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View Full Version : Great Florida Freeze of '09


Nicolas Naranja
01-22-2009, 01:47 PM
Ok fellow Floridians, how did you fare last night. It reached 25 in Belle Glade. Did not freeze at my house though.

The bananas at my house made it through with only minor leaf damage, however the bananas that I had been maintaining at work are toast. Get ready for a shortage of produce as it looks like most of the beans, corn, tomatoes and peppers have probably been lost.

TomK
01-22-2009, 02:20 PM
Looks like it got down to 39 here in Boca. Didn't notice any damage to the plants but it was still dark when I left for work this morning.

Caloosamusa
01-22-2009, 03:40 PM
Good afternoon Tom, Nicolas and everyone!

It sounds like ya'll came through the freeze well. I'm glad to hear it!! I was watched over also and had little damage! I posted a few pics. My Ele Ele was undamaged. What did surprise me was some slight damage to my KM-5. I'm near the mangroves in CC.

Best wishes

Worm_Farmer
01-22-2009, 04:24 PM
It hit 28 last night, I took a LOT of damage. I lost all Toms, the fruit was just turning red on some and now they have soft spots. Green pepper looks horrible but might come back. But most everything looks dead.

adrift
01-22-2009, 04:59 PM
My thermometer, somewhat sheltered and may read slightly warm, said 31 degrees Wednesday morning and 28 on Thursday morning. A couple, the Dw Orinoco and another (think it was a Dw Namwa, I'll check the tag later) seem untouched. But they are under 12" tall and maybe got the benefit of some warmth from the ground. I can't see the baby Basjoos from here, but I expect they are fine. Most of the others are between singed and heavily singed. Ice cream's leaves are singed but her proud, tall pstem is looking OK.

It is currently much warmer than it was 24 hours ago.

Curiously, some non-nanners which did OK last winter at 25 degrees and strong winds are looking rough today after 28 degrees and calm. Go figure.

K/Adrift

gadget
01-22-2009, 11:56 PM
I read today that when freezing temps hit you are more likely to get frost damage on clear calm nights then on windy or overcast nights.

Nicolas Naranja
01-23-2009, 08:38 AM
I read today that when freezing temps hit you are more likely to get frost damage on clear calm nights then on windy or overcast nights.

This is true. I'm sure most of us remember from science class that warm air rises and cool air sinks. During a radiational cooling event the surface loses its heat to the atmosphere and if there is no wind the air closest to the surface can get quite cold. If there is wind it mixes the warmer air aloft with the cooler air at the surface. In Florida, we have a bunch of agricultural weather stations that let you look at temps at 60cm, 2m and 10m and the temperature differences may be as much as 6-7 degrees fahrenheit between the 60cm and the 10m.

mskitty38583
01-23-2009, 09:47 AM
hopefully all veggies and nanas pull thru. keeping my fingers crossed for yall. we pay enough for citrus up here. lol.

TomK
01-23-2009, 10:52 AM
This is true. I'm sure most of us remember from science class that warm air rises and cool air sinks. During a radiational cooling event the surface loses its heat to the atmosphere and if there is no wind the air closest to the surface can get quite cold. If there is wind it mixes the warmer air aloft with the cooler air at the surface. In Florida, we have a bunch of agricultural weather stations that let you look at temps at 60cm, 2m and 10m and the temperature differences may be as much as 6-7 degrees fahrenheit between the 60cm and the 10m.

Nick, do you have a link to where I can look at these weather stations?

Nicolas Naranja
01-23-2009, 11:26 AM
Nick, do you have a link to where I can look at these weather stations?

fawn.ifas.ufl.edu look underneath the database section to look at recorded data

TomK
01-23-2009, 01:13 PM
Very cool. Thanks!

Oblofusc
01-31-2009, 10:45 PM
Report from Tallahassee--

So far this winter we had a near record early freeze in October, which fried about 80% of the leaves of all my plants, and it did not freeze hard until a couple of weeks ago (January), and then again just last night.

By the time the first hard freeze came all the leaves had been cut off and all stalks were chopped to about 4 to 5 feet. This makes it managable to cover/insulate the stocks well. I have been wrapping towels & sheets over the stalks and covering them with big plastic lawn waste bags. I make sure to remove it all in between freezes to avoid fungal rot.

I check the weather forecasts every day to see when I need to wrap the stalks. So far so good, they still look intact and good. The other bananas in my neighborhood that were not wrapped in any way are now brown moosh--dead to the ground.

Once the freezes are over I am hopeful my efforts will pay off in allowing my plants to get a good jump start in the season and MAYBE start to fruit BEFORE September. I also plan to be very aggressive in removing pups as they appear, which I did not do last year (not to kill, but to replant elsewhere). Some mats had many pups come up and grow like mad and I liked the abundant verdant look of it all and let them stay.

