ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida residents should be doing certain things to protect their plants when the weather turns frigid, especially if those plants are used to a more tropical environment.
Temperatures in Florida will plunge into the 30s beginning Friday night into Saturday morning as the coldest air of the season from the Christmas week bomb cyclone moves into the Sunshine State.
Wind Chill and Freeze Warnings are in effect for most of Central Florida, and north of Orlando into the Panhandle, a Hard Freeze Warning is in place. The cold snap could be the state’s coldest Christmas in more than 30 years.
“There’s definitely going to be cold enough temps where we’re going to see plants that need to be protected,” said Eric Apen. He’s the co-owner of Apenberry’s Gardens in College Park.
Apen said you’ll definitely want to protect your plants this Christmas weekend but specifically, some plants more than others.
“We’re looking at all your tropicals, vegetable gardens, herbs, certainly things like your tender flowering plants will need protection,” Apen said.
That’s everything from palm trees and hibiscus to tomatoes. Apen said you can do that using sheets or blankets, but frost cloth is preferred.
“The frost blankets give 5 or 6 degrees of protection,” he said. “A sheet or blanket will only give you a couple of degrees so you may need to layer it. But it will all help.”
He said to cover the entire plant or tree right down to the ground, which will help keep the warmth near the plant.
“Make sure you secure it. It’s really important to get that frost blanket tucked in. we’ll actually wrap it around the plant (if) we can and then use bricks or rocks to hold it in place to make sure the wind doesn’t pull it off in the middle of the night,” said Apen.
Another tip: “Make sure to turn your irrigation systems off. That’s really important. You don’t want water to run. Could cause more damage than help,” he said.
For more tips on what to cover and how to cover your plants, Apenberry’s website will have all your answers.
Pools are another big investment that need protection from the cold.
Joy Ayala with Pool Troopers said the easiest thing to do to protect your pool when temperatures go below freezing, keep it running.
“The pools in Florida don’t have sensors built in to timers to indicate when air temp gets below freezing, so the homeowner can do it manually by letting the system run continuously until the air temp gets back up above freezing. This can be done simply by removing the off pin from the timer,” Ayala explained.
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And if you have a pool heater, turn that on.
“If you do turn it on, you only need to set the temp to 50 degrees,” Ayala explained.
For more tips on winter weather, here are seven things to know about cold weather safety.