m not trying to scare you but to tell you what you can do to protect your plants till June finally arrives.

Don’t laugh; it’s very possible here in the Ohio valley. The following is the recommended strategy for protecting plants against frost or worse yet,

freezing in Florida to protect the millions of dollars’ worth of citrus.This is adaptable to any part of the country where cold weather can disrupt the growth of the foliage and flowers of any outdoor trees and shrubs. I call this procedure “The Florida plant protection plan”. You’ll notice that no bed sheets, plastic covers, or tarpaulins are needed.

For a predicted frost 39 to 33° the coldest part of any day that frost is predicted is at dawn as the sun starts to rise. Frost will only form when the night sky is clear of clouds. Frost occurs when enough heat is extracted from earth rising up in the atmosphere. Get up and get out of bed and be ready to spray your plants with water from your hose and nozzle at 6:45am spray the water quickly on all your trees, shrubs, and flowers as if your using your hose to knock the dust off of them. Once you have hosed off all your plants, turn off the water and go back to bed. There was enough heat in that hose water to keep the frost from re-forming and go back to bed. There will be NO damage if you do this at the time in the morning that was recommended.

For a predicted freeze 32° and below
A freeze can occur anytime the temps go down to 32° and colder to stop or limit any damage from a freeze takes more time, less sleep, and actually standing by with an outdoor

thermometer. As the temp approaches the 32° freeze point, start spraying your plants with water from your hose (be sure to put your hose in a warm spot earlier so the existing water in your hose does not freeze before you go to spray your plants) and wear gloves as you hold that nozzle on the hose. Keep spraying all your plants with water until it freezes and ice forms on all your plants leaves and flowers. Like a frost a freeze only occurs with a clear sky which means the sun will be out early to melt the ice and warm the plants. If this Florida method seems like a lot of work, it’s not. We have 3 to 4 men come in early (frost or freeze) and spray all of our plants in the nursery in less time than it took to write this article.