Nicolas Naranja
01-31-2009, 10:52 PM
As a note to some of my fellow Floridians, the private meteorologists that a lot of large farmers use are predicting "the worst freeze in 100 years" in the next week or two

TomK
02-01-2009, 12:50 PM
Interesting, suppose I may need to consider pulling out some of the blankets and towels.

buffy
02-02-2009, 11:44 AM
As a note to some of my fellow Floridians, the private meteorologists that a lot of large farmers use are predicting "the worst freeze in 100 years" in the next week or two

Then it appears that the large farmers are paying too much for the private meteorologists.

PT DUffy
02-02-2009, 01:07 PM
Here in the Panhandle,we got the coldest in a couple yrs, pretty much turning my Ornata to mush. The Passalong Cavandish lost it's leaves but otherwise did well. The rest were dug and stored in my shed for the Winter and ended up with a little frosted leaves but otherwise fine...
Cheers,
Pat

PT DUffy
02-02-2009, 01:08 PM
Then it's a good thing I never plant out anything in my greenhouse or stored in the shed until at least the 1st of March;>....
Cheers,
Pat

Worm_Farmer
02-02-2009, 01:56 PM
Weather Underground says it will freeze Tue, Wed, and upper 30's Thursday.

sultry_jasmine_nights
02-02-2009, 06:13 PM
Gonna be back in the 20's again here in a few days:(

Caloosamusa
02-03-2009, 03:07 PM
For the last three days weather forecasters have been saying Weds night would be the coldest nearing 32 degrees F. Now the forecasters of weather are predicting freezing temps here in zone 10 tonight! Brrrrrrr!!!
In a little while I have to go pull in my new plants and cover some of the others. I left zone 9 to get away from the cold!

Best wishes to all! :03:

adrift
02-03-2009, 08:01 PM
This is true. I'm sure most of us remember from science class that warm air rises and cool air sinks.

You are too kind. After all these years I am lucky to remember the name of the schools that I attended, let alone whatever they tried to put into my (now gray) head. However, I am somewhat aware of that phenomena since the wifey and I both teach high school science. ;)

Be that as it may, it is still amazing to see such distinct microclimates in one back yard. I have 6" tall orinoco & namwah in 6" tall pots which were forgotten on the deck and were virtually untouched by the cold. The 12" basjoo in the ground 30' away lost all leaves.

The good news is that my big Ice Cream's main pstem and biggest pup is sending up green leaves so there may be nannas yet to come. But, as others have mentioned we have another wave of cold coming soon. :(

Wave after wave of cold fronts is a bit annoying, but they are bringing much needed rain.

kitnor
02-03-2009, 08:32 PM
Did you wrap any of the bananas in towels?

I've wrapped mine in towels but I don't know if it will work.

JCDerrick
02-03-2009, 09:36 PM
Good luck you guys. I saw the freeze warnings down to almost Miami this morning and could hardly believe it. I didn't even know Zone 10 could freeze.

I'm just about ready for THIS winter to be over with. It's done a number on my plants. Ugh

MediaHound
02-03-2009, 10:46 PM
#@$%^&*!

stormrider27
02-03-2009, 11:08 PM
I have finally bought a house down here. The first thing I did was go out and buy a lime tree. The frost a couple of weeks ago wiped that out and took all of the leavers off of my fig. My fig just started growing small leaves again and I bought 2 new lime trees to replace the other one and it is supposed to freeze again:coldbanana:. The only bright side is I haven't bought any bananas yet.

Storm

Greenie
02-04-2009, 01:13 AM
just finished wrapping the "Ae Ae" with a tarp,Hopefully she will be ok.I think if its a 2 day only under 40 temps she will make it.Anything longer and she's a gonner for sure.

bananimal
02-04-2009, 02:24 AM
Just did a walk around at 2AM. It's cold. Luckily I didn't miss anything that could come inside. The big potted pups are in the garage with a space heater. The dog doesn't want to go out with me - that's cold!

damaclese
02-04-2009, 08:50 AM
its so weird hearing that zone 10 is having freeze on the other hand the desert south west is having an unseasonably warm winter were running 10 to 15 deg warmer its been in the high 60s here for the last 3 weeks and this on the heals of a winter just two years ago were we saw temps in the teens for over a month defiantly something to ponder a could this be the 2012 thing LOL

TomK
02-04-2009, 09:09 AM
Brought in all of the potted plants last night save for a couple of citrus which I will bring in tonight.

