Plants and Cold Weather

[movinsoon]

What do you use to cover your plants during this cold weather and what plants do you cover? We drove around the neighborhood and saw several different ways and types of coverings as well as a variety of plants that were covered. Also do you put the cover on and leave it until it gets warm?

[k2at]

U can get plant blankets at Walmarts, Loews, Home Depot or probably any hardware store. U r supposed to remove the covers during the day, although somepeople just leave them on. I take mine off each day. As to what to cover, I cover all my plants as it cannot hurt, but if one does not cover a plant which needs help, good-bye plant. Better to be safe than sori.

[Barefoot]

Fairfield Farms Nurseries on 301 usually have frost covers. But people use sheets, blankets, duvet covers, large towels, anything handy. In theory, coverings should be removed during the day. But most of us just leave them for the duration of the cold snap.

Usually anything that flowers has to be covered plus robellini palms. If a hibiscus "dies", usually the roots are OK. If you cut it way down in the spring, it will soon come back.

[islandgal]

Here is an article from today's Orlando Sentinel, Tom's Digs,
that certainly answered many of my questions and hopefully will for you also:

Dealing with Cold Damage

Posted: 13 Jan 2010 07:13 AM PST

There is no doubt the cold caused more damage than in the past . Even covers did not work due to the extended cold unless heat was added.
There is damage to all tropical landscape plants, lawns, flowers and vegetables.
I did not try to cover the plants as I knew my efforts would be futile and it would take heat to keep them from freezing. Now is a good time to start over.

Below is a summary to answers I have been providing to your questions.

Why didn’t the covers work?

Simply stated it got cold – too cold for these coverings to give total plant protection. Coverings only entrap heat and keep out the cold for a period of time. Plantings recently experienced extended severe cold of about a week where the freezing temperatures were able to penetrate the covers and offset the heat from the ground.

Only an added heat source might have protected these plantings. Lights from outdoor Christmas decorations and other outdoor displays set under the covers without touching the fabric may have been a good heat source to protect the plants during the extended cold.

What about the lawn?

There is no rush to mow off the brown to expose the St. Augustine runners that could be damaged further by cold or even sun scald. The best plan is to let the grass begin growth and then mow the new leaf blades as you would normally. Don’t expect a lot of new green shoots until the temperatures are in the upper 70’s and 80’s. When the green grass begins to push up from the runners much of the brown is going to be hidden or mowed off. If need you can rake out the remaining brown when the new green grass appears.

Also let the grass and soil tell you when it’s time to water. In the beginning the lawn is going to need very little water. Once every 10 to14 days should be adequate. Take time to feel the soil from the surface to an inch deep. If moist no water is needed. When the surface soil begins to dry it is watering time. As the grass begins growth more water is going to be needed. Checking the soil and the appearance of the green leaf blades is the best way to tell when to water. Usually every 7 to 10 days is adequate for a growing lawn during the cooler weather. Also no feedings are needed until late February or early March.

Will my cold sensitive annuals and perennials recover?

Plants like begonias, impatiens and pentas have been heavily damaged. These are some of the most cold sensitive plants and most have been turned to mush. Maybe if the plants were in a well-protected area or covered the buds near the ground may still be alive. These could regrow new shoots but often the rot which follows the cold damage eventually affects these portions too. I think it’s replanting time.

When can I prune?

When you cannot stand the brown it is time to do the pruning. I know many say leave the brown on but I think it does very little good. Also when the plant is damaged it can only think of putting out new growth. So, after a few days of warm weather when you can tell what is damaged feel free to do the needed pruning.

[KathieI]

Thanks for this information. I've really been in a dilemma as to what to do. But I knew the effort of covering the plants would be fruitless, so I didn't bother, but I did hear from friends that all their covered plants did die anyway.

I have a pretty good green thumb so I'm going to heed some of his advice and do some other things that I thought might work. We'll see but there's no question that if you want to save your plants, its going to take lots of work. I'm willing cause I love my plants so much and hate to see them wasted. I did save all the plants on my lanai, it took some doing and my house looks like a tornado hit it, but it was worth it.

Thanks for the information. It was very helpful.

[ajbrown]

For folks that do not know this already, there is a good resource which my wife calls whenever we have a question and do not see an answer online.

Sumter County Extension Service
(352)-793-2728
http://sumter.ifas.ufl.edu/

They are free and if they do not know an answer they find out and call you back.

[uujudy]

Is this it? Can we expect another *extended* killing frost, or do you think we're safe for now? :cold:

I know that back home you could plant your peas on St. Patrick's day, but I would think that the date for cool-weather plants would be much earlier here. When, exactly, does Spring start in the Villages? Does anyone here have experience with this?
Thanks for any info,
Judy

[swrinfla]

uujudy:

I wouldn't say that Spring is here yet, sadly. Our freezes last year were, if I recall correctly, later in January. However, this spell has been so unusual (the tv guys were saying "the longest cold snap in decades!"), that it's likely the rest of the winter will be, too.

I'm not sure that the many, many Farmer's Almanac-type sayings relating to when to plant this or harvest that are at all pertinent here in this weird environment!

I'm just hanging on, and hoping that we can all soon go about our fun without being bundled up like folks from "up north!"

SWR
:beer3:

P.S.: Love you cat. My New Kitten (Omega) says hi!

[golfnut]

there will be more freezes, the winter has just begun.....gn

[NJblue]

Last year the coldest day of the winter occurred on Feb 5 (23 degrees). The next day it went down to 25 but after that, there were no more sub-freezing days (although it did get down to 32 on Feb 22. Unfortunately, the record lows indicate that we can get sub-freezing weather as late as March 14.

[uujudy]

uujudy:

. . .
I'm just hanging on, and hoping that we can all soon go about our fun without being bundled up like folks from "up north!"

SWR
:beer3:

P.S.: Love you cat. My New Kitten (Omega) says hi!

SWR, Baby Monroe says HI back!