Brr ...cold protection strategies

Which Plants to cover?

~Many tropical and subtropical trees only bloom once. If you want to have a bountiful harvest next year and ensure they live a long, healthy life, here's what you need to do:

~Determine which Fruit trees need to be covered. Tropical and subtropical fruit trees within the first few years of planting should be protected anytime a hard frost or freeze occurs. As they mature, cold tolerance differs among species. See our chart below on different species

~Native plants, unless they are of South Florida origin, do not need to be protected during freeze events. The one exception is if they have been planted in the last 6-8 weeks, then we recommend covering.

Mini-greenhouses for your plants

~Cover your plants with a frost cloth. Heavy sheets and blankets can work with more varying results. Make sure the covering isn't so heavy that it breaks the branches. If this is a concern, construct a bamboo or PVC structure as a mini-greenhouse.

~Make sure your coverings are secured to the ground tightly and cover the whole base of the trunk! If you leave the trunk exposed, it's like wearing capris pants out on a freezing night. Those calves freeze! Either use stakes, rocks, or bricks to weigh down the edges of your covering.

~If your tree is too big to cover, you can still ensure the freeze damage is less harmful by covering the lower trunk to protect the graft union.

~Remove the covering the following day once the temperatures have reached back into the 50's.
~If you know you're going to have multiple days in a row of below-freezing temperatures, and your daily highs aren't above 60 degrees, you can leave your plants cozy under their frost blankets. Check on your coverings daily to make sure they're still secure.

List of edible plants you should cover during a freezing (32 degrees)

Warm-season annual vegetables, herbs, and flowers: tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, squash, basil, sunflowers, zinnia, etc
Herbs of tropical origin: tulsi basil, lemon grass, Mexican tarragon etc
Mature Subtropical and tropical fruit trees (3 + years in ground)

~Cover: Mango, starfruit, sugar apple, cherimoya, lychee, longan, jackfruit, papaya, Barbados cherry, cherry of the Rio Grande, grumichama, guava, citrus, Mysore raspberry, canistel, strawberry fruit tree, black sapote, white sapote, passionfruit, etc.

~Some of the above-listed fruit trees can tolerate freeze events with minimal damage, but we encourage covering at freezing temperatures to ensure long-term success. Wind factors, cold pockets, and inaccurate weather predictions can change significantly through the night and create unanticipated damage.

~The above list is to protect the tree and branches from damage. Many of these trees will have blossom damage at higher temperatures than freezing. For example, if a mature mango tree was not in bloom, we would not cover during a 40 degree night. If it were in bloom, we would. Do your own research on individual species to determine if their blooms will be effected at what cold temperatures.

No need to cover hardy annual vegetables and herbs (brassica family, alliums, garlic) AND temperate fruit trees* (mulberry, peach, plum, nectarine, quince, Asian pear, pear, olive, fig, loquat, persimmon, elder, blackberry, grapes, blueberry, che, mayhaw, etc.
*Sustained hard frosts can affect the flowering or early fruiting of these trees, and trees will need to be covered to protect this year's crop. The tree itself is not in danger of damage.

covering with water

~Running water over fruiting trees like citrus and peaches is a common commercial strategy for fruit protection during below-freezing events. we find it tricky for homeowners to accomplish well with home irrigation systems. If you're a commercial grower or farmer, then we recommend this strategy.

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