I have a couple of watermelon fruit and several eggplant fruit that I'm worried about in my veggie garden. Will probably end up throwing a sheet over the veggie garden tonight.

Too dark this AM when I left for work to see if there is any "current" damage.

Steve L
02-04-2009, 11:17 AM
just finished wrapping the "Ae Ae" with a tarp,Hopefully she will be ok.I think if its a 2 day only under 40 temps she will make it.Anything longer and she's a gonner for sure.

My numerous Ae Ae planted in the ground regularly survive lows of 24 each winter. I fruited one last year. I do wrap the pseudostem with old blankets. It's worked for me for the 5 years I've been growing them. I think yours will be fine.

Steve

Greenie
02-04-2009, 08:57 PM
My numerous Ae Ae planted in the ground regularly survive lows of 24 each winter. I fruited one last year. I do wrap the pseudostem with old blankets. It's worked for me for the 5 years I've been growing them. I think yours will be fine.

Steve
...Thanks Steve L.,we shall soon find out:drum:

Bch Grl
02-05-2009, 12:50 AM
I finished wrapping all my 'nana's, citrus, Mangos and other stuff and noted the rain water in a big saucer was looking funny...10:30 at night in Jacksonville and the water in pots and saucers was already 1/4" thick with ice! Yikes!

I wrap with frost cloth, cover with 6 mil plastic and put X-mas lights and small space heaters under for warmth. Have had good luck so far, but tonight is going to be much colder for many more hours.
Ahhh, Mother Nature!:waving:

Margie

enigma99a
02-05-2009, 04:53 AM
Good luck you guys. I saw the freeze warnings down to almost Miami this morning and could hardly believe it. I didn't even know Zone 10 could freeze.

I'm just about ready for THIS winter to be over with. It's done a number on my plants. Ugh

Your signature says it all: Clermont Lakes KSCLEXIN5 18° F. That sucks... 18 is like MAJOR damage

TomK
02-05-2009, 06:49 AM
Dammit it's cold this morning!

Caloosamusa
02-05-2009, 07:01 AM
My thermometer read 34 degrees F, from 5AM to 6:30 when it dropped to 33F.
It feels colder. Local weather says 31F. I wrapped some pseudostems and roll leaves last night. Now we can only hope and pray for the best.

Adrift, could not send you a message, which sciences are you certified to teach?

Best wishes to all!

Bch Grl
02-05-2009, 09:11 AM
The low in my J'ville backyard last night was 19, now with the sun up and light breezes, at 9am, it's still 26 degrees!!!!!

Tonight is supposed to be the same!

Margie

sultry_jasmine_nights
02-05-2009, 11:23 AM
I think it was around 19 here this morning too. I have kept some of my nanas in pots and now I am glad I did. I left a few larger ones in the ground. We put cardboard boxes around it. Taped into long triangle shapes to cover the stems. The bottoms still look good but the top leaves are all fried. I think it will be okay. Supposed to be cold tonight too -maybe colder even grrrr!

stormrider...Welcome to sunny florida lol! Too bad the your first lime got froze. Was it a key lime? If so it might come back true from the roots -if it wasn't grafted to a different citrus rootstock. Key limes are sometimes grown on their own rootstock. I have a lot of citrus in pots and I'm gonna keep them that way until after it is done freezing lol.
~SJN

JCDerrick
02-05-2009, 01:13 PM
Your signature says it all: Clermont Lakes KSCLEXIN5 18° F. That sucks... 18 is like MAJOR damage

Yeah we hit 17 at the house last night, 18F the night before (which was 10F lower than forecast) and 18F tonight. Still not as bad as the 12F a few weeks ago.

It's done a number on the bananas, I've had several just flop over about 6"-1' from the top of the stem, which the week prior was growing a new leaf. That was hard to watch. It seems the frost blankets and Christmas lights have kept the largest ones alive, plus I just by chance brought a bunch indoors this year (not planning to next year though, they stretch too bad). So as long as this winter is a freak event, I can probably recover alright.

After deciding not to move to HI, I've been wanting to move to Florida for years now hoping to escape the colder temps. But events like this make me realize that even there it's not completely safe.

Cold weather sucks. And now it's already getting colder by the second. I don't think we hit 40F today. And yet it's calling for almost 70F again by Sunday. WTH is up with the weather?

tophersmith
02-05-2009, 02:01 PM
It was 22 degrees last night and 21 tonight here in Raleight NC

Caloosamusa
02-05-2009, 04:21 PM
It dropped to 31F this morning between 7:05 and 7:48, for my area that is bad. It was worse than 22 Jan '09, and 3 Jan '08. I saved some roll leaves by covering some of the plants earlier the prior evening.

But this is still not so bad.

Best wishes to all!

Patty in Wisc
02-05-2009, 08:55 PM
I wish all of you good luck. Reminds me of last May 28. I just planted my IC inground week before & they called for frost. I think it broke a record -- I never heard of frost here May 28! I wrapped the stem with towels, but left the 3 leaves out. Neighbors thought it was dead cuz the leaves turned brown. I had to wait for a new leaf to grow to prove it was alive.
It was 6* yesterday - wind chills below 0. It says 22* now A HEAT WAVE!!!

Chironex
02-05-2009, 09:25 PM
I wish all of you good luck. Reminds me of last May 28. I just planted my IC inground week before & they called for frost. I think it broke a record -- I never heard of frost here May 28! I wrapped the stem with towels, but left the 3 leaves out. Neighbors thought it was dead cuz the leaves turned brown. I had to wait for a new leaf to grow to prove it was alive.
It was 6* yesterday - wind chills below 0. It says 22* now A HEAT WAVE!!!

I don't miss that a bit! It has been right around 70 every day this week. I will try to send some warmth your way.

enigma99a
02-07-2009, 07:54 PM
ugh great. Tuesday morning is expected to be 30-34F here in Northern California. Time to wrap everything again.... I've had everything unwrapped since the threat of frost has been gone since last month. The 15 day forecasts said highs in the 60/70s and lows in the high 40s/low 50s. But now that has changed the Arctic crap is back and this winter just won't let up!

Why is the Arctic sooo damn cold this winter? And the storm track has been 100% from the arctic so far. I wish their air would just stay up there instead of diving to the south.

Tuesday morning's (Feb 10th) record low for Sacramento.. 30°F (1884). Could we be flirting with that? must be GLOBAL WARMING. Because it's so hot that it's freezing cold. Sorry, I'm just angry I have to wrap my stuff.

Caloosamusa
02-07-2009, 09:53 PM
We had our second freeze this winter Thursday morning. Between 7 and 8 AM it dropped to at least 30F. I had initially read 31F but it got coldest right at sunrise. Many of my bananas that were not affected by the first freeze did not do well in this one. One of my mango trees had damage to the leaves and flowers.

Inigma99a, when I lived in Southern California they had some record breaking cold. They buckhorned avacado trres in Ensaneda as a result. I wish you warm weather and small shakers.

Good growing to all!:03:

hydroid
02-08-2009, 09:10 AM
I live in southern Alabama and my plants look like a nuclear blast him em. We've had several mornings in the mid 20's and the only thing that's still green is my Century Plant. The only thing I did to winterize was pile alot of pine straw around the base of the plants. It's been kinda like a "one two punch" with the hurricanes and all. So we'll see what happens.
hydroid

Caloosamusa
02-08-2009, 11:59 AM
With all the hurricanes that have hit your area in the last four years I'm suprised you have any pseudostems above 3 feet for a freeze to get! Never give up! Your doing it!!!! :03:

Jack Daw
02-08-2009, 01:29 PM
I feel sorry for your naners pallies, but imagine a land, where such temperatures are every year. I live in zone 7b/8a and it's a tough ride for every tropical plant in here. But they live quite well...nice and quality life.

I hope your naners will recover and my fingers are crossed for ya.

P.S: By the rate the temperatures are rising in my region, I will be in zone 8 completely by the end of 2035 and on the edge of coming to zone 9 in 2050.
It's irony, that so hated global warming is so beneficial to our region. Can't say that about Paris or Madrid, they ar loaded with century old freezing temperatures and having their cities lost under 60cm of snow. I guess everyone's lucky for a period of time.

Caloosamusa
02-14-2009, 04:09 PM
Finally they are beginning to recover from the freezes. I was able to cover some but not all with towels. The Kru lost its protection due to wind. They are developing new roll leaves. The old dead leaves I do not take off as they help insulate the pseudostem and pups from freezing temperatures.

See new pictures of freeze damage.

adrift
02-16-2009, 08:36 AM
Things are recovering here in the center part of the state, 11 days after coldest night of freeze #2. So far the Ice Cream, Raja Puri, Burmese Blue, Tall Red, Rose, Dw. Cavendish, and some others are showing some green out of main pstem. A few others may have to come back from the corm, we shall see. The smaller guys in pots look 100%, even the 2 that were forgotten on the deck.

Ice Cream's new growth is very pale, however. Guess I'd better get on the fertilizer.

enigma99a
02-16-2009, 02:40 PM
Today in Northern California, super strong wind is shredding new growth on my Ice Creams.. they have tried hard to grow despite the constant cold rain (50 degrees) and